Functional Medicine (Trying To Get To The Root Rather Then Treating Symptoms)

[1desperateladysaved]

I have been frustrated with MD's in general since early in my youth.  The doctor could give me cream (which the druggist warned was dangerous) to make my eczema go away.  However, it would soon be back with a vengeance.  There was no attempt to eliminate the cause of the problem.  I couldn't believe that there was no cause.  Thus began my quest for something better.

 

Just recently I started to hear of Functional Medicine.  It was said to look for the cause of the problem rather than just making the symptoms go away.  That sounds like what I have hunted for.  Then I discovered that a doctor that I had my son to was doing just that.  I was told that if his ear infection kept reoccurring, there was a problem in the gut.  He checked and found parasites.  We treated that and also found my son was low in pancreatic enzymes.  We used supplements for that.  I was already serving him organic, natural foods, and keeping him from sweets.  Over last summer we noticed my son, who was expected to grow rapidly at his age and situation, stopped growing.  When we added the pancreatic enzymes, his growth took off.

 

I have decided functional medicine is my next attempt to get to the roots of my problems and solve them.

 

Diana

[Gemini]

I have been frustrated with MD's in general since early in my youth.  The doctor could give me cream (which the druggist warned was dangerous) to make my eczema go away.  However, it would soon be back with a vengeance.  There was no attempt to eliminate the cause of the problem.  I couldn't believe that there was no cause.  Thus began my quest for something better.

 

Just recently I started to hear of Functional Medicine.  It was said to look for the cause of the problem rather than just making the symptoms go away.  That sounds like what I have hunted for.  Then I discovered that a doctor that I had my son to was doing just that.  I was told that if his ear infection kept reoccurring, there was a problem in the gut.  He checked and found parasites.  We treated that and also found my son was low in pancreatic enzymes.  We used supplements for that.  I was already serving him organic, natural foods, and keeping him from sweets.  Over last summer we noticed my son, who was expected to grow rapidly at his age and situation, stopped growing.  When we added the pancreatic enzymes, his growth took off.

 

I have decided functional medicine is my next attempt to get to the roots of my problems and solve them.

 

Diana

 

Good choice, Diana.  I have been going to a functional medicine doctor for 25 years for my thyroid and it's the only reason I am doing so well today.  She is an MD so it's not quackery.  They just choose to look for the root cause of a problem, instead of treating the symptoms with drugs.  Not that all drugs are bad, they serve their purpose for some with serious conditions BUT there is always a reason people get sick.  Mainstream MD's just NEVER look at food.

[mamaw]

Is  there  a  listing  for these  type  of  doc's  to  research    for  locations?  I  think they  must  be  far  &  few  of them...

[1desperateladysaved]

I searched the internet For Functional Medicine and my state.  There were quite a few clinics listed.  I got the name of mine from my chiropractor. 

[mamaw]

thanks  Diana

 

I  tried  that  formy state  &  didn't  get  much so maybe  none  around  my neck of the  woods....

[Adalaide]

This is what I am sick of also. I am not a string of symptoms. I do not need to be drugged up with dangerous or expensive drugs for one symptom at a time until there are so many side effects that I am sicker than I was the first time I went in or until I am on so many things that more can't be added because of interaction problems. But this is exactly what doctors aim to do. I am in the process of making appointments with as many doctors in my county as will see me, functional or otherwise, just to see how they treat  me on a first visit. I'll make choices after those first appointments.

 

But damn it all, I will be treated like a person, not a series of symptoms and not a drug repository. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has made this conclusion.

[frieze]

what is your tyramine issue?

This is what I am sick of also. I am not a string of symptoms. I do not need to be drugged up with dangerous or expensive drugs for one symptom at a time until there are so many side effects that I am sicker than I was the first time I went in or until I am on so many things that more can't be added because of interaction problems. But this is exactly what doctors aim to do. I am in the process of making appointments with as many doctors in my county as will see me, functional or otherwise, just to see how they treat  me on a first visit. I'll make choices after those first appointments.

 

But damn it all, I will be treated like a person, not a series of symptoms and not a drug repository. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has made this conclusion.

[1desperateladysaved]

Treating symptoms to make them going away without regard to what caused them.

 

Would you pull the wires out of a fire alarm, to put out a fire?

Would you disconnect your check oil light rather than put some oil in?

 

I could put hydrocortisone on my eczema and it would go away.  But it would come back with a vengence, because I didn't fix what was causing it.  Make sense now?

 

Diana

[Adalaide]

Ugh.... the tyramine is this whole pseudotumor "thing" where I make too much brain fluid if I eat too much tyramine and then it pushes on my left eye and I can't see. It is really stupid.

 

I explained functional medicine to my husband in terms of a broken arm. No doctor would dream of giving someone with a broken arm a bottle of pain pills and sending them away! If an arm is bending backwards or where it shouldn't be a doctor would take x-rays, set the bone, put a cast on and treat the cause of the pain while treating the pain. Yet, we're going in saying "doctor, I think this is broken" and being told to take this and please to away.

[MIgrainePosterChild]

I have experienced this as well. I am finding that with migraines, most doctors try to medicate or if that doesn't work, they try to medicate for depression or anxiety, instead of digging deeper. When I did my own research into my symptoms I found that with the doctors were prescribing triptans, which for my rare type of genetic migraines, could lead to stroke or coma with continued use. I also found that the heart of my problems is also most likely related to gastrointestinal issues stemming from malabsorption and a gluten intolerance. My doctors were not making the connection. Anxiety and depression can result from constantly feeling sick and not knowing why, feeling like no one cares or can help you, and feeling that you are alone. Most of the time more and more meds only worsen these feelings and do not fix what made you feel sick to begin with. 

[frieze]

That sounds like what is called a "red wine h/a"....the tyramine competes with histamine for receptor sites, the histamine wins, the tyramine cause vasoconstriction and when it is finally metabolized, for me ~8-10 hours later, there is rebound vasodilation.  which causes the h/a.  Taking an antihistamine can help, if taken earlier enough.  good luck

Ugh.... the tyramine is this whole pseudotumor "thing" where I make too much brain fluid if I eat too much tyramine and then it pushes on my left eye and I can't see. It is really stupid.

 

I explained functional medicine to my husband in terms of a broken arm. No doctor would dream of giving someone with a broken arm a bottle of pain pills and sending them away! If an arm is bending backwards or where it shouldn't be a doctor would take x-rays, set the bone, put a cast on and treat the cause of the pain while treating the pain. Yet, we're going in saying "doctor, I think this is broken" and being told to take this and please to away.

[Deaminated Marcus]

I agree, find the cause, not the pill!