What is a Functional Medicine Doctor?
A functional medicine doctor looks at your body as a single integrated entity, functioning to maintain balance. When there is imbalance in one system it effects so many areas in the rest of your body that may cause issues or imbalances.
For example, if you have chronic diarrhea you may be sent to a gastroenterologist and given a prescription medication, and then over time you develop anxiety and depression. You are then referred to a psychologist, and put on a SSRI. The problem, is that your mood changes were caused by the digestive issues as 90% of serotonin is produced in the gut, and although the prescription given to you by the gastroenterologist has helped to alleviate the symptoms of the diarrhea, it hasn’t corrected the cause and has therefore left you with a mood disorder that will never resolve because the issues won’t be connected by the two different practitioners.
A functional medicine doctor will assess for the root cause of the initiating issue by taking a very thorough history, asking MANY deep and often unusual questions, and using sometimes multiple testing methods, such as heavy metal assessment, Lyme and co-infection testing, Organic acid testing, mold testing, varied blood and serum tests, urine tests, mineral and vitamin levels, genetic and methylation testing, comprehensive stool testing, SIBO breathe test, saliva hormone and DUTCH tests, and amino acid testing, to assess how your body is currently functioning. These tests are not the typical tests run by your family doctor and even specialist, but they can give us more insight into what is going on in your body as a whole and how the body systems are being affected and thrown off balance.
In the original example, seeing a functional medicine doctor, a patient with diarrhea may be assessed using a comprehensive stool analysis and possibly a SIBO breath test. SIBO would be diagnosed, treated with proper supplements and medications, and the digestive system/intestinal health healed, leading to mood improvement. in the end, the patient will have healthy digestion and mood and not have to be on extended use of prescription medications.
Functional medicine is not practised by all naturopaths, chiropractors, medical doctors, or osteopaths. You have to gain extended education with a thorough understanding of methylation medicine.
For further information about seeing Dr. Danielle for a Functional Medicine consult, please call the Natural Care Clinic at 905-631-0880.
