ORLANDO, Florida – It is a growing field within healthcare.
In fact, some of the top medical and research centers in the country, like the Cleveland Clinic, have now established centers for functional medicine.
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It’s a discipline that aims to treat the root cause of health problems and not just the symptoms.
There is one woman who is blending traditional therapies and functional medicine to take control of some serious health problems.
Haley Miller, 33, cherishes every second she spends with her daughter, Sienna.
But almost two years ago, Miller’s health took a sudden nose-dive.
“I actually got a really bad headache. The next morning, I was looking at my daughter’s face and I noticed it was vibrating a bit,” Miller said.
Miller quickly began to lose her vision, and at one point, was almost blind.
“I had an emergency MRI that showed I had a lesion touching my optic nerve, and I had two older lesions,” Miller said.
Doctors diagnosed Miller with multiple sclerosis causing her vision problems.
“Wow. I can’t take care of my daughter. That was terrifying for me,” Miller said.
Specialists treated the MS side effects with steroids, and Miller committed herself to exploring every option to fully restore her health.
Linda Matteoli, DO, Origins Functional Medicine, is a family medicine doctor with a concentration in functional medicine. Practitioners look for ways to rebalance the body.
“Diet is first for most people because it is the quickest way to reduce inflammation immediately,” Dr. Matteoli said.
Dr. Matteoli recommends patients avoid what she calls the big five- gluten, dairy, corn, soy and sugar.
Miller follows a strict diet and takes a counterful of supplements. The lifestyle changes resulted in a 60-pound weight loss and in a little more than two months, Miller’s eyesight returned.
“I was just purely motivated to get my eyesight back and be healthy for my daughter, and for myself and my family,” Miller said.
Miller had been told by an MS specialist it would take six months to regain her sight.
Dr. Matteoli recommends people looking for functional medicine doctors seek out practitioners trained by the institute for functional medicine. The IFM is considered the gold standard in the field.