What is FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE?
Functional Medicine addresses health conditions and prevents disease by investigating the root cause of your health issues. Instead of stamping you with a diagnosis and only treating your symptoms, functional medicine finds out WHY you have the diagnosis. It involves a deep-dive assessment to look at ALL of your body systems, and evaluates how well your body is communicating (think: hormones, neurotransmitters, proteins, etc) to uncover root causes including nutrient deficiencies, chronic infections, and inflammation. Functional Medicine interventions help restore balance through lifestyle factors such as nutrition, healthy movement, stress management, optimal sleep, and quality relationships.
The Facility Denver Functional Medicine Team :
Kate Daugherty, MS, CNS + Dr. Mitchell Rasmussen, DC, CFMP
In the future, "FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE" will likely just be called medicine.
“Most doctors aren’t trained to think about the underlying causes of disease, such as toxins, allergens, microbes, nutrition, and stress. Conventional medicine is the medicine of what - what disease do you have, what drug should I give you. Functional medicine considers the diagnosis, but it also seeks to answer the question why.”
-Dr. Mark Hyman, Chairman of the Institute for Functional Medicine
30 Second Functional Medicine Synopsis
<< A functional medicine model of care looks at the whole person, mind and body, with communicating body organs/systems. We often eschew diagnoses. Truly, the name we use to label your symptoms isn’t as essential as the intervention. The core of functional medicine is finding the WHY, or root cause, not the WHAT. Many treatments don’t involve a medication to cover up symptoms, but rather support your individual needs to correct the underlying dysfunctions
— you have a unique genome, microbiome, and lifestyle. >>
While many people may assume functional medicine is simply lifestyle-based medicine; it is actually a systems-oriented, science-based approach that considers a patient’s biochemistry, physiology, genetics, and environmental exposures when looking for the cause of a specific medical issue or set of symptoms.
Foundations of Functional Medicine
at The Facility Denver
Functional Medicine does NOT mean "take a bunch of supplements"
While supplements may be an important step in the healing process for chronic issues, nutrient deficiencies, or other burdens... they are not the solution to your problem. If we simply ran tests and gave you pills:
would we be any different than a conventional medical practice?
Instead, we look at FOOD and LIFESTYLE as paramount. This means we have high expectations of you as a patient to implement change. It could be as simple as chewing your food better, finding time to be creative, or getting more sun exposure. Little things add up- and we're here to guide you along the way.
Learn from Us : Functional Medicine Blog
WHAT TO EXPECT AS A NEW PATIENT
Step 1: Functional Medicine Initial Consult - 90 Minutes - In Person/Telehealth - $275
When you book your first visit, we will send you (digital) new patient forms to be completed. This includes a comprehensive history and gives us background information on your symptoms, interventions, diet, supplements, medications, and current concerns. We ask that you provide any relevant medical records or laboratory testing results from the last 2 years. We will review these documents and forms prior to seeing you in person to best optimize your time. >> Unlike other doctor visits, this initial appointment will take time! Plan to spend 90 minutes with us.
In the office, Dr. Rasmussen will conduct a problem-based physical examination and a full history. Our functional nutritionist, Kate, will participate in the initial visit and collect a dietary inventory. At the conclusion of your first visit, Dr. Rasmussen will discuss which laboratory and biomarker analyses need to be initially performed to gain deeper insight into the root cause(s) of your concerns.
Within 1-2 days, we will follow up with extensive appointment notes and an outline of recommended tests and initial care. Taking our time to properly work-up a patient’s case yields much better results in the long-run. We will work together in collaboration to develop a treatment plan that is right for you.
Step 2: Proceed with Lab Testing - timeline varies
Should you choose to proceed after reviewing the proposed testing and care, we will place lab orders on your behalf. You can expect that the minimum lab testing will include the Comprehensive Bioscreen from LabCorp. This can be done all over the country (great news for our distance patients!) Other test kits will be shipped to your house, and include pre-paid shipping labels to return to the lab.
LabCorp results typically come back within 5-7 days of completing a blood draw. We will reach out when we get a report, and decide together whether to schedule a review visit or wait on the remaining test results. Other Functional Lab Tests like stool testing, hormone testing, and nutrient assays may take 2-3 weeks.
Step 3: Report of Findings - 60 minutes - In Person/Telehealth - included in testing/care costs
Step 4: Nutrition Consultation - 60 minutes - In Person/Telehealth - included in testing/care costs
WHAT TO EXPECT AS A NEW PATIENT
Step 1: Functional Medicine Initial Consult - 90 Minutes - In Person/Telehealth - $450
When you book your first visit, we will send you (digital) new patient forms to be completed. This includes a comprehensive history and gives us background information on your symptoms, interventions, diet, supplements, medications, and current concerns. We ask that you provide any relevant medical records or laboratory testing results from the last 2 years. We will review these documents and forms prior to seeing you in person to best optimize your time. >> Unlike other doctor visits, this initial appointment will take time! Plan to spend 90 minutes with us.
In the office, Dr. Rasmussen will conduct a problem-based physical examination and a full history. Our health coach will participate in the initial visit and collect a dietary inventory. At the conclusion of your first visit, Dr. Rasmussen will discuss which laboratory and biomarker analyses need to be initially performed to gain deeper insight into the root cause(s) of your concerns.
Within 1-2 days, we will follow up with extensive appointment notes and an outline of recommended tests and initial care options. Taking our time to properly work-up a patient’s case yields much better results in the long-run. We will work together in collaboration to develop a treatment plan that is right for you.
Step 2: Proceed with Lab Testing - timeline varies
Should you choose to proceed after reviewing the proposed testing and care, we will place lab orders on your behalf. You can expect that the minimum lab testing will include the Comprehensive Bioscreen from LabCorp. This can be done all over the country (great news for our distance patients!) Other test kits will be shipped to your house, and include pre-paid shipping labels to return to the lab.
LabCorp results typically come back within 5-7 days of completing a blood draw. We will reach out when we get a report, and decide together whether to schedule a review visit or wait on the remaining test results. Other Functional Lab Tests like stool testing, hormone testing, and nutrient assays may take 2-3 weeks.
Step 3: Lab Review + Action Plan -90 minutes - In Person/Telehealth
At the Lab Review appointment, we will review ALL lab results with you (redundant wording, maybe?). We spend time explaining every marker- not just the ones that flag as abnormal. It is important to us that you understand the biochemistry in context. This appointment can feel like information overload, but we'll do our best to follow-up with clear notes and resources to connect the dots. With the complete picture in front of us, we're ready to recommend specific dietary, lifestyle, and nutrition changes. This is 'commencement of care' - where the true healing can begin. You will walk away from this appointment with an INITIAL ACTION PLAN specific for you.
SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO PROCEED WITH IN-DEPTH CARE, HERE'S WHAT'S NEXT:
Step 4: Nutrition Consultation - 60 minutes - In Person/Telehealth - included in testing/care costs
After giving you time to digest the information and settle in to a few changes, you'll come back to specifically discuss nutrition changes. This appointment is a chance for us to discuss what's going well, what challenges you're facing, and get very specific with food choices and patterns FOR YOU. It is unrealistic for you to take a Therapeutic Diet Guide or Food List and follow it without direction. We find much better outcomes when you spend the time talking through an implementation strategy that matches your daily life. We will provide specific recommendations, recipes, shopping lists, and other resources so you can feel confident (and satisfied).
Step 5: On-Going Care & Support / Next Steps
Over the first three to four months, you'll meet with the functional medicine team regularly every 3-6 weeks. Communication is vitally important for your success, not only from a motivational standpoint... but so we can tackle challenges and setbacks as they arise. You will have unlimited email access and regular virtual check-ins throughout the process. During appointments, we will review progress, adjust supplements, layer on new lifestyle habits, and adapt nutrition recommendations.
Step 6: Follow-Up Lab Testing & Review
Around the four month mark, we may repeat some of your initial labs. This gives us a chance to assess progress with real data and make any shifts in care. Similar to before, we’ll put in an order at LabCorp for bloodwork. You’ll schedule it on your own time, and we see results in our portal fairly quickly. We will then schedule a Lab Comparison appointment to review the results in detail with you.
At the conclusion of the initial 3-4 month period, we will collaborate with you on what on-going care looks like. Sometimes, follow-up testing is relevant. Often, your symptoms (or lack thereof) will dictate that decision. Most patients settle in to seeing us for check-ins monthly, quarterly, or yearly. You become a Facility family member: and we're here for you when new challenges and questions arise.
