Functional Medicine: Evidence-Based, Patient-Centered Care
What if a doctor focused on the whole person instead of your isolated symptoms? I do!
Through the Functional Medicine lens, Dr. Leopold spends the necessary 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 complex, chronic disease. This is the best way to support the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual.
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Functional Medicine with Dr. Leopold
What exactly is Functional Medicine?
Functional Medicine is an evolution in the practice of medicine. It better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century and is rooted in a patient-centered, integrative process that offers the best medical care and outcome.
3 Pillars of Functional Medicine
Why Do We Need Functional Medicine?
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 like rheumatoid arthritis and Hashimotos thyroiditis.
The system of medicine practiced by most physicians is oriented toward acute care, the diagnosis and treatment of trauma or illness that is of short duration and in need of urgent care, such as appendicitis or a broken leg.
Unfortunately, the acute-care approach to medicine lacks the proper methodology and tools for preventing and treating complex, chronic disease.
How is Functional Medicine Different?
There’s a huge gap between research and the way doctors practice. The gap between emerging research in basic sciences and integration into medical practice is enormous—as long as 50 years—particularly in the area of complex, chronic illness.
Most physicians are not adequately trained to assess the underlying causes of complex, chronic disease and to apply strategies such as nutrition, diet, and exercise to both treat and prevent these illnesses in their patients.
Functional Medicine involves understanding the origins, prevention, and treatment of complex, chronic disease. Hallmarks of a Functional Medicine approach include:
Patient-centered care. The focus of functional medicine is on patient-centered care, promoting health as a positive vitality, beyond just the absence of disease.
An integrative, science-based healthcare approach. Functional Medicine practitioners look “upstream”
to consider the complex web of interactions in the patient’s history, physiology, and lifestyle that can lead to illness.The unique genetic makeup of each patient is considered, along with both internal (mind, body and spirit) and external (physical and social environment) factors that affect total functioning.Integrating best medical practices. Functional Medicine integrates traditional Western medical practices with what are sometimes considered “alternative” or “integrative” medicine, creating a focus on prevention through nutrition, diet, and exercise; use of the latest laboratory testing and other diagnostic techniques; and prescribed combinations of drugs and/or botanical medicines, supplements, therapeutic diets, detoxification programs, or stress-management techniques.
What Makes Functional Laboratory Testing Unique?
In conventional laboratory testing, "normal" ranges for laboratory tests are based upon population studies. The farther out of range the test result is, the more likely that the result reflects real disease.
Standard "normal" ranges for tests with numeric values are based upon use of a bell shaped curve. "Normal" is usually defined as those test values that fall within 2 standard deviations of the mean, which includes 95% of all results. Functional evaluation narrows the range to 1 standard deviation, which captures 68% of the bell curve.
This allows the practitioner to identify trends in the health of the patient, even before they become pathological. Conventional testing also fails to consider that our population is no longer healthy. (A 2019 study from the American Heart Association found 48% of Americans are already living with at least one form of heart disease!). Functional testing compares data to historical and healthy population sets.
Which Functional Laboratory Tests Does Dr. Leopold Commonly Use?
GI Effects: Comprehensive Stool Panel
a group of advanced stool tests that provide immediate, actionable clinical information for the management of gastrointestinal health. Utilizing cutting-edge technologies and biomarkers, this profile offers valuable insight into digestive function, intestinal inflammation, and the intestinal microbiome.
Functional Imbalance Scores will help direct targeted therapeutic recommendations and treatment based on score severity of biomarkers grouped and scored in 5 key areas relating to GI function:
Maldigestion
Inflammation
Dysbiosis
Metabolite Imbalance
Infection
NutrEval
NutrEval is the most comprehensive functional and nutritional assessment available. It is designed to help identify root causes of dysfunction and provide a systems-based approach to help patients overcome chronic conditions and live a healthier life.
The NutrEval report offers:
Nutrient recommendations for key vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, and digestive support
Functional pillars based around needs for methylation support, toxic exposures, mitochondrial dysfunction, fatty acid imbalances, and oxidative stress
Interpretation-At-A-Glance pages for patient education
Dynamic biochemical pathway charts for clearer understanding
Cyrex™
Cyrex™ is a Clinical Immunology Laboratory Specializing in Functional Immunology and Autoimmunity. Cyrex™ offers multi-tissue antibody testing for the early detection and monitoring of today’s complex autoimmune conditions. Cyrex™ develops innovative arrays through continuous collaboration with leading experts in medical research and clinical practice.
Cyrex featrures several immunological arrays testings intestinal permeability, gluten other food sensitivities, neurological autoimmunity, and even Alzheimer’s associated immune reactivity.
Comprehensive BioScreen 67 Total Biomarkers + 13 items evaluated in Urinalysis
This comprehensive blood panel, encompasses numerous markers to help evaluate health status in the following key areas:
Blood sugar analysis
Cardiovascular analysis
Infection analysis
Electrolyte analysis
Anemia analysis
Thyroid analysis
Lipid analysis
Liver & Biliary analysis
Urinalysis
The thyroid section in this panel is carefully selected to reveal certain essential mechanisms that may be important for proper thyroid hormone synthesis and function. This unique panel gives an unprecedented perspective to the various biosystems with expanded markers pertaining to thyroid physiology. For example, a traditional medical thyroid panel only looks at TSH and T4. The comprehensive bioscreen evaluates 13 different thyroid hormone markers to look upstream and downstream to identify the root causes of thyroid dysfunction.