A Look at What Functional Medicine Is & What It Should Be from a Double-Board-Certified Physician
Key Takeaways
- Because “Functional medicine” is not a protected term, it means just about anyone can use it to describe their practice, regardless of credentials — or lack thereof
- When employed correctly, functional medicine complements conventional care rather than replacing it, using in-depth testing and whole-person history to find root causes.
- Marguerite Weston, MD, IFMCP, leads Functional Medicine at Donaldson Plastic Surgery in Columbus, Ohio, where her team pairs conventional medical training with IFM-certified root-cause care.
A Growing Demand for Personalized Healthcare
More health information is available to patients today than at any point in history. That access comes with a cost: it can be genuinely difficult to separate credible guidance from noise.
Patients have responded by advocating more strongly for themselves, asking more pointed questions, and refusing to settle for a lab result that reads “normal” when they still don’t feel like themselves.
And when they seek solutions online, functional medicine has increasingly become the answer.
What Is Functional Medicine – Actually?
“Functional medicine looks at the patient as a whole,” says Dr. Weston. “My team and I – we will first examine lifestyle and run targeted testing that goes deeper than a standard primary care visit to figure out the root cause behind the symptoms. We have the time to ask more and better questions. Once we have what we best believe to be the answer, we layer in treatment methods — diet, supplements, stress relief protocols and sometimes prescriptions, but only when they’re clinically warranted.”
Dr. Weston is dual board-certified in Family Medicine and Sports Medicine and holds the IFM Certified Practitioner (IFMCP) credential through the Institute for Functional Medicine. The IFM is widely regarded as the field’s gold standard for training.
Why A Definition Is Necessary Now More Than Ever
“The phrase ‘functional medicine’ is a bit like the Wild West right now because it is not a protected term,” says Dr. Weston. “A chiropractor, a health coach, an RN — they all can market themselves as a ‘functional medicine provider’ with no additional certification required. This doesn’t mean any of those individuals are ineffective at providing care; it just creates a massive gap in what patients can expect.”
That gap has attracted its share of opportunists, including people using the lack of a clear definition to sell quick fixes to patients who are simply looking for someone to listen to them first and then provide an answer.
None of This Means Patient Self-Advocacy is the Problem
It’s the opposite: patients are now seeking care that’s actually curated to them. Their lifestyle. Their hectic schedule. Their chief complaints and even the things they didn’t even know were happening. That is exactly the instinct that makes functional medicine work.
The burden is on the field and its credentialed practitioners to earn that trust with real credentials.
The Concerns & Symptoms Addressed by Functional Medicine
- Menopause & Perimenopause: Hormonal shifts that conventional visits often address with limited time or testing.
- Gut Health & GI Diseases: Persistent digestive symptoms explored through testing rather than trial and error.
- Weight Management: Unexplained weight gain or weight loss that can’t be explained by “calories in, calories out.”
- Fertility & Pregnancy: Optimizing the opportunity for conception and a successful pregnancy, especially when IVF is being considered.
- Testosterone Dysregulation: Testing and treatment for symptoms often dismissed as normal aging, while avoiding the costs of unnecessary testing.
- Performance & Longevity: Proactive care aimed at getting a “competitive edge” and improving healthspan, instead of reactively treating concerns.
“It’s usually not just one thing we find that magically fixes everything,” Dr. Weston says. “It’s a lot of little things coming at you from different angles that slowly help you feel more like yourself.”
Treatments & Approaches Often Employed by Practitioners
- Advanced Testing: Hormone panels, GI-MAP testing and other diagnostics beyond a standard panel.
- Nutrition: Personalized dietary strategy built around test results, schedules and lifestyle.
- Supplements: Used with precision and an endpoint in mind, not indefinitely by default; never “upsold” to a patient for profit.
- Hormone Replacement Therapy: A powerfully effective approach to hormone dysregulation, offered with a full discussion of risks and benefits.
- Weight Loss Programs: Responsible weight gain and weight loss programs; may include GLP-1 medications when appropriate, but not as a first tactic.
- Stress Management: Proactively addressed as a clinical factor, with cortisol testing available before curating a plan
- Sleep Optimization: As one of the most dynamic solutions, it is treated as foundational to nearly every other outcome.
What Is Not Functional Medicine?
- Alternative Medicine: Functional medicine is a part of that broader umbrella, but it’s a far more focused piece of it.
- A Lifetime of Prescriptions & Supplements: Dr. Weston looks for an endpoint, or a way to get the same result through diet and/or lifestyle when possible.
- Fringe Testing for Profit: Labs have to serve a purpose; some practices may over-test patients and pad profits within those costs.
- One-Size-Fits-All: True functional medicine treatment plans are built around what matters most to the patient, not a standard protocol.
- Smoke & Mirrors: This discipline has the hard conversation about hormone therapy, medication, or anything else. Patients get the risks and benefits, then make the call themselves.
- A Replacement for Traditional Care: Despite what a crystal shop may suggest, patients should still have a primary care physician and seek understanding of the science behind solutions.
“I hear the term ‘crunchy’ used sometimes,” Dr. Weston says. “And yes, functional medicine is a little crunchy — but not in the ‘hold this crystal, and you won’t need your insulin’ way. More in a ‘bone broth is pretty good’ and ‘these lab numbers here indicate why your gut microbiome is contributing to your stomach issues’ way.”
The Critical Role of Traditional Healthcare in a Functioning Society
Dr. Weston spent years practicing conventional medicine before moving into functional care. She’s clear about how the two disciplines fit together because, at her practice, she often works directly with primary care physicians on behalf of her patients.
“Conventional medicine is vital to a healthy society,” she says. “As both the physician and the patient, I’ve experienced the limitations that exist when a health situation is more complex than a lab result that technically falls within normal levels, but you still don’t feel good. That’s where functional medicine steps up.”
About Dr. Weston
Director of Functional Medicine at Donaldson Plastic Surgery in Columbus, Ohio
Dr. Weston is one of a small number of experienced practitioners in the United States who is both dual board-certified (Family Medicine and Sports Medicine) and IFM Certified. She leads a team of Columbus, Ohio functional medicine practitioners, including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, phlebotomists, and a registered dietitian. This team collaborates to pair conventional medical training with root-cause, patient-focused care.
The Intersection of Wellness & Appearance
Functional Medicine is one of three pillars at Donaldson Plastic Surgery, alongside surgical and aesthetics services. All pillars are built on the same education-driven, root-cause approach. Whether a patient is addressing a health concern or working toward greater confidence through a surgical procedure or cosmetic treatment, the goal at Donaldson is the same: comprehensive, personalized care that treats the whole person.
