LA MEDECINE “ FONCTIONNELLE “
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WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE?
This approach is essentially improving chronic conditions , conventional medicine will always remain the first therapeutic approach for acute issues and emergencies for ex. F UNCTIONAL MEDICINE search for the underlying causes of symptoms rather than simply treating the symptoms alone. It brings tools which go to the root cause of the illness to bring resolution of the disease . Searching for the root cause does not mean looking only for the physiological signs and chemical or hormonal imbalances but also taking account of the mental state of the patient and the past psychological events as the PSYCHO-NEURO- ENDOCRINO-IMMUNO (PNEI) systems are strongly linked together.
HOW DOES FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE WORK?
It digs to the cellular level to restore homeostasis . It pays careful attention for example to toxic overload, proposing detoxification of the gastro-intestinal system and the liver, in order to regenerate the tissues and boost the energy of the systems. It allows the physician to modulate in a more refined way the body response to any aggressions whether infectious , inflammatory or psychological stress . It therefore demands a more in-depth medical history looking for genetic susceptibility, biochemical disruption , stress accumulation, hormonal imbalance , toxicity overload , unresolved psychological issues and unhealthy lifestyle habits among which western diet plays a big part .
WHICH DISEASES CAN BE IMPROVED BY FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE AND NUTRITION ?
Our unhealthy lifestyle has recently led to an increase of a chronic state of inflammation in the body inducing the main 20th century illnesses such as cardio-vascular diseases, diabesity ( diabetes type 2 induced by obesity) , metabolic syndrome, IBS , digestive issues , auto immune diseases , eczema , women health / hormonal issues ,PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome ) , hormonal dysbalance , pre-menstrual syndrome , muscular and joint problems , depression , anxiety , burn-out , chronic fatigue syndrome , dementia and Alzheimer’s disease ….….; many of these ‘dis-eases’ result from basic physiological homeostatic disruption in the first place; as well as dysbiosis (unhealthy microbiome ) leading or not to intestinal permeability , (leaky gut ).
EXAMPLE : depression : through the medical history and questionnaire , besides a stresfull event , one will look at fatty acid levels in particular omegas 3s , dysbiosis , vitamin d deficiency , adrenal function = burn out , chronic fatigue syndrome through immune deficiency fr ex , subclinical hypothyroidism , one or 2 or several of these causes can lead to depression and instead of giving SSRI or tricyclic drugs ,functional medicine will restore whatever is disturbed that may have lead depression .
Another example : inflammation , again easily diagnosed by the level of fatty acids and the dosage of the interleukins such as IL1- AND IL6 for ex. will lead to depression ,heart disease , arthritis , dementia , cancer…..
Either of these disease will manifest in each individual depending on the nutrition , lifestyle, genes , environment ect….and functional medicine will address the right cause to cure the patient beyond suppressing the symptoms.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE OVER CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE IN CHRONIC DISEASES ?
--1--cost and financial savings :
---By treating the cause of the medical problems and not hiding the symptoms, definitive cure is bound to happen sooner or later leaving the patient symptoms free , therefore not in continuous demand for healthcare. …
The congress in Washington voted in 2015 for several millions to be given to the Cleveland clinic centre in order to start a study comparing conventional and functional medicine in more than 4000 patients with chronic conditions.
Independently of the diseases, the first report done end of 2016 shows already a significant improvement ( 40%) with an even better outcome for mood disorders ( 58%) and auto-immune disease ( 43%) while the cost also significantly decreased….
--2—quicker implementation of break through medical/scientific discovery :
-----for some reasons , there is always a 10-15 years gap between scientific discovery and the clinical application in main stream medicine …???
One example is by choosing for ex. the right probiotics to restore the gut health which is going to allow for ex a better and quicker recovery of the immune system when challenged by allergies or food hypersensitivity .
Or another example : using the ketogenic diet associated with the hypoglycemic /hyperinsulenimia treatment just before chemotherapy , therefore inducing fragility in the tumour cells by challenging their anaerobic metabolism and putting them in a “starving mode” making the chemotherapy far more successful…..
And so on and so on…..!!
