Have you noticed the number of people today living with a chronic health condition? According to the National Health Council, about half of adults living in the U.S. have a chronic health condition, which can be defined as a disease that lasts three months or longer. Throughout my career, I’ve worked with many colleagues and clients who have dealt with major health issues. Our work lives and health can be so tied together when we work in jobs that take away our time to focus on self care. I’ve come very close to burnout at least twice in the past five years which has impacted my health in a negative way.
Over the past two years, I’ve been on a long and windy journey to get to the root cause of a chronic health issue in order to manage and possibly eliminate it. This is not the first time I’ve been on a mission to solve a health issue. About ten years ago, I developed chronic asthma and acid reflux out of the blue as an adult. During that time, I consulted with multiple internal medicine doctors, a gastroenterologist, an allergist, and even a pulmonologist. Instead of getting answers on why this was happening, I received prescription after prescription for steroid medications like prednisone and inhalers or acid blockers.
More than once, I was told by doctors that I would need to take these medications for the rest of my life. I suffered for months trying different medications and treatments suggested by doctors without any improvement. I didn’t understand why none of these doctors thought to dive a bit deeper on what may be causing these health problems in the first place.
This was the start of my distrust of our current healthcare system. As I became more and more dependent on my asthma inhaler, something inside me protested on accepting this as my fate. This was a turning point in my life to start doing my own research to see if there was another way to manage health issues. That is when I discovered the world of functional medicine and nutrition.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, functional medicine focuses on the holistic “root causes of disease rather than an isolated set of symptoms”. It's based on the idea that lifestyle factors – such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress, environment and genetics can contribute to chronic disease. Many functional medicine practitioners are labeled as practicing “holistic” or “alternative” medicine. Most of them do not take health insurance which can make their services cost prohibitive for most people.
There is much skepticism of these alternative approaches due to the lack of evidence based scientific research. It can be very difficult for an individual to find a trusted practitioner and determine what information is helpful vs harmful. The medical profession in general doesn’t promote functional medicine and many times ignores many testing methods and theories that don’t have a lot of scientific backing. I’ve found it quite challenging to find doctors that I trust whether they follow traditional or alternative practices. I’ve wasted money on naturopaths that recommended remedies that did not work. However, I’ve also had similar experiences with traditional doctors and their prescribed medications.
I’ve seen how dependent people become on costly drugs in order to manage a chronic condition. Since there is a lack of research on natural and alternative approaches to solving health conditions, I’ve taken on the researcher role more than once by experimenting on myself with diet and other methods. Personally it feels safer to experiment on myself with diet or herbs rather than taking long-term medications like antibiotics, steroids, biologics, or other pharmaceutical drugs.
My journey into the functional medicine world started almost ten years ago with a nutritionist who described herself as a holistic and integrative health practitioner. She was the first medical practitioner that made such a lasting impact for me and helped navigate me to better health. At my first appointment, she told me that my face looked inflamed and that my health issues were most likely related to my diet. As a teenager and young adult, I battled with numerous skin related issues, especially on my face. I’ve also lost count on the number of times I was prescribed different types of medications and antibiotics for my skin problems. None of these doctors ever suggested looking at my diet.
During our first session, this nutritionist educated me on food sensitivities and elimination diets. At first, I was not convinced that this was my problem but I decided to give it a try since I had no other options other than a lifetime of pharmaceutical drugs. She gave me a list of the top 8 inflammatory foods and gave me the assignment to eliminate only one category of foods for 2 weeks at a time. I was then instructed to eat the eliminated food on Day 15 and record any reactions.
I started with gluten since that is known to be at the top of the list followed by dairy when it comes to food sensitivities. At first I was unsure how I would do this, but she gave me a comprehensive list of food options and substitutions. It wasn’t that difficult to change my diet once I realized the things that I could continue to eat. As I completely removed gluten from my diet, I started to feel much better. I was not 100% well but my asthma symptoms had lessened drastically. After the 2 weeks were up, I decided to continue with keeping gluten out of my diet and tried taking out all dairy for the next 2 weeks.
That is when a miracle occurred. ALL of my symptoms disappeared! I could not believe it. Not only did my acid reflux and asthma resolve, but I noticed other changes to my overall skin health. My seasonal allergies that I suffered from since I was a child completely disappeared. I stopped having any digestive issues. I noticed that even my overall mental health and cognitive function improved. I felt less anxious and depressed. After a couple of months, I was able to throw away my asthma inhaler permanently and haven’t used it now in almost ten years.
Even though my health has drastically improved since then, I realized that other factors can also impact my health. Stress, lack of sleep or exercise, and many other factors have taken their toll on me since the pandemic. It was not until I changed jobs earlier this year that I realized how much I had neglected my health since the beginning of the pandemic. I appreciate my new company’s focus on empowering employees to be in charge of their self care, setting boundaries, and promoting a culture of well-being. No tech startup is perfect but I do feel like I have permission for the first time to create a work/life routine that works for me.
Even though I have been battling with a new chronic health condition for the past two years, I am feeling quite optimistic about the future. I’ve identified a nutritionist and a functional medicine doctor, who are both are licensed medical practitioners, that I can trust to help me navigate this new experimental journey. With the help of both practitioners, I have gotten the chronic condition under more control over the past months so that that I am able to function normally day to day. There is a lot more I need to learn but for the first time in two years, I’m feeling hopeful again.
Functional Medicine Resources
If you are interested in learning more or exploring the functional medicine route, I’m sharing below some of my favorite resources. The cost of utilizing functional medicine practitioners and testing unfortunately makes it inaccessible for many. I’m using a mix of my health insurance, FSA, and money out of my own pocket to finance my healthcare. I’ve realized it’s an investment that I need to make to live a better life and have cut back on other expenses to make it a reality.
Articles
Elimination Diet: What It Is and Why You Should Try It
How to Find a Good Functional Medicine Practitioner
The Ultimate Guide to Functional Medicine
Podcasts
The Gutsy Health Podcast: Radical Solutions for an Unwell World
The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast
Functional Medicine Service Providers
The Institute for Functional Medicine
Disclaimer: As the author of this post, I am not a licensed medical professional, nutritionist, or dietitian. Content on this website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to substitute for medical treatment or diagnosis. Before beginning any type of natural, integrative or conventional treatment regimen, it is advisable to seek the advice of a licensed healthcare practitioner.
Bravo Satya! It's really is a shame that the medical industry in this country doesn't treat the whole person, for what I believe are capitalistic reasons, a practice that has served cultures well for long before modern medicine. I commend you for doing the tough work for your own best health.