In medical school, you’re taught that patients either have a disease or don’t: That your patient is either genuinely unwell with a name-able condition (and the positive test results affirming this diagnosis) or not.
Category: Functional Medicine
Functional medicine is an individualized approach to medicine that focuses on the underlying causes and prevention of serious chronic disease rather than disease symptoms.
Functional Medicine
Functional medicine is personalized medicine that deals with primary prevention and underlying causes instead of symptoms for serious chronic disease. It is a science-based field of health care that is grounded in the following principles:
Naturopathy
Naturopathy is a distinct system of medicine that is based on a belief in the healing power of nature–and especially in the body’s innate ability to fight disease and heal itself. Practiced by naturopathic doctors (also known as naturopaths or N.D.s), it uses a wide range of natural treatment methods, rather than drugs or surgery, to stimulate the body’s own healing powers. Among the therapies many naturopaths frequently prescribe are diet and lifestyle modifications, nutritional supplements, homeopathy, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, detoxification, spinal manipulation, and more.
Applied Kinesiology
Applied kinesiology is a technique used to diagnose and treat health problems by identifying weakened muscles. It should not be confused with conventional kinesiology (from the Greek word kinesis, meaning movement), which is the scientific study of mechanics and anatomy in relation to human movement.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
By far the most common reason patients visit gastroenterologists is for help with irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, also known as spastic colon. Although the condition is not dangerous, nor does it lead to anything serious, IBS is a real challenge to treat effectively. In fact, conventional medical textbooks advise doctors to tell their patients that the condition is incurable, and many patients have come to believe that the best they can expect from conventional medicine is only limited relief. All doctors, including myself, hesitate to use the word “cure.” But at WholeHealth Chicago, we’ve found that a more integrated medical “toolbox” has dramatically improved our success rate.
SICKO Part Four
Michael Moore’s SiCKO explores a seamy underside to the American health care system: the self-serving collusion between the US federal government and the immense powers within medical care.