What is a Functional Medicine Assessment?

What is Functional Medicine?

This approach evaluates how each system is working and supporting the health of the whole body. We look to see if there are areas that can be optimized — if there are signs of imbalance. If there is a health issue, a functional medicine doctor addresses the root cause of the imbalance.

The Six Major Areas of Health We Assess

• Your Immune System — we look for signs of inflammation and auto-immune diseases, including Hashimoto’s thyroid disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, pain, and allergies/sensitivities.
• Your Energy Systems — we assess for imbalances that deplete your body’s energy, including your mitochondrial (cellular energy) health and nutrient deficiencies and excesses.
• Your Heart and Metabolic Systems — we evaluate for signs of heart and vascular disease and blood sugar imbalances.
• Your Hormone Systems — for women, we assess for signs of PMS, fibroids, perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms, estrogen dominance, and other conditions of hormone balance. For men, we assess for signs of loss of motivation and focus, low libido, andropause (low testosterone), erectile dysfunction, poor workout recovery, poor exercise endurance, and fatigue.
• Your Detoxification System — we assess for signs of toxicity overload or inability to release toxins from your liver and body. This system is key to maintaining a youthful appearance, vitality, and optimal health in all other areas.
• Your Gastrointestinal/Digestive System — we look for signs of an inflamed gut, food sensitivities, and infections. This system is key to all other systems operating effectively and to preventing autoimmune diseases, weight gain, and inflammation throughout your body.

We work to determine what in your thoughts, environment, diet, lifestyle, exposure to infections, treatment with medications, level of activity or inactivity, degree of social support, and level of stress could be supporting or exacerbating these physical imbalances or diseases.

Why Would I Do a Functional Medicine Assessment?

One reason is to prevent illness and optimize your current state of health to:

• Enjoy vitality, longevity and a youthful appearance
• Maximize your energy and mobility to live the life you choose
• Prevent unnecessary weight gain
• Maintain healthy heart function
• Allow smooth transitions into each phase of life
• Maintain hormone and thyroid health
• Support your immune system to prevent illnesses
• Optimize your gut health
• Support healthy mood and mental health
• Encourage healthy sleep and rejuvenation
• Prevent metabolic imbalances like diabetes and insulin resistance
• And so much more

Already experiencing an illness or disease? A functional medicine doctor will look at the same six areas of health, look for clues that are contributing to any imbalances in the body, and systematically assess these areas to support optimizing your health.

What Does the Assessment Entail?

We spend time listening to your concerns and listening for clues that reveal imbalances in your body. We ask key questions, perform an exam to assess for physical signs of imbalance — including deficiencies and signs of excess — and evaluate your systems with functional medicine tests that look at how your body is currently performing certain functions. Some tests include:

• Saliva tests to evaluate your body’s ability to respond to stress and maintain healthy sleep and energy levels
• Hormone tests that show whether your body is releasing optimal amounts of hormones to support your energy, mood, sexual health, brain clarity, bones, and focus
• Thyroid tests that demonstrate whether you are producing the proper balance of thyroid hormones to support mood, energy, weight, skin/hair/nails, and brain clarity
• Stool analysis that reveals whether your gut and immune system are sufficient to support your digestive and immune needs
• Food sensitivity and allergy testing that may uncover an unhealthy gut and foods contributing to brain fog, bloating, constipation/diarrhea, IBS, and weight gain
• Functional lipid profiles that assess whether you have the type of cholesterol molecules that lead to cardiovascular disease
• Inflammation profiles that evaluate the level of inflammation your body is dealing with
• And many more tests as needed

What Do We Do With This Information?

We discuss and prioritize your wellness goals with you, then start working to optimize the imbalances that will best help your major wellness goal first. From there we systematically address all imbalances, as optimizing every area of your health best supports longevity and wellness.

A functional medicine doctor’s approach should be patient-centered and patient-directed — typically addressing imbalances through stress reduction and management, mind-body tools, improved nutrition, gut healing, detoxification support, exercise, acupuncture, herbs and botanicals, supplements, manual medicine, and, when needed, medication.

Work With Dr. Nayo