Functional Medicine FAQs

While the meaning of the term doesn’t jump out at one immediately, Functional medicine is actually a very powerful conceptual approach to health and medicine. It seeks to allow an individual to function at his or her highest level, as free as possible from the fetters of biochemical imbalance, nutritional paucity, and environmental toxicity. Instead of just treating symptoms as traditional western medicine has focused upon for years, Functional Medicine seeks to ferret out the actual cause of ones disease and disregulation and address those underlying causes using a systematic approach, engaging both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership. By shifting the traditional symptoms-centered focus of medical practice to a more patient centered approach, functional medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms.

At Medalase, Doctor Ginnan spends time with his patients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long term health and complex chronic disease. You will get the individual attention that you need, and together we will work on the best approach for you.

What can be addressed with Functional Medicine? • Hormone imbalances for both Men and Women • Weight gain/loss concerns • Fatigue • Hair Loss • Intestinal dysfunction • Sleep Disturbances • Athletic Performance • Cancer and Disease risk modification • Mental Decline and Emotional Liability

Our society is experiencing a sharp increase in the number of people who suffer from complex, chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental illness, and autoimmune disorders. Unfortunately the United States medical system has evolved into one that is oriented toward acute care – wait for symptoms of some sort of illness or poor functioning to develop, and then treat those symptoms. Physicians apply specific, prescribed treatments such as drugs or surgery, that aim to treat the immediate problem or symptom, but do nothing to alleviate the underlying cause that brought about the issue to begin with. Unfortunately, this method does not take into account the unique genetic make-up of each individual, factors such as environmental exposures to toxins, and the aspects of today’s lifestyle that can have direct influence on the rise of chronic disease.

Medalase owner and Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Ginnan, is a Board Certified Fellow of the American Board of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. He is trained to assess both broad and specific symptomology via advanced laboratory testing and then use these results to develop a plan of action to address the underlying imbalances that have led to this point. By applying strategies such as nutrition, supplementation, bio-identical hormone replacement, exercise, and lifestyle modification, he works to bring the body back into a state of balance so that it can regulate itself to maintain health in a more sustainable way than medication alone can accomplish.

Have you ever gone to the doctor and lodged a complaint about persistent fatigue, or weight gain, or memory loss, only to be told that “you’re getting older, that’s normal” or “your just depressed”?

I have, and if you’ve experienced this same thing, I share your frustration completely. I personally was affected by significant chronic fatigue syndrome that plagued me all through college, medical school, and years beyond. I slept 12 to 14 hours per day and still felt tired all the time. My doctors told me “you look healthy as a horse”, “everything looks normal”, and “you must be depressed”. I was depressed, because I was so tired I felt like I had no life. After years of searching, I found the cause, and though there was no cure, there was a management strategy that allowed me to function almost normally again, and it wasn’t anything magical or all that hard to figure out, it just took somebody to take the time and care enough in the first place to find the source. I would like to offer that same hope to others who have suffered through a similar experience.

At Medalase we will focus on three key things:

• Patient centered care: Promoting health as a positive force. By listening to the patient and learning your story, Doctor Ginnan will bring you into the discovery process and tailor the treatment to address your individual unique needs.
• A thorough, science-based healthcare approach: We will look into your medical history, physiology, and lifestyle. We will also perform detailed laboratory testing which will go beyond what is typically performed at annual physicals.
• Integrating best medical practices: Using what is sometimes considered “alternative” medicine, creating a focus on prevention through nutrition, diet, and exercise. We will be using the latest laboratory testing and prescribed combinations of drugs and/or botanical medicines, supplements, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs.

While Functional medicine and it’s diagnostic tools is a very powerful way of addressing ones health issues, it is very important to understand that it is NOT a “quick fix”. Part of why traditional medicine has taken the route that it has, is because of the general public’s demand to be better “now”, and to have an easy solution to what are frankly very complex issues.

The human body is a wonderfully adaptive machine, and when you stop to think about all of the environmental toxins and stressors we are exposed to every single day, year after year, it’s somewhat amazing to think that we can continue to operate as well and as long as we do. However, those daily insults do take their toll, and the disease processes that we finally express are the result of years and years of repeated abuse and insults that the body just no longer has the tools or the fuel to fight against and maintain “normal”.

Just as it took years to upset the body’s natural set-points and express the symptoms of a disease state, it will take time to bring all those processes back in line. In some cases it may never be possible to get back to “normal” or completely efficient functioning. However, if we work together to understand what is happening, and make a long term commitment to change the things that brought the body to this point in the first place, very positive outcomes can result. There are no magic pills, and while the fixes for many peoples issues can be highly effective, they aren’t always easy, and they often take some degree of time and commitment from the patient.