You may have heard the term "integrative medicine" but are not sure what it means. Integrative medicine is an approach to wellness that combines both conventional (traditional western) medicine and complementary medicine (therapies not part of conventional medicine, and may include things like meditation, yoga, acupuncture, and herbal treatments). Sometimes people argue about which is better. My personal opinion is that it's not all black or white, and there exists a "happy medium" that combines elements of both conventional medicine and complementary medicine. My biggest priority when deciding if I think a particular treatment will benefit my patient is to determine 1.) is it safe? (first do no harm), and 2.) is there evidence to support its use in this condition?
But what about functional medicine? Is it the same thing as integrative medicine? There is some overlap between these two concepts. Integrative medicine does not focus on just one physical health problem a patient has – it works to correct the mind, body, and spirit so the entire body heals. Functional medicine is an approach that focuses on optimal function of the body, and determining the root cause of a symptom. This means helping the body function in the best way possible by focusing on efficiency in each organ of the body. This approach relies heavily on science-based research and testing to understand a patient’s unique needs. Functional medicine also heavily emphasizes lifestyle changes to improve health problems, such as diet, exercise, sleep patterns, stress levels, and other aspects of life. Functional medicine training programs include an element of anti-aging medicine, which is a rapidly developing area of medical science and research.
There are some people who take an all or nothing approach, for example, those who are proponents of using herbal medicines only and are against using conventional pharmaceutical agents (or vice-versa). I'm not one of those people, as I think there is a role for both in achieving optimal wellness. After all, many of the pharmaceutical agents in use today are derived from plants and herbs. The classic example is the drug morphine, which is derived from opium which comes from poppy flowers. In fact many chemotherapy agents are also derived from plant compounds. Nature makes substances that are meant to help the plant or organism survive in its natural habitat.
What I disagree with, is the idea that if a patient has a symptom, we are sometimes inclined to simply prescribe a medication to treat that symptom. The symptom itself is a sign of dysfunction of the involved organ or organ system. Therefore it makes sense to delve deeper, to determine what may be contributing to this dysfunction, and then what can we do to address it. This may mean doing some lab tests, imaging studies, and a thorough physical exam and health history, to get a view of the big picture. Sometimes it's as simple as reviewing the patient's current medications and determining that they may be experiencing a side effect of a medication or a drug-drug interaction. This probably doesn't happen as often as it should, since many clinicians are rushed and under pressure to see a large number of patients per day in their office.
I have attended many medical conferences, for both conventional medicine, as well as functional and integrative medicine. I like to attend these events to see what's new in the field and what's happening in the research world. A funny thing is that those who argue over which approach is best, will also tend to "demonize" the other camp (similar to what happens in our political debates). For example, the some will say that conventional medicine is all about big pharma making money. But what's interesting to me is, that if you take a bird's eye view of the convention center exhibit hall at either a conventional medicine conference or a functional or integrative medicine conference, they look eerily similar. What I mean is, there are booths and exhibits filling the entire space, and each one is marketing their product. Whether it be a new antibiotic, a new medical device, or a new line of nutritional supplements. There is money to be made in both fields.
Therefore it's worthwhile to have a positive attitude but a healthy degree of skepticism because it comes down to this: everyone is selling something. And because of this, we have to make decisions about our health based on strong scientific research as well as a well-known safety profiles. Chinese medicine, for example, has long relied on herbal medicines and acupuncture for treatment of many conditions. Lots of research has been done on acupuncture for treatment of certain painful conditions and has been shown to be helpful (superior to placebo) in many, including childbirth. So if someone is telling you try acupuncture for your pain, I think it's probably worth trying if no contraindications exist. But if someone is telling you that you need to be taking 30 different nutritional supplements (and they happen to sell those supplements on a shelf in their office), I would consider getting more than one opinion. Likewise, if you have a complex medical condition, and have been told, "it's probably stress, try this antidepressant medication", you may consider another opinion too. While physical symptoms can definitely worsen when we're under stress, they still warrant a thorough workup.
At the end of the day, a relationship of trust with your doctor is key. The journey towards optimal wellness is best done as a team. Avoiding "all or nothing" mentality or tunnel vision allows us to explore all possibilities, and then make informed decisions from there.
Cheers to your health,
Dr. B
#wellness #integrativemedicine #westernmedicine #functionalmedicine #chinesemedicine #acupuncture #complementarymedicine #nutrition #health
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