A functional medicine doctor is generally a holistic-leaning doctor seeking to understand how their patient fell out of balance and natural ways to help the patient rebalance and heal. Some have attended a traditional Western school and studied a more natural approach on their own, outside of their allopathic training, later, while others attended a Naturopathic medical school that includes both Eastern and Western medical models –most recently, Chiropractic colleges have been the background of those now claiming the role of functional medicine practitioner.
Do note that these colleges generally have 4-6 year programs with a BS including pre-med requirements attained beforehand – also, similarly to Western medical schools, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, radiology, and the like are studied and tested with National Boards approved by our Federal Board of Education, along with other licensing required boards per the focus of the field (e.g. National East Asian Herbal board, acupuncture board, etc.).
The functional medicine model of care offers a patient-centered approach to chronic disease management and in some cases, complete cure. It seeks to answer the question, “How did this pain, this dis-ease come about?” so you can receive personalized, effective care. Harmful, but, sometimes necessary, pharmaceuticals are reserved for life-saving, urgent care, along with surgeries and other risky/invasive procedures — these are methods of a last resort.
Functional medicine providers are called to spend time listening to you and gathering your medical history in order to find what function of your system found the imbalance first. Only this way can a real cure or ‘rebalance’ be found. We use this information to identify the root cause of the illness (rather than seek to immediately address the symptoms, or branches of the ailment) . We look at triggers and contributing factors such as poor nutrition, stress, toxins, allergens, your microbiome (the bacteria living in and on your body), and lifestyle patterns.
Unlike many that call themselves functional doctors, you will not be prescribed a countertop full of laboratory-created supplements to be taken ‘forever’. Often human-made vitamins and extractions are being used in place of pharmaceuticals with the same kind of unnatural masking of symptoms and/or side effects. Generally, people, being part of nature, do much better with the boost of slow detoxification with herbs, foods, and lifestyle changes. Herbs are generally needed for 2-6 months and then discontinued when the body is balanced.
We’ll customize a healthy living plan for you and help you along the way – like a good life coach, we know change is a process both physically and mentally and assist you with every possible tool in the chest with patience, encouragement, and the strong persuasion of good results. Your plan will address many aspects of your life, from physical needs, including nutrition, exercise – easy and key personalized movements for your particular body, and sleep, to mental and emotional stressors possibly related to work, home, or community.
Having trained in Western, Naturopathic, and East Asian medicine, Dr. Hiller is well-versed in nutritional (food), supplemental vitamins (using whole food vitamins whenever necessary), Musculo-skeletal corrections, Sports Medicine, as well as, East Asian herbal formulas and Ayurvedic herbs (she is a master herbalist with a Doctorate in East Asian herbal medicine in addition to recognition from the NCCAEAM, the National Board commission for East Asian Medicine). allows her to pull from a vast pool of remedies and therapies for her patients’ healing journies.
