The Chicken and the Egg or What is Functional Medicine?

 

I am always amazed at what people will say when they can remain anonymous. Recently we published a guest post on our website by Dr. Ron Grisanti entitled “What is Functional Medicine?”  A well-written article, it resulted in three hateful comments (not published on our website) calling us names and comparing functional medicine to homeopathy.

I do practice Functional Medicine. And we do, on occasion, use homeopathy. But the two are very different. Functional medicine is not a symptom-based treatment paradigm. It is a solution-based treatment paradigm.

Sometimes, the best way to understand is via illustration. So, let’s discuss what functional medicine is by comparing the treatment strategies for a common complaint among patients, fatigue.

The protocol in traditional medicine routinely addresses fatigue as depression. But in looking at fatigue in that light, the chicken or the egg scenario quickly comes into play. Is fatigue depression or are depressive symptoms the result of stress and fatigue?

The answer, which seems painfully obvious to me, is the latter.  In my earlier post “It’s Not Depression…It’s Stress,” the symptoms of depressions are the results of stress. It seems like semantics, but determining cause and effect is a critical part of practicing medicine. Treating symptoms with anti-depressants does not actually treat the cause. In contrast, they create dependence. Anti-depressants become a very costly band-aid which causes physiologic disruption as well.

The traditional medical approach is linear, reactionary, and a “one-size fits all” approach.  Let’s contrast this with a functional medicine approach.

Functional medicine is about biochemistry. Functional medicine is about physiology. Functional medicine is not an opinion, nor is it a standard of care. Functional medicine is the standard of biochemistry and physiology. Like death and taxes, biochemistry and physiology are constant.

Fatigue is the lack of energy.  Lack of energy is the lack of ATP generation.  What is ATP? ATP is energy.

Above, is the molecular structure of ATP.  ATP production is glycolysis, Kreb’s cycle, and the electron transport.

What you see above is the biochemistry of energy production. It is the physiologic process that occurs within every cell of our body every second of every day.

Not only that, but this entire process of energy production can be evaluated through testing which we perform here at Seasons Wellness Clinic. Even better, individual treatments can be designed based on an individual’s specific biochemical dysfunction, true individualized therapy directed at the source of the problem.

So, when someone has symptoms of fatigue or poor energy production, doesn’t it make sense to look to the cell’s energy production mechanism?  It seems like an obvious step.  Yet, is rarely done. My fellowship training allows me to evaluate test results and see the energy-generation, or lack thereof, in your body’s biochemistry and to tailor a solution that will resolve your energy-production issues.

What concerns me is not that others have differing opinions. It is not the debate of ideas and research. I welcome that. My concern is when there is opposition to OPEN exchange and debate of ideas and research. There is a hostility that seems to be present everywhere in medicine. It is my opinion that when in debate, if you resort to name-calling, you have lost the intellectual high ground.

Conventional medicine is not the problem. Remember, I am a conventionally trained physician. But, as stated by Dana Ullman, MPH, the problem is the “conventional thought” in medicine today. Medicine should be about what is right, not about what everyone else is doing. Medicine, it seems to me, has become much more about preserving a way of life, rather than actually preserving life.

Functional medicine is not about a standard of care. It is not about an opinion. Functional medicine is about treating the individual, determining the biochemical dysfunction at its source.

For me, functional medicine is about giving credit and glory to our Creator. I look to evaluate and prescribe therapy based on the premise of returning proper function to His creation.

Want to read more about functional medicine? I’m currently enrolled at The University of South Florida’s Medical School, the third largest in the United States, in the Master’s Program for Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine. You can read more about that program here. I’ve also listed a few additional articles that might be of interest. Happy reading!

Related articles

• Innovative Master’s Degree Program Launched by The A4M Fellowship in Anti-Aging Medicine and University of South Florida (prweb.com)
• What Is Functional Medicine? (a4m.com)

Black, White, and Gray in the World of Medicine

John 8:32 says, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” As a Christian, I wholeheartedly believe that scripture. In that case, John was quoting Jesus Christ, and the truth of which he spoke was the truth of Jesus’ purpose for his life, death, and resurrection on this earth.

We hear that phrase thrown around in the everyday vernacular because it rings true for worldly topics, not just the heavenly. A good decision can only be made about a matter when the truth of opposing sides is known. Otherwise, any decision seems tainted in some way. Truth makes things clear and eliminates the gray in the black and white of the decision-making process.

So where is the gray in the world of healthcare? You don’t have to look far. In modern healthcare, physicians depend on the latest prescription drug to solve the problems of a symptomatic patient rather than delving deeper into the underlying physical chemistry. Having my practice dictated by which pharmaceuticals to dispense didn’t seem right in my soul. Where was the preventative care for the body? Was there a way to prevent disease and return the body to optimal health?

Truth in health and wellness is found in physiology and biochemistry. I, often begrudgingly, waded my way through the classes of organic chemistry, biochemistry, and physiology, not knowing that one day I would return to those roots as the fundamentals of my medical practice.

In returning to these fundamentals, I now spend time analyzing the body’s current function and, as naturally as possible, returning the body to optimal health.

Can I prevent disease? Well, not entirely. The overwhelmingly toxicity of our environment and the unique genetics of each person have a factor in disease, too. But the idea behind anti-aging and functional medicine is to provide my patients with the best quality of life possible for as long as they live instead of being debilitated by disease for years. It’s all about HEALTHY LIVING.

As I continue to practice medicine, I realize how important it is to EDUCATE. Health and wellness education is one of our primary missions at Seasons. It is the lack of wellness in north Louisiana which led me to seek further education in functional medicine (I am now board certified and fellowship trained in Functional Medicine) giving me the tools that I need to solve the health problems my patients deal with every day.

You see, I became a physician to help people get better and feel better. And because that wasn’t happening with the protocols currently being used by the American College of Gynecology, I sought a better way of doing things. But in doing so, I have also found that educating my patients, the community, the state of Louisiana, and even my fellow physicians is required. How to do that is the question!

Allow me to introduce you to DIIGO. Notice on the front page of our website in the column on the right there is a box labeled Seasons Diigo Updates. Diigo is a “cloud-based information management service that enables users to collect, highlight, access and share a variety of information, on a variety of devices,” according to their blog. That’s a fancy definition. For you non-tech types, Diigo allows me to bookmark what I’m reading and share it with YOU.

From the Seasons Diigo list, you can see what I’m reading — the latest developments and research in health and wellness — and what I recommend that YOU read in order to educate yourself. I use this tool to organize scientific research available on the world wide web that will help YOU understand the Seasons Five Points of Wellness (nutrition, exercise, hormone balance, reducing inflammation, and detoxification).

The abstracts (brief synopsis of studies) and articles you find on our Diigo list represent the latest discussions by physicians and scientists from around the world whose research contributes to your understanding of health and wellness TRUTHS. This is not information regurgitated and twisted by a news report. This is the real, actual science.

If you have questions about our preventative approach to healthcare, then read, and learn for yourself what the latest research indicates about the Seasons approach to wellness. I update our Diigo list almost daily, so check back often. Or better yet, subscribe to our list so that you receive daily updates of new wellness research.

With the world wide web at your fingertips, information is so readily available. You are not limited by the resources on your street, in your town, in your region, or even in your state. You have a whole world of information available at your fingertips. At Seasons, we’re trying to get the right information into the hands of those who are truly passionate about taking charge of their own wellness. And if you are reading this, then THAT IS YOU!

Happy reading. And cheers to the pursuit of wellness.

How do I keep up with the Seasons Diigo List?

1. Visit our website regularly. You can click on any of the links in the Seasons Diigo Updates box and go directly to the article.
2. Visit Diigo regularly. Visit http://groups.diigo.com/group/seasonswc and see the list there.
3. Have summary emails sent to you daily/weekly. To do this, you’ll need to create a diigo account at http://diigo.com. Once you’ve created an account, you can join the Seasons Wellness group. Depending on the notification setting you choose when you create your account, you’ll receive a summary email with all the articles I’ve bookmarked that day or that week.

Related articles

• Wellness: Do Doctors Know What To Look For? (time.com)
• Healthy Medicine: A New Model for Cancer Care (truthonmedecine.wordpress.com)
• Seasons Diigo Updates

From the Doctor’s Desk: Health and Wellness Defined

Definitions.

Health can best be defined as the absence of disease.  Wellness is best defined as the existence of positive health.  So health and wellness can be best defined as the absence of disease in the presence of positive health.

Why the focus on health and wellness these days? I think modern medicine gets a failing grade. Obesity is epidemic in the American culture today. One of my patients knew that her weight was not healthy. However, her previous physician told her that she should learn to live with her new heavier weight and maybe the weight would level out. That statement haunted her and led her to find a physician who offered her more hope and solutions.

Health and wellness cannot be achieved through a traditional, allopathic (Western modern medicine) medical approach. Why? Western modern medicine (we’ll call it traditional for our purposes) uses a disease-focused model utilizing pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals block biochemical reactions, produce mitochondrial toxins, and deplete important nutrients. There is no positive health there.

In fact, the 4^th – 6^th leading cause of death is from prescription drugs (Mol Aspects Med. 2005 Aug-Oct;26(4-5):363-78). In contrast, functional medicine is a health and wellness model utilizing natural substances found in the body to enhance cellular processes. A health and wellness model looks to work with the body, to facilitate metabolic reactions and optimize physiologic function (The principles of metabolic therapy for heart disease. Heart, Lung and Circulation 2003; 12:S55-S62).

In some ways, the two are complementary; but in many ways, the two are not. I am not advocating a boycott of traditional medicine. In fact, I still practice some traditional medicine when disease exists.

The key is this — does disease exist or not?  If disease doesn’t exist, and health and wellness or health restoration is your goal, then a functional or integrative approach is the way to go to facilitate and optimize physiologic function.

So, what is a functional medicine approach?  To help define functional medicine, let’s look at a few examples.

The traditional medicine approach.

Metformin or Glucophage is a well-recognized drug used to treat diabetes.  Metformin works to improve insulin sensitivity and thus facilitate glucose uptake inside the cells.  Type II Diabetes is marked by very poor insulin sensitivity and thus blood sugar rises.  Traditional medicine prescribes Metformin to provide a 13% improvement in insulin sensitivity.

Remember, pharmaceuticals block biochemical reactions.  Metformin reduces folic acid and vitamin B12 and can elevate homocysteine. Elevated homocysteine levels increase blood clot risk (this is one of the ways that birth control pills increase blood clot risk).  Diabetics and those with insulin resistance are already at an increased risk of blood clots. Can you see how the treatment is piling on in this situation?

The functional medicine approach.

Let’s contrast that with a functional medicine approach. Vitamin D deficiency is rampant today. Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in heart failure, myocardial dysfunction, sudden cardiac death, and is required for normal insulin release and glucose control.  Remember the 13% for metformin? Higher vitamin D levels resulted in a 60% improvement in insulin sensitivity (Chiu K., et al., “hypovitaminosis D is associated with insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction,” Amer Jour Clin Nutr  2004).

Remember, functional medicine works with and facilitates the body’s functions. Vitamin D does not block any biochemical reactions, nor does it interfere with any. Thus, there is no negative effect comparable to Metformin. Now, too much of a good thing can be a problem. Too much Vitamin D can elevate calcium. Because of this, Vitamin D should be prescribed under the watchful eye of a physician.

Why do I do what I do?

Amazing results — as naturally as possible. This is why I practice functional medicine. This is why I created Seasons. A health and wellness model, through functional medicine, works with the body to enhance and optimize physiologic function.  Health and health restoration can only be achieved by working with the body. Let’s get out of the way and let the body heal itself.