OUTLINES OF THE FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE APPROACH - THE PROCESS

Functional medicine takes a detective-like approach to solving patient cases. It requires thinking about all the possible things that could be causing a person’s symptoms, then figuring out a way to explore and rule out each possibility. In my clinic, we may create a timeline of a patient’s medical history, and map out their health picture including possible root causes and contributing factors. From there, they create a plan that they continually refine as they rule out causes until they hone in on what’s really going on with a patient. ​

This deep detective work takes time, incessant curiosity, and skill. To do this effectively, practitioners need to have a deep understanding of biology, biochemistry, and pathophysiology (disease conditions). This allows them to think creatively about potential solutions for each unique case.

One branch, many roots. One root, many branches.
One branch, many roots: If you have a certain disease or ailment, we identify one or more “root causes” that are unique to you. This means that somebody else with the same ailment may have a different set of root causes. For example, your hormonal headaches may be due to poor liver estrogen clearance, while your friend’s hormonal headaches may be due to vitamin B deficiency, and your neighbor’s headaches may be due to a gut microbiome imbalance. One symptom (branch) with many roots.

One root, many branches: You may have a root imbalance that causes a specific symptom, yet someone else with the same root imbalance may have a different symptom presentation. For example, you may have a root imbalance of poor liver estrogen clearance, which causes hormonal headaches for you. Your friend may also have poor estrogen clearance but her symptom (branch) is heavy painful periods, and your neighbor with the same root has uterine fibroids. This is an example of one root, with many branches.

Functional medicine practitioners look for the root causes of illness. They do this by looking for:

• Antecedents - factors that put someone at risk of developing a problem e.g. a genetic predisposition
• Triggers - an incident that is likely to induce the start of an imbalance or disease state e.g. a stressful life event, microbial or viral infection
• Mediators or drivers - something that contributes to the progression of a condition e.g. a nutrient deficiency, food sensitivity

This is why a thorough case taking is the first step in the investigative process. No stone should be left unturned, as even a minor clue can be the key to putting a person’s health puzzle together.

Functional medicine recognizes that illness does not occur in isolation, and the tools in IFM’s Toolkit, such as the matrix, help clinicians examine the body systems, symptoms, and risk factors associated with their patient’s health conditions. Specifically, the matrix provides an outline for the clinician to organize a patient’s clinical imbalances in the following biological systems, called nodes.

The clues of their stories conduct the identification of key imbalances, and help to understand and discover where and why the major body systems and organs do not work properly and optimally (the body of the trunk).

Each of the 10 systems can be assigned symptoms, personal history (medical, psychological), family history, medication, etc., depending on whether the system is affected or causal. The art lies in highlighting the interdependencies between the various systems, and also in defining the disturbed systems that dominate the natural history of the illness/complaints.

• Assimilation: digestion, absorption, microbiota / gi, respiration
• Defense and repair: immune, inflammation, infection / microbiota
• Energy: energy regulation, mitochondrial function
• Biotransformation and elimination: toxicity, detoxification
• Transport: cardiovascular and lymphatic systems
• Communication: endocrine, neurotransmitters, immune messengers
• Structural integrity: subcellular membranes with musculoskeletal integrity
• Mental
• Emotion
• Spirituality

If you take the example of your food: What could happen if you do not have the proper nutrients and your well-balanced diet lacks essential nutrients like amino acids, vitamins and minerals? What could happen if you consume foods that could trigger inflammation in your body, increase your blood sugar and insulin increase fat storage of the body or consume foods that in turn could have affect your cellular energy, your detoxification, your elimination, your digestion and your hormonal and mental balance etc ...?

With time your systems may have biochemical dysfunctions and their organs may have physiological difficulties and if there are not controlled; the systems of your body can remove the balance of shape (homeostasy). That could cause a domino effect where dysfunction of physiological systems and signs and symptoms appear. These symptoms may be regrouped in a diagnostic constellation that we call a disease. This is what represents the branches and leaves of the tree of functional medicine.

That is why if a tree is sick, we will not paint it in green, you look at the earth, the sun, the water and the nutrients. This is exactly how the new model of medicine sees the body and we look at the disease and the imbalances in the same way.

This is the time to tell the patient his or her story, to make sure we've understood his or her request, but also to bring out a new understanding of the processes responsible for his or her illness/complaints.

To understand is to be heard and recognized, but understanding can also reveal future difficulties in the change needed to heal.

We regularly receive requests such as "I'd like to have a complete check-up", meaning blood tests for nutritional, antioxidant and hormonal markers.

At this stage, it's obviously possible to spend a lot of money, but it's certainly preferable to have collected all the information already available, which can be supplemented, notably through the shared medical file.

• We work with advanced testing laboratories for their know-how and their analytical quality. These specific functional laboratory tests are excellent tools for evaluating different health status of the individual and seeking "THE BIOCHEMICAL INDIVIDUALITY OF EVERY PATIENT.

• They allow to analyze and identify effectively where certain imbalances are located and to measure how the physiology of the body works, rather than just looking at the indications of the disease.

• These tests are the basis of a predictive, preventive and personalized medicine with the objective of optimal health of the patient and are effective ways to monitor progress once a nutritional program is in place for a certain period of time.

Change is healing, but healing is a path, the path of change.

"I" means taking ACTION to induce the CHANGES needed to alter the course of the disease and regain health.

This is undoubtedly the most difficult stage of the therapeutic process, because we are often ready to get better with a wave of a magic wand, but without changing anything.

James Prochaska & Carlo DiClemente's model distinguishes 5 stages of change

Pre-contemplation or inaction The person doesn't contemplate change, either because they don't understand it, or because it's too difficult or considered impossible.

Contemplation or awareness The person is thinking about making a change, but tends to see the short-term disadvantages and difficulties more than the long-term benefits.
Taking the next step involves a change of perspective.

Preparing for action The person is convinced of the merits of making the change. They think it's time to act. They make plans.

Taking action The person adapts the necessary behaviors by organizing his or her life and environment in such a way as to promote change.This stage requires time and energy. Relapses are normal and numerous.

Maintenance or consolidation The person has been able to maintain the changes for at least six months.If the patient has had a sufficiently positive corrective physical and emotional experience, he or she changes his or her worldview and way of life.

Functional medicine prioritises empowering patients and partnering with them on their journey to good health. People are complex creatures – not just in body, but in mind - so an effective care plan requires a deep understanding of people and behaviour change.​ It is almost impossible to rediscover a certain freedom if you do not understand exactly what condition it is and how certain factors can influence this condition.

Fostering a collaborative relationship helps patients feel heard and supported, while also giving them a sense of control and agency over their own care plan.​

Education for a better way of life will ensure your faster, higher and longer sucesses. You will receive educational materials as part of your health plan as well as several opportunities to attends workshops and seminars.

Functional medicine uses botanicals and other forms of nutritional supplementation, as well as “food as medicine,” in addition to pharmaceutical agents and other health supportive therapies. Taking a Functional medicine approach to health does not remove the options and recommendations for prescription medications when applicable, but rather applies them amongst the broader scope and approach of root cause holistic medicine as defined in the Functional Medicine Tree and Matrix.

At Love your body nutrition and lifestyle, I approach Functional medicine as an important complement to traditional medicine and not an alternative. Systems of health protection should work together!

Regardless of the amount of research available, it is evident that what we don't know about the body will always exceed what we do know, and therefore the most natural approach to food is more likely to accommodate mechanisms of action which, as yet, remain undiscovered. Since nature designed nutrients to be consumed in unique packages (i.e wholefoods) rather than in isolation, my approach focuses primarily on the use of wholefoods within a balanced diet, rather than programmes of supplements which have the potential to cause imbalances elsewhere in the body if taken at therapeutic levels. I believe that this is a more reliable way of ensuring that the medical knowledge we don’t have is covered, without endangering health through inappropriate use of the knowledge we do have.

Where there is evidence of nutrient deficiency, or there is robust evidence to support the use of a supplemental nutrient for a particular health condition, individuals will be considered on a case-by-case basis for intervention through the use of supplements in addition to their diet and lifestyle recommendations.

Supplements are never used as a substitute to food and a balanced diet, but can be very useful in different stages of life such as growth, pregnancy, menopause, aging or still to achieve a specific objective .

There are two types of supplementation:

• Maintenance supplementation consists of supplementing basic micronutrients that may be difficult to obtain if your modern lifestyle does not always provide time for healthy eating, or individuals who regularly eat unbalanced meals or even as part of a regular diet. Healthy eating individuals may benefits also if they have special activities and living conditions such as intensive sports, study and travel. Opting for food supplements may be an effective way to fill the gaps and various deficiencies your body may be exposed to. Examples may include vitamin D, vitamin A, EPA and DHA and probiotics etc...

• Therapeutic supplementation is designed to achieve a specific goal and have favorable effects on health challenges such as digestion, stress, fatigue, joints, etc. Therapeutic supplementation depends on your individual circumstances: your state of health and the problems you are trying to solve. They can be very beneficial in a nutrition program to solve chronic health problems.

We uses scientifically validated natural substances: vitamins, minerals, essential oils, herbal and homeopathic remedies to meet your health challenges rather than artificial and synthetic chemical. These are natural substances that the body can easily assimilate and use . They can be consumed in the long term without any side effects.

The impact of the interventions implemented

The difficulties encountered by the patient in changing

It means going back over the patient's history, understanding what's working and what's not. It means encouraging change and understanding the difficulties encountered. Collaborating with other healthcare professionals to modify what can be modified.

• Optimize the biological values of the individual to re-establish the balance of dysfunctional systems by strengthening the fundamental physiological processes that underlie them and by adjusting the environmental inputs that nourish or alter their well-being.
• Reduces nutritional deficiencies 
• Optimize the immune system 
• Enhancing neurological functions 
• Repairing the mucous membrane 
• Healing inflammatory bowel disease 
• Reverse type 2 diabetes 
• Improves lactose digestion 
• Reduces food sensibilities 
• Prevents toxins from entering the blood circulation, which causes a series of autoimmune disorders elimine candida.
• Support detoxification 
• Reduces anxiety and depression 
• Improve autism 
• Re-balancing probiotics in the microbiome. 
• Stop overload of bad bacteria that dominate the intestinal environment. 
• and even more...