Caring for and maintaining the body’s health is an act of integrating treatment methods, not separating them. At the Teggatz Clinic, we prioritize a method of functional medicine that treats the unified system of your body.
The concept of “functional medicine” springs from the idea that medical care is an act of integration, not separation. Instead of simply addressing different symptoms across separate areas, functional medicine seeks to treat the issues that altogether affect the unified system of your body.
The principles that characterize Functional Medicine care are as follows:
- Medical practitioners prioritize quality over quantity with their patients. A doctor will only make a medical diagnosis after listening carefully to a patient’s history, documenting their personal choices and medicinal interactions.
- Assessment and prevention are prioritized over wait-and-see treatment approaches
- A prioritization is placed on utilizing the most modern and advanced medical equipment that is available. Instead of using antiquated equipment for outdated treatments, newer devices that can treat the complex network of interconnected systems that make up the body
- Patients are not to feel that they have taken on a passive role in their own health. Instead, they are to be armed with information and encourage to take an active role in improving how they feel.
Utilizing the functional medicine approach can allow patients who have been searching for solutions to their problems for years to finally have hope. Instead of relying on being prescribed medications again and again for temporary relief, Dr. Teggatz and her team at the Teggatz Clinic diagnose problems holistically in order to find permanent cures.
Since the founding of her practice, she and her team have helped patients heal from life-altering conditions such as fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, migraines, and more.
Whether the Teggatz Clinic is the first clinic you are visiting for treatment, or simply the latest one, we’ll make sure we do everything in our power to find an effective treatment and make sure it’s also the last clinic you’ll need to visit.
What is Functional Medicine?
According to the Institute for Functional Medicine, “Functional medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness.”
How does Functional Medicine differ from standard Western Medicine?
Standard western medicine looks at symptoms and treatment from individual body systems. Standard medicine treats the symptom and often treatments are pharmaceutical focused with their own list of side effects. Treatments are often disease focused, not considering the patient's individual biology, genetics, lifestyle, and environment.
Functional medicine treats the body as a whole unit. Identifying the root cause of the symptom or disease is the ultimate goal to then determine the most natural, lifestyle-led treatment plan. Functional Medicine looks at the whole patient, including the five main pillars of health: nutrition, sleep/rest, movement/exercise, stress, and relationships.
What is Functional Medicine Testing?
Functional Medicine testing does differ from standard western medicine testing as it dives deeper into the body systems to include urine, stool, saliva, cheek swabs, and/or hair samples for an in-depth look into GI health, hormone balance, nutritional requirements not found through blood testing alone.
Even blood lab testing goes deeper with Functional Medicine than western medicine. Functional Medicine blood tests look for additional bio-markers and are more sensitive to tighter normal limits.
Is Functional Medicine the same as Integrative or Holistic medicine?
Functional, Integrative, and Holistic Medicine are all similar but have slight differences.
Functional Medicine: Works to identify the underlying cause of illness and create an individualized plan of treatment using a combination of lifestyle, nutraceutical, and holistic treatments and therapies.
Integrative Medicine: Seeks to understand the whole person and combines conventional medicine with complementary, holistic therapies.
Holistic Medicine: Focuses on the physical, mental, and emotional needs of the person to find optimal health.
