Clarifying “Functional Medicine”

images

At 13-15 Neperan Road in Tarrytown resides a very unique application of the medical world called Tarrytown Functional Medicine. Dr. Jill Fetell, an M.D.

graduate (’79) from Albert Einstein Medical School, and her associates are increasingly involved in an emerging medical field that analyzes interrelated body functions, a discipline that can not only lead to cures but can be preventative in many cases. In effect, it charts how the body is handling itself from month to month, even year to year, through improving an individual’s detoxification status, nutritional deficiencies and lifestyle changes that can facilitate the body’s own healing process.

Fetell and her associates feel that key health factors, i.e., diet, stress and exercise contribute significantly to “wellness.” To that point, a lack of symptoms may not indicate optimum health. Treating an individual symptom can end up being too late, says Fetell, while treating the body as an interrelated whole can help fix serious imbalances. She adds that an increasing number of her patients come in as a result of not being able to cure a pain or a problem that recurs frequently.

The term “functional medicine” comes directly from The Institute of Functional Medicine founded by Dr. Jeffrey Bland in Gigg Harbor, located in the State of Washington. Restoring metabolic equilibrium that may have been put off-balance by a patient’s years of an incorrect diet or lifestyle is the aim of body analysis. Included in these tests are those for hormones, toxicity, body mass and cellular health. Functional Medicine in Louisville also provides the additional services of pain management, dermatology and certain cosmetic procedures. Personalized and lifestyle medicine aims to customize treatment to every patient based on one’s genetic make up.

Recommended For You

About the Author: River Journal