Secretary-General ICTM

Nutritional & Functional Medicine Practitioner, DSY Wellness & Longevity Center

McMed (NM), F’Ship Anti-Aging Metabolic & Functional Medicine (A4M, USA)

Functional Medicine And Its Role In Chronic Health Disorder

Functional medicine is a system-based approach that sees organs and body systems are interconnected, and the body’s function makes up the matrix. It believes in seeking the root cause of health problems to treat and prevent them. Functional medicine practitioners tend to do an in-depth and comprehensive assessment to look into all body systems when a disease occurs.

What function medicine comprises, and what are its practices?

The functional medicine model sees our human body as a matrix. And the matrix interacts with our genes, environment, bacteria, virus, etc.

And this matrix comprises seven factors which are:

-     Assimilation

-     Biotransformation & Elimination

-     Defense & repair

-     Structural integrity

-     Communication

-     Energy

-     Transport

Generally speaking, functional medicine comprises several interventions, including nutrition, movement, stress management, sleep and relationships and other restorative therapies.

People are often confused between functional medicine and functional nutrition. Because functional nutrition is one of the most common practices of functional medicine, and it uses diet interventions to restore body balance.

A person has several health issues simultaneously, which are not rarely seen nowadays. Still, in conventional medicine practices nowadays, medical practitioners tend to separate the problems according to diagnostic codes. And what functional medicine does is to gather all the patient’s history into a complete patient story. From the perspective of functional health, all health issues have their own predisposition, provoke and contributing factors. Many chronic health disorders are tough to diagnose for several reasons, especially when the patient’s doctor doesn’t know their complete past medical history.

What is the effectiveness of functional medicine against chronic health disorders?

Chronic fatigue syndrome

It is a syndrome characterised by people who always feel extremely tired even though they have had sufficient rest or sleep. The CDC criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome are post exertional malaise; unrefreshing sleep; impaired memory or concentration; muscle pain; polyarthralgia, sore throat; tender lymph nodes; or new headaches. It is a highly complex disorder that is hard to diagnose by medical professionals. Currently and unfortunately, there is no golden treatment or cure for chronic fatigue syndrome, and it can only be managed.

But, the good news is that some people with chronic fatigue syndrome are relieved and nearly recover after functional medicine therapy.

Rather than treating symptoms, functional medicine practitioners will look into and address underlying body system dysfunction such as inflammation levels, thyroid function, adrenal function, nutritional status, etc. After that, they will design an individualised plan consisting of nutrients, stress management, exercise, acupuncture and regular detoxification for the patient. Some studies showed patients experienced steady and significant improvement, and some even received unexpected resolutions.

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is long-standing pain that persists with an unusually long recovery period or occurs along with chronic health disorders. Chronic pain, physical health and mental health are intricately interwoven. A long-term pain in any part of the body can be a catalyst for anxiety and severe depression. And patients who suffer from chronic pain often need painkillers like NSAIDs or even opioids. Still, however, in conventional medicine, they may not meet the prescription.

Therefore, some clinicians may choose the biopsychosocial approach to manage chronic pain, which involves nociceptive, affective, sociocultural, behavioural, and cognitive. And then, they interpret and connect the webs of the possible cause so they can dig into the cause of chronic pain.

Chronic sinusitis

Many people suffer from sinus congestion, and you can always hear the sound of blowing nose these days. The common symptoms of sinusitis are a pain in the face, runny nose and throbbing pressure in the head. If an infection is identified, conventional medicine practitioners will use antibiotics and symptomatic drugs to treat it. However, many people cannot resolve sinusitis despite receiving long-term medical or surgical treatment. Therefore, identifying the root cause (whether it is food or airborne allergen or something else) becomes the most critical part of dealing with chronic sinusitis. The functional medicine practitioners will thoroughly check the patient history and conduct further tests such as nasal culture, allergen testing or elimination test. And also they consider the patient’s immune system, which may involve bacterial imbalance and chronic inflammation. If the patients are found to have dysbiosis, the clinicians may prescribe them some nutritional supplements such as prebiotics and probiotics to restore their gut health and the immune system.

Conclusion

Rome does not build up in one day; chronic diseases develop over time, and it takes time to restore and heal your body slowly. Functional medicine traces the root cause of disease, which helps to address long-term chronic health problems that seem hard to tackle. And yes, you can see rising studies of how functional medicine practices can effectively have fewer side effects (because it just helps you to improve daily routines) for people with chronic diseases. Not only those with the above disorders we mentioned but also effective with other chronic metabolic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes and thyroid disorders.

Lastly, always remember that if you want to seek advice, please find certified functional health practitioners, and never agree to start any treatment yourself before being properly diagnosed by professionals.