Functional medicine may be an unfamiliar term, but it’s becoming more and more popular as people discover the far-reaching benefits.
In the simplest terms, functional medicine finds the underlying cause of your symptoms, then considers all the factors involved in your condition so your treatment can address the issue from all angles.
Traditional medicine typically takes a standardized approach based on generalized protocols. Functional medicine breaks free from that narrow methodology. It approaches each patient as a unique individual, considering every possible aspect of their life and environment that may contribute to their medical condition.
Dr. David Larson is one of the leaders in this remarkable field and treats patients in Encinitas, California, with skill, experience, and a comprehensive approach. At SourceMD: Integrated Wellness Solutions, he offers functional medicine in a concierge model, which delivers the ultimate in holistic, customized health care.
Here are all the factors that Dr. Larson takes into account.
The color of your eyes and the shape of your nose were predetermined the moment you were conceived, and so were certain other physical traits that determine digestion, cardiac function, immunity, brain activity, and more. Functional medicine looks at these factors to get a better idea of how your unique body is wired.
DNA testing panels give Dr. Larson a wealth of information about how and why you’re experiencing certain conditions and symptoms, including obesity, heart problems, mental disorders, and nutritional deficiencies.
Traditional medicine tends to look at your symptoms one-dimensionally. For instance, if you have a broken arm, a physician sets the bone and casts it. But unexplained pain and symptoms like chronic fatigue despite adequate sleep can stump them. Then, a guessing game ensues as you try this medicine or that one to stop your symptoms.
Functional medicine views your symptoms multi-dimensionally, recognizing that all your bodily systems are interconnected and influence one another. With this broader lens, Dr. Larson sees the big picture of your overall health status. To get to the bottom of your physical issues, he may:
Any issues that Dr. Larson detects give him valuable clues about what’s happening throughout your body.
When you fill out the patient form before an appointment with a traditional doctor, you’ll answer standard questions about certain harmful habits, like whether you drink alcohol, smoke, or take recreational drugs.
But Dr. Larson knows that those questions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding how your daily life and habits affect your health, so he digs deeper. He takes time to get to know you and all the factors that may impact your health, such as:
These are just a few of the questions he may ask as he builds the picture of your overall health.
Most of Dr. Larson’s patients live in the Southern California area in or near Encinitas, but that doesn’t mean that your home and work environment are ideal. That’s why Dr. Larson talks with you about the world you live in and work in to find out if your health is impacted by:
All of these factors have the potential to cause physical harm and seemingly unexplainable symptoms that Dr. Larson can treat and eliminate when he has all the information.
Your mental health and physical health go hand in hand. For example, chronic physical pain can lead to depression, and depression can cause pain. This is the overriding concept of functional medicine — whole body, mind, and soul wellness.
Dr. Larson is double board-certified by the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, so he’s highly qualified to diagnose mental disorders as well as physical problems, and he’s uniquely positioned to see the connections between the two.
To find out what’s affecting you emotionally and physically, he asks about your stress level, relationship challenges, anger issues, past emotional trauma, unresolved conflicts, and personal and family history of mental disorders. Armed with this information, Dr. Larson can get to the root cause of symptoms that other doctors may miss.
Does this comprehensive, personalized care model sound good?
It’s easy to switch from traditional care to Dr. Larson’s functional medicine approach, which includes a wide spectrum of diagnostic and treatment techniques and technologies.
Simply contact us by phone at 760-230-1317 or send us a message online to schedule a meet-and-greet with Dr. Larson and learn more about his unique approach to health care and his full-service concierge model.
.webp)