The desire to prevent future illness or address chronic medical conditions often leads people to these types of physicians, who think clearly outside of the box.
Insight from pharmacist & Town & Country Compounding Pharmacy owner: John Herr, RPh.
You will often hear me say, “In the United States, we often talk about health care but we are not in health care—we really are in sick care.” What is meant by this?
It means that our society and medical systems seem to focus on addressing only the sick, when someone is showing symptoms of a specific disease. But what about addressing our health before we fit into the “sick” category?
Our definition of what we need includes much more focus in the area of preventative care. Of course, we think we are preventing diseases by taking basic specific lab values and going to routine exams, but there is a lot more that can be done.
Ask any integrative or functional medicine practitioner!
What Is Integrative Medicine?
Integrative medicine refers to the blending of conventional and evidence-based complementary medicines and therapies with the aim of using the most appropriate of either—or both—modalities to care for the patient as a whole.
The Defining Principles of Integrative Medicine
- Patient, practitioner, and pharmacist are partners in the healing process.
- All factors that influence health, wellness, and disease are considered (mind, spirit, community, and body).
- Appropriate use of both conventional and alternative methods supports the body’s innate healing response.
- Natural and less invasive interventions should be used whenever possible.
- Integrative medicine neither rejects conventional medicine nor accepts alternative therapies uncritically.
- Good medicine is based in good science—open to inquiry and new paradigms.
- Health promotion and prevention of illness are paramount.
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Practitioners should exemplify these principles and commit to self-exploration and self-development.
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Shop NowWhat Is Functional Medicine?
The Functional Medicine model is an individualized, patient-centered, science-based approach that empowers patients and practitioners to work together to address the underlying causes of disease and promote optimal wellness. It requires a detailed understanding of each patient’s genetic, biochemical, and lifestyle factors and uses that data to direct personalized therapy plans.
By addressing root cause rather than symptoms, practitioners become oriented to identifying the complexity of disease. One condition may have many different causes, and one cause may result in many different conditions. Functional Medicine therapies target the specific manifestations of disease in each individual.
Functional Medicine determines how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root causes of disease for each individual.
Our Experience with a Visit to an Integrative Physician (MD)
My other home is located in the Midwest and I am surprised that they really only have big-box medicine. They have excellent health systems for addressing diseases, doing research, and dealing with emergencies—but it is very difficult to find Integrative/Functional Medicine practitioners.
Trying to find someone to prescribe Bio-identical hormones? Prescribers have actually been asked to leave a practice for prescribing. These are normal drugs, not voodoo! Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)? You can get it in a few neighboring states, but not mine. It’s still a very new concept. Synapsin (RG3)? If it’s not on a formulary you will have a hard time finding someone to prescribe it. Adrenal Fatigue? Still not a real thing.
I personally see an integrative physician regularly in New Jersey and I recently suggested to my wife to get a thorough checkup with a local Integrative practitioner since that would not be an option at our home in the Midwest. It was an amazing experience for her.
She is a pharmacist also and now she is telling all of her pharmacist friends about the experience. Many of the tests they ran were tests that a doctor in the Midwest would have never offered her, and the results were eye-opening in the area of prevention. You can notice the difference between this office visit versus a yearly checkup with a traditional MD.
On the first visit, blood (a lot) was drawn and sent out to the lab, and my wife was given a lengthy health and wellness questionnaire to fill out and return to the office. Note: Many more lab tests are performed (therefore more blood is needed) versus a traditional doctor visit, so be prepared for that.
After getting labs done, she met with the doctor on the second visit for about 1.5 hours and came out with a plan. For every lab value or symptom that was not perfect, she was given a suggestion for a medication, nutritional supplement, or a lifestyle change.
Honestly, she went in there to get hormones tested and came out with a big list of things to work on! But hey—that is preventative medicine. My wife is not one to really want to know all the things wrong with her because it can be scary.
On the other hand, I’m the one who is lining up ready to take the 23andMe to figure out what my genes say I’m susceptible to so I can start preventing now! Town & Country Compounding can help analyze results with your 23andMe test and suggest supplements.
“Health Bonuses” We Noticed with an Integrative or Functional Medicine Prescriber
Testing & Prevention Focus
Heart health
- Cholesterol/Lipoprotein Particle testing: not only cholesterol and triglycerides—fractionated levels to analyze risk. Source
- C-reactive protein (CRP): often standard in integrative visits and used to assess inflammation. Source
Thyroid: beyond TSH—often includes Total T4, Free T4, Total T3, Free T3, TPO (Reverse T3 may be optional). Source
Diabetes risk: insulin levels over time can indicate risk; insulin may be standard testing in some practices. Source | Source
Hormones, Immune & Infection Screening
Female hormones: may include estrone, estriol, progesterone, and testosterone (free and total), not just estradiol.
Autoimmune issues: ANA testing may be included. Source
Food allergies and sensitivities: some panels test many foods. (This was the bummer—unexpected dairy/gluten-free recommendations!)
Lyme disease: may be ordered even when symptoms are subtle, depending on clinical judgment. Source
Epstein-Barr virus:
sometimes offered as part of broader screening.
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Regardless of what type of patient you are, we believe that medication, lifestyle modifications, and nutritional supplements are key.
