If there is anything to learn from the last couple of years spent isolated and unattached to normal daily life, it is putting more of an emphasis on our mental, emotional and physical well-being.
In a post-pandemic world, much of our understanding and approach to modern medicine and health has changed. With the focus being on wellness, a fairly new health trend has emerged in the form of functional medicine. But what is functional medicine and why is it picking up steam?
The basis
"Functional medicine is focused on finding the root cause of any disease or illness and is not just aimed at managing the symptoms. It usually finds that the root causes of most illnesses are not just one but several things clubbed together, which contributes to the disease," says Dr Manop "Dee" Silalert, who has been with the Miskawaan Health Group since 2018.
Miskawaan are full-service health clinics which focus on treating the underlying causes of disease through understanding every patient's unique health profile. Functional medicine helps treat almost everything from the common cold to cancer.
Though functional medicine can often be mistaken for naturopathy or homoeopathy, it is far from that, says Dr Dee.
"Functional medicine is science-based and it overlaps with naturopathy and homoeopathy but doesn't include all their components, though it integrates many branches of medicine," explains the young doctor.
The biggest takeaway of functional medicine is that it can treat everything. "Functional medicine uses the good parts of all medicines and treats all illnesses. Even in cancer treatments, functional medicine uses chemotherapy and radiation; treatments that benefit the patients.
"The focus is on quality of life, not quantity. We have a lot of cancer patients who refuse chemotherapy because their quality of life decreases. So that's why when we treat a cancer patient we always keep in mind the quality of their life," adds Dr Dee.
Prevention is better than cure
The best benefit of functional medicine is that it gets to the root cause of the problem, so it can be prevented from recurring.
"When patients have symptoms, they come for immediate treatment. After that is done, we have a follow-up to prevent it from happening again. The length of treatment depends on the illness. For example, hormonal treatments last longer than long Covid treatments, which usually take a month and then patients only have to come for annual check-ups. Cancer patients are also on long-term treatments," says Dr Dee.
Though Dr Dee has been trained in conventional medicine, he says that functional medicine is the more logical approach to dealing with the issues at hand. "One needs to look at all the aspects of the patient, not just one single, small part. When the cause of the illness is found, you have to know the whole story so you can have a bigger picture. This is fighting the cause, not simply treating the symptoms."
Treating various ailments
The range of treatments at Miskawaan Health Group, which has clinics in Bangkok, Koh Samui and Ludwigsburg, Germany, is vast. The group not only treats people with chronic diseases and illnesses but also those who want to be in optimal health.
"For the wellness side of functional medicine, it's all about being better. For example, a few patients who sleep for seven or eight hours a day but wake up tired want to do something about it. This is where functional medicine comes in as it will diagnose why they do not wake up fresh. That is what we define as being better; aiming for a better lifestyle," explains Dr Dee.
Dr Manop Silalert.
Metanee "Map" Promjai has been a patient at Miskawaan Health Group for a few years and refers to herself as a "lifestyle patient". "I don't really suffer from any illness that would require me to go to see a doctor. When I came here to better my lifestyle, I was given an in-depth analysis, which included asking me about my daily routine, daily food intake and overall well-being. The doctors then suspected that my hormones had something to do with afternoon fatigue and we tested my hormone levels. The results showed that my hormones were unbalanced and treatment for that began. It took two-and-a-half months before seeing any noticeable results," says Map. "Once the treatments reach an optimal degree, they are stopped," adds Dr Dee.
To further improve herself, Map also does regular IV infusions. "I also do monthly liver detoxes and take vitamin C drips to improve my skin."
Russell James Charles Emmerson is a renal carcinoma patient, who has been undergoing functional medicine treatment along with his regular cancer treatments to improve his quality of life. He is in the fourth stage of cancer and has found functional medicine helps him deal with illness and the side effects of its treatment.
"I had quite a large tumour on my left kidney and had it removed seven years ago, after which I was in remission. However, recently I went for a general check-up and it appears that renal cancer has metastasised. So I have masses scattered across my lungs. I had a tumour in my brain and a few other locations, as well as in the bone, my pelvis as well," says Emmerson.
"I underwent targeted therapy but I had quite a severe reaction and the side effects affected me badly. I had to come up with other options and this is one of the reasons why I looked into functional medicine at Miskawaan. It appealed to me because I wanted to explore a personalised approach. So far, I've been very pleased with the response that I've got from functional medicine.
"As cancer patients, we don't necessarily realise how the disease depletes us in other ways when it comes to vitamins, minerals and various other things, and this is what functional medicine focuses on. It delves into the details and looks at the areas that need to be augmented in order to get me back to a stable condition so that any future treatments would be much more effective."
The future of healthcare
With personalised care becoming increasingly prevalent in healthcare environments, functional medicine aims to understand the individual's physiological, biological, emotional and cognitive make-up to determine the best way to achieve optimal health.
Moving away from a medicalised approach, it can be applied at any level whether from the perspective of a biological mechanism or a social or spiritual function that affects the individual. Functional medicine practitioners look at the broad view, as well as the microscopic, and bring these together in a package of care.
Patient-centred care is the name of the game. All doctors note patient history, but what makes functional medicine stand out is that it gives the patient insight into previous life events and how that has led to existing medical conditions. A patient's medical history also allows doctors to identify factors that predispose, provoke and contribute to pathological changes and dysfunctional responses. Treat from the core rather than treat on the surface. For more information, visit miskawaanhealth.com.
