Introduction to Functional Medicine
   The approach of Functional Medicine is to acknowledge:

    A Functional Assessment evaluates the bodies ability to maintain homeodynamic health in its given environment by looking at:

    The promotion of Functional Medicine has been the life long work of Jeffery S. Bland, Ph.D.
    As the Genome Project makes prevention and modification of expression of genes with environmental alterations more accessible, the dedicated work of Dr. Bland is gaining important.
    Dr. Linus Pauling can be credited as being on the forefront of Functional Medicine.  He was a visionary that saw the value of megadoses of Vitamin C.  Most of his contemporaries laughed at him, but he lived healthfully to 92. 
    Dr. Bland has carried on this "orthomolecular medicine model" carrying it to new heights with the evolving physiological research into the bodies functioning.

    We are on the threshold of a new model of medicine...and it is so exciting to be part of this evolution.

    Today Dr. Bland's messages originate from and research labs are located in Gig Harbor, WA.  The facility is known as HealthComm, Inc. a division of HealthComm International, Inc.

    Their address is PO Box 1729, Gig Harbor, WA, 98335.
    Phone: (800) 843-9660 or (253) 851-3943
    Fax: (253) 851-9749

    To experience Functional Medicine's as explained by Institutes of Functional Medicine, click on the link..  

    For anyone who it truly tired of allopathic medicine's only caring for a disease after it has laid hold of the body, functional medicine is it! 

Functional Medicine Assessment

If you would like to fill out a Functional Medicine Assessment, just click on the highlighted words, complete the form, send the form and NEWS will get back to you about your results.  Functional Medicine is the medicine model of the 21st century.  
Congratulations on your forward thinking.

Functional Medicine Lab Tests:
These searches allow you to find out how functional imbalances may be causing or contributing to a variety of specific health conditions. By simply clicking on the disease, symptom, or system you want to know more about, you'll discover a wide range of important clinical insights into each condition. 

Functional Medicine Lab Tests offered by Genova Diagnostics Labs as to symptom, condition or test.

Functional Medicine Lab Tests offered by Metametrix as to symptom, condition or test.

Books That Help One Understand Functional Medicine
    Please click on the book cover to order book.

Demanding Medical Excellence : Doctors and Accountability in the Information Age By Michael Millenson
   Balancing criticism and praise, Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Millenson analyzes the serious flaws and errors in American medical practice. Combining the experiences of real people and evidence from the scientific literature, he concludes that the major barriers to protecting and systematically improving medical care are cultural, not technical.

Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers : An Updated Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping by Robert M. Sapolsky
    Sapolsky, a Stanford University neuroscientist, explores stress's role in heart disease, diabetes, growth retardation, memory loss, and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. He cites tantalizing studies of hyenas, baboons, and rodents, as well as of people of different cultures, to vividly make his points. And Sapolsky concludes with a hopeful chapter, titled "Managing Stress." Although he doesn't subscribe to the school of thought that hope cures all disease, Sapolsky highlights the studies that suggest we do have some control over stress-related ailments, based on how we perceive the stress and the kinds of social support we have.

The Four Pillars of Healing : How Integrated Medicine Can Heal You by Leo Galland M.D.
     Dr. Leo Galland, along with Doctors Bernie Siegel and Andrew Weil, has been a key architect in the emerging field of integrated medicine, which combines the best of alternative and orthodox treatments. He is also a renowned medical detective, successfully curing patients whose illnesses have defied prior diagnosis and treatment. In his new book, The Four Pillars of Healing, he shares the breakthrough medical philosophy and program of healing he has developed over the course of three decades of education and practice.
    If you've ever heard yourself referred to in your doctor's office as "the chest pain in Room Three," you know that most doctors regard patients as the sum of their symptoms and treat them accordingly: identify the symptoms, name the disease, and try to cure it. Yet you know intuitively that no two people with the same diagnosis respond to treatment in the same way. So why focus on the disease instead of the person? Dr. Galland argues for a fundamental change in this one-size-fits-all philosophy of disease and proposes instead patient-centered diagnosis, viewing each patient as a unique individual and equal participant in treatment.
    Dr. Galland explains how to work closely with your doctor through patient-centered diagnosis to identify the mediators, triggers, and antecedents of your illness. A mediator is anything that produces your symptoms, causes damage to your body, or changes your behavior. As Dr. Galland reveals, mediators need not be merely biochemical (e.g., stress hormones)--how we think and feel can mediate our illness. A trigger is anything that provokes a mediator. Triggers range from the physical (infections, drugs, toxins) to the cognitive (social distress, anxiety, even memories of previous sickness). An antecedent is a risk factor that predisposes you to illness, such as your genetics, age, and even learning and conditioning.
    Drawing on fascinating case histories of medical detection to illustrate these principles, Dr. Galland guides you in identifying your own mediators, triggers, and antecedents, then teaches you how to implement the four pillars of healing to overcome illness and achieve optimum health. The pillars are: building healthy relationships (community is the most powerful healing force)creating a customized prescription for diet, rest, and exercisepurifying your external environmentdetoxifying your internal environment to help your body protect and cleanse itself.
    Eloquently written and filled with practical advice about detecting the unsuspected causes of our sicknesses, building resistance to disease, and harnessing our own bodies' natural desire to heal, Dr. Galland's innovative book represents mind/body medicine at its best. For anyone whose illness hasn't responded to treatment or resists diagnosis, or who craves a higher level of health, The Four Pillars of Healing is essential reading.

Living Downstream : A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment by Sandra Steingraber
    With this eloquent and impassioned book, biologist and poet Sandra Steingraber shoulders the legacy of Rachel Carson, producing a work about people and land, cancer and the environment, that is as accessible and invaluable as Silent Spring--and potentially as historic.
    In her early twenties, Steingraber was afflicted with cancer, a disease that has afflicted other members of her adoptive family. Writing from the twin perspectives of a survivor and a concerned scientist, she traces the high incidence of cancer and the terrifying concentrations of environmental toxins in her native rural Illinois. She goes on to show similar correlation in other communities, such as Boston and Long Island, and throughout the United States, where cancer rates have risen alarmingly since mid-century. At once a deeply moving personal document and a groundbreaking work of scientific detection, Living Downstream will be a touchstone for generations, reminding us of the intimate connection between the health of our bodies and the integrity of our air, land, and water.