Why Functional Health, as opposed to Functional Medicine?
You may have heard about functional medicine before, but you’ll notice I call myself a Functional Health Nurse instead. Here’s why.
Medicine shouldn’t be the primary method of being healthy for most people. Medicine really doesn’t make you healthy, it just makes you temporarily feel better. In fact, using the word medicine is a little misleading when it comes to functional medicine. Functional medicine isn’t really about medicine at all- at least in the usual understanding of the word medicine, usually associated with medications, prescription drugs, and/or pharmaceuticals. There is a place for medicine, but people who practice functional medicine understand that medicine is rarely the solution for health issues, especially chronic health issues like diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases, etc.
If you think about it, most medication is more about a quick fix to suppress uncomfortable symptoms like headaches, heartburn, constipation, diarrhea, and it doesn’t address the underlying cause of the pain or GI upset at all. To be clear, I’m not anti-medicine. In fact, in my years as an ICU nurse I can vouch for the fact that medicine can do some pretty amazing things!
That being said, it is irresponsible to ignore limitations of medicine. This is where I believe our culture needs to adjust its relationship with medicine.
Health is more than taking a pill to suppress a symptom.
There is no medication that is a good substitute for a healthy foundation. Functional health consulting will help you understand how to eat and live in a way that provides what your body needs to function well, so you can get from surviving to thriving.
Even if you have a medical condition that requires you to be dependent on a particular medication, that medication is not going to make you healthy. It might make it less likely that the problem you’re taking it for will get worse… IF you take it exactly as recommended, but even then there’s no guarantee.
In other words, medicine is not a substitute for a nutrient dense diet, restorative sleep, or stress resiliency. On that note I’d go as far to say that the same goes for most supplements too! Switching over from medication to supplements as the primary way to manage imbalances in your health is still not addressing the fact that your body isn’t functioning well and finding out what is causing the imbalances in the first place!
Let’s use high blood pressure as an example. Typically, when someone has high blood pressure, doctors prescribe medication to lower it. However, it’s important to realize that there can be numerous causes for high blood pressure. If you’re solely relying on medication to control it without addressing these root causes, the underlying issue doesn’t just magically go away.
Medications often suppress symptoms, not actually address why the symptoms are happening in the first place.
High blood pressure can be due to various factors like nutrient deficiencies, stress, side effects of other medications, or a combination of these elements. Detecting and addressing these imbalances not only helps prevent future complications associated with high blood pressure but can also reduce your reliance on medication and, in some cases, eliminate the need for it. This approach not only minimizes potential medication side effects but also decreases the risk of high blood pressure-related complications, such as heart attacks and strokes.
If we simply use medicine to suppress high blood pressure without also taking the time to carefully examine what is causing it, then we will be stuck in survival and symptom management. So, while medication is helpful, doesn’t it make sense to also identify and correct any underlying causes of why the blood pressure is elevated in the first place?
True health is body deep.
This is why I prefer the term functional health instead of functional medicine. Yes, it might be splitting hairs and could be accused of being too nuanced, but the nice thing about being in the Functional Medicine/Functional Health world is that we understand the value of details for each unique person. So, as a nurse, my preference is the nuance of Functional Health. The focus on health, not medicine. While medication is sometimes necessary, we acknowledge there are so many more tools available to us to support our health. Using years of nursing skills like assessment, identifying goals, researching, and educating, I love to get to know my clients, understand their unique health stories, and provide the eduction, explanation, and support they need to thrive and truly be healthy. Some people aren’t ready to take ownership of their health, and are fine taking a pill to manage symptoms, and that’s ok! But if you wish you could do more but just don’t know where to begin, then you’ve come to the right place. If this is the kind of support you’ve been looking for and you’re interested in working with me as your Functional Health Nurse, click here to start the process!