Since we opened our doors in 2005, we’ve talked to many people and have heard many of the same concerns from those considering Functional Medicine for the first time. But, unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation that keeps people from getting the help they need to heal. In this article, we will debunk the seven most common myths.

Myth # 1 – Functional Medicine isn’t going to fix this because nothing else I’ve tried has fixed it yet.

We hear this all the time during initial consultations with new patients. Many patients only discover functional Medicine after a long journey with conventional American medical Medicine, so of course, they feel like there’s nothing that can make them better. But, in most cases, we quickly realize during the first consultation that many stones have been left unturned.

Most people who come to us from conventional medical doctors have never had complete functional lab tests, a comprehensive timeline and family history, or the proper guidance to ensure success. We have found that most failed attempts to heal stem from the conventional approach.

The odds are that many aspects of your health have not been fully explored. Until you have followed a personalized wellness-based solution created specifically for you, you have not tried everything.

Myth # 2 – If Functional Medicine worked, my doctor would know about it and practicing it.

Not necessarily. Conventional (allopathic) Medicine operates from a completely different set of principles than functional Medicine. It approaches a diagnosed disease with a symptom-based one-size-fits-all treatment that relies primarily on pharmaceutical drugs.

On the other hand, Functional Medicine focuses on discovering the root cause of your health issues and providing a customized plan to treat the source of the problem. Because of this, a conventional doctor is generally more educated in acute interventions to help you feel better, and a functional medicine doctor is more focused on reversing and preventing disease.

It takes years for new research to make its way to mainstream medicine avenues and even longer to become normalized. As a result, only doctors who are dedicated to finding answers for their patients seek out cutting-edge information and implement it as soon as possible.

Myth # 3 – Functional Medicine takes too much time.

It’s true. You will need to invest time for the consultations, lifestyle changes, and accountability check-ins. But isn’t your health and well-being worth it? And imagine how much time will be freed up when you are healthy and symptom-free?

You’ll have more time to do the things you value and enjoy. You will participate in ways that you haven’t been able to since dealing with this condition. Also, consider how much time will open up in your future if you prevent future conditions from forming.

Clear direction moves you one day at a time to a better life. A well-planned wellness program reduces your likelihood of illness and unplanned doctors’ appointments. You could save hundreds of hours because you won’t need to waste it doing online research, sitting in doctor’s waiting rooms, or picking up prescriptions.

Myth # 4 – Functional Medicine is too expensive.

Functional medicine care comes with costs, especially since health insurance doesn’t cover all of them because they haven’t figured out how to commoditize the Functional Medicine approach.

Like many things, it’s necessary to look at the long-term. Over the long term, functional Medicine can save you money because the aim is to reverse disease for good instead of just managing lifelong symptoms with more and more drugs.

Functional Medicine teaches you life skills that can decrease the cost of care over time. The conventional model gets more and more expensive as you age because you need more testing, more medications, more scans, and they never address the root cause of your declining health.

Myth # 5 – Functional Medicine doesn’t offer me anything I can’t figure out on my own.

How many times have you gone down the research rabbit hole? Self-navigating through the sea of conflicting information is overwhelming and can cost you your health and your sanity.

No matter how much research you do online, you will always be missing a key component to your healing, information about yourself. A trained team asking you the right questions and doing the proper testing gives you much more profound insights into your health challenges and overcome them. Functional lab testing can uncover information that you or your doctor would never have otherwise.

Wouldn’t it be a relief to have a partner in your healthcare? Not just a revolving door of doctors and an actual team of professionals to partner with you to help identify the root causes of your symptoms, work up a personalized treatment plan, teach you the life skills you need to remedy your issues and support you every step of the way, so you get results that last.

Myth #6—Functional Medicine is not science-based.

We’re not sure how this myth came about, but it’s absolutely not true. Functional Medicine uses a systems-oriented approach to identify the root cause of whatever symptoms you have. Functional Medicine doctors run a full battery of tests to diagnose and treat you correctly. These tests are often more extensive than those ordered by conventional doctors and include checks for vitamin and mineral deficiencies along with hormonal imbalances.

Myth #7—Functional Medicine takes longer than conventional Medicine to get results.

True. Conventional Medicine can quickly get rid of a presenting symptom with a prescription, but since the root cause hasn’t been treated, the condition is likely to return.

Functional Medicine takes the time to look at your entire system. By doing so, they can determine the actual cause of the symptoms and condition. And, then a plan to fix the problem permanently is set into action.

You may not get instant results with Functional Medicine. However, you won’t have to continually revisit the problem over and over again. Instead, it will be permanently relieved. So, are you ready to feel your best and experience true healing? Contact us for a consultation today!

Resources

• Image attribution
• IFM
• IntegrativeMedicine
• Duke
• NCBI
• Patronusmedical

The post 7 Functional Medicine Myths Debunked appeared first on Living Well Dallas.

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By: Living Well Dallas
Title: 7 Functional Medicine Myths Debunked
Sourced From: www.livingwelldallas.com/functional-medicine/7-functional-medicine-myths-debunked/
Published Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2021 20:00:21 +0000

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