How is Functional Medicine totally different and how does it fit into Healthcare’s Big Picture?

To appreciate what Functional Medicine can do, we like to use an analogy everyone in Texas can relate to.

Think of your body as a house. If you think about it, this isn’t too far from the truth. After all, we live in the same body every minute of every day. Let’s also say that your underlying body chemistry and physiological function make up the house’s foundation.

Over time, our bodies encounter stress in the form of physical stress, emotional/mental stress, and chemical stress (toxins), just like a house encounters everyday stresses like temperature extremes and violent weather. And over time, much like the house, our own chemical/hormonal “foundation” begins to shift, to adapt to that stress.

Stress takes its toll...

If the foundation shifts too far off its base, cracks begin to appear in the walls and around doors or windows. These cracks can be likened to the symptoms we start experiencing, such as fatigue, sleeplessness, depression, burnout, or an out-of-whack immune system.

At the time, we may not realize that the cracks in the walls actually stem from a larger foundation problem. In fact, we probably don’t realize that the foundation problem exists; after all, it shifted so slowly we didn’t notice it. We simply see the obvious cosmetic and minor functional defects. We seek out what we think is the easiest and cheapest way to fix the cracks: a handyman to seal the walls and windows.

The Quick Fix

The handyman sure can seal up a wall; he does that really well. In fact, it’s cheap and easy to do, and it can be done in one day. However, his job does not involve looking at the foundation. He knows nothing about digging under your house, hoisting it up, and making repairs underneath the surface. The underlying foundation problem itself never gets addressed. And so, it continues to shift even further off its base.

Soon, more symptoms begin to poke through; cracks begin to appear in other walls. If the situation gets bad enough, pipes inside the walls lose their integrity and start leaking, or cracking altogether. The house becomes more and more unlivable.

Another call to the handyman results only in more sealant, sometimes multiple types, and for the sake of our story, these sealants come at a price: they are corrosive to your house. They start eating away at the very walls they’re supposed to repair. Over time, even more sealant is needed just to stabilize the weakened walls.

"It's all in your head..."

The handyman denies that the sealants themselves are causing any problems of their own, and insists that your house is now fine, but you live in this house every day and you know better. It still doesn’t feel like it should. The handyman eventually gets tired of coming over to your house, insists that your remaining problems are all in your head, and now tells you that your eyes are just too sensitive and gives you some welding glasses to wear so that you don’t see the remaining wall damage.

At this point, some people decide they’ve had enough of these corrosive sealants and opt for an environmentally-friendly handyman who uses natural sealants that aren’t corrosive. They’re milder and they take a little longer to dry, but at least they don’t eat away the walls.

What you really needed all along is simply someone to take the time to figure out that the real problem was coming from another source, to identify that source, and then to jack up your house, get under the frame, and plug the sinkhole in the land underneath the house that caused the foundation to dip. Only when the foundation problem is addressed does everything else slowly begin to improve.

 There's a catch...

The drawbacks? Time and expense. Foundation work takes longer to identify and fix. Also, there aren’t many foundation repairmen out there, so they are tougher to find; neither the regular repairman nor the environmentally-friendly one are trained to get under the foundation. You also pay for this type of repair out-of-pocket. Your basic handyman and his sealants are covered by your homeowner’s insurance policy; the foundation repairman isn’t. The homeowner’s insurance company says that it doesn’t recognize foundation repair as a valid form of home repair and denies the idea that a bad foundation can lead to any further problems.

Sound familiar?

In our story, you might be able to recognize some of the cast by now. As you already know, the house is your body, and foundation is your body’s chemistry. The cracks in the walls are the first outward symptoms of early disease; the handyman is the medical doctor; the corrosive repair glues are symptom-based prescription drugs with side effects; the welding glasses are the antidepressant medications usually given to people who still complain of symptoms after the medical doctor has reached the end of his rope; the “green” handyman with the natural sealant is a naturopathic doctor or other alternative medicine practitioner; the homeowner’s insurance policy and insurance company are the health insurance culture; and the foundation repairman that saves the day is….a Functional Medicine doctor.

At this point, when faced with the prospect of a costly home repair, most homeowners just shrug and say, “well, I gotta live here; this is an important investment because it’s my biggest asset. Might as well fix the foundation” and they accept it as part of the responsibility of owning a home.

Let’s put this in perspective. A house is a box you can move out of. Your body is a house you cannot move out of. Your body also impacts every aspect of your quality of life. Why not approach your body’s maintenance at least as sensibly as you would the upkeep of a house?

People who have seen 5-10 other handyman doctors without getting any help or making any progress, can finally get the answers they’ve been looking for and the help they need.