It’s alarming when you look at the statistics in America today, how health care compares to the rest of the world. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the US is shown to rank first in health care spending, but it only ranks 37th overall in healthy people. In addition, the findings show a ranking of 39 for infant mortality, 43 for adult female mortality, 42 for adult male mortality, and 36 for life expectancy. I don’t know about you, but if we’re spending the most money on health care, we should also be the healthiest people, but we’re not.
I then expanded my research to see where Utah ranks compared to the rest of the country. We live in a state favorable to the LDS faith and follow a very strict health code as members of the church. Many of us don’t smoke, drink, or engage in recreational drug use, so we should do pretty well by comparison. Well, when I searched the US Census Bureau and looked up health care ranking comparisons across states, to say I was surprised was an understatement. Utah, our little “Mormon” state, ranked 46 out of 50 for health care. What this really means is that there are 45 other states whose health and death rates are better than ours. What was really amazing was that the number one state in America that had the best health was a state called Mississippi. Maine, Alabama and Tennessee followed. So I decided to go a step further and compare how many doctors per 100,000 people were also available. So where does Utah rank in the census? Well, we’re at number 43. This is pretty close to our 46th ranking in Health, that’s how everyone should be, right? Well, if Mississippi is the healthiest, should it have the most health care providers? Well, they rank 48 out of 50 in terms of the number of doctors. Of all the states in the US, there are only 2 with fewer doctors per capita than Mississippi. So if it has the fewest doctors and is the healthiest, what does this say about our health care in America today? I remember when I was in school in the California Bay Area, a couple of hospitals went on strike. The doctors were away for 3 weeks and all the patients were cared for by the nurses. Guess what happened? The number of deaths, drug-induced illnesses, and medical complications dropped to almost 0. What has happened to healthcare in America?
In doing my research and trying to find a better way to care for my patients, I found a new and upcoming method of practice. It’s called Functional Medicine and it’s quickly gaining popularity across the country. Functional medicine uses the same examination procedures as medicine, such as blood tests, CT scans, MRIs, but instead of administering drugs, they use natural substances without side effects. In Functional Medicine the patient is encouraged to change her diet, eliminate certain foods that will irritate her system, make lifestyle changes, and take supplements to support areas of her body that are not working properly. Doctors who are practicing this way are finding amazing results and their patients love them for it. So I looked for where to study this technique and enrolled at the University of Functional Medicine in South Carolina. After long hours of study and multiple patients, I am now practicing Functional Medicine in Utah.
Now I’m not criticizing the medicine, it’s great for acute conditions like broken bones, cuts, and other disease processes that need immediate attention but, when it comes to chronic conditions, it’s just not up to the task. They tend to use acute treatments for chronic conditions and don’t fix the problem, they just make you not know you have a problem. For example, let’s take a look at diabetes. Diabetes is a chronic degenerative problem. Medicine sees it as a blood sugar problem that can be fixed by lowering your blood sugar, but that’s all they’re concerned about. The condition will worsen so more medication will be needed and the degeneration will continue. At Functional Medicine we see it as a blood sugar problem and you may need insulin or medication to control your sugar, so now we can work on the CAUSE of the problem. By digging deeper to find and fix the cause, we can eliminate what was causing the sugar problems in the first place. I have personally seen diabetic patients on 60 units of insulin a day. They start the Functional Medicine approach and start treating the cause and completely stop using insulin in 6-8 months.
There are many chronic degenerative problems that affect the population that respond very well to Functional Medicine. In my office I have treated patients with diabetes, fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, thyroiditis, irritable bowel syndrome, peripheral neuropathy (numb hands and feet), and chronic migraines.
Functional medicine is spreading across the country and is now available in Northern Utah. If you have almost given up medicine and want to try something different, you should consider Functional Medicine as your ticket to a new way of life and a new you.