Have you ever wondered if medication is really the answer to addressing cardiovascular disease? With functional medicine for cardiovascular disease, your doctor will seek treatment options that go beyond masking symptoms of your heart condition. Instead, they will focus on helping you support a healthy heart with lifestyle interventions, diet, supplements, and more.
Would you like to have a healthier heart and better overall wellness? Watch a free webinar today to find out how functional medicine approaches chronic health conditions.
Heart Medications vs. the Functional Medicine Approach
Heart medications provide temporary relief from your symptoms of heart conditions. As long as you take the medication, your heart will respond in an expected way, if all goes well. It’s not that your heart condition is truly different but only that the dysfunction is hidden.
However, the functional medicine approach actually improves your cardiovascular health. Rather than being acted on by the outside force of medication, your heart itself becomes healthier. Then, you may have less or no need for medication. After all, if your heart is functioning as it should, the medications have no job to do.
Functional Medicine Interventions for Heart Health
Functional medicine for cardiovascular disease uses natural, proactive methods to resolve your unique set of cardiovascular health issues. We create a step-by-step plan to improve your heart’s functioning and overall health. It all starts with getting to the source.
Discovering the Root of Your Heart Problems
Finding the source of your heart problems is a complex process in most cases. Often, there is more than one underlying cause of poor heart health. To find any and all issues impacting your cardiovascular health, we take special care in the initial exploratory phase of treatment.
The following are some of the processes we follow to find the root causes of your heart issues.
- A thorough physical examination, with special attention to any noticeable deviations from normal structure, function, or nutritional health.
- Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) to find out about your body composition, looking for heart health risks.
- Diagnostic labs to find out what’s behind your symptoms and set a baseline to determine progress later on. Tests may include:
- Blood chemistry lab tests
- Stool tests
- Hormone panels
- Fatty acids tests
- Mitochondrial function
- Oxidative stress labs
- Neurotransmitter analysis
- Testing for food allergies and sensitivities
- Nutrient testing
- Heavy metal testing
- Tests for lingering viruses and infections
- Creating a personalized treatment plan based on the results of all the information gained through examination and testing.
At Tri-Cities Functional Medicine in Tennessee, Medical Director Dr. Joseph Radawi leads our team of professionals in assisting you as you move forward with your treatment program. Our functional medicine health coaches provide information, guidance, and inspiration to set you on the path to better heart health.
Your Individualized Heart Health Program
Your customized heart health plan will likely include many different interventions to improve your cardiovascular fitness and function. However, the elements of your program are chosen specifically for you, depending on the root causes Dr. Radawi determines are causing your symptoms. Here are some of the ways we help you thrive.
Lifestyle Interventions
Lifestyle interventions can cover a lot of ground. The lifestyle changes you need to make are unique to you. When you hear the term lifestyle changes, you may think of quitting smoking or reducing your alcohol intake. These can be incredibly helpful, but even if you don’t smoke or drink, you may need to change other things.
One of the most important lifestyle choices you can make is to get the right amount of exercise each day. A too exhausting exercise program can tax your heart, but not moving enough can put your heart at increased risk of problems. Sleeping the optimal amount of time for you can make a vast improvement in your health, as well.
Diet Tailored to Your Needs
Anyone can give you a diet. However, at Tri-Cities Functional Medicine in Tennessee, we construct the ideal diet for you based on all the information we gather about you in the initial phases of treatment. Your personalized diet addresses your unique deficiencies, risks, and food sensitivities. Your diet is designed to meet your overall health needs and your heart needs specifically. Your health coach will help you translate your plan into specific daily eating choices.
Addressing Weight Issues
Maintaining a healthy weight can reduce the work your heart has to do to keep you going. For some people, reducing weight is a priority. For others, gaining weight is important. Both customized diets and exercise plans are essential, but there may be other factors to consider.
We may find that you have hormone-related weight problems. For instance, having the wrong levels of hormones like leptin, ghrelin, estrogen, cortisol, and insulin can impact your weight. If your thyroid is not working properly, you could gain or lose weight when you need to maintain. Then, too, poor digestion may be at the heart of the problem. Food allergies may cause you to gain or lose weight when you need the opposite. By addressing all these issues, we can help you get to the right weight for you to improve your heart health.
Detoxification to Remove Toxins
At Tri-Cities, our programs follow our Five Pillars of Health. One of these is nutrition and detoxification. Detox gets rid of the toxins that you take in by eating, drinking, or interacting with your environment. This is an ongoing process even after you are eating and drinking clean, healthy foods and beverages. After all, you will still live in an environment you can’t completely control. Getting rid of harmful toxins can give your heart an easier job of pumping clean blood through your system.
Supplements to Overcome Deficiencies
Although it’s true that wrong food choices can put your heart at risk, it’s also the case that heart health depends on having a diet rich in nutrients. However, diet cannot always fulfill all your needs. Therefore, we recommend supplements to fill in the gaps that your food choices can’t fill.
For example, you might take supplements like:
- Omega-3 fatty acids
- Vitamin D
- Folic acid
- Magnesium
- Coenzyme Q10
- Vitamin E
With regular testing, we can add or increase supplements or discontinue supplements that you no longer need. Diet supplementation is a balancing act, so we take care to always ensure your health is improving at every stage of your program.
Stress Management and Relaxation
Chronic stress can have a significant impact on your heart health. Therefore, if stress is an issue for you, we create a stress relief plan for you.
All the health measures we take together will aid in stress relief. However, in addition to your personalized diet, exercise, and lifestyle program, a focus on stress transformation is a large part of our programs. In these educational gatherings, you learn techniques to deal with stress before it becomes overwhelming and dangerous to your heart. Also, we can help you devise a plan to spend more time relaxing and enjoying life.
Heart Health Help from Functional Medicine in Tennessee
At Tri-Cities Functional Medicine in Tennessee, we assess and treat heart health issues. Our treatments are patient-centered and holistic, working with you as a whole person with the desire to improve your overall health, well-being, and life satisfaction. We take the long view on health, helping you to achieve lasting, comprehensive change in your heart health and every aspect of your well-being.
Dr. Radawi is a board-certified physician and a highly trained functional medicine doctor. With years of practice in settings ranging from the emergency room to our functional medicine clinic, Dr. Radawi’s breadth of experience provides you with complete health solutions. At Tri-Cities, we give you the tools and care to change your life for the better in every way.
Is an unhealthy heart hiding behind the mask of your heart medications? Take the first step:
● Watch our free webinar to learn about our approach to the brain health issues you are facing.
● Schedule a Free Discovery Call to discuss your health concerns and goals to see if our practice is a good fit for you.
● After your discovery call – if we are a good fit, you’ll schedule a consultation with our doctor to dive deeper and formulate an individualized treatment plan for you.
Tri-Cities Functional Medicine is located in Johnson City, Tennessee, and serves patients throughout East Tennessee and into Virginia and North Carolina. These areas include but are not limited to Washington County, TN, Sullivan County, TN, Carter County, TN, Greene County, TN, Knox County, TN, Bristol, TN, Holston Valley, TN, Tri-Cities, TN, Walnut Hill, TN, Elizabethton, TN, Greeneville, TN, Morristown, TN, Blountville, TN, Bluff City, TN, Kingsport, TN, Jonesborough, TN, Colonial Heights, TN, Limestone, TN, Knoxville, TN, Bristol, VA, and Abingdon, VA.
