Integrative medicine: Treatment for the whole you

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Well-being or wellness

A hallmark of Proactive Wellness Centers’ approach is something that we call integrative medicine. We see health as much more than the absence of disease. Integrative medicine’s perspective is to maintain and enhance your health and wellness.

Let’s make one thing clear from the outset: integrative medicine is not a replacement for conventional medical care. For example, some patients use herbal remedies to help reduce the nausea that can be an effect of some pharmacological treatments.

We see integrative medicine as a complement to conventional medicine. Also known as complementary or alternative medicine, integrative medicine takes every aspect of your life into account — mind and body, family and life circumstances.

Looking at the whole person

Each of us is different, with a unique physiology and genetic background.

Our integrative approach starts with getting to know as much as we can about you, our patient. This means getting a complete picture of your overall health with a view to developing a personalized treatment plan.

We avoid the one-size-fits-all approach, and take time and care to develop the plan that will be right for you.

When you first come to us, we do a thorough initial assessment that starts with a detailed health history. We will then send you for some blood tests. With the results in hand, we then talk to you for a more complete picture of your medical history, family history, lifestyle, nutrition, and health symptoms and goals. We also do body composition testing to determine your metabolic health.

We believe all our decisions have to be based on science and evidence. That’s why we use proven diagnostic and testing tools as well as practices for a solid understanding of where your health is now, and where it can be.

Going forward with wellness

With this picture, we start a discussion with you about our preliminary diagnosis — our evaluation of your current state of wellness — and options to help you achieve your health goals.

Treatment plans can involve a range of options, including:

  • comprehensive nutrition plan, with a focus on whole, natural foods and a move away from highly processed food
  • exercise and lifestyle changes
  • detoxification
  • nutraceutical supplements
  • hormone replacement therapy
  • specialized medications
  • other therapies

Depending on your age, vitality and condition, we may refer you for more tests, such as:

  • electrocardiogram (ECG)
  • exercise tolerance
  • prostate, testicular and pelvic ultrasound tests
  • colonoscopy
  • mammogram
  • bone density tests

We use all the information we can possibly find to develop a realistic plan to maximize wellness for your whole body, mind and spirit.

The mind-body link

There is no more important component of your overall health than brain health. That’s why we’ve developed a Brain Health Optimization Program, or BHOP.

Alzheimer’s Disease, which is strongly linked to dementia in aging people, causes more than 110,000 deaths in the United States every year. The incidence is going up around the world, as well.

While there is as yet no known cure for Alzheimer’s, and the exact cause is not fully understood, the latest research suggests that a number of factors could contribute to its development. These include genetics, history of head trauma, toxin exposure and mitochondrial damage.

Our experience has told us that mitochondrial damage can be mitigated through detoxification, nutritional supplementation, healthy eating and other lifestyle factors. We use the Breseden protocol to diagnose and treat cognitive decline from Alzheimer’s, and the related ReCODE protocol to address a number of related health impacts.

Knowledge is health

Your wellness is a product of your knowledge. That’s why we work hard to make sure every patient gets as much information as possible.

Part of every treatment plan is providing you with information and educational resources. The more you know and the better you understand your current health and where it could be, as well as how different treatments, interventions and nutrition work, the more you can be an active force in your own health.

For some treatment plans, you will receive a personalized notebook that lays out your treatment plan, lab results and educational materials. Depending on your plan, the notebook could also include details on your eating plan, exercise or activity plan, medications and nutraceuticals.

You’ll be able to take notes to record your progress and describe symptoms and changes in wellness. This will provide you with the feedback to keep getting better.

Follow-up visits are another key component of your continued wellness plan.

Focus on wellness

Instead of starting with symptoms and illness and then intervening with medications and surgery to fix it, we believe in maintaining and enhancing wellness. We want to empower you to take charge of your health with personalized precision medicine: the right combination of treatments and interventions based on your genetic profile, diagnosis results, symptoms, age, lifestyle, life stage — everything that makes you, you.

Take the first step toward taking charge of your wellness. Take a look at the resources we have available, and start the process of personalized precision medical care.