functional medicine faq:
how is functional medicine different than conventional care?
Functional medicine is personalized and tailored to each patient’s unique health condition. Unlike a one-size-fits-all approach, it addresses root causes and considers how different systems in the body interact and respond over time.
what does a typical protocol include?
how often will i need a follow up?
Follow-up frequency depends on the systems being addressed:

• Gut and digestive issues tend to respond quickly, so weekly or bi-weekly follow-ups may be needed early on.
• Hormonal imbalances and other slower-changing systems may require follow-ups every 4–6 months.

In most cases:

• After your initial 1.5-hour new patient evaluation, you’ll have a follow-up within 2–4 weeks.
• Follow-ups typically last 30–45 minutes.
• During the first 6 months, monthly follow-ups are common as treatment protocols often change.
• After that, we usually establish a sustainable wellness routine with fewer check-ins.

Most functional medicine protocols include around 5 nutraceutical products (professional-grade supplements), tailored to your needs and adjusted as your body responds to care.

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About Functional Medicine
​How do you figure out what’s wrong?
Communication
Most information a doctor needs to treat you can be found in a thorough consultation.
Lifestyle
You will be instructed on things you can change in your daily routine to heal your body and avoid future symptoms. This can be changes in diet, exercise, relationships, stress, jobs, etc.
Symptom Survey Forms
This is an extensive worksheet of 300 plus symptoms you may encounter in your life. The pattern of these tells the doctor the primary area that needs support.
Supplements
These can be used permanently to boost genetic deficiencies. However, most supplements are aimed to support your body until you reach the next level of physical adaptation. Supplements should not be used as crutches for a poor lifestyle; then they are no different than a pharmaceutical. Changes in lifestyle are paramount to fully fixing physiology.
Blood Work
Normal blood work values are compared to a pool of values collected from usually “sick” individuals. Functional values aim to compare you to “healthy” individuals. We do this by using values that are one or two standard deviations from the average. Normal blood work values encompass over two standard deviations from the mean.
Reflex Points/Muscles
Many areas of the body become tender and dysfunctional with certain organ dysfunction. See following page.
Functional Medicine differs from traditional medicine in the approach towards the body; it looks at a person as a single entity, and it believes that everything is interconnected.
Functional Medicine attempts to find out the root cause of the ailment, it analyzes the triggers that led to the present condition, and it pays specific attention to the characteristics of the patient so as to provide a personalized remedy. For example, Dr. Rachel has many patients with digestive dysfunction. Each one does not receive the same treatment protocol. Some need help with carbohydrates, some with protein. Some have leaky gut, others simply have brain based issues. Each person is too different in the root cause and their needs to simply have a cookbook approach.