Integrative medicine

If you are living with chronic health issues that aren’t easily managed by conventional treatments and medication, you may want to consider integrative medicine. These services use a holistic approach to your care by combining your current treatment plan with complementary (alternative) therapies.

Integrative medicine uses a team-based approach that looks for opportunities to improve your overall wellness, based on what’s important to you to help you live your best life.

What is integrative medicine?

Integrative medicine is an evidence-based, healing-oriented approach that combines conventional medicine and complementary (alternative) therapies. The therapies work towards improving your overall health and wellness, while focusing on nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress management.

 

Some therapies include:

  • Acupuncture and Chinese herbs
  • Massage
  • Yoga
  • Tai chi
  • Mindfulness and meditation
  • Guided imagery
  • Osteopathic manipulation
  • Vitamin/herbal supplementation
  • Bio-identical hormone therapy
Integrative medicine at HonorHealth

What is functional medicine?

Functional medicine, a part of integrative medicine, is often called the medicine of “Why” and is used to determine underlying cause of your symptoms with a focus on nutrition and lifestyle changes. Individual therapies are used to help treat chronic and complex illnesses.

Common conditions that may benefit from a functional medicine approach include:

  • Autoimmune diseases
  • Irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and other digestive disorders
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Thyroid disorders
  • Adrenal disorders
  • Inflammatory disease
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Anxiety and depression
  • Insomnia
  • Alzheimer’s disease and dementia
  • Arthritis
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Environmental and food allergies
  • Prediabetes, diabetes and insulin resistance
  • Women’s health disorders, such as PMS, menopause and polycystic ovary syndrome

What is lifestyle medicine?

Lifestyle medicine, also part of integrative medicine, is the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic intervention to change personal habits and behaviors in order to treat different types of chronic conditions. It focuses on lifestyle choices and self-care to help improve your overall health and well-being.

Treatment can include:

  • Modifying your diet to include whole-food and plant predominant eating patterns
  • Increasing physical activity
  • Restorative sleep
  • Avoiding risky substances (nicotine, alcohol, drugs)
  • Managing your stress
  • Creating positive social connections

Lifestyle medicine treats the underlying causes of disease without increasing the need for medication or any procedures. Diseases that can be treated preventatively with lifestyle medicine include:

  • Diabetes type II
  • Obesity
  • Substance abuse
  • Insomnia
  • Anxiety and depression
  • Hypertension and high cholesterol
  • Peripheral vascular disease and Coronary artery disease
  • Thyroid disease
  • GERD and IBS
  • Liver disease
  • Gout

Find a doctor

Schedule an appointment with an integrative medicine doctor at HonorHealth.

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