Transforming Health: The Power of Functional Medicine
Reflections Integrative Health was born after working many years in the traditional medicine arena. After watching patients become hospitalized multiple times per year for the same recurring problems and their health not actually improving over the long term. In fact, most patients seemed to continually decline slowly over many years while their quality of life continued to decline during that time. Ultimately, it was a continuing cycle of hospitalizations and rehab stays that did not appear to benefit them. As the cycle continued, a different approach was needed—an approach focused on functional aspects of medicine for lasting health improvement.
Traditional medicine treats current conditions as patients become ill, using evidence-based treatments, usually medications. It is not uncommon to see someone taking 10 or more medications as they get older. While traditional medicine is great at treating acute illnesses, it does not look at why those conditions are occurring and attempt to treat or eliminate the root cause, which is the foundation of the functional medicine perspective.
During this time, it became clear that we are what we eat and how we take care of ourselves. The world continues to move at a faster pace, and that pace seems to be accelerating each year. With more and more people eating for convenience at fast food restaurants or purchasing preprocessed foods that are easy to grab, our nutritional intake is quickly becoming depleted. This poor nutrition leads many people to seek out methods like functional medicine for answers to persistent health issues, including anemia, allergies, reflux, gut imbalances, weight gain, autoimmune disorders, and many more health problems.
Functional medicine is a personalized, science-based healthcare approach that focuses on identifying and treating the root causes of chronic illness, rather than managing symptoms. It views the body as an interconnected system and creates customized treatment plans using nutrition, lifestyle changes, and advanced diagnostics. By analyzing current health conditions, lifestyle, and environment, functional medicine aims to personalize treatment for each individual using the 5 R’s systemic framework. The 5 R’s include Remove, Replace, Reinoculate, Repair, and Rebalance.
For more information, see the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. You will also find detailed descriptions about integrative therapies and functional medicine on their site.
Mission
To provide an active therapeutic partnership meeting individuals where they are to educate and empower them to take control of their own health using functional medicine and lifestyle interventions to decrease chronic disease. Part of this mission is centered on functional medicine approaches to optimize well-being.
Vision
To catch chronic illness early and reverse or prevent illness through personalized, patient-centered care using nutrition, targeted supplementation, and lifestyle changes of functional medicine. In doing so, our vision supports the principles of medicine that is functional and individualized.
Click here to see our Welcome Blog to learn more about what Reflections Integrative Health can do for you.