Functional Medicine
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Comprehensive Center for Women's Medicine
Integrative and Holistic Women's Health Practice located in Gold Coast, Chicago, IL
Functional medicine isn’t about just treating symptoms. This approach to medicine, offered by experts at the Comprehensive Center for Women’s Medicine in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, addresses the underlying cause of disease and restoring natural function. Practicing medicine using a functional model improves your overall health outcomes while it treats you as an individual who is affected by the environment, relationships, and genetics. Call today or schedule online to learn more about how functional medicine can help you stay well or heal.
Functional Medicine Q&A
What is functional medicine?
Functional medicine is an approach to healthcare that conceptualizes health and illness as part of a continuum in which all components of the human biological system interact dynamically with the environment producing the patterns and effects that change over time. Instead of merely treating the symptoms of the disease, such as high blood pressure or low thyroid hormones, the functional medicine practitioners look at all the potential factors that may be contributing to your condition. These may include environmental toxicity, poor nutrition, lifestyle habits, and emotional health issues.
At the Comprehensive Center for Women’s Medicine, the doctors look at each patient as a unique and complex case in which environmental and lifestyle factors have set the stage for the development of disease or the maintenance of health.
How does the Functional Medicine Matrix apply to patient evaluation?
The Functional Medicine Matrix helps doctors look at patients’ symptoms through seven biological systems where they find core clinical imbalances.
Assimilation
Assimilation describes digestion, absorption, and gut microbiome.
Defense and repair
This looks at immune integrity, inflammation, infection, and the gut microbiome.
Energy
Energy refers to energy regulation and mitochondrial function.
Biotransformation and elimination
This evaluates toxicity and detoxification.
Transport
This evaluates the transport of nutrients and clearance of toxins via cardiovascular and lymphatic systems.
Communication
Communication refers to the endocrine system with its many hormones, neurotransmitters in the brain, and immune messengers.
Structural integrity
This evaluation deals with subcellular membranes to the integrity of the musculoskeletal system.
Evaluation of these systems and symptoms associated with them helps establish a diagnosis. One disease can affect many of these systems, making it seem as if though you have multiple conditions when, in reality, it is just one disease with far-reaching implications. These seven systems can also be affected by your genetic heritage, psychosocial experiences, and personal beliefs.
How does functional medicine look in practice?
At the Comprehensive Center for Women’s Medicine, the doctors may use detoxification protocols, such as the Orenda Clean Burn Shape program or Regenr8, and help boost your immune integrity using well-chosen immunomodulation products.
They may also recommend lifestyle changes, and use medications and supplements when appropriate. The doctors work with you to develop a customized plan depending on your symptoms, diagnosis, and prognosis.
If you are suffering from a “mystery illness” and have seen multiple providers still feeling poorly, you might be ready for a total approach to wellness that includes more than just a temporary improvement of your symptoms. To obtain your thorough, customized functional medicine based evaluation, call the Comprehensive Center for Women’s Medicine today or schedule an appointment online.
