CBS reports that drug companies pay doctors 57 billion dollars per year to push, teach, and promote their drugs.  This number is more than pharmacy companies spend on advertising.  Additionally the report sheds light on the fact that drug company funded research leads to biased and misleading research…

It is no big mystery that pharmacy has it’s hand in influencing medical research outcomes as well as influencing what is taught in medical school.  The association is a huge conflict of interest, and a huge problem in medicine today.  That is why so many people are seeking out functional medicine doctors.

Only with the use of meaningful treatments and patient education can we as a country overcome the health care crisis.  Insurance companies continue to pay for services that do not change patient outcomes or disease.  Yet, they ignore other types of treatment (nutritional included) that have a long term benefit to patients and reduce the overall health care costs directly and indirectly.

Kudos to CBS for reporting on this very important issue.

In good health,

Dr. Osborne

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional Medicine Philosophy –

The philosophy recognizes that each patient is a unique individual with a unique set of genetics and biochemistry, as well as a unique set of environmental and lifestyle factors.  These genetic/environment interactions are complex not simple.  Thus a person could potentially have the same disease with a completely different set of causes.  To that end, the approach of functional medicine relies less on synthetic drugs and more on the thorough investigation of a patient using the following tools:

Mainstream Medicine is Broken –

Mainstream medicine is problem focused.  Drugs are prescribed to mask symptoms without concern for the root cause of the disease.  Drug companies have a huge influence over what is being taught in medical schools.  Additionally, drug companies are allowed to advertise to consumers directly.  Both of these practices are extremely unethical and lead to numerous problems.

The new health care bill created socialized medicine.  What does this mean for you?  – Free care that doesn’t work for chronic health conditions. Medicine is the largest business in the world despite the fact that it has perpetually failed it’s customers.  Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, and autoimmune diseases continue to increase and spiral out of control.  What is mainstream’s solution?  More drugs? Drugs only mask the underlying cause of disease.  If drugs haven’t worked to date, why are they perpetually pushed down our throats as the solution?

Town Center Wellness and Dr. Osborne’s Approach –

My approach is to treat the patient and identify the cause for their problem vs. medicating symptoms.  The only way success can be achieved is to educate the patient on why the illness exists in the first place.  Mainstream medicine places the patient in the role of a victim.  Functional medicine empowers the patient with education so that health can be restored.  The diagram above illustrates my philosophy.  I developed this functional approach to fill the current medical gap.

• DNA is influenced by the three outer triangles (these outer triangles represent the environment)
• Biochemistry = Nutrition (vitamins, minerals, water, etc)  Additionally, food allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities affect biochemistry as do pollution in the air and water.
• Physical = structure.  For example, being 20 pounds overweight causes excessive pressure on your heart, blood vessels, joints, and more.  Exercise greatly influences the physical aspect of the Triangle of Health.
• Mental = your psychological and spiritual state of mind.

If you are tired of a 50 minute wait for the doctor followed by a 5 minute consult and a quick drug prescription fix, you are in the right place.  Many of you that know me know that I am on the cutting edge of medicine.  What I do in my office today to help patients will be common place in medicine in ten years or so.  Do you have 10 years to wait to get healthy?

Whether you are local in Houston or Sugar Land or far away (out of state or country), click on the become a patient tab if you have been chronically ill and don’t know why.