As opposed to traditional medicine, functional medicine seeks to heal the root of the problem. Behind every disease process or disorder is a root cause. Sometimes, there may be a series of symptoms or diseases. For example, cardiovascular disease, angina, heart attack, stroke, or erectile dysfunction can all have a cardiovascular component and inflammation. Contributing factors to root causes can include genetic predispositions, dietary changes, medications, sleep disturbances, etc. With functional medicine, Ageless Wellness Center takes a systems approach and looks at the patient as a whole. This includes modifiable lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, sleep, and environmental triggers like stressors, infections and toxins. When using a systems approach to identify the root cause, adjustments can be made to any of those factors and determine the impact on overall health.
Over the last couple of decades, insurance companies began to dictate the standard of care practice model in which doctors are limited to 10 minutes with each existing patient and 15 minutes for a new patient. This model only leaves time for checking symptoms and refilling or prescribing a prescription to match those symptoms. At Ageless Wellness Center, our average new patient visit is two hours, and our follow-ups last about an hour. The visits stretch for a greater length of time because we are starting from the beginning with questions like these:
- Do you know if you were a vaginal delivery?
- Do you know if you were breastfed?
- What was your life like as a child?
Our goal is to build a timeline running from a patient’s childhood to present day, often finding factors patients have not considered. We discuss a patient’s energy levels, quality of sleep, current stressors, and coping abilities. A full picture of your health cannot be seen without the proper time to dig through it all. Because our patients’ time is precious, and we prefer to spend a two-hour visit discussing, clarifying, and getting better optics rather than filling out the paperwork.
Our philosophy is that the patient is the Captain of their health “ship”, and our team partners with them in their journey. We aim to educate and give best recommendations. The Ageless Wellness Center goal is to empower our patients to make informed decisions about their health care when leaving our offices.
The first step in your journey to wellness is to schedule a consultation. If you are ready to explore functional medicine further, give us a call today!