Reviewed by Kyler Elwell-Silver, MD of Forum Health Las Colinas
Treating the Whole Body and Finding Underlying Causes
Our providers use a functional medicine approach to treat our patients. We believe in the power of the human body and because of this, we also believe that there is a big difference between going through life not feeling good versus living your ideal life. Our mission is to be proactive and assist both women and men in improving their quality of life through an individualized health and wellness plan — through hormone balance, nutrition, and supplement support, gut health testing and treatment, and weight management.
Differences Between Conventional and Functional Medicine
Conventional medicine is appropriate in many situations and works very well for things such as
- Acute infections
- Trauma
- Acute diseases
- Life-threatening situations
- Serious illness
Physicians will use treatments such as surgeries and drug therapies to treat their patients, and this can be beneficial and life-saving. However, this is not always enough to restore the patient to health and vitality.
Doctors in private practice will sometimes see over 20 patients in a single day. Because of this workload, they simply don’t have the time to spend with their patients to perform more exhaustive detective-like work to locate underlying causes. Additionally, not all providers are current on up-to-date treatment protocols and rely on their training from medical school. This training can include a “one size fits all” approach, along with a philosophy of prescribing a pill to treat a symptom, versus looking for underlying causes.
Conversely, functional medicine asks why the problem exists and seeks the root causes of diseases and dysfunction rather than automatically prescribing a drug for its symptoms. Functional medicine recognizes that your symptoms aren’t necessarily the same thing as your diagnosis.
Take someone who has GERD, for instance (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, essentially chronic acid reflux). This seemingly minor medical problem has an underlying cause. However, many physicians will simply advise their patients to take proton pump inhibitor medications to ease symptoms and not consider an underlying problem with the gut. As time goes on, these patients may manage their acid reflux symptoms, but they will feel worse overall and not understand how much their gut health influences their overall health.
Many of our patients come to us feeling frustrated because they just don’t feel well and haven’t been able to resolve it through conventional medicine methods. For example, we get a lot of calls from people who have thyroid problems. They’ve seen their provider and have been put on medication, but they’re still experiencing the same symptoms. Sometimes, they have explained these thyroid symptoms to their providers, only to be told that their labs are “normal” and there’s nothing more to be done.
The Role of Functional Medicine
Functional medicine is a drastically different model of practice as it looks at what can be done to restore the patient to optimal health rather than just treating a symptom. Some examples of how this is achieved can include:
- First and foremost, just spending more quality time with patients is crucial. Our providers see 4-6 patients per day.
- Treating everyone as an individual — no cookie-cutter diagnoses or treatments.
- State-of-the-art, comprehensive testing and treatment protocols. For example, for thyroid patients, it’s common for a conventional medicine provider to test TSH levels and possibly T4 hormone levels. A functional medicine approach involves six different tests to find all aspects of potential dysfunction so that the patient can be diagnosed and treated accurately.
- Focusing on prevention and cures through an integrative approach that includes hormone balance, nutrition, diet, exercise, and stress management.
- Recognizing that successful treatment and optimal health can only be achieved with a whole body/all systems approach, not just putting a band-aid on a symptom.
- Provider/patient partnerships so that patients can participate in their wellness.
- The use of compounded hormones and medications that can be tailored to the individual.
- Incorporating the use of quality nutraceuticals in therapy protocols to address deficiencies in vitamins and minerals.
Root Causes of Disease
In a functional medicine approach, all possible underlying issues are explored and addressed. When the root cause is correctly diagnosed and treated, all of the symptoms associated with it will disappear.
Additionally, some people have multiple health issues going on, and they may be seeing different physicians or specialists. Sometimes this is necessary, however, it can happen that the left hand may not know what the right hand is doing. Not only can this be detrimental to your health, but it can also make things worse. A functional medicine provider is going to look at the big picture and help to fit all of the pieces of the puzzle together.
Many people are coping with chronic illness, hormonal imbalances, thyroid problems, and autoimmune disorders that are disrupting their quality of life. They are not getting the help they need from the conventional medical community, and they’re becoming sicker and losing hope. But there is hope.
We Can Help
Our providers will take time to meet with you and establish a meaningful dialogue regarding your history, symptoms, current state of health, and all of your concerns. This, combined with comprehensive lab testing, will provide you with the answers you need. We will explain your results in detail and establish treatment protocol as needed so that you can start healing and feeling better.
We offer compassionate and knowledgeable expertise and will work with you using proven, science-based technology in a caring environment.
Specialty Services That We Offer
- Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy for women and men. BHRT includes an assessment of all hormone functions in the body and not just the sex hormones.
- Thyroid diagnosis and treatment. We run a complete thyroid lab panel to include TSH, T3, T4, Reverse T3, and antibodies. Conditions that we treat include Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s Disease.
- Other comprehensive serum lab testing to screen for adrenal fatigue, insulin resistance, blood sugar issues, liver and kidney function, inflammation and other health markers, advanced lipid testing, and key vitamin levels.
- Food sensitivity testing to identify sensitivities to specific foods or chemicals that may cause you to be ill.
- Gut health testing to determine the health of the gut biome and testing for vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
- Nutritional counseling.
- Weight loss management when appropriate.
- Disease prevention.
- Anti-aging protocols.
- Nutraceuticals and Supplements
Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
This effective and science-based approach to diet, exercise, stress management, and appropriate hormone adjustments can greatly improve quality of life. Hormone balancing is a specialty of ours. This includes the sex hormones for women and men and also the thyroid and adrenal hormones. Imbalances in these bodily systems can wreak havoc on the way you feel and have a multitude of cascading effects leading to other health issues.
Hormonal balancing can:
- Improve memory and concentration.
- Improve energy levels.
- Increase libido.
- Identify heart disease and diabetes risk.
- Control weight gain and lessen abdominal fat.
- Develop bone and muscle mass.
- Relieve insomnia.
- Improve skin tone and appearance.
- Lessen depression and/or anxiety symptoms.
- Improve cholesterol.
- Restore hair loss.
- Treat osteopenia/osteoporosis.
- Eliminate digestive problems.
- Relieve joint and muscle pain.
Our providers will only prescribe bioidentical hormones that are produced to exacting standards in qualified compounding pharmacies.
Thyroid Disease Diagnosis and Management
Our providers are highly experienced at diagnosing thyroid issues and providing effective treatment. Our protocols utilize holistic as well as standard medical treatment based on the latest medical discoveries and research studies.
Unfortunately, it is all too common to find those who have many or even all of the symptoms of thyroid disorders who were “tested” earlier and told that everything is “normal”. Or, in some cases, they are put on thyroid medication that does not resolve their symptoms.
At Forum Health, we have found that a much more thorough testing protocol results in isolating issues with thyroid function that are often missed with traditional testing.
As well, individualized, correct thyroid treatment does result in most patients beginning to feel better within days or weeks of the first visit, with the majority showing great improvement shortly thereafter.
Gut Health
Gastrointestinal function is important for overall good health. Emerging studies show mounting evidence that gut microbiota is the pathogenesis for intestinal disorders such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, IBS, and Celiac Disease. Evidence also suggests that gut health influences other diseases such as allergies, asthma, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.
Keeping the good and bad bacteria balanced in the GI tract can rid you of conditions such as:
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
- Gluten sensitivity.
- Arthritis and joint pain.
- Autoimmune disorders.
- Chronic fatigue.
- Crohn’s Disease.
- Ulcerative Colitis.
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
- Headaches/Migraines.
- Acid reflux/heartburn.
- Candida overgrowth.
Food Sensitivity Testing
Food intolerance testing provides healthcare professionals and their patients a tool to manage a wide variety of conditions linked to the activation of the immune system. These conditions include digestive disorders, migraines, skin disorders, Hashimoto’s Disease, aching joints, obesity, and other autoimmune problems.
We use the ALCAT test at our Las Colinas office. By testing hundreds of common foods, you can discover if your body has an intolerance to any of these that can be causing adverse reactions and health problems.
Is it time for you to feel better, have more energy, and reclaim your life? Find a Forum Health location Near you
