Skip to main content

Root-Cause Treatment

Functional Medicine Approach

Functional medicine looks at what’s really causing your health problems. It understands that one issue, like feeling depressed, can have many reasons behind it, such as inflammation. And one cause, like inflammation, can lead to different health problems.

It’s all about you – your body, where you live, and how you live. 

By focusing on the root cause of your health issue, Functional Medicine offers lasting solutions that go beyond just masking symptoms.

Functional vs Conventional

One Condition, Many Causes

One Cause, Many Conditions

    More Time
    90-Min Initial Appointments
    Better Theraputics
    Cutting Edge Medicine
    Designed for Your Unique Genome, Microbiome & Lifestyle
    Personalized Health Plan
    More Time

    90-Min Initial Appointments

    Better Theraputics

    Cutting Edge Medicine

    Designed for Your Unique Genome, Microbiome & Lifestyle

    Personalized Health Plan

    Personalized care
    that goes beyond quick fixes.

    Functional Medicine offers a personalized and holistic approach to healthcare, increasingly vital in a world where chronic diseases are prevalent. This method delves into the root causes of health issues, treating you as a unique individual, not just a set of symptoms. It’s about more than just prescriptions; it’s about harnessing the body’s natural ability to heal through proper sleep, diet, nutrition, and stress management.

    The “Functional” in Functional Medicine means that we are interested in figuring out why your current health state is “dysfunctional.” By understanding the underlying dysfunctions in your health, Functional Medicine aims to provide long-term, sustainable solutions, moving beyond temporary fixes.

    • House, Office, or Virtual Visits

    • 90-Minute Initial Appointment

    • In-depth Care / Attentive Clinicians

    • Cutting Edge Treatments

    • Health Education

    • Therapies Backed by Science

    • Personalized Health Roadmap

    • Customized Medicine

    Symptoms & Conditions We Treat

    Functional Medicine vs Conventional Medicine

    Functional Medicine focuses on reversing chronic illnesses (and, better yet, preventing disease before it occurs). 
    Conventional medicine, on the other hand, focuses on disease management.

    Whole Body Vs Individual System

    Systems Approach

    Conventional medicine often divides the body into separate systems and only treats the system that initially presented troublesome symptoms. The Functional Medicine approach is to view the patient as a whole, with an eye toward how the body’s symptoms interact with one another. Often, we find that resolving a health issue causing symptoms in one system requires addressing deficits in another system.

    COLLABORATING FOR HEALTH

    Patient – Clinician Relationship

    Functional Medicine is a collaborative approach between practitioner and patient. Conventional medicine can feel like it’s being done to you. But with Functional Medicine, you and your practitioner are working together on a host of changes that will get you feeling your best.

    Getting a full picture

    Intake and Assessment

    Insurance reimburses doctors’ visits that typically last less than 15 minutes. A Functional Medicine practitioner has a lengthy initial appointment with a patient. Here at Nourish House Calls, we take 90 minutes to go through your comprehensive history (not just health but also social and emotional) and get to know your unique needs and goals.

    Functional Medicine practitioners order and interpret both standard and specialized labs in order to understand what’s really going on in your body.

    From there, a Functional Medicine practitioner develops a personalized treatment plan, which can include recommendations for supplements, diet, sleep, exercise, stress management, and environmental changes.

    Once a plan is in place, the Functional Medicine practitioner stays alongside you with one-on-one education and support on your journey to wellness.

    Insurance Effects on Medicine

    Cutting-Edge Care

    The conventional medicine paradigm is deeply tied to insurance. A study found that it typically takes 17 years for conventional doctors to adopt new scientific findings into their practice. This delay is partly due to the insurance model, which often reimburses based on the existing standard of care, even if it’s outdated. Insurance tends to cover treatments that are easily quantifiable, like medication, over complex lifestyle and newer therapy approaches. Medications, being a single intervention, are simpler to study and often receive more funding, which further influences this trend. While medications are sometimes crucial, and we do prescribe them when necessary, they are just one aspect of our holistic treatment plans at Nourish House Calls.

    Opting out of insurance allows us to embrace the most cutting-edge medicine, advanced therapies and tests.

    Resource Library
    Functional Medicine Videos

    Your Health, Your Return
    on Investment

    Your health is an investment with measurable results and ROI (return on investment). Data reveals that more and more people (especially millennials) view healthcare as an investment versus an expense. Increasing investments in wellness-related health are on the rise as we move to a shared understanding of the importance of mental, emotional, and physical well-being. [1,2] 

    Feel Like Yourself Again

    Don’t settle for a sad “new normal” that you’ve been told is an inevitable part of aging. Help is here.

    Reduce & Eliminate Unnecessary Medications

    By addressing root causes, you can stop taking unnecessary chemicals that only mask your symptoms.

    Increased Energy Levels

    No more losing steam in the afternoon or relying on caffeine to get you through the day.

    Improve Sleep

    Wake up in the morning feeling completely refreshed.

    Decrease Pain

    Imagine a life where you’re not held back by pain and can resume all your favorite activities.

    Avoid Surgery

    No risk of complications. No weeks of downtime. No post-surgery rehab.

    Individual Services
    Membership Plans

    Symptoms & Conditions We Treat

    Because Functional Medicine looks at the body as a whole, we are able to treat a wide variety of symptoms and conditions. The list below includes what we treat most regularly.

    ADD & ADHD

    Conventional medicine prescribes stimulants and other medications. Functional Medicine looks at genetics, nutritional deficiencies, and imbalances in the digestive system.

    Anxiety / Depression / Mood Problems

    Conventional medicine prescribes antidepressants, sleeping pills, and therapy. Functional Medicine looks at genetics, nutritional deficiencies, imbalances in the digestive system, and lifestyle factors.

    Arthritis

    Conventional medicine uses prescription anti-inflammatory and steroid medications, as well as surgeries (all with myriad side effects and risks). Functional Medicine looks for causes of inflammation and tissue degradation with specialized lab testing (blood, saliva, urine, and/or stool), and a deep dive into correcting and optimizing nutrition, sleep, and stress, along with regenerative options like Stem Cell Therapy.

    Asthma & Allergies

    Conventional medicine uses prescription inhalers, antihistamines, mast-cell stabilizers and more. Functional Medicine looks for root causes like food allergies/sensitivities, environmental exposures like mold, digestive imbalances, underlying causes of inflammation, hormonal imbalances, and more.

    Autism

    Conventional medicine still really doesn’t quite know how to treat autism – we try many medications and therapies and hope something works. Functional Medicine takes each child as an individual, and tests and treats based on that child’s individual risk factors, including genetics, exposures, and general history.

    Autoimmune Illness

    Conventional medicine has a variety of medications that are used to treat different autoimmune conditions. Functional Medicine looks at digestive system imbalances, lifestyle factors (including nutrition, stress, sleep), environmental factors (like mold and heavy metals) and aims to resolve possible root causes to reverse autoimmunity.

    Brain Fog

    Conventional medicine has a hard time treating brain fog – often it’s a combination of prescriptions that mask symptoms but don’t reverse the issue. Functional Medicine seeks to find the root causes of brain fog like nutritional deficiencies, food sensitivities/allergies, hormonal imbalances, heavy metal toxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, and beyond.

    Cardiovascular Disease + Hypertension

    Conventional medicine uses a wide variety of medications and surgeries/procedures to manage, and sometimes prescribes “diet and exercise.” Functional Medicine looks at more in-depth testing of inflammation levels, highly detailed and specialized cholesterol testing, genetics, and many lifestyle factors in order to reverse disease.

    Chronic Fatigue

    Conventional medicine has a hard time treating chronic fatigue. Functional Medicine uses the patient’s detailed history and may order specialized testing to determine what is causing the chronic fatigue. The Functional Medicine approach often feels like solving a mystery, spending time to identify the many clues.

    Diabetes

    Conventional medicine treats diabetes using a wide variety of life-long medications and sometimes “diet and exercise.” The Functional Medicine approach is to correct the problems that led to a Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis in the first place, and reverse it completely with individualized education and guidance on lifestyle changes.

    Eczema + Chronic Skin Issues

    Conventional medicine uses a variety of creams and sometimes oral medications. Functional Medicine understands that the digestive system is often the root cause for any skin issues, and treatment is focused on resolving those imbalances to solve (rather than just manage) the issue.

    Food Allergies

    Conventional medicine typically uses an avoidance treatment approach for allergies, but often does not recognize the significance of food sensitivities. Functional Medicine understands that digestive system dysfunction is often at the root of food sensitivities, and so while avoidance is used while healing is taking place, often the patient can return to eating a wider variety of foods as treatment progresses.

    Gastrointestinal Disorders

    Conventional medicine uses a variety of both short- and long-term medications to manage symptoms of IBS or reflux/GERD, and performs colonoscopies or endoscopies that frequently do not identify the cause of the issue. Functional Medicine has access to specialized comprehensive testing that identifies problems that lead to more curative treatments.

    Gluten Intolerance + Celiac Disease

    Conventional medicine has gotten better at recognizing and managing these, but Functional Medicine adds the benefit of addressing associated issues like inflammation and other GI symptoms, plus a Functional Medicine provider is typically going to provide more in-depth education on managing diet and other lifestyle factors.

    Heavy Metal + Environmental Toxicity

    Conventional medicine often does not recognize these to be an issue until an alarm level is reached. Functional Medicine providers will often screen for toxicity and be able to find and treat patients whose levels–while not yet sounding an alarm–are contributing to symptoms and will contribute to various problems in the future.

    High Cholesterol

    Conventional medicine uses prescription medications to lower cholesterol, sometimes also mentioning diet and exercise, but not really providing thorough guidance on what that actually means. Functional Medicine looks at a much more in-depth cholesterol panel and focuses on potential underlying issues like liver function, diet, and genetics in order to uncover and treat the root causes of high cholesterol.

    Hormone Imbalance

    Conventional medicine often shies away from testing for or treating hormone imbalances because of unfounded concerns that hormone therapy is associated with an increased risk of cancer. Often, women are just put on birth control for any kind of suspected reproductive or hormonal concerns. Men are often told their labs are “normal,” and no treatment is offered. Functional Medicine aims to optimize hormone levels for each individual and will be treated with a well-rounded approach, including diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, supplements, and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

    Leaky Gut

    Conventional medicine providers often will not acknowledge that this exists (even though there is plenty of peer-reviewed research on “increased intestinal permeability” (IIP)). Functional Medicine providers will more comprehensively understand and test for issues with IIP, and understand that leaky gut is likely a contributing factor to other symptoms and diseases, including eczema, ADHD, autism, headaches, brain fog, fatigue, food sensitivities, and more. A Functional Medicine approach works at healing leaky gut, which results in resolution of other symptoms and diseases.

    Ligament / Tendon Injury

    Conventional medicine uses NSAIDs, steroids, injections, and surgery. Both Conventional medicine and Functional Medicine employ physical therapy and other manual therapy techniques. Unlike conventional medicine, Functional Medicine looks deeply at risk factors for why the injury may have happened, and aims to use the body’s resources to heal the injuries–this usually includes targeted nutritional guidance and supplements, and can also involve Stem Cell Therapy to enhance healing.

    Inflammation

    Conventional medicine typically will look for a root cause of inflammation and then use immune modifying drugs, NSAIDS, steroids, or other medications (depending on the cause) to decrease inflammation. Functional medicine takes a more thorough look at many possible root causes and then works to solve the root causes rather than just mask the symptoms of inflammation.

    Menopause

    Conventional medicine uses synthetic hormones in non-individualizable dose forms (if they prescribe hormones at all). Often, women are told to just deal with the symptoms or are prescribed antidepressants and sleeping pills to pacify them. Functional Medicine replaces hormones with customized dosing and follows hormone levels and metabolites over time to ensure safe and effective hormone optimization therapy. Functional Medicne also guides patients on various lifestyle changes that will optimize hormone levels.

    Menstrual Irregularities

    Conventional medicine commonly uses birth control pills to control menstrual irregularities. Functional Medicine uses sophisticated testing and patient history to determine why the patient is having these symptoms and then sets out to resolve the root causes with nutrition, supplementation, exercise, and more.

    Mold + Mycotoxin

    Conventional medicine does not typically recognize mold or mycotoxin illness, and if they do, they often don’t know how to treat it. Functional Medicine has sophisticated tests available, and then can direct treatment towards supporting the body’s detoxification systems to eliminate the mold from the body, and also guide the patient on eliminating outside sources of mold.

    Pain Conditions

    Conventional medicine typically uses prescribed and over-the-counter medications to mask the pain, along with physical therapy, surgeries, and steroid injections. Functional Medicine aims to find and treat root causes of pain, provides guidance on mindset and stress management for pain, and offers many healing and regenerative options like Stem Cell Therapy for pain resolution and tissue repair to get rid of the pain for good.

    Post-COVID Symptoms

    Conventional medicine is starting to learn how to treat this, but it’s often with antidepressants or other prescriptions for an indefinite period of time. The Functional Medicine approach requires understanding the complexity of this virus’ effect on many body systems, and takes a targeted approach to treatment based on the newest available research. Patients often don’t find relief until they address their symptoms with a Functional Medicine provider.

    Sleep Disturbances + Insomnia

    Conventional medicine typically uses indefinitely prescribed sleeping pills or antidepressants. Functional Medicine uncovers possible underlying causes like hormone and cortisol/adrenal imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, food sensitivities, and neurotransmitter imbalances, and resolves these causes so that each patient experiences restorative sleep.

    Thyroid Disorders

    Conventional medicine typically uses levothyroxine (Synthroid, T4) alone to treat hypothyroidism, and uses bare-bones thyroid testing. Functional Medicine uses more comprehensive testing to determine even borderline hypothyroidism and often will use thyroid replacement, including T3 (active thyroid hormone) and T4, along with individualized nutrition, supplementation, sleep, and stress management strategies.

    Weight Loss

    Conventional medicine uses a variety of medications and standard lifestyle changes to elicit weight loss in morbidly obese patients, while patients wanting to lose 10-30 pounds are often left untreated. Functional Medicine guides each patient to achieve balance with individualized attention to factors like nutrition, sleep, exercise, hormones, and cortisol. Functional Medicine providers also employ cutting-edge treatments like peptides and other specialized treatments to aid in weight loss.

    Google

    Patient Reviews

    Schedule Free 15-Min Discovery Call

    Start with a complimentary 15-minute discovery call to explore how our personalized approach aligns with your health goals. During the call, we learn about you and your wellness goals while you have the opportunity to inquire about our expertise and approach to medicine.

    SCHEDULE 15-MIN DISCOVERY CALL