Conventional medicine is disease management and refers to the status quo of the current medical system. Rather than optimizing wellness (as in Functional Medicine) through preventative and restorative lifestyle strategies, it focuses on managing illness once it has already occurred, primarily by suppressing symptoms with prescription drugs. It involves short visits, usually reimbursed by health insurance, mostly centered around treating with medications or surgery.
Unfortunately, this model usually does not address the root cause of the problem. Instead, by treating disease in this way, the conventional care model creates patients for life. Conversely, Functional medicine promotes health and aims to prevent disease. When disease does occur, we seek to reverse it by investigating and treating its underlying cause(s).
For example, in treating depression, a conventional doctor will likely prescribe an antidepressant as their first line of defense. In contrast, a Functional Medicine provider recognizes that depression is not the result of an anti-depressants deficiency and will use advanced testing and extensive history-taking to determine the root cause, which could be due to vitamin deficiencies, food sensitivities, hormonal imbalance, digestive issues, or other causes.
Functional Medicine providers don’t put band-aids on the problem. Instead, they work to address and fix the root cause.