You may have experienced running blood tests and x-rays in the past because you don’t feel good. However, your doctor tells you that everything is normal and you should not worry because you don’t have pneumonia or any other illnesses.
But you know that you are suffering as you frequently experience headaches or back pain. There are times that you can’t even sleep or experience migraines at work. When you can’t find the healing that you seek in traditional medicine, it might be time for you to take the route of functional medicine. You can read more about functional medicine in this website here.
What is Functional Medicine?
Functional medicine gets to the root cause of the problem and aims to restore balance in your life to promote long-term health. Most hospitals and doctors today focus on treating the symptoms that they can see on the tests. However, other aspects of an individual’s life can affect his health, such as his emotional, mental, and social wellbeing.
Today, alternative medicine in Massachusetts such as cupping, acupuncture, and aromatherapy are becoming more popular as people look for other ways to improve their health. When it comes to the field of functional medicine, people are recognized as individuals, and the therapists sit and talk to them one on one to see what’s going on with their lives.
Most of the doctors in this field don’t have a one-size-fits-all kind of treatment. Instead of immediately going through a flow chart to see what has caused the migraine, the therapist will probe and look at the bigger picture of an individual’s health. Commonly, a therapist will listen to the patient’s history, lifestyle, nature of their work, family relationships, and a lot of other factors that can affect one’s health. He will then make a customized plan of the things one should do to improve his health.
Pros
Since this field focuses on the root cause of many problems regarding health, the patient can avoid getting exposed to unneeded and potentially harmful treatments. When a customized form of treatment is administered, and it can meet the individual’s needs, there will be very few side effects as a result. A person won’t have to undergo surgery or take risky pills. Unnecessary surgeries can result in complications during the recovery process, and there are also dangers in using antibiotics since they can affect the microbiome of the GI tract.
Patients who undergo treatment such as the one found in sites called Five Journeys will be empowered to act for themselves. Most of the people get tired or sick because they spend most of their time living in bad habits. They get stressed at work, and when they go home, they grab some beer and sit in front of the television to relax. If the underlying problems can’t be addressed, it can become a huge problem in the long run. When they make an effort to modify their sleep patterns, food choices, and exercise routines, they will be able to get a lot of benefits, and they will feel more empowered and happier.
Cons
As with any other treatments, people don’t like change very much. When it comes to eating kale and cauliflower each day to lower the cholesterol level and dropping one pill of statin and still get to eat all the cakes, ice creams, and burgers, why just not continue using the pill? The indulgence is the most appealing choice, and some won’t want to change their lifestyles to become healthier. They want to keep eating fried and junk foods than switching to the healthier fruits and vegetable alternative because the former is what they were accustomed to.
Another thing is that most people are too lazy to get off the couch and start riding bicycles. When watching TV is more appealing than biking and sweating profusely, then some will choose the television. If they were accustomed to watching Netflix until 2 am and they have to get up at 6 am to get to work, then they might have some difficulty transitioning to meditation, early to bed, exercise, and eating healthy food. They may feel that they are taking the fun out of their lives.
Another main factor that most people considered as a con in functional medicine is that the thought of taking antidepressants instead of taking supplements to initiate a diet change turns most people off. You can know more about antidepressants in this link: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/kc/antidepressants-work-248320. The complexity of this field turns off most people, and they’d instead take the more accessible approach rather than solving the underlying issues that caused their depression.
Another area that conventional or traditional treatments are always ahead of are emergency cases. There are trauma, broken bones, stroke, and heart attacks that require immediate help. All of these require surgeries, drugs, and stitches that functional medicine doesn’t attempt to address. Urgent operations for ruptured appendix need medical care so people won’t be able to get the help that they need without hospitals and doctors.
Who Can Benefit in Functional Medicine?
Everyone especially those in Massachusetts can benefit from using functional medicine as an alternative. In this field, people don’t have to experience physical pain, headaches, or stomach aches to see a professional therapist. Anyone who feels that they have to make changes to their lifestyle is welcome to have a personalized treatment mapped for them by a qualified doctor.
Anyone who suffers from complex diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, mental illnesses, arthritis, and other disorders can find a more practical approach in functional medicine. Many of today’s chronic problems originated from problems in diet and nutrition. Chronic inflammation and a leaky gut are just some of the things that one should watch out for when they have autoimmune diseases, and this can be identified and addressed in functional medicine.
A Final Word
Functional medicine is not a replacement for conventional medicine. Both approaches aim to improve an individual’s wellbeing. Any patient can seek either type of practitioners so that they can understand better each class and choose which one will make their recovery faster. You can visit a professional that specializes in functional medicine today and see a tailor-made approach to your wellbeing.
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