Functional medicine is science based and grounded in the physiologic processes of the human body. Whereas traditional medicine often waits until there is a pathology, or disease before starting treatment, functional medicine intervenes sooner, hopefully with the result of preventing the disease from occurring, or if disease is present, functional medicine aims to prevent progression or even reverse the disease state. Functional medicine involves using what are called supplements to directly impact physiologic pathways in your body in order to function correctly. Functional medicine looks at the many systems of the body as interacting, the opposite of the specialist approach in traditional medicine. Functional medicine directly affects the chemistry of your body.
Disease does not happen overnight. Before a disease is present, the body is always in a state of dysfunction, often involving various organ systems. Over time, the dysfunction becomes disease, or pathological change. Where the medical approach often says “Let’s wait and see what happens here”, the functional medicine approach is different. Functional medicine says “This physiological process is not working correctly; the system is out of balance. Let’s address this now to get you back to optimal function, so that no disease will develop.”