Addressing Disease at its Core
By Dr. Vince Sferra
Functional Medicine (FM) has developed over the past couple of decades as an approach in medicine to go beyond a disease-oriented, symptoms-based approach to patient care. Realizing that there are always mechanisms that drive the disease process, FM seeks to uncover the underlying processes that are contributing to and creating the dysfunctions, conditions, and potential disease in the individual. Chronic diseases such as diabetes and arteriosclerosis, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Celiac, and autoimmune thyroiditis (Hashimoto’s), many gastrointestinal syndromes such as IBS, SIBO, gastritis and GERD, cognitive decline syndromes (dementia in its early stages) and other neurologic disorders such as MS, and even some cancers, to name just a few, are almost always proceeded by a lengthy period of declining function and health in one or more body systems. For almost all of us, these syndromes and conditions are the result of life-long interactions with our environment, lifestyle, and our genetics (newly termed, your ‘exposome’). Ideally, functional medicine is utilized by a skilled FM doctor to identify and ameliorate dysfunctions in the physiology and biochemistry of the human body as a primary method of improving patient health, optimally prior to an actual diagnosis of a disease.
A functional medicine doctor will recognize this concept, that each patient represents a unique, complex, and interwoven web of interactions that create the terrain for health or disease (again: your exposome). With this approach, we assess core clinical imbalances, fundamental physiological processes, environmental inputs, and genetic predispositions in a highly individualized patient care model. Examples of core clinical imbalances include blood sugar dysregulation, digestive system imbalances, chronic un-tempered stress responses, inactive lifestyle, toxic burden, sleep problems, poor diet, and insufficient nutrient status or immune hypersensitivities to regularly chosen foods. These are some of the most common drivers of disease and dysfunction, but there are others. This model of patient care requires extensive investigation utilizing diagnostic tools such as blood work and imaging, physical examination, comprehensive health history and system review questionnaires, toxic exposure assessment, the status of one’s stress and its management, sleep patterns, and genetic predispositions. Once these individual drivers of disease are identified in a patient, FM doctors will then make recommendations and provide therapeutic interventions that are natural, diet, nutrition, and lifestyle based in most cases. Clearly, we are looking to eliminate the driving forces of those imbalances and as well, fortify the body’s efforts to rebuild and heal. If we are only treating symptoms, and these factors are not addressed, they will continue to be drivers for imbalance and lead to further advancement of dysfunction and disease. The functional medicine approach is not only ideal for disease prevention but also to arrest and possibly even reverse the progression of chronic disease.
Functional medicine may most suitably be called a process-oriented approach to healthcare. And a patient in the functional medicine model is not a passive entity, but rather an integral team player in the quest to regain their health and become strong again. This healthcare model meets a deep need for not only optimizing individual health but for raising the health of our communities.
Dr. Sferra, Founder and Clinic Director, is board certified in Chiropractic Medicine and Chiropractic Neurology, a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist certified by the National Strength & Conditioning Association.
