Some of you may have noticed that we now offer Functional Medicine visits, and are maybe wondering what that is and how it might be different from Acupuncture.
Functional medicine, like Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, is an approach to health that focuses on finding the underlying, root cause of disease. Not just what you are sick with, but how and why you got there and how to correct it naturally to live a life of full and abundant health. This means tracing back where the illness or symptom(s) began and reversing it, not just covering it up with medication. Oftentimes these are patterns you developed as early as childhood and may not have even noticed until it felt like “randomly” you were hit with all these symptoms and diagnoses. How often I have heard, “I was so healthy until now…” Well, probably not as much as you think, the body is pretty expert at compensating for dysfunction until it runs out of resources and starts to shut down.
While Acupuncture at Lake Life also is looking for the root cause of disease through the Chinese natural medicine lens, functional medicine sessions focus on labwork, health history, supplementation and lifestyle coaching to help you reach your health goals. While your initial consultation and re-exams in Acupuncture also provide consultation and lifestyle, we do not go over or prescribe labwork, and it is a little less entailed because the focus is on treatment with Acupuncture. In other words, the significant difference, in our clinic, is that the Functional Medicine visit is one-on-one counseling and discussion including labwork review or order, while Acupuncture is a bodywork treatment tool to address the illness/symptoms and health maintenance. Essentially, Functional Medicine sessions are about the consultation.
For example, when you meet with your allopathic doctor, they may prescribe physical therapy, acupuncture or massage, but they do not perform it during that session–it’s an add-on service, usually performed by other providers. Same thing with Functional Medicine here at Lake Life, we may recommend Acupuncture as one of the many available tools in your healthcare tool belt, but it is provided separately. And it may not even be recommended at all–every person and what they need is unique. This way we have enough time to really do your consultation OR your treatment justice, so both are as effective and thorough as possible.
Acupuncture and Chinese medicine AND Functional Medicine are both powerfully effective to help you reach your health goals, but combined gets you to your results even faster. That’s why we offer the Acupuncture Add-On service at a reduced rate for those having a Functional Medicine visit. However, Acupuncture is not for everyone–whether it is a fear of needles, a body that is highly sensitive to treatment, or other personal reasons–so luckily functional medicine sessions are available as a stand alone and are entirely effective all on their own.
Common conditions addressed through functional medicine include hormonal imbalances, chronic headache/migraine, diabetes, insulin resistance, insomnia, acid reflux, digestive complaints, any chronic condition, sinusitis, poor immune system, weight gain/loss, and so much more.
First sessions are $145 for about 1 hour, and return visits are $100 and take about 45 minutes for continued consultation and updated treatment plan, labwork review (or order) and supplements. To increase success in your health goals you can add an acupuncture session add-on service at reduced cost, however, functional medicine consultation is beneficial all on its own.
**Payment is due at time of service and does not include lab fees or supplement cost.