It's fascinating to have been practicing for twenty plus years and to now see this veritable explosion of interest in functional medicine as a specialty. I now frequently hear people use the term "functional medicine" to mean what we used to call "alternative" or "integrative" medicine. About 19 years ago I had a vision one day in my treatment room. I was reaching down to open a cabinet and get some equipment out and I "saw" 20 years ahead and realized I'd be teaching functional medicine and that some day this would all come about.
Now it's here! Major medical institutions are taking up the charge, the level of interest being driven by the public access of information on the internet and various educational podcasts and forums is remarkable. What concerns me most is how much sicker people have become in these last 23 years. What used to be the "rare" GI case now commands entire on-line communities and websites. What used to be the extreme auto-immune case that reacts poorly to every possible supplement and treatment has become some people's entire practices. There's no doubt in my mind, just looking at brain related issues such as autism and Parkinson's that we are witnessing the longer term impact of an increasingly toxic world full of chemicals and heavy metals.
As I communicate more and more with doctors worldwide I see many of us hold a piece of the puzzle and hope that we can continue to put together comprehensive programs for people. There are autoimmune experts, those that focus on genetics or Lyme's, SIBO and so on, I myself have a very narrow niche within functional medicine. My hope is that we can build communities of doctors with all these areas of specialization that stay in touch with one another so we don't become overly set in our own individual silo's as can easily happen in such a diverse and widespread community.
The Kalish Community is just one such attempt to band folks together and I look forward to creating a consortium of sorts where we here can also connect with other like minded groups.
