People often ask, “What is functional medicine?” or “What is integrated / integrative medicine?” An equally common question is “What can it do for me that traditional medicine cannot?” While we are all very familiar with traditional medicine, functional or integrated medicine is not well understood by many Americans or traditional medicine (TM) doctors. There are some subtle differences between functional and integrated/integrative medicine but we will not dissect these subjects right now; instead let’s group them together and refer to them as functional medicine (FM) for simplicity.  At Naperville Integrated Wellness, we practice functional and integrated medicine.  Let’s start by looking at how traditional and functional medicine are similar and then how they are different.

How are functional and traditional medicine similar?

Both TM and FM seek to alleviate pain, prevent or eradicate disease and improve health. They also utilize the tools of patient health and family history, examinations and diagnostic testing procedures. These forms of healthcare also attempt to arrive at an accurate diagnosis and effectively treat the patient. As you can see, in many ways functional and traditional medicine are very similar; but this is where the similarity ends.

How are they different?

1. Examination / Testing Procedures: FM utilizes the same examination and testing procedures (blood tests, x-rays, MRI, etc.) as TM but TM does not use the same examination and testing procedures as FM. For example, both will utilize common blood tests; however FM practitioners often run additional tests to gain more information about the health status of the patient. FM doctors often run additional stool, saliva, blood and urine tests to obtain vital information that is necessary to understand WHY the patient suffers from the condition they present with.
2. Diagnosis and CAUSE of Health Problems: Let’s take a common health problem like high cholesterol to illustrate the difference between TM and FM when it comes to diagnosing disease and identifying the true underlying CAUSE of that disease. If a patient is diagnosed with high cholesterol, a TM physician will usually put the patient on a medication to reduce their cholesterol levels. Both TM and FM would agree that cholesterol should be in a healthy range (although they probably have differing opinions on what a healthy level of cholesterol is) but the FM physician wants to find the CAUSE of elevated cholesterol; not just force it down with medication. Cholesterol levels only increase in response to another underlying health issue and TM is not concerned with the CAUSE of elevated cholesterol in the patient. TM simply wants to lower cholesterol levels in an attempt to prevent cardiovascular disease. Should cholesterol really be the target of treatment and will lowering cholesterol really prevent cardiovascular disease and death? A national study has shown that 75% of patients hospitalized for a heart attack had normal / acceptable cholesterol levels! The World Health Organization says that 80% of all heart disease could be prevented by lifestyle changes alone.  “Statins are the most broadly used class of prescription medications in the history of the world, but there has never been a study comparing them to making lifestyle changes,” says Dr. John Abramson from Harvard Medical School. A recent study also indicates that 140 people at moderate risk for cardiovascular disease would need to be treated with cholesterol drugs to prevent 1 heart attack or stroke; but it would not prevent a single death. That means that less than 1% of those who take the drug will get any benefit from it, yet approximately 20% of these people will suffer adverse side-effects from the medication including muscle pain, liver damage, diabetes and cognitive decline. Heart disease is still the #1 killer of Americans. Is it possible that cholesterol is not really the CAUSE of cardiovascular disease? See my blog, Treatment for High Cholesterol for more information on cholesterol and heart disease.

3. Treatment Approach: Using the same example above, let’s see how a TM doctor and FM doctor might approach the treatment of high cholesterol. TM willprescribe medication to lower the cholesterol levels (these medications work by interfering with normal liver function by the way; that is how they drive down cholesterol). This doctor might also recommend that the patient eat a low-cholesterol diet (even though only 15% of the cholesterol in your blood comes from dietary cholesterol). “Cholesterol concentration usually is NOT changed upward or downward more than 15% by altering the amount of cholesterol in the diet…” Guyton & Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology. A normally functioning liver produces 85% of your total cholesterol and will actually reduce its production of cholesterol as dietary cholesterol is increased! The point here is that a healthy body and liver maintain normal cholesterol levels without the need for medication. The FM doctor is aware of this fact and attempts to locate the underlying CAUSE of abnormal cholesterol production. The true cause may be chronic inflammation in the body, poorly controlled blood sugar, too many carbohydrates in the diet, poor liver function; etc. This doctor will seek to identify the underlying dysfunction in the body that is actually causing the increased cholesterol. The TM approach does not seek to find this dysfunction, so the TRUE CAUSE of high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease is never identified or addressed.

It does not matter to the FM doctor if the patient has high cholesterol, migraines, hormonal problems, digestion problems, emotional / neurological problems or chronic pain; he or she will be looking for the underlying cause. Treating the symptom of a disease is not the same as treating the cause of the disease itself. FM focuses on isolating the underlying cause health problems and restoring normal and healthy function to the body. For more information on functional medicine or integrated medicine go to napervilleintegratedwellness.com. We also offer free workshops in our office on functional and integrated medicine.