Women's Health & Functional Medicine

Integrative Medicine is the artful use of traditional and modern  healing methods. Functional Medicine uses a whole body, whole person approach that focuses on wellness, and not just the suppression of symptoms. Using state of the art testing, and starting with the gut  (which is the heart of the immune system), healing occurs primarily  through removing toxic loads from the body, and increasing supportive  nutrition for body, mind and spirit. For complex issues, occasionally  medications or nutraceuticals are needed as well.

Functional Medicine is guided by six core principles:

• An understanding of the biochemical individuality of each human  being, based on the concepts of genetic and environmental uniqueness;
• Awareness of the evidence that supports a patient-centered rather than a disease-centered approach to treatment;
• Search for a dynamic balance among the internal and external body, mind, and spirit;
• Interconnections of internal physiological factors;
• Identification of health as a positive vitality, not merely the  absence of disease, and emphasizing those factors that encourage the  enhancement of a vigorous physiology;
• Promotion of organ reserve as the means to enhance the health span, not just the life span, of each patient.

A client-centered approach refers to health care that is respectful of and responsive to individual client preferences, needs, and values, and that ensures that patient values guide all clinical decisions. Client-centered care is the core of what the Institute for Functional Medicine calls the therapeutic partnership; the relationship that forms between a client and clinician that empowers the client to take ownership of their own healing. Clients who are active participants in the development of their therapeutic plan feel more in control of their own well-being and are more likely to make sustained lifestyle changes to improve their health.

Resources:

• See the Institute for Functional Medicine site for more information.
• The National Women’s Health Network
• The Institute for Functional Medicine
• Aviva Romm, MD, Herbalist and Functional Medicine Specialist, and one of my teachers