Functional medicine is a science-based personalized healthcare approach that assesses and treats underlying causes of illness through individually tailored therapies to restore health and improve function. Functional medicine is a term employed by medical professionals to describe a model used to break down the complexity of disease. It is not a professional degree per se. Recognizing that symptoms and disease are the body's expression of dysfunction, functional medicine is the medicine of always asking “why?” Precise identification of root causes via advanced testing, physical exam, and careful history-taking leads to a patient-centered, evidence-based treatment plan. It is a systems biology-based model focused on identifying and addressing root causes of physiological dysfunction that contribute to a person’s story.

Functional medicine identifies health as a positive vitality - not merely the absence of disease - emphasizing those factors that encourage a vigorous physiology. It understands disease as disordered function, and a loss of adaptive homeodynamic balance. The approach of conventional allopathic medicine is heavily focused on a reducing your symptoms to a diagnosis, so it can be matched to a standard treatment that removes (surgery) or suppresses (medications) the supposed culprit. Functional medicine moves beyond this linear, reductionist thinking and instead uses a holistic approach – recognizing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It is inherently highly personalized; taking into account unique gene expression and biochemical individuality, you are treated as a person and not a cluster of diagnoses.

The goal is to identify the upstream causes that contribute to downstream symptoms, rather than merely suppressing the symptom itself. Functional medicine practitioners aim to answer two questions: what obstacles are getting in the way of the body’s natural balance (toxins, allergies, infections, poor diet, stress)? And, what needs are not being met (nutrients, light, water, air, movement, sleep, love, purpose, connection, restoration)?

The Institute of Functional Medicine (IFM) is the most widely recognized organization for training healthcare providers in this approach. IFM trains practitioners to uncover various factors and patterns: ones that predisposed a patient to certain imbalances, those that provoked a symptom of sign of illness, and those that continually contribute to pathological changes and dysfunctional response. IFM holds rigorous standards for learning and evaluating these skills via its educational courses, examination and case report certification process.

Dr. Giselle Catalina (ND) is currently completing her certification from IFM.

-Advanced Testing
(including comprehensive bloodwork and panel assessments)

-Medical Physical Examination

-Detailed Case History Intake

-Personalized Treatment Plan
(can include dietary, herbal, supplemental, physical movement, and other lifestyle recommendations)