Functional Medicine isn't the answer

Years ago, I thought Functional Medicine was the way to go...it was when I was still new at practice and honestly, hadn’t really gotten my feet planted yet.  In my desire to have better answers for my patients, I dove in, expecting to find massive clarity and huge answers to some of the challenging issues presenting for so many of my patients: exhaustion, weight gain, perpetual hormonal issues, pain, mood disorders and more.

Now, only about a year into that adventure, I walked away from functional medicine altogether, finding that it was nothing more than a way to keep prescribing an ongoing onslaught of supplements and massive doses of “bioidentical hormones” to sick people who had no other options.  

Problem was...it just didn’t work.  Patients weren’t getting better and staying there and along the way, they were having issues emerge in other systems which required totally different treatment plans...consequently, you would start at the gut, then go to the thyroid, then adrenals, then estrogen, then back to the gut and so on...chasing symptoms.  

Of course, it wasn’t all symptoms, then there were the pages and pages of lab reports, most of which weren’t usable and didn’t lead to conclusions, only more questions…

I can’t tell you since then how many patients I have seen totally messed up by the loads of overwhelming, poorly formulated, theory-based and unnecessary supplements along with “bioidentical hormones”, not feeling any better AND being put at risk for cancer every day by these haphazard treatment plans.

Instead of feeling better, most felt worse and their “practitioner” had no good explanation for it because they in truth were operating without a clear direction.

You may notice, I put quotes around practitioner here, I do that for very good reason, Functional Medicine isn’t a speciality, it is a term invented by a PhD and adopted by MD’s ND’s, DC’s, DO’s and even sadly...amateur health sleuths to designate themselves as being vastly ahead of the other path...conventional medicine.

Sad truth is, their model is the same as that of the medicine so many rabidly attack...they see only symptoms, don’t regard the body as DIVINELY and intricately connected, they can’t explain how the cell systems relate to the patient experience unless they have an aberrant value to reference, and they pound the body into submission by medicating symptoms using high dose random vitamins and hormones.

They have no TRUE understanding of what healing really is, of how we must FEED the body from the cell layer outward, how we must REPAIR the mechanisms of communication deep inside, how every message we give to our bodies in the form of supplements has to be specific and on target or it will get lost or worse cause damage in an already fatigued and inflamed system and how the MIND and the EMOTIONS and the SPIRIT play a role in healing and MUST be included in every plan or the results are hollow at best.  They give little attention to lifestyle, and life routine and relationships, in the end, all they focus on is labs, hormones and supplements.

That’s it.

I suppose, this bit of truth might rub some the wrong way...I’m cool with that, I’ve been in medicine a long time, and having been certified in Functional Medicine, I feel fully confident to voice what I have experienced to be true from both sides.

I am only here for truth and healing

If you want to know what can be possible outside of that model and are ready to allow your DIVINE body to really heal, set up a call with us and let’s see if we can help you.

Blessings!

Dr. Julie

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