You have to ask WHY?

Functional Medicine: A holistic approach to preventative health means doctors need to look at the patient and not the condition

By Gill Dady B.A (QTS) Dip ION, AFMCP, AIP, mBANT, CHNC

There were many “lightbulb” moments during my years of study and I began to question the current medical paradigm which focuses on treating the symptoms of disease as opposed to asking why the disease had occurred in the first place. Surely it was better to consider the patient as a whole and ask why? ie identify the root cause of that disease instead of just focusing on treating the symptoms. I began to realise that because we are all different, the person who had the disease was more important than the disease itself. If we could focus on the individual and identify their specific biological pathways that were imbalanced we could target treatment protocols more effectively instead of just treating the symptoms.

This is where Functional Medicine comes in. Functional Medicine practitioners ask why? They spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. It is an evidence based approach which utilises the latest medical research to inform treatment protocols. Functional Medicine practitioners understand that everyone is unique and biologically different so there can never be a one size fits all approach. Instead the focus is on creating an individualised plan tailored to the unique health needs.

To illustrate these different approaches take excema as an example. A traditional doctor will likely prescribe a steroid cream to reduce the symptoms and while that may offer some welcome relief, it is not addressing WHY the excema is occurring in the first place, therefore
it will continue to recur. A Functional Medicine practitioner however will ask why. Why is the body inflamed? Why is the immune system overreacting? Then comes the detective work; the practitioner will take a
detailed health history including current symptoms – not just the skin but also digestive, hormonal, stress etc, a timeline of significant events since birth, family history, antibiotic history and food intake. Armed with this
vast amount of information and up-to date research, a skilled practitioner can piece together the puzzle and identify possible imbalances which may be contributing to the inflammation and disturbed immune system that is driving the excema. Is there a high dairy intake? Is there a fatty acid imbalance? Is the liver working optimally? Are the hormone pathways impaired? Are there digestive issues? All of these and more can potentially contribute to excema and a Functional Medicine practitioner is trained to identify which areas to focus upon. For one person, removing dairy products can offer relief, for others increasing oily fish to improve healthy fat intake may help and for someone else a stool test followed by a gut healing strategy may be the priority.