My experience with functional medicine

[Affinity]

You sure are a trooper, God Bless you. I don't trust doctors anymore, with my experiences. I am reading and trying things on my own but I have another problem, I can't use my right leg; completely different other problem too. I have been in chronic pain with that for 4 months now, and have been to so many doctors and they really discouraged me. I am tired of not being able to walk.

Wow I am so sorry to hear about your leg problems! I hurt my back in October and am still dealing with sciatica in my left leg which is really bothersome but at least I can walk! I understand though about not trusting doctors. That is one reason I am going to the functional medicine doctor. Another name for functional medicine is restorative medicine and they have the goal of restoring functionality to patience ... hence the two names of functional medicine and restorative medicine. My "regular" doctor is terrible and I have basically given up going to her. I should try to find a new primary doctor but it's so discouraging I can't even bring myself to try at this point. Traditional western medicine has not helped me at all, unfortunately, and even though I was diagnosed in my 40's I have had symptoms since I was a teenager and have been to so many regular doctors over the years to no avail. But I am hoping this experience is different.

 

[Creola17]

You sure are a trooper, God Bless you. I don't trust doctors anymore, with my experiences. I am reading and trying things on my own but I have another problem, I can't use my right leg; completely different other problem too. I have been in chronic pain with that for 4 months now, and have been to so many doctors and they really discouraged me. I am tired of not being able to walk.

Have you tried alternative doctors? When I couldn't walk for 6 weeks and doctors were useless they helped me. It's amazing how they help.

 

[Dusty1957]

What is a functionality medical doctor and how do I find one?

 

[Dusty1957]

What is a functionality medical doctor and how do I find one?

 

[Affinity]

Have you tried alternative doctors? When I couldn't walk for 6 weeks and doctors were useless they helped me. It's amazing how they help.

I also have a physical therapist that I love that might help you walking

 

[Affinity]

What is a functionality medical doctor and how do I find one?

I googled "functional medicine doctor near me" and found quite a few listings as I am lucky to live in a large metro area (Dallas-Fort Worth) and so I called and talked to several of their offices before making my decision on which to go to. I ultimately chose the one that specialized most in fibromyalgia even though his office is a little farther away (like 20-30 minute drive).

Functional medicine is also called restorative medicine and has the goal of restoring proper functionality to the patient. I have read a bunch of books on fibromyalgia that suggest a functional medicine approach like "The Fibro Fix". One thing that stuck with me when I talked to my functional medicine doctor is that they use much smaller ranges when looking at blood tests. For example my thyroid has shown up in the "normal" range and so my regular doctor said there were no issues but the functional medicine doctor uses a smaller range and so my low "normal" reading becomes a "low" reading under functional medicine parameters and she told me that for thyroid bloodwork to be "low" under regular medicine guidelines it would be so bad that I would be hospitalized.

If you want to read some other books I also recommend "The Auto-Immune Fix" or any of the books in my original post where I listed what books my doctor recommended. In the "Fibro Fix" he tells you how you can work with your regular doctor on this but I doubt my doctor would be open to that, she wouldn't even check me for anemia even though I asked her to. She said there was no need due to other test results (red blood cell count) but when I wan tested with my functional medicine doctor I was anemic even using the standard ranges.

 

[Creola17]

I Google "help with fibromyalgia" and found mine. They offered a free one hour consult and changed my life.

 

[sunkacola]

For example my thyroid has shown up in the "normal" range and so my regular doctor said there were no issues but the functional medicine doctor uses a smaller range and so my low "normal" reading becomes a "low" reading under functional medicine parameters and she told me that for thyroid bloodwork to be "low" under regular medicine guidelines it would be so bad that I would be hospitalized.

Affinity....I have heard great things about functional medicine and am not in any way disputing its effectiveness or the practitioners. In fact, am wishing I could find one for myself and give it a try.

But this puzzles me. If thyroid bloodwork would have to be so low as to need hospitalization under regular medicine parameters, then how can it be that so many people test low in thyroid and simply get put on medication that controls it? I haven't got low thyroid but know a number of people who do and all tested low, and none were hospitalized, just got put on medication, and are Ok as long as they are on the medication.
I am just wondering about this. Maybe you don't know but I wish I knew what your doctor meant by what she said, because it doesn't appear to make sense to me.

 

[JayCS]

My GP's actually what we say 'alternative' or 'with naturopathic treatment' (e.g. he does acupuncture and nutrition and stuff) plus we have alternative health practitioners who aren't docs tho. If we had them here, I'd definitely go to a functional doc. As it is I piece it together from the various docs I try. The only reason I don't miss the possibility is because I'm doing almost all of it all already, sort of on my own plus with your help - but I always ask all of my docs if what I'm doing is OK and they always say yes, even the most 'conservative'.

 

[Affinity]

Affinity....I have heard great things about functional medicine and am not in any way disputing its effectiveness or the practitioners. In fact, am wishing I could find one for myself and give it a try.

But this puzzles me. If thyroid bloodwork would have to be so low as to need hospitalization under regular medicine parameters, then how can it be that so many people test low in thyroid and simply get put on medication that controls it? I haven't got low thyroid but know a number of people who do and all tested low, and none were hospitalized, just got put on medication, and are Ok as long as they are on the medication.
I am just wondering about this. Maybe you don't know but I wish I knew what your doctor meant by what she said, because it doesn't appear to make sense to me.

She may have been exaggerating but it made sense to me, and yet I understand what you are saying here, too. I know what you mean though because for example I have been anemic at many different points in my life and have never been hospitalized due to anemia but have tested low many times. But when she said it it made sense, especially because I have so much evidence of things being wrong in my body based on how I feel, but there is a lack of evidence through testing to back up how I feel. And I might have mixed up the tests(brain fog here you know lol), maybe she was talking about a different test other than thyroid (I had over 20 tests done) but I do believe by narrowing the parameters we can get more precise results. I get my new blood work later this month and so it will be interesting to see how things have changed in just a few months, if they have changed at all.

 

[Affinity]

My GP's actually what we say 'alternative' or 'with naturopathic treatment' (e.g. he does acupuncture and nutrition and stuff) plus we have alternative health practitioners who aren't docs tho. If we had them here, I'd definitely go to a functional doc. As it is I piece it together from the various docs I try. The only reason I don't miss the possibility is because I'm doing almost all of it all already, sort of on my own plus with your help - but I always ask all of my docs if what I'm doing is OK and they always say yes, even the most 'conservative'.

You are lucky to find good docs to work with! I haven't had the same luck in the past sadly.

 

[JayCS]

Yeah, true, I really am. All of my docs did their best from their way of thinking, all gave me ideas. And the reason their help was only 10% is just that fibro is so individual ... and me too ;-P. So thanks for the consolation :-D