What is the difference between the acupuncturist vs the acupuncturist practicing functional medicine?
Most acupuncturists listen to a patient’s health concerns based on a 1-page health questionnaire you filled out in the acupuncture clinic. They check the pulse and the tongue and start treating symptoms right away. This is what we learned at graduate school and there is nothing wrong with it. When I graduated from acupuncture school, I thought I would be able to help anybody who came to see me with acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Formulas. However, I started seeing the limitations of just practicing acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine. The main reason is that patients typically come to see acupuncturists with modern illnesses like type 2 diabetes, hives from chemical and food sensitivities, various autoimmune diseases, mood disorders, and illnesses stemming from non-metal environmental toxicity. These illnesses did not exist when acupuncture was founded 2,000 years ago. People sought relief from pain due to physical labor. Things are different now. We live in a modern society in a toxic world. I call this “toxic soup”.
This is a big reason I decided to study Functional Medicine. I am very happy to incorporate functional medicine training with acupuncture for the benefit of my patients. More and more MDs, NP, DC, and NDs are interested in incorporating functional medicine but not many acupuncturists, as far as I am aware. I am very unique in this matter and I am capable of treating patients who come to see me with complex health issues successfully within a short amount of time.
Some patients would like to get treated for 1-hour acupuncture or just to get the consultation to receive the proper Chinese Herbal Medicine formulas. That is very fine as well. I am well trained at the New England School of Acupuncture graduate school and I have been practicing since 2005.
Our initial meeting and treatment go like this. For an acupuncture patient, you will be escorted into a clean, cozy room with soft music and dim lighting where you will be able to relax immediately. I am very aware of the fact that stimulating our 5 senses to calm the sympathetic nervous system is the very first step before I do anything. For Functional Medicine patients, we will start finding the root cause of your health issues, based on many forms and questionnaires you answered ahead of time along with your lab test result. I listen to you! I hear repeatedly “no one has ever been so interested in my health history and asked so many questions”. This is the foundation of Functional Medicine to ask the “right” questions and “why” to find the real root cause “trigger” at the very first meeting so that we are not wasting our time. After gathering the information and Q&A, I start evaluating your unique circumstances and I will treat you. Some patients are just coming for functional medicine consultation. It is up to you. After the treatment, we will discuss the treatment plan. We work together to develop the optimal treatment plan which includes supplementation, lifestyle changes, sleep hygiene, dietary choices, stress management, etc… I will provide you access to useful videos to watch, provide you the specific handouts, and articles for you to read. I will follow up with you via email to guide you n achieving your goal.
My motto is to “keep learning”. I continually improve my diagnostic skills in Functional Medicine and brush up my technique and fine-tuning in Oriental Medicine. My patients come to me for a variety of health issues that are not always pain-related as many people think. Many patients are already on a few medications, have organs removed, have taken many tests including ultrasound, X-ray, CAT scan, PET scan, sleep study, had maximum times of cortisone shots, other procedures, and seen multiple specialists. I had one patient who had 21 surgeries and forgot to tell me the bilateral carpal tunnel surgeries until I pointed them out. Why did this patient come to see me? She was still in so much pain.
Patients are told by their primary care doctors and other specialists that “your lab and tests came back normal”, but you feel awful. Sounds familiar? You are in the wrong department, so to speak. I use the analogy of the fire department to western medicine. The fire department is absolutely needed for every single town in the U.S. when a fire occurs. They are rushed quickly to put out the fire. The same theory goes for western medicine. You need health insurance to cover the cost when you get into accidents like a car crash, fall from the roof, cut a finger, etc… Their choice of tool is drugs and surgery and you need their service right away.
How many people do you know who are suffering from chronic illnesses? They are able to get up and get to work, but their health is far from optimal. You may wake up tired, push yourself to get going in the morning by drinking a lot of coffee, are irritable, depressed, moody, and not productive during the day. You feel exhausted by 3 pm and are looking for sugar to lift your mood. You cannot think about cooking so you go to get take-out. You are physically exhausted by 9 pm but mentally wired and tired. You toss and turn all night long and wake up tired again, but you push yourself to go to the gym by 6 am. Does this sound like somebody you know?
These are the patient that is told by their primary care and the specialists that “your lab and test results came back normal”, but they feel awful. Adrenal, morning/mid-day/dinner time and bedtime cortisol, B6, Vitamin D and 12, homocysteine, ferritin, TPO, Free T3, Reverse T3, Free Testosterone, and insulin (not fasting glucose) are often tested by allopathic doctors but these are the markers that really should get tested to avoid having the chronic disease in the first place.
My motto is to “keep learning”. I continually improve my diagnostic skills in Functional Medicine and brush up my technique and fine-tuning in Oriental Medicine. My patients come to me for a variety of health issues that are not always pain-related as many people think. Many patients are already on a few medications, have organs removed, have taken many tests including ultrasound, X-ray, CAT scan, PET scan, sleep study, had maximum times of cortisone shots, other procedures, and seen multiple specialists. I had one patient who had 21 surgeries and forgot to tell me the bilateral carpal tunnel surgeries until I pointed them out. Why did this patient come to see me? She was still in so much pain.
Patients are told by their primary care doctors and other specialists that “your lab and tests came back normal”, but you feel awful. Sounds familiar? You are in the wrong department, so to speak. I use the analogy of the fire department to western medicine. The fire department is absolutely needed for every single town in the U.S. when a fire occurs. They are rushed quickly to put out the fire. The same theory goes for western medicine. You need health insurance to cover the cost when you get into accidents like a car crash, fall from the roof, cut a finger, etc… Their choice of tool is drugs and surgery and you need their service right away.
How many people do you know who are suffering from chronic illnesses? They are able to get up and get to work, but their health is far from optimal. You may wake up tired, push yourself to get going in the morning by drinking a lot of coffee, are irritable, depressed, moody, and not productive during the day. You feel exhausted by 3 pm and are looking for sugar to lift your mood. You cannot think about cooking so you go to get take-out. You are physically exhausted by 9 pm but mentally wired and tired. You toss and turn all night long and wake up tired again, but you push yourself to go to the gym by 6 am. Does this sound like somebody you know?
These are the patient that is told by their primary care and the specialists that “your lab and test results came back normal”, but they feel awful. Adrenal, morning/mid-day/dinner time and bedtime cortisol, B6, Vitamin D and 12, homocysteine, ferritin, TPO, Free T3, Reverse T3, Free Testosterone, and insulin (not fasting glucose) are often tested by allopathic doctors but these are the markers that really should get tested to avoid having the chronic disease in the first place.
Functional medicine is well suited for treating chronic illnesses. It requires a detailed understanding of each patient’s genetic, biochemical, and lifestyle factors. It takes some time for the patients to go over their health history and the practitioner required their skill set to connects the dots to find the root cause. For example, you have a heart palpitation. The western medicine approach is to put you on medication after running the various tests only covered by your insurance. The functional medicine approach is to ask questions like “when” the palpitation started, “why” your heart is racing, “what” triggered the palpitation? It could be from any event, food intake (for example, high lection contained food, high histamine food, or high oxalate contained food), excessive exercise, lack of sleep, lack of water intake, malnutrition, excessive caffeine intake, the combination of drugs and supplements you have been taking, any GI or skin issues you are having. I will add “urinary bladder, kidney, or lung meridians relationship to heart” by oriental medicine’s five-phase viewpoint. I hope you get an idea of what I am trying to say.
Conventional vs Functional Medicine:
A patient is experiencing depression. With conventional medicine, the patient would be given anti-depressants to fix the ‘problem.’ With functional medicine, depression is seen as a symptom, and we look at the systematic factors that could be causing the problem, such as possibly a gut issue or heavy metal toxicity, and adrenal or thyroid problem. A functional medicine approach would look at not only the symptoms but “backtracks” from the symptom to see what underlying factors may be causing the depression.)
Integrative vs Functional Medicine:
Integrative medicine requires a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals led by M.D. to address subtle energy & spiritual (mind-body) aspects of health conditions. Many hospitals started having an integrative medicine clinic including Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, etc combines conventional medicine with holistic medicine.
Functional Medicine can be performed solo focusing on a one-on-one with patients to evaluate lifestyle, genetics, nutrition, diet, environmental determinants to health and well-being. It is personalized medicine that relies on system science often uses functional medicine laboratory testings. (In my clinic, I use various questionnaires first to avoid running out-of-the-pocket FM lab testing) Functional medicine is based on the premise that we look at four different areas: the underlying cause for a problem; how does that affect the body (what physiology is affected or damaged by that); what body system is affected (adrenals, thyroid, gut, brain, liver, detox pathways; and what are the symptoms. However, while conventional medicine tends to focus on fixing the symptoms, functional medicine looks at the symptoms as the “outgrowth” of the problem. Functional medicine addresses the symptoms but also works backward from them to get at the underlying causes of an issue.
Both Integrative and Functional Medicine focuses on disease prevention, patient-centered, and treating symptoms by addressing underlying problems.
“Functional medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach, and engaging both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership. It is an evolution in the practice of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century. By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more patient-centered approach, functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. Functional medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories, and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. In this way, functional medicine supports the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual. The system of medicine practiced by most physicians is oriented toward acute care, the diagnosis and treatment of trauma or illness that is of short duration and in need of urgent care, such as appendicitis or a broken leg. Unfortunately, the acute-care approach to medicine lacks the proper methodology and tools for preventing and treating complex, chronic diseases. In most cases, it does not take into account the unique genetic makeup of each individual or factors such as environmental exposures to toxins and the aspects of today’s lifestyle that have a direct influence on the rise in chronic disease in modern Western society. Physicians apply specific, prescribed treatments such as drugs or surgery that aim to treat the immediate problem or symptom. Most physicians are not adequately trained to assess the underlying causes of complex, chronic disease and to apply strategies such as nutrition, diet, and exercise to both treat and prevent these illnesses in their patients.”
-Jill Carnahan, M.D. (my favorite FM practitioner)
I believe we must get to the root cause of imbalance manifesting as various symptoms. We need to recognize the connections between the physical, mental and spiritual relationships. We cannot separate one from another. I see many people care more about their cars than their own health. When the engine service light comes on, the car quickly goes into the shop. Many people have too many engine service lights blinking in their bodies, but the lights are totally ignored for months or years.
As an oriental and functional medicine practitioner, one of my goals is to continually deepen my knowledge in both medicines and improve my skillset; stay up to date with recent research which includes the food we digest, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. These are important fundamental things that are directly related to our health. Functional medicine training has given me a new approach to treating patients as truly unique individuals and guiding them to live a more vibrant, healthy