Has anyone here used a “functional” doctor?

I’ve decided to try and figure out what is causing my dilemma. Wondered about others experiences….

I've never even heard the term before. Hope someone else can help.

I've never heard of it either. Will have to investigate. Either way, hope you can find some help!

I think of my own direct care physician as being a bit in the “functional medicine “realm because she promotes massage therapy, performs acupuncture, uses compounding pharmacies, etc. I think of functional medicine as being a holistic approach to health, which is kind of/sorta what osteopathic medicine was once considered to be.

As I’ve read recent summaries of “functional medicine “it seems that should be every physician’s approach.

here’s what ChatGPT had to say about osteopathic medicine

Osteopathic medicine is fundamentally holistic
, focusing on treating the whole person—body, mind, and spirit—rather than just symptoms or diseases. Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs) are fully licensed physicians who emphasize preventive care, the interconnection of body systems, and the body’s innate ability to heal itself.
https://www.simplelivingforum.net/im...AASUVORK5CYII=Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine | PCOM +4

My own physician is an NOT an osteopath, but I remember decades ago my parents who were in healthcare talked about osteopathic training, and they determined that at that point in time, the osteopaths had merged enough with traditional western medicine training that they thought an osteopath as a physician was perfectly fine.

I've never heard of a function. doctor, but have considered some version of a naturopath, osteopath, or other holistic doctor. I would probably need a recommendation and more information from a friend or a trusted acquaintance before further consideration. My doctor tends to focus on lifestyle and diet changes for various conditions before recommending medications, but his good knowledge as a nutritionist is lacking and pretty much mainstream.

I went to a DO (osteopathic doctor) once. I asked him about his designation and he said he was a western style doc that promoted drugs (in effect). He did not impress me. I have an appointment with a functional doc early next month. A functional doctor is one that looks at the person as a whole (not having a particular specialty) and tries to locate the root cause of their illness. I do not have recommendations for this doc but have heard about results from other practitioners not in my area. We shall see.

Is that the same thing as integrative medicine, ie docs like Andrew Weil? Conventional docs seem to order tests and meds for specific symptoms most likely because their patients want instant relief. My experience with docs (and now mostly PAs) has been very mixed.

I think if I could find someone who was DO or nurse practitioner I would be interested in pursuing this. I looked at a couple around here and chiropractors are doing it, which would not be something I would think i would do. I did go to Dr. Mercola as a patient of his and thought he was kind of a nut, and stopped going. So I am definitely a believer in functional medicine as I understand it. But it gets really expensive really fast, from my husband's experience of going to somebody in Traverse City.

My concierge-doc is in many ways a "functional medicine" doctor. For her practice to survive, she has to keep us all healthy, so there is a lot of attention paid to diet, nutrition, exercise, genetics, baseline testing for various things and tracking, yada yada yada. She's also an extremely competent "regular" doctor, and has saved my life in one emergency, and is very good at "directing traffic" when I need specialists.

I do not think the two concepts are necessarily opposed.

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Originally Posted by pinkytoe

Is that the same thing as integrative medicine, ie docs like Andrew Weil? Conventional docs seem to order tests and meds for specific symptoms most likely because their patients want instant relief. My experience with docs (and now mostly PAs) has been very mixed.

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well in your ( generic your) 12 minute appointment, they have to address the thing or things specifically you came in for.

I think the concierge docs or the direct care docs like mine (not as fancy as concierge, although I don’t know what the practical difference is, and it probably varies from practice to practice) are already thinking out-of -the-box because they don’t want to be driven by insurance protocols.
Therefore, they spend more time with you in a typical appointment.