What is functional medicine, and why does it provide a more lasting and meaningful approach to health and disease? Let’s explore with a simple example:
The Bucket Analogy
Imagine you fill a bucket with water every day, but by the next day, it’s empty. This happens repeatedly. What do you do?
- Option 1: Keep refilling the bucket every day.
- Option 2: Find and repair the hole in the bucket so the water doesn’t leak out anymore.
Functional medicine takes the second approach: instead of just managing symptoms, we look for and address the root causes of health problems.
Another Example: Headaches
If you have headaches, you can:
- Option 1: Take painkillers to ease the pain—this only masks the problem, and the headache returns.
- Option 2: Investigate why you get headaches—find the “hole in the bucket.”
Possible causes could include:
- Needing glasses, causing eye strain
- Poor work posture, leading to neck and shoulder tension
- Dehydration
- Lack of sleep or exhaustion
By addressing the underlying issue—whether it’s vision, posture, hydration, or sleep—you resolve the real problem. Your headache disappears because you’ve “sealed the hole in the bucket.” This is the essence of functional medicine.
The Mind-Body Connection
Functional medicine recognizes that our bodies are complex, interconnected systems. True health comes from improving the function of all systems. Hormones, for example, are messengers that link the body and mind. Feeling nervous? Hormones can make you feel ill or trigger physical responses.
This approach takes a deep dive into each individual’s health—considering genetics, lifestyle, diet, environment, and mental health. Treatment plans are personalized, based on comprehensive health histories and a range of laboratory tests.
The Advantages of Functional Medicine
- Individualized treatment: Plans are tailored to your unique needs and health history.
- Focus on prevention: We aim to prevent health problems before they occur by identifying risk factors and making lifestyle changes.
- Addressing underlying causes: Instead of masking symptoms, we work to solve the real causes of health issues.
- Holistic approach: We see and respect the connections between different systems in the body.
- Deeper understanding of the client: We spend time understanding your lifestyle and background, which builds motivation and creates better results for your health and wellbeing.
How I Help You as a Functional Medicine Expert and Complementary Hormone Therapist
I treat the unbalanced body with functional medicine and complementary hormone therapy, always seeing the human as a whole, where body and mind work together.
- Finding the cause: The first step is to identify the root of illness or symptoms.
- Restoring balance: Then, we address the underlying cause so the body’s natural functions are restored and symptoms resolve—instead of simply masking them with medication.
By collecting detailed information—your symptoms, medical history, family health, diet diary, lifestyle, and laboratory tests—I identify the root causes. I then develop a personalized health program that may include functional foods, supplements, movement, nervous system balancing, stress reduction, and guidance toward a chemical-free lifestyle.
When Is Functional Medicine Not the Right Solution?
For acute injuries like broken bones, major trauma, or emergencies (such as cardiac arrest), traditional medicine is absolutely necessary and life-saving. Functional medicine is best suited for chronic or lifestyle-related conditions, not acute injuries or emergencies.
Do You Want to Get Rid of Your Symptoms?
As a hormonal expert and functional medicine practitioner, I can help with:
- Adrenal fatigue or HPA axis dysfunction, energy loss, tiredness, and burnout
- Sadness, despondency, and depression
- Stress, poor memory, difficulty concentrating, and lack of focus
- Sleep problems
- Digestive issues, irritable bowel, inflammatory bowel disease, and histamine intolerance
- Metabolic problems
- Autoimmune diseases
- Allergies and food intolerances
- PMS (premenstrual syndrome), painful or heavy periods, absent periods, PCOS, infertility, and endometriosis
- Menopausal discomfort
This blog post is written by complementary hormonal practitioner, Lise Bøgsted. Lise is a qualified civil engineer in chemistry, coach in positive psychology, nutritionist, complementary hormonal therapist, specialized editor, and instructor at the Institute for Complementary Hormonal Therapy. Read more about Lise and her background here.
