Health isn’t just a switch you can turn to “off” or “on.” It spans a gradient or continuum. We have depleted health reserves on one end and abundant health reserves on the other. In between are various areas of health dysfunction that may be full blown symptomatic or subtle signals of low energy, mild aching, or foggy thinking.
By the time you have a health problem that is finally diagnosed as a disease by your physician, it means that the disease has been developing for years – possibly decades. This is true of Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease and Cancer. Though your symptoms may not have been too bad up until a certain point, the process was in the works long before your diagnosis was made.
What if there was a way to stop from getting to that point?
With functional medicine, there is. Available at Carter Chiropractic, functional medicine is a way of detecting potential problems, then addressing them before they turn into major health issues.
Take a look beneath the surface even when you “feel fine”
How do you know if there may be something wrong if you feel “just fine”. This is where Functional Medicine shines. With highly sensitive and specific functional diagnostic testing, your vulnerabilities, genetic predispositions, indicators and a collage of information gives clues. A Sherlock Holmes detective insight into your health can begin . These tests can be used to detect changes in your physiology or nutritional status. The codes for disease hidden in your DNA can be revealed in your genome and identify markers for chronic disease that may occur later in life. In doing so, early interventions can be done so that disease doesn’t impact your life in the long term.
The Six Pillars of Health
Our functional medicine patients are educated in each area of the Six Pillars of Health:
- Genetics
- Nutrition
- Gut health
- Liver detoxification
- Exercise
- Spiritual health
Functional medicine is holistic, meaning it looks at the whole person rather than someone who has health conditions that are standalone. It digs deep below the surface, looking at the many factors that influence a person’s health.
The Connection to Stress
You can get all the nutrients you want. But if your stress levels are chronically high, you won’t experience very good health. Why? Stress is a tremendous component when it comes to the aging process for your brain and body alike. IF you don’t handle stress well, your body and brain will age quicker. We’ll work with you to determine how you handle stress and whether any improvements need to be made, giving you tips you can use.
Get Ahead of the Aging Process
Example Osteopeinia / Osteoporosis: Many women are diagnosed with osteoporosis in their 60s, 70s and 80s. The bone loss, however, has been going on since these women were in their 20s or 30s. In one case, a patient’s osteopenia could be diagnosed on X-ray. Osteopenia is diagnosable bone loss that can lead to a fracture or break. Rather than treating osteoporosis, we can educate women on how to have healthy bones in their teens and 20s.
The same can be said of many conditions related to aging such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, arthritis or brain degeneration. Each is typically diagnosed at the end stage. They began, however, decades earlier and could have been addressed then.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is functional medicine?
Functional medicine is an early detection and early intervention model to improve your health. Many medical doctors have abandoned the allopathic model of prescribing drugs and treating disease to take this proactive approach, which gives better care and makes changes in lifestyle, diet and exercise. Supplementation is based on diagnostic testing and supported by science. There is no guessing here. Supplementation is used as needed to ensure your body gets what it requires to work at its highest level.
If I’ve already been diagnosed with a condition, can functional medicine still help me?
A diagnosis is certainly not a reason to give up. Functional medicine is integrative and works alongside traditional medical approaches. It is complementary and improves outcomes.
We welcome you to schedule a consultation to find out if functional medicine Raleigh is right for you.
Will you recommend a certain diet for me?
Functional medicine is a tailored plan. That means what we recommend to one person wouldn’t necessarily be right for the next. There is no single diet we advocate for; rather, all recommendations will be customized to what we determine your body needs through our testing process.