This is VERY interesting and I want to find out more. The only problem is that since I live in Sweden, nobody here accepts these methods unless there is any Scientific studies made and proved that it works.
Does anybody know any ???

what about europe? is there a possibility to find doctors who are educated in functional medecine??? or does this only exist in america?

Dear Dr. Hyman:

I am excited to know that you are taking on the daunting task of educating the medical community in the ways that they should practice.

I have spent years trying to find the answers to the puzzle that is me. My journey is not yet over, but I am on the right track now thanks to UltraMetabolism and The Institute for Functional Medicine.

I found a gastroenterologist nearby who is trained in functional medicine, but it took me five months to get my first appointment with him, he's so busy! I ended up having a slew of tests and an endoscopy which uncovered a chronic bacterial infection for which I was treated. I improved somewhat, but still not losing weight in spite of an excellent diet and exercise program.

Yesterday I had my second visit with Dr. Detweiller and he's now treating my fungal overgrowth with both prescription and natural remedies.

I feel so much better knowing that he will keep working with me until we have ALL the answers as to why optimal health has been eluding me.

What scares me more than doctors not recognizing that nutrition plays a tremendous role in a person's wellbeing is when they out and out DENY that it does.

I had one doctor tell me that the high acid in my system didn't mean anything. When I asked him why it's tested then, he got up and walked out of the room.

I could go on and on about the poor doctoring I received in the last ten years in particular, but I am not looking back. I am looking forward to feeling better and enjoying the rest of my life healthy and active, as I always intended to be.

Best of luck meeting your goals. I know you will. You are starting a medical revolution and the time is ripe for change. More people are willing to make the changes necessary to be healthy if they know what they are to do. Those who just want a pill for symptoms are more than welcome to go to the doctors who still practice that way.

You saved my life by steering me in the direction of functional medicine to get the answers I needed. Thank you just doesn't cover how grateful I am to you for your work.

God bless you,
Cat

Tried to donate, but it seems the Fnctional Medicine new user sign-up is designed only for medical personnel. This will force people to either misrepresent themselves or not to dontate. This should be fixed right away.

I can;t misrepresent myself, so I did not donate. Let us know when this is fixed and I'll be happy to donate to the cause.

There are organizations that setup recurring donations on a credit card. For those who can't donate $100 today, is it possible they can dontate $5 or $10 per month for 10 or 20 months?

This donation feature can be valuable for charitable causes without biting into a family's monthly cash flow.

I was appalled when my daughter required a measles shot for kindergarten and I tried with monumental effort to obtain the measles vaccine without having to adminsiter the MMR.

I went to all major pharmaices (CVS, Duane Reade, Walgreens) and was told it was not available and I even tried Wilner Chemists in NYC who are focused on functional medicine and healthier way to approach healthcare. I then tried a former phsyician for my daughter since she had been able to separate out the vaccinations originally and was told she was having difficulty obtaining the vaccinations and had none in stock.

This was simply a financially driven problem. It is outrageous that you can not separate these out. Teh lame response form the physician was that my daughter was beyond the age where they experinece difficulty. Has she ever seen the FDA VAERS reports? I am switching pediatricians!

How long does it take to train a doc on functional medicene. Where can I find a list of docs who practice functional medicene?

I am so excited to read this article. I am a RN who left the profession. I left, not because I do not care about people or want to help them; I left because of what I saw modern medicine doing to them. I would love to be a part of courses in functional medicine and will get the book. I have longed believed in more natural means to healing and treating the person as a whole instead of treating symptoms which cause more symptoms. My father passed away this year because his doctor gave him Coumadin when there was no medical indication to use it and he bled to death internally. This kind of thing happens all to often to far too many people. We need a choice and a chance to choose how we want our bodies treated.

I just read your blog, and I have to say I more convinced now than ever that I made the right decision to hold off on the "required" immunizations when my son was 18 mths. He was born in 1999 and they had just come out with the information that the MMR vacc. could be linked. I agree completly that diet and alternative medicine is greatly needed in our society. I just started to prepare for your plan and I am know that I am doing something great for my body. I hope that I will be able to convert my whole family. Thank you for your message.

I haven't read Jenny McCarthy's book but I saw her interviewed about a month ago about her experience with her son. The first thing I thought was, "This is exactly the same message Dr. Hyman has been trying to convey." I was wondering if she had read your books. I'm glad there is something we lay people can do to help promote functional medicine. I plan to donate to the cause. Continued thanks to you, Dr. Hyman, for all your efforts.

Dr. Hyman,

I can't tell you how nice it is to find someone that believes the same way I do about health. I just started the Ultra Wellness program and agree with everything in your book.

I was "the responsible parent" and took my kids to all the well baby appointments and agreed to all the immunizations the doctors told me they needed. This was of course all before I found out the correct way to live! Now, I manage their health with regular chiropractor appointments, vitamins, minerals and diet. However, I don't know how to go about detoxing their system's. They aren't as willing, at elementary age as adults, to go through the process. I didn't find anything in the book regarding children.

I commend you for your voice for regarding Functional Medicine in a world controled by drug companies. I will definitely be passing your information along to everyone I know. Thank you for giving those of us who believe a place to seek answers.

Dear Dr. Hyman -
I applaud the research you are doing and the multitude of people your approach to health and wellness can benefit. It seems a daunting task to fight the upstream battle of the way traditional medicine is practiced. Getting the word out is of the utmost importance to overcome the old beliefs and approaches to treating disease.

I'd specifically like to suggest that one way you could further you cause is to align yourself with an organization that has a national/international presence. Try contacting "Autism Speaks", a non profit organization dedicated to facilitating global research into the causes, treatments and an eventual cure for autism. Perhaps you could take your model of wellness to them as it applies to Autism and further your cause as well as potentially helping thouands of children affected with this condition. They also have a grants department where they fund research to further the treatments for Autism.
That website is:
http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/research/grants/index.php

As Jenny McCarthy describes in her book, the information she received that helped her son came from other mothers, not doctors. It is much easier for a medical professional such as yourself who has done the research and has first hand examples of the successes to prove it to approach an organization that has such a loud voice and huge media presence.

Bob Wright and his wife are the founders of Autism Speaks. Bob Wright is vice chairman, General Electric, and served as chief executive officer of NBC for more than twenty years. I'd say he knows how to go about getting media attention!

Good Luck

Many excellent points. Note also that current injected flu shots, which are recommended for all young children and babies, contain 25 mcg of mercury in the form of thimerosal preservative per injection. I wonder how many people would rush to get this yearly injection if they knew.

Many excellent points. Note also that current injected flu shots, which are recommended for all young children and babies, contain 25 mcg of mercury in the form of thimerosal preservative per injection. I wonder how many people would rush to get this yearly injection if they knew.

Ingela,

The Textbook of Functional Medicine includes several thousand references all taken from well respected medical journals and published research studies.

Oh, I love your passion for this work! Please connect with Dr. Joseph Mercola,who has been working tirelessly for years to bring about these changes. The concern you both have could ignite something enormous if you are able to find a common ground. Bless you for taking a stand for health.

Dear Dr. Hyman,
We just don't hear enough from you! Why don't you go on 60 minutes and Oprah!? I could tune in and never tune out. I just soak it up like a sponge whenever I am able to listen to the way you practice medicine.
As for myself, I am finishing my certification in nutrition shortly. That is how I am contributing. I only pray that someone like you were available in my area of the country. I have searched, but to no avail. We have a metabolic clinic that does some of what you do, but it is very limited. I am somewhat dismayed because I will be limited, if I feel genetic testing is needed or heavy metals are involved. I will, I am sure have to debate, (fight), with the medical field in my area to have these certain tests performed on my clients.
This is how I am going to help my clients.
I knew when I read your books, listened to your videos, that is what I have always felt, but I couldn't label it until now. Functional medicine! Wow!
You have profoundly influenced me and I am more determined to help others who suffer needlessly. So many dis-eases can be lumped into categories, then modified to accommodate individuals. I am so excited there are physicians like you who truly heal. I am at a point in my life, that I intend on visiting your facility on the east coast. I want to really truly know what 'health care'is. I believe it down to my very soul, this is healing from the root cause.
Thank you so very much for being here. Gratefully,

Judy Ritsema

This is fantastic and I applaud your getting the word out about Functional Medicine and the Institute. However, in the field of nutrition there have been other voices out there doing this kind of work..just NOT RD's.
Some professional nutrition organizations that have learned and used IFM include: NANP National Association of Nutrition Professionals, CNS-Certified Nutrition Specialists, and CCN Certified Clinical Nutritionists. It is most unfortunate that the ADA has controlled nutrition in this country to their outdated standard which have only started to change in the past few years. Nonetheless, their basic educational training has not changed and is antiquidated just as nutrition training for MDs. Many RDs, in spite of the ADA requirements, have gone beyond and really learned the functional Approach so eliquently delineatedby Dr. Jeff Bland.

It's great to know that people are finally wanting our congress to primarily address the issues of healthcare. The paying field does need to be made to level. Someone needs to speak up for lower-income payers and patients. That is why I am working to support AARP which is trying to make sure all voices are heard. Go to their website at http://www.thisissoridiculous.com and sign their petition,

We need to create a national model with a hospital, physician group and insurance company included so functional and holistic medicine can be practiced in a safe environment where this practice will be covered by health insurance.

Hi - this email is for Dr Mark Hyman :
Why dont you go to the Howard Hughes Scientific Research Centre for funding ? They control a huge amount of funding annually (I know my Uncle used to be their Chief Scientific Officer). I would contact the person in charge only him and meet with him regarding your research funds needed. Why not? you have nothing to lose!

Dr. Hyman,

I looked all around your website to email you because I wanted to Thank You for one of the most eloquent articles I have ever read regarding medicine and disease. I picked up a copy of Alternative Therapies in a little bookstore last spring. I read it cover to cover. However, the impressive article that you wrote "The Origin of Diseases: Musings on Ecology and the Evolution of Medical Ideas" has been passed to many a friend of mine in the wellness community. Quite by accident I found your video about gluathione and put the two together that you were the editor of AT. I know Dr. Seidman knows who you are because he cited one of the articles in that issue for a patient friend of mine. I say, great minds think alike!! Thanks again.

Lisa Musick
Temecula, CA

Ok- so I am a bit overwhelmed & need to go to sleep soon but needed to leave a comment.

I have 3 boys. My oldest (born in 1999) had food allergies including the dreaded life threatening peanut allergy. He's in the 2nd grade with the risk of not passing to 3rd. He's in the process of being evaluated for adhd & learning disabilities.

My middle boy is 3-1/2 and I started the process of having him evaluated for speech therapy. I had thought his only weakness was the lack of us understanding his words although he quite knew what he was saying. Today, I read a local article that changed my opinion about his one disability. What I thought were positive attributes, I now need to question his independant, leadership, lack of needing mom's comfort, fearless, tough cookie. Oh my- my son may be autistic. I am in shock!! For a mother of a child with food allergies and all the reading materials that correlate adhd, food allergies, and autism... why didn't I notice his symptoms sooner!!!

The Kicker of it all.... my brand new baby who's is only 4 months old just received 4 of his immunization shots all in one day against my better judgement. I went into the doctor's office and told the nurse & doctor that I only want one shot and to spread out the rest... the dr needed to check with the head dr who had to come in with a huge lecture and tell me they wont split the shots- it's against there procedure- defeats the whole purpose of the vaccines and how they work with the antibodies- and made me feel like a small little mom who reads too many "poorly done", "not received by the medical boards" uneducated mom. So guess what, in the stress of having 4 hungry children, and a not feeling well mom- I gave in, took my insult, and gave my little baby 4 more shots. He still had a lump from the 2 month shots in his leg. Now the kicker of all kickers.... my baby has milk allergy now :(

AGGGHHHH- what's a mother to do! I am afraid to do anything anymore. Well finding this site is empowering... I have my oldest seeing a behavioral pediatrician who is willing to go my way and not treat with medications. She is also having his biochemical tests to see if mineral & amino acid deficiencies are to blame along side his food allergies.

I am a bit scared to make any decision about anything at this point. But at least I found this blog and have something that's connecting the dots properly.

Thank you

My son was diagnosed with autism (pdd-nos and high functioning) when he was 5, and is now 12.  There are a host of other processing and anxiety issues that we have dealt with as well.   I have not given up on finding a "cure" for him and it is very sad that children are being diagnosed every day and their caregivers do not have easy access to a wealth of information outside the mainstream medical field.   I have recently started my son on ThreeLac, a probiotic supplement, which Jenny McCarthy placed her son on, and I am also supplementing his diet with Natural Calm magnesium.  We have just started, though I am very hopeful that this will help his body heal.  He was on numerous antibiotics over the years and also had a reaction to his vaccinations.     I just finished reading Dr. Andrew Weil's book on Spontaneous Healing which was fabulous.  Jenny McCarthy's book is a true beam of light into our world showing us that alternative therapies can be very complimentary to mainstream medicine, and sometimes even better.   Good luck to everyone and thanks so much for this wonderful blog and website!!!  I would be happy to support the Functional Medicine Foundation.

Great post! Autism is a serious health problem and not just medication is needed but it also requires unconditional love. With our broken health care system, everyone of us is suffering. Many Americans feel that the issue regarding the budget to reform the health care system needs to be addressed, and the sooner the better since it was one of President Obama’s biggest campaign platforms. The budget for the program tops out at about $650 billion, which is one of the largest health care budgets ever.  The big pharmaceutical and insurance lobbies are annoyed, because they may not get to profit as much as they would like.   Their crocodile tears pale in comparison to the tears cried due to the amount of deaths in this country that arise from inadequate access to <a href="http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/02/26/nations-budget-dedicates-646-billion-health-care/">health care</a>, which is universal in other industrialized nations.