No Explanation For Your Symptoms? Functional Neurology May Be Your Answer

September 23, 2023

One of the most common phrases I hear from patients is, "I wish I knew about you sooner." This is usually followed by, "Why didn't someone send me to you?"

Medicine has an important job, to keep you alive! The initial approach is to scan for any possible life threatening issues, which is described as "pathology." When that is clear, patients are often left wondering, "what next?"

We are not just a brain, or a body, but the interaction of both. It is in this interaction where the world of Functional Neurology begins. Functional Neurology assesses how all of our body and brain systems interact, or communicate through the nervous system along pathways carrying information. When the nervous system is disrupted and communication breaks down, we experience dysfunction and symptoms. Many people describe brain fog, fatigue, digestive issues, elevated heart rate, blood pressure changes, light headed/disoriented when standing, focus/attention lack, dizziness, vertigo, sleep disturbance, pain, numbness, tingling, headaches, migraines, blurry vision, eye tracking issues, even though all tests and imaging (MRI, CT, X-RAY) are normal. Patients will often wonder, "I have all these symptoms, how could that be?" Part of us would like to find something on an X-RAY or MRI, but trust me, you do not. When we're left without pathology, typically a functional issue is the cause. Miscommunication.

As discussed, functional issues are often due to disrupted signaling and processing between the brain and body, resulting in reduced performance. Functional Neurologists are experts in evaluating, diagnosing, and treating neuropathway communication errors in the body and can repair them through neuroplasticity retraining. The result is a restored neurological system that carries messages quickly and accurately between the brain and body, eliminating symptoms. Concussions, migraines, long COVID, vertigo, dysautonomia, back pain, neck pain, headaches, sciatica are all examples of neurological disruption. A neurological approach reconnects the body and brain. Again, we are not one or the other, but a combination of the two with wires and signals in between.