FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE: WHAT IS IT?
Functional medicine is a model of medicine which looks at addressing the root cause of imbalances in your health. We do this by looking at all aspects of a patient’s life: lifestyle factors, environmental exposure, even stress and happiness levels, genetics and within the body. We look at how well a patient’s body is functioning as one whole system, rather than as individual organs and individual symptoms. Regardless of whether you are in generally good health or suffering from chronic illness, we look to optimize all areas of one’s health, whether that is reversing a chronic illness or optimizing sports performance, fertility or simply reducing inflammation as a means of prevention. Simply put, we are figuring out why your body isn’t working optimally and use a holistic protocol to bring your whole system back into balance, without prescribing ‘Band-Aid’ medications.
You should think of your health and your body like a tree. If you had a tree and the leaves started to look unwell, you wouldn’t only look at the leaves to make it better. You would need to think about its roots, and the soil that nourishes them. Your health and your body is the exact same if you feel sick, unwell or unhealthy. You need to get to the root cause of your problem, and look at how you nourish your roots. In order to keep a tree and yourself healthy, you need a strong foundation. In Functional Medicine, the same approach applies. We start by looking at the roots, which is essentially your gut health and genetics. Then we explore the soil, in other words the lifestyle factors… nutrition, sleep, exercise, stress levels, relationships. By first determining the root cause, we can then provide you with specific tools to get you back to optimal health. We have specialists in each area of health, so you will also have a balanced, dynamic and holistic approach to better health.
“Functional Medicine is the future of conventional medicine, and the key to optimal health! “It seeks to identify and address the root causes of disease, and views the body as one integrated system, not a collection of independent organs divided up by medical specialties. It treats the whole system, not just the symptoms.” – Mark Hyman, MD
HOW DO WE PRACTICE IT AT OCEAN ROCK WELLNESS?
You start your functional medicine journey with an initial 90 minute consultation with Dr. Peets Talbot or Dr. Famous. They take an in depth intake of your medical history, symptoms and current lifestyle and eating habits. They will also look for signs and symptoms of stress or poor health, such as bags under eyes, skin rashes or breakouts, thinning of hair, changes on your finger nails, etc. The practitioners will also start some of the specialized testing, such a heart rate variability and body composition testings. Furthermore, at Ocean Rock Wellness, we are proud to offer specialized testing through international laboratories (90% of which are covered by insurance) as a means of solidifying real statistics on your health. This allows us to remove the guessing game, zoom in on imbalances and address them within just a few weeks.
Simply put, functional medicine offers a powerful new operating system and clinical model for assessment, treatment and prevention of chronic disease. The results from the tests help Dr. Peets Talbot and Dr. Famous look for imbalances, deficiencies, inflammation and other markers of health. Based on your results, you will then be given advice on which of our wellness programs may suit your needs. Alternatively, a membership in conjunction with holistic protocols prescribed by our practitioners can be used as part of an integrated and personalized approach to your patient care. Each program and membership involves appointments with all practitioners on the team. This means an integrative mind-body approach to your wellness journey!
In health, Your ORW Team 🙂
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Integrating Eastern and Western medical philosophies in restoring the body back to its balance giving the body its correct ingredients for its restoration so that people feel better naturally is the way of functional medicine. As a result, our patients feel engaged in the program and not lost in the process. This collaboration and patient-centered approach give our patients the best chance to achieve their short and long term goals.