The 4-R Approach to Improving Health

The 4-R approach forms the basis of improving the health of an individual in functional diagnostic medicine and provides the basic treatment philosophy. Although it’s a simple concept, it provides an effective way to resolve difficult and undefined illnesses. The 4-Rs refer to Remove, Re-inoculate, Replace, and Repair.

Remove implies the elimination of anything that may be in your body or diet that contributes to your poor health. This can include foods, pesticides, food additives, environmental toxins, invasive bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Often, you may need sophisticated and specialized lab tests to determine the root cause of your illness. However, this is not typically the type of test you would find in a conventional medical office such as a simple blood study or urinalysis; rather, you’d find it in a specialty laboratory where microscopic examinations or cultures of stool samples may be performed looking for not-so-obvious problems.

Re-inoculate refers to the use of supplements containing lactobacillus acidophilus, bifidobacteria, and other friendly flora, also known as probiotics or the “good bacteria.” These “good” bacteria can repel harmful microbes and “bad” bacteria by repopulating the gut with the healthy organisms. These good bacteria are easily disrupted and destroyed by antibiotic use. Antibiotics kill off not only the bad bacteria but the good bacteria as well.

Replace refers to correcting your diet and/or adding supplementation to support a poor digestive system that’s been destroyed by a disease process or invasion of bacteria, parasites, fungus or virus.

Repair is the final step in the 4R process. It supports rebuilding and regenerating the damaged tissue. This may require a modification of your diet and/or supplementation as well as adequate sleep. In some cases, nutritional support may be required indefinitely if the body has been too far damaged by a long-term disease or condition. For example, if people with diabetes can no longer produce insulin, they may have to supplement with insulin indefinitely, but perhaps a lesser amount once their diets have been regulated.

Can you see the difference? Traditionally trained medical doctors are taught to evaluate symptoms as indicators of diseases. They then order diagnostic laboratory tests to confirm their diagnoses and start treating the symptoms of the disease while functional diagnostic healthcare practitioners probe for underlying causes.

Your Functional Diagnostic Medicine Healthcare Provider

You’ll find a relationship with a healthcare provider in functional diagnostic medicine differs than with one in conventional medicine. This practitioner becomes an equal partner—a member of your healing team rather than a stranger you visit when you have worrisome symptoms. In this approach, you’re a participant, not a spectator. You’re required to pay special attention to your body and your biology. Specifically, you’re asked to monitor your sleep, digestion, energy level, and overall function on a daily and weekly basis. You proceed in partnership with your healthcare provider, feeling encouraged to regard him or her as an advisor and explorer on your journey toward optimal health.

By taking charge of your own body—and taking daily inventory on how your body is functioning—you’ll recognize small changes that can alert you to the need for further investigation. Similar to when a red light on the cars dashboard tells you of an impending danger, you need to become aware of your body’s red lights, what these signals mean, and how and when you may not be functioning at your peak.

Given all this, you can expect your healthcare provider to spend more time with you than a conventional doctor. You may fill out extensive questionnaires about your medical history, work history, diet, exercise patterns, stress level, hobbies, use of supplements and medication, and home and work environment.

The more you can report about you and your medical history, the more he or she can understand your current situation and develop a program that’s specific to your individual needs and lifestyle.

What Is Expected of You?

As an important member in this partnership, your role is extremely important. You will be asked to be totally engaged in this process. For example, you’ll be expected to change the way you eat, think, exercise and function. When you do, you’ll see the effects of your hard work ripple out into your relationships with yourself and others.

You may be asked to make changes in your food choices, eating patterns, and time management. You may also be asked to take nutritional, homeopathic or herbal supplements, go through a detoxification program, see a counselor about life issues, join a support group, have massages or other body work, meditate, take saunas, or use other modalities. You’ll probably be asked to conduct some tests, many of which you can do at home. Some may involve laboratory testing while others may involve testing the pH of your urine or taking your basal body temperature for thyroid function. All of these changes and testing ultimately allow your practitioner to develop a program that brings your body into balance and harmony. You want all of your parts to work together like a beautiful symphony.

Functional diagnostic healthcare practitioners can identify patterns of imbalance because they look at each person as an entire being rather than a variety of medical sub-specialists (e.g., one looks for heart problems, another examines gynecological problems, another specializes in internal problems, etc.).

Here’s an example of what can and has happened.
A patient went to see a cardiologist because he experienced heart palpitations. The cardiologist put him on heart medication for an arrhythmia (abnormal heart beat). He then saw his internist because he had a tremendous amount of leg cramping. To treat it, he received a prescription medication for a muscle relaxant. Then his psychiatrist put him on an antidepressant for his anxiety.

By contrast, the same patient saw a functional diagnostic healthcare practitioner who noticed that all these symptoms could be due to a lack of magnesium and other supportive nutrients, which created an imbalance in his electrolytes. The patient was tested and found to have nutritional deficiencies. He was prescribed a nutritional regime that included supplements and a change in his diet. After a few months of treatment and follow-up testing, he was able to discontinue and/or decrease all of his medications.

This is only one example of how functional diagnostic medicine works. It represents the necessity of getting to the “root cause” of the condition, disease, or symptoms instead of suppressing the symptoms. The goal of functional diagnostic medicine always remains the same: find the “cause” and treat the individual to create optimum health and function.

Most people have a recurring health problem that can be alleviated or corrected by addressing the cause of the health problem through functional diagnostic medicine. However, many people choose to live with a variety of health problems, large and small, and limit their lives accordingly.
For example, people with irritable bowel syndrome often stay home because they’re unsure of when they may urgently need to go to the bathroom.

Many women with migraines don’t schedule appointments or activities during certain times in their menstrual cycle for fear of having to cancel them due to severe headaches. People with arthritis may also decide to give up moving in certain ways because they can’t—or they anticipate the pain that would follow.

Have you ever been told to just accept your limitations? Healthcare providers in functional medicine are realistic about possible limitations while being optimistic about helping you get well and eventually enjoy optimal health.
A functional diagnostic medicine approach to the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, for example, may include laboratory testing for food sensitivities, allergies, or toxins within the gut. A diet may then be prescribed to eliminate the need for medication. The same is true for migraine headaches and arthritis suffers.

The point is, you’re better off looking for the “triggers and causes” of your symptoms rather than “learning to live with them.” With this approach, improved health is highly possible.

Don’t Lose Sight of the Goal: Optimal Health

The goal in functional diagnostic medicine isn’t necessarily for you to live longer, although you just might. The goal is to create optimum health for now and for the rest of your life. Many people experience a decline in health starting as early as their 30s. Others live happy and healthy lives for decades, quietly dying of “old age” in the middle of the night. Like the burning candle, you were meant to burn brightly from beginning to end, and when your time is up, you flicker and pass.

In addition, its goal is to improve your overall health throughout your life and especially into the “golden years” of old age. Numerous research studies over the last few years have shown that people who began paying attention to real preventive healthcare in midlife—stopped smoking, exercised, and made dietary changes—had fewer hospitalizations and surgeries, took fewer medications, and lived longer than people who didn’t. Isn’t that what you want and expect from your body and your healthcare provider?

Optimal health is within your reach.

www.curingthecause.com

Author's Bio: 

Dr. Steven Ross has been practicing Functional Diagnostic Medicine since 1982. He is a licensed Doctor of Chiropractic, a diplomat of the American Academy of Pain Management, and an Affiliate Physician of the Chopra Center in La Costa, California. He has extensive post-graduate training in nutrition and functional medicine.

Dr. Ross is the author of “Curing the Cause & Preventing Disease”, a program that will provide you with guidance and a direction to finding the “root cause” of your health challenges and assist in your restoration into the “new you” now… and into the future. Dr. Ross has created what many are calling the “Best program of its kind on the market”. This 6-CD system and book will educate, motivate and inspire you to get your body healthier than ever before. http://www.curingthecause.com/main/Email_1.shtml