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This week I attended a wellness conference hosted by the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. This organization's mission is to introduce the concept of Functional Medicine to physicians and patients. Functional Medicine promotes prevention of disease and looks for an underlying cause of disease. This is quite different from the usual medical practice which looks at treating symptoms and not the whole person. In medical school the main focus is reactive medicine: if you have a symptom, find the drug that will cure the symptom. If you cannot sleep, procreate, have a bowel movement, or breathe, there is a drug for you. If you have a side effect from that drug, there is another drug for you. And if you do not take that drug for a while, you will go into withdrawal and there is probably a drug for that too. Functional medicine and Anti-Aging medicine has developed because there is a need to get the root cause of illness. For instance if you have aches and pains, you may be diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. You may receive a prescription that treats aches and pains such as a narcotic or you may receive an anti-depressant pill which many drug companies love to sell. What you will not receive from traditional medicine is an answer to why you have developed that condition or suggestions on how to make your condition better. Functional Medicine practictioners would look for poor nutrition, adrenal fatigue, toxic load, hormone imbalances, etc. They defy the typical Band Aid approach that is normally given to sick people. Perhaps, you have lots of symptoms. Maybe you're gaining weight. Perhaps you have a condition which year after year gets a little worse. Maybe your doctor told you that your labs or vital signs are borderline abnormal and you are afraid of developing overt disease. Here's a recommendation for you:
This week, make a list of all of your medical conditions and symptoms. Even list the little symptoms such as a rash, nervous twitch, loose stools. Take the list to a healthcare provider and find out what caused your disease- Be annoying and make sure your physician gives you at least five possible causes of your symptoms and condition. Ask how you can prevent your condition from worsening or how you can reduce your dosage of medication. Ask about natural ways to improve your condition. Go online or go to a bookstore and research holistic approaches to disease. Chart on a sheet of paper the following information: Condition Possible Causes Standard Medical Treatment Pro-Active Steps The personal goals section allows you to be pro-active about health. List the ways available to you to improve your condition: Nutrition/Detoxification/Stress Reduction/Increased Activity. For instance, for high blood pressure you could list the possible causes: high salt diet and stress. The standard treatment is blood pressure medication. In the column, Pro-active Steps you can list your personal goals to reduce the blood pressure. These goals could include: bio-feedback and relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, implementing a low salt diet, a daily walk after dinner, garlic, and reducing toxic load (even if it's a small step such as avoiding plastic bottles or toxic makeup). Over time as you learn more about holistic living or read magazines suchs as Natural Health, you will add more and more techniques to the column on Pro-Active Steps. This list will help you prevent disease, reduce your need for medication, and prevent your condition from deteriorating. Good Luck! From the desk of Dr. Wells
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A board certified physician and personal trainer, Dr. Evelyn Wells has provided clients with her medical expertise for over 6 years. She fulfilled her pre-med requirements at Princeton University and received her medical degree from Howard University Medical School. Dr. Wells completed an Emergency Medicine residency program at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York where she was Chief Resident. Currently on staff at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, New Jersey, her specialties inlcude bariatric medicine, emergency medicine, and personal training. For more information on Evelyn’s weight management programs visit PhysiciansFitnessSolution.com. 
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