4. The traditional model of medical care typically identifies diseases that are viewed as separate, discreet entities, each with specific, mostly drug-related therapies. Functional medicine looks for patterns of dysfunction among organ systems, underlying biochemical pro- cesses gone awry, and seeks to identify underlying dysfunctions that may explain a number of what otherwise appear to be discreet diseases. An example of this would be a pa- tient with a history of migraine head- aches, chronic gastrointestinal symptoms labelled as “IBS” or irritable bowel syndrome, and anxiety or depression. This hypothetical patient is a common pattern in practice, and usually includes a history of the patient having been evaluated and treated by specialists (such as a neurologist, a gastroenterologist, and a psychiatrist) – each having pre- scribed pharmaceutical agents, often taken for years and with significant ad- verse effects. It is common, furthermore, for additional drugs to have been pre- scribed to counter side effects from oth- ers. The patient ends up being on mul- tiple drugs over extended periods of time – a process recognized as “polyphar- macy.” The latter history is representative of a patient who would quite likely be found to have gluten sensitivity or celiac disease if looked at carefully with the right kind of gluten antibody panel de- scribed in my recent article “Could it be Gluten” (Natural Triad November 2013). Genetic variations known as single nu-


cleotide polymorphisms, of “snips” likewise might be found and specific vitamins or other nutrients prescribed to address biochemical pathway impair- ment and consequent neurotransmitter imbalance.


5. Using the example above, the repre- sentative patient (based upon real pa- tients in the aggregate), if remaining within the traditional medical care sys- tem, would likely continue to face ongo- ing multiple specialist office visits, pre- scriptions, side effects of prescribed drugs, and yet face potentially years of ongoing care, never resolving the prob- lems. If a unifying underlying cause such as celiac disease or gluten sensitivity (in this case) is identified, however, a gluten free diet would quite possibly lead to resolution of all three of the clinical syndromes or disease entities and the ability to withdraw many if not all the medications otherwise relied upon to suppress symptoms. The average time patients ultimately diagnosed with celiac disease have symptoms before the diag- nosis is made in the United States was reported to be 10 years in 2007.


6. Despite the higher out-of-pocket ex- pense for a functional medicine ap- proach compared with traditional medical care that is covered by medical insurance, it is obvious that identifying underlying causes of disease and dys- function and providing an effective remedy for them is cost effective in the


long run. The American health care sys- tem spends twice as much money on health care per capita than any other country in the world, yet the U.S. ranks near or at the bottom in a number of measures of quality of care among in- dustrialized countries.


A common question from those who


discover the healing potential for an inte- grative approach is “Why doesn’t insur- ance cover (integrative or functional) medical care?” One must only consider that the traditional system relies heavily— if not exclusively—upon prescribed phar- maceutical agents, while functional medicine relies heavily upon nutrients, bioidentical hormones, vitamins, and other natural supplements for correcting underlying dysfunctions and imbalances. The latter are not patentable. Insurance companies generally provide coverage only for drugs that have been subjected to the expensive studies required to obtain FDA approval. The cost of properly struc- tured scientific studies to establish safety and efficacy of any therapeutic agent runs into tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. It is obvious then why these kinds of stud- ies are not usually done for unpatentable, natural


substances that consumers can


purchase, often without a prescription. Profits to justify such studies are simply not available. Needless to say, neither the pharmaceutical industry nor the organized agricultural processed food industry is go- ing to support such research! Books have been written about how the prevailing


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