Functional Medicine Can Resolve “Feel Like Crap” Syndrome
Do you have brain fog? Are you tired and achy for no apparent reason? Is it getting harder to lose belly fat? Do you have trouble getting a good night’s sleep?
Perhaps you’ve explained these symptoms to your primary care doctor, only to be told that your tests all look “normal” and that you’re “fine.” But you don’t feel fine. In fact, you’re feeling less and less like yourself. When pushed for an answer, it usually comes in the form of a prescription medication to address one or more of your symptoms.
Is this just the reality of growing older? Are we all doomed to have a line-up of prescription bottles in our medicine cabinets? Or is there something that can be done to make you feel like yourself again without the use prescription medications? Is there a way to actually restore your health?
What is Feel Like Crap Syndrome?
Feel Like Crap (FLC) Syndrome is the term coined for when you Feel Like Crap but have no real explanation as to why. Take a look at this list. If you have any of these symptoms, you might be suffering from FLC Syndrome.
- Tired, lacking energy
- Excess belly fat, difficulty losing weight
- Craving sugar or binging on junk food
- Brain fog
- Trouble focusing
- Depression and/or anxiety, mood swings
- Difficulty sleeping
- Joint pain and muscle aches
- GI issues: bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, reflux, IBS
- Skin issues: acne, eczema, psoriasis
- Headaches
- Congestion, allergies, sinus problems, asthma
- Autoimmune disorders
- Low sex drive or function
If you are struggling to find answers and relief, it may be time to take a different approach.
What is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine doctors have been nick named “health detectives.” That is because we look past a list of symptoms and dig deeper to uncover the true, underlying cause of health conditions. The reality is that genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors have a tremendous influence on our health. By working to understand why your body is not functioning as it should, we can work correct imbalances to restore health.
When your body functions as it was intended, symptoms disappear, and medication may become unnecessary.
Here’s an analogy that helps to explain the functional medicine approach to treating disease. Picture sitting in your home on a rainy day and water begins dripping from the ceiling. You know that something is wrong because you see the puddles forming on your table and chairs – that’s the symptom.
To address the symptoms, you grab buckets. The buckets keep your table and chairs dry – this is like taking a medication. The medication does what is intended – it addresses the symptoms. However, if you don’t keep emptying buckets (i.e. taking the medication), the furniture will keep getting wet (i.e. symptoms will return).
The key to a long-term fix is to figure out WHY there is water dripping from the ceiling. It requires digging into things to uncover what is really going on. In this case, the underlying issue is that there is a hole in the roof. Once you fix the hole (i.e. root cause), the roof functions as it was intended, the furniture will no longer get wet (i.e. symptom), and you no longer need the buckets (i.e. medication).
The same is true for FLC Syndrome. You must uncover the root cause of the disorder so that you can restore normal function and restore your health.
Treating FLC Syndrome with Functional Medicine
Whether it’s FLC Syndrome or another chronic health condition, the functional medicine approach follows three general steps:
- Detailed Health History – A functional medicine practitioner will begin with a thorough health assessment. We will take the time to truly understand the issue by taking a detailed look at your health history, current health status, and dietary habits.
- Testing – Next, lab tests will be ordered to identify biochemical and hormonal imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, and bodily system abnormalities. Lab may include blood, urine, stool, and saliva testing.
- Treatment – Upon review of the test results, a detailed treatment approach will be developed. The plan will include a combination of lifestyle modifications and dietary changes. Nutraceutical supplements may also be prescribed.
Functional medicine treatment plans are interactive, and patients take an active role in regaining their health. This is very different from the “pill for every ill” approach taken by some traditional physicians. Often, those pills do nothing to actually restore health. Instead, they simply treat symptoms. This creates a problem, because they are not working to restore your health. You will never get “better.”
HINT: If you want to know if a prescription is restoring health or just treating symptoms, simply ask. “How long will I be on this medication?” “What is my exit plan?” “When will I be considered healthy?”
Here’s another way to think about it. Never in the history mankind, has a person’s illness been created or caused by a pharmaceutical deficiency. That’s sort of like saying the reason you have a headache is because of a lack of aspirin in your blood stream.
When working with a functional medicine practitioner, they will give you the information and tools that empower you to take control and work to restore your health naturally.
True Functional Medicine is Individualized
If you Google a medical condition + functional medicine, you will find a wide array of articles on the topic. You’ll even find providers who offer a blanket approach to treating X condition by telling you to sign up for their program, purchase their supplements, and follow their pre-written diet.
You need to be careful here.
Yes, there are general dietary changes that would benefit anyone (e.g. eliminating processed foods). But some practitioners make specific dietary suggestions to a broad audience (e.g. removing gluten) that may or may not benefit you as an individual.
The fact of the matter is that you may have 10 different people suffering from the same condition but with 10 different underlying reasons. This will require 10 different treatment plans to restore each person’s health. This could be true for many conditions, such as FLC Syndrome, GERD, IBS/IBD, autoimmune conditions, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, thyroid disease, adrenal dysfunction, hormonal imbalances, chronic sinus issues, the list goes on.
That is why it is important to seek treatment from a trained functional medicine provider who will follow the three steps outlined above: 1) detailed health history, 2) lab testing, 3) individualized treatment plan.
Food is Medicine
One of the greatest medical advances of the 21st century is the understanding of something that the ancient Greek physician Hipprocrates said 2000 years ago: food is medicine.
The correct foods (and nutrients from those foods) have the power to transform the human body like no pharmaceutical drug ever will. Giving your body the right fuel can enable it to function at its optimal level.
On the other hand, the wrong kinds of food – processed foods that make up a large portion of the American diet today – will make you sick.
Diet and nutrition are integral to most functional medicine treatment plans. When combined with lifestyle modifications, the transformation can be amazing.
No-Cost Functional Medicine Consultations
If you are ready to get to the bottom of why you Feel Like Crap, we welcome you to a no-cost functional medicine consultation with Dr. Kevin Ritzenthaler, DC, DCBCN at our Weston, Wisconsin clinic. Prior to coming in, we will ask you to fill out an in-depth questionnaire so that we can come to your appointment prepared to have an in-depth discussion about your health concerns and the path forward. Learn more here.
