There are so many articles written about Functional medicine. Here is a quick overview, how Functional medicine is different.
| FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE | CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE |
| Patient-oriented care. | Disease-oriented care. |
| Focuses on the root cause(s). | Focuses on the symptoms. |
| Long-term solutions. | Temporary fix of problems. |
| Individual treatments based on biochemistry, social factors and genetics. | Everyone get the same treatment. |
| Holistic approach means addresses the whole person and recognizes the interaction between different organs and systems. For example, connection between digestive issues and skin. | Addresses isolated set of symptoms and organs where every specialist treats their special organ (gastroenterologist –digestive issues, dermatologist –skin conditions, etc). No connection between single organs and symptoms seen |
| Oriented on chronic illness like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental illness, and autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis & Hashimoto thyroiditis. | Oriented on acute care, diagnosing and treating trauma or short term illnesses, such as a heart attack, infection, or broken arm. |
| Prescribes combinations of nutraceuticals, botanicals, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs, and/or stress-management techniques. | Prescribes pharmaceutical drugs with plenty of side-effects. |
| Focuses on changing lifestyle and nutrition in the first line. | Drug-centered approach, „pill for every ill”. |
| Spends a lot of time with patients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and contribute to complex, chronic disease. | Spends 5 to 15 min with patient in average. |
| Healing as goal of treatment /healing in perspective. | Chronic conditions cannot be treated, patients take pharmaceutical drugs for the rest of the life(hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, etc). |