Healing Chronic Illness with Functional Medicine By Jennifer Letitia, MD


hronic health issues can be a daily burden. Many are suffering with Post- COVID (or Long-COVID) syndrome, that includes fatigue, brain fog, and residual heart, lung, liver and kidney issues. Sadly, ongoing symptoms are often dismissed or inadequately addressed by mainstream medicine. Conventional medicine usually manages disease with pharmaceuticals that often cause debilitating side effects and compound the problem. Thus, while patients may have symptomatic relief, their underlying medical problems continue to progress. Alternatively, Functional Medicine addresses the root causes of health issues, helping patients heal from disease. Func- tional medicine optimizes health by ad- dressing the disease processes, minimizing symptoms and helping to decrease the need for pharmaceutical medications.


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Functional medicine physicians use a personalized, whole-body approach to achieving the best treatment plan for patients by assessing the biochemical, nutritional and emotional contributors to disease. These providers use conventional, alternative, prescription, non-prescription and lifestyle treatments to provide a com- prehensive approach to treating disease and optimizing health.


Health Issues Start with Inflammation


The root of all health issues lies in inflammation, whether the issue is a disease like cancer, high cholesterol, diabetes or autoimmunity; or whether it is a symptom


like fatigue, brain fog, weight difficulties, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, joint aches or headaches. Where the inflammation manifests itself in the body is determined by a person’s genetic makeup. Factors such as stress, diet, infection, environmental toxins, blood sugar imbalances, and heavy metals can turn genes on or off, thus affecting the body’s various physiological processes in ways that can lead to disease.


Inflammatory cytokines, chemicals


involved in the inflammatory process, are produced which lead to further damage and inflammation. This has been one of the underlying factors of moderate to severe COVID19. While it was once thought that someone was doomed by their genetic makeup, it is now believed that 80% of the etiology of disease is due to non-genetic, lifestyle factors. Diet, sleep, exercise and stress management are huge contributors to health. Knowing that these things are in a person’s control can give much hope for improvement and recovery.


Food Can Contribute to Inflammation


While food is the basis for nutrition, it is also a huge contributor to inflammation. The Standard American Diet is filled with processed and nutritionally depleted foods, additives, inflammatory oils, hormones and environmental toxins. These overbur- den the liver detoxification pathways and directly interfere with the absorption of nutrients. Decreased digestive enzymes due to aging, infection, cholecystectomy,


and malnutrition compounds the lack of absorption and breakdown of food parti- cles. If foods are not broken down properly, this can lead to overgrowth of bacteria in the gut, food sensitivities, and the depletion of amino acids that are necessary as the building blocks of all proteins and enzymes in the body. Nutrient depletion can be the cause of fatigue, headaches, pain, brain fog and other symptoms due to the inability to produce energy and enzymes for proper physiological function.


In addition to being responsible for the absorption of nutrients, the gut houses the microbiome and a large component of our immune system. The microbiome has huge impacts on everything from metabolism to mood. Correcting imbalances of the micro- biome or removing pathogens in the gut can help relieve many symptoms.


Stress and Your Immune System


Stress is a big factor in disease. Wheth- er the stress is real or imagined, the body responds by secreting cortisol. Cortisol will interfere with blood sugar regulation, neu- rotransmitters, the thyroid (responsible for metabolism) and the immune system. This can manifest as difficulties with sleeping, weight problems, fatigue, pain, depression, memory issues and anxiety, among other symptoms. Helping to regulate the stress response and boosting the immune system with the proper nutrients and supplements can help prevent infections and help recov- ery from ongoing problems.


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