Question

Explain in 3 paragraphs in YOUR OWN WORDS what functional medicine is.

Answer 1

• Functional medicine provides an overall view of someone's health. Prevention is the cornerstone of functional medicine because many complex and chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, mental illness, or rheumatoid arthritis are preventable when medical care focuses on the entire person. Therefore, by focusing on prevention through healthy living, the goal is to avoid needing treatment.
• When symptoms do occur, functional medicine practitioners do more than just go through a check list of symptoms to reach a diagnosis.Instead, they define the symptoms and look at all of the contributing factors such as environment, genetics, activities, and mental health to determine the root cause of the problem. And, when treating a condition, the aim is to reduce increased trauma by combining prescription medicine, herbal remedies, supplements, stress-management, and other non-invasive techniques.
• Functional Medicine enables physicians and other health professionals to practice proactive, predictive, personalized medicine and empowers patients to take an active role in their own health.
  It is a personalized, systems-oriented model that empowers patients and practitioners to achieve the highest expression of health by working in collaboration to address the underlying causes of disease.
• It takes a whole body approach to health that incorporates lifestyle and choices, disease prevention, and patient centered treatment. It essentially puts the individual in the driver’s seat, not the healthcare system.The functional medicine model for health and healthcare focuses on the various systems within the body and partners patients with practitioners in efforts to bring about balance and an overall state of well-being. It encourages and empowers the individual to take an active role in his or her health by preventative practices and choices.