Functional Medicine’s Approach to Diabetes
Conveniently located to serve Denver Metro, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that stems from genetics, but nutritional and lifestyle factors play a greater role in its development. Unlike conventional medicine, functional medicine can relieve diabetes symptoms by addressing the causes of high blood glucose levels and in many cases, reverse or eliminate the disease.
To learn about functional medicine’s approach to diabetes, Boulder and Denver area patients can come to Spire Health Pathways. Our medical professionals are skilled and experienced in the field of functional medicine.
Functional Medicine and Diabetes
Ninety-six million people aged 18 or older have prediabetes and 29.3 million people have been diagnosed with diabetes in the United States.
While genetics can play a part in developing diabetes, we are not our genes, rather we are the expression that environment and lifestyle have played on our genetics. Whether you come from a family where everyone has diabetes, you have prediabetes, or you have been diagnosed with diabetes for years, we will guide you along the path that will optimize your insulin production and sugar metabolism so as to control your blood sugar and prevent the long-term consequences of vision loss, kidney failure, and nerve pain and damage.
We do not solely rely on the typical tests done today including fasting blood sugars and A1C. We look deeper at your insulin production, gut function, and causes of inflammation including food sensitivities and toxin exposures that may be keeping your blood sugar elevated despite following a healthy diet.
What Is Functional Medicine’s Approach to Diabetes?
Health-Oriented & Preventative
Functional medicine’s approach is health-oriented and preventive. It involves creating a disease management plan by looking into the patient’s biochemical structure. This is effective for diabetes patients because it targets the root cause of high blood glucose levels by looking at issues such as insulin under production, insulin resistance, nutritional deficits, and influences such as stress, low testosterone and sleep apnea as examples.
Lifestyle Management
Lifestyle management varies from person to person when it comes to diabetes patients. Diet and exercise vary per household based on factors like cultural background, family obligations, and an individual’s habits and preferences. Functional medicine can build a patient-centered model to help manage the social and environmental factors that affect diabetes patients.
How Does Functional Medicine for Diabetes Work?
Monitoring blood sugar levels is crucial for diabetes patients. Both high and low blood glucose levels can cause severe symptoms such as vomiting, rapid heartbeat, vision problems, and loss of consciousness and every day symptoms such as increased hunger and thirst, fatigue, frequent urination, and blurred vision that affect quality of life.
When these symptoms are present, the appropriate medicine for diabetes including Metformin, Glipizide, and Insulin are highly recommended. However, control of blood sugars will worsen over time if a healthy diet, regular exercise, and identification of inflammatory causes for the condition are not part of the treatment.
Following a strict medication schedule and diet can also cause depression in diabetes patients, due to restriction of food and activities they enjoy and sometimes as a direct consequence of the medication. Functional medicine can develop a more personalized diet and exercise plan that will help diabetes patients enjoy their food selections and feel satisfied while minimizing the use of prescription medications as much as possible.
Because treatment for diabetes is an ongoing process, the methods used for treating this condition will need to be maintained so that patients can enjoy a healthy, happy, and fulfilling lifestyle. Patients must stick to the recommended diet, activities, and lifestyle choices that are part of their diabetes treatment.
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“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patients in care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.” – Thomas Edison