Here’s How Functional Medicine Works To Effectively Identify The Root of Your Illness

What does it take to identify underlying reasons for illnesses? And why the healthcare system struggles with it?

If you’ve ever struggled with ongoing illness, you’ve likely found it’s difficult to get to the root of the problem. Modern medicine takes patients through a series of tests, conversations and more just to identify a single trigger or issue. Sometimes, this process takes patients years, all the while they find no relief or comfort.

There is an easier option, one that allows patients quick access to information about their body and health—and it only takes one test.

In the American healthcare system, lab and imaging tests rule diagnosis. But in order to get to the official problem, a list of procedures may be scheduled. These tests each focus on one particular possibility, and rarely examine overall health. With functional medicine, patients are able to test for individual diseases they may have, and even predict what diseases they’re most susceptible to.

Fixing the problem as a whole is a common struggle patients face, especially when shuffled between healthcare providers. Specialists focus on individual diseases, symptoms and body parts, which can make fixing a disease nearly impossible, depending on how it manifests. Patients with diseases often end up taking a plethora of medications to resolve symptoms but never address the disease in full.

So what, exactly, is functional medicine? Here’s what you need to know about the testing, and why it may benefit you.

What Is Functional Medicine?

To identify underlying reasons for illnesses, Functional Medicine aims to find the epicenter of the problem. It’s not designed to mask symptoms with medications.

The concept is simple: in order to treat the problem, the center of it must be identified and fixed. This is different from normal healthcare, which often prescribes medication to eliminate individual symptoms, rather than working to cure the total problem.

For those with diseases, Functional Medicine addresses the disease as a whole and attempts to target exactly what caused the disease, rather than how it’s manifested.

How Does It Work?

The tests used in functional medicine are different from your normal doctor’s office, but not by too much. It’s all biologically based, meaning functional medicine works to evaluate what is “off” about a patient’s body. The goal is to restore it to a baseline, functional health.

Ciba Health Inc offers a list of tests available to order that can take a deeper look into an individual’s health. Some of these are saliva, urine and blood tests that focus on specific problems and diagnosis. The way patients are tested is similar to any healthcare system lab test. It’s the results that differ.

If an Ciba Health doctor orders testing, patients’ results will give them guidelines for how to improve their overall health. “Ciba Health will rank imbalances (so you can focus on what is most important), recommend further testing based on your current lab results, and provide special alerts where your lab results may require extra attention,” the website explains.

This overall view of one’s health expands further than a standard lab test, designed to identify one problem. Patients will come away from the initial visit with an outline of what they can work on to find balance within their bodies. Working one on one with Ciba Health`s doctors, registered dietitians, and health coaches, patients can work to reverse or prevent chronic conditions from the inside out, all while being supported by professionals who truly hear them and support them.