While conventional medicine has helped save and improve countless lives, its focus is too often on symptom alleviation. To achieve optimal health and wellness, it is important to get to the root causes of disease, which is where functional medicine steps in.
At Aesthetic Polyclinic, we take a patient-centered approach to health and wellness. Our team consists of doctors trained and certified in functional medicine. If you want to achieve optimal health by addressing the root causes of your condition, schedule a consultation at the Aesthetic Polyclinic today.
Functional medicine is a patient-centered approach to disease management. Instead of just alleviating symptoms, it aims to get to the root cause of illness to help patients restore health and improve well-being. The word “functional” in functional medicine refers to the function of biological systems that, when disorganized, result in disease. Functional medicine is based on research in nutritional science, genomics and epigenetics.
Functional medicine looks at the bigger picture when it comes to health and illness. What this means is that instead of considering disease in isolation and treating symptoms, it looks at the body as a complex system. Functional medicine also takes an individualized, patient-centered approach. A functional medicine doctor will typically perform the following:
Take a detailed look at your personal and medical history
Your doctor will start by talking to you in great detail about your medical history and your personal history. This may include any health conditions past and present, your relationships, diet and lifestyle and other factors.
Perform a comprehensive physical examination and order lab testing
This may include standard measurements like your height, weight and blood pressure. Detailed lab tests that look at your blood, urine, stool and hair samples can help detect disease but also screen for deficiencies and imbalances.
Create a care plan and set health goals
Once your doctor determines the probable causes of your condition, they will recommend non-pharmaceutical interventions, alternative medicine treatments, dietary changes, lifestyle changes and body movement therapies, to name a few examples. Setting health goals helps follow your progress and check whether the recommended therapies are working.
Benefits of Functional Medicine
Functional medicine has many advantages, making it an attractive alternative to more traditional treatments.
Uncovers the root cause of illness instead of simply alleviating symptoms
Is patient-centered and highly individualized
Prevents and reverses complex and chronic conditions
Relies on a multi-disciplinary approach to achieve optimal wellness
Focuses on natural, dietary, alternative and safe therapies
Patients are involved, playing an active role in their health journey
Backed by decades of research
What Conditions Can Functional Medicine Address?
Since its beginnings, functional medicine has focused on chronic conditions. These conditions are difficult to treat because they typically are due to multiple underlying and difficult-to-diagnose causes. Some of the many conditions that are typically treated with the functional medicine model include:
What Is the Difference Between Functional and Holistic Medicine?
Both holistic and functional medicine look at the body as a complex, interconnected system and focus on non-pharmaceutical interventions. However, these two approaches are also quite different. The aim of holistic medicine is well-being, spiritual, physical and emotional. Its focus is typically on preventive care and natural healing. Functional medicine aims to find the root causes of disease using an integrative and personalized approach. It hopes to prevent and reverse chronic conditions.
Who Should Try Functional Medicine?
While anyone can try functional medicine, it can be of particular help to people who have already tried traditional approaches for a chronic condition but are not satisfied with the outcomes. Functional medicine is also great for anyone who prefers getting personalized treatment, being involved in the diagnosis and treatment process and relying on non-invasive and non-pharmaceutical treatments.
The Functional Medicine Approach
The functional medicine models involve the same steps we see in conventional medicine: consultation, testing, diagnosis and treatment. But there are also quite a few differences between the two:
Consultation
Talking in great detail about your medical and personal history is the cornerstone of the functional medicine model. You and your doctor will go through your past health struggles, family history of illness, your lifestyle, the environment you live in, your emotional states, etc. All this will help create a personalized framework for diagnosis and treatment.
Lab and Other Tests
Lab tests and exams are much more comprehensive in functional medicine than in traditional models. These tests may include saliva hormone testing, antibody serology tests, organic acid tests and more.
Diagnosis
Based on your history and test results, your doctor will determine the possible culprit of your condition. Many chronic illnesses are due to microbiome imbalances, a leaky gut, chronic inflammation, food sensitivities, stress and other factors that are difficult to uncover using standard testing.
Treatment
You will work closely with your doctor and other health experts to establish a treatment plan that you can adhere to. This can include changing your diet, incorporating physical therapy, meditation, massage, herbal medicine, acupuncture and more.
Functional medicine doctors understand that chronic conditions like depression, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis are due to multiple factors that can be found in the person’s genes, lifestyle and environment. Because uncovering these underlying factors and establishing equilibrium takes time and patience, your results will also take time to manifest. This can be anywhere between a couple of weeks to years. Once we uncover what is causing your health issues, you will be on a pathway toward optimal health and better well-being.
Can Functional Medicine Be Combined With Other Treatments?
Yes! Functional medicine can be used alongside conventional medicine, alternative medicine, holistic treatments and integrative medicine.
Why Choose Aesthetic Polyclinic for Your Functional Medicine Treatment?
At Aesthetic Polyclinic, our goal is to help our clients live happy, healthy lives using holistic approaches. Our doctors have been trained and certified in offering functional medicine consultations and treatments. We have years of experience helping clients who have been dealing with chronic conditions for years with no success and have found relief using the functional medicine model.
Schedule Your Functional Medicine Consultation at Aesthetic Polyclinic
Functional medicine is a less-known approach to optimizing health and well-being, but it has an established reputation within the medical community. It offers an alternative approach to chronic disease management. If you want to try functional medicine alone or together with other therapies, schedule a consultation at one of our clinics in Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Al Ain.
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