Functional Medicine

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach and engaging both patient and provider in a therapeutic partnership. It is an evolution in the practice of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century. By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more patient-centered approach, functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. Functional medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, reviewing their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. In this way, functional medicine supports the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual.

How Is Functional Medicine Different?

Functional medicine involves understanding the origins, prevention, and treatment of complex, chronic disease.

Hallmarks of a functional medicine approach include:

• Patient-centered care.   The focus of functional medicine is on patient-centered care, promoting health as a positive vitality, beyond just the absence of disease. By listening to the patient and learning his or her story, the practitioner brings the patient into the discovery process and tailors treatments that address the individual's unique needs.

• An integrative, science-based healthcare approach   .Functional medicine practitioners look "upstream" to consider the complex web of interactions in the patient's history, physiology, and lifestyle that can lead to illness. The unique genetic makeup of each patient is considered, along with both internal (mind, body, and spirit) and external (physical and social environment) factors that affect total functioning.

• Integrating best medical practices.   Functional medicine integrates traditional Western medical practices with what are sometimes considered "alternative" or "integrative" medicine, creating a focus on prevention through nutrition, diet, and exercise; use of the latest laboratory testing and other diagnostic techniques; and prescribed combinations of drugs and/or botanical medicines, supplements, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs, or stress-management techniques.

A New Approach

Utilizing Functional Medicine Dr. Bain offers a new approach to management and prevention of chronic disease that embodies the art and science of medicine. It integrates what we know about how the human body works with patient-centered, science-based care. Functional medicine addresses the causes of chronic disease, which are rooted in lifestyle choices, environmental exposures, and genetic influences.

Functional medicine emphasizes the therapeutic partnership, which engages the heart, mind, and spirit of both practitioner and client, and encourages moments of deep insight that contribute to more comprehensive answers to stubborn, complex medical problems.

The key to functional medicine is treating each person as an individual and getting to the root cause of health problems. Prior to your first appointment with Dr. Bain we will need a complete medical history which includes not only includes the forms you usually expect to fill out for a new doctor's appointment but also several questionnaires. These questionnaires will help us get a detailed description of your child's current state of health, detailed health history or timeline, family history, diet, lifestyle habits, etc.  The purpose of this medical history timeline is to see what events, symptoms, testing and diagnoses occurred at each age as well as information on any recommended treatment plans, supplements, medications and therapies.

Functional Medicine means your child will also need to fill out questionnaires on a variety of topics, and undergo laboratory tests. The extensive information that is collected is used to determine the underlying imbalances and influences (whether genetic, environmental, or psychosocial) that have produced the context for disease or dysfunction. Dr. Bain evaluates seven key functional/biological systems to come to a full understanding of the various causes underlying your child's chronic disease/problem. Only then can Dr. Bain recommend a customized, comprehensive interventional treatment plan that will reestablish balance and functionality, and restore health to your child. Treatment plans are drawn from both conventional and integrative medicine, and include lifestyle adjustments based on clinical scientific research.

Functional medicine gives Dr. Bain the tools to prescribe an effective response to chronic disease.

Ready to Get Started?

Then just follow this link to take the first step toward optimal health for your child.