What Can Functional Medicine Do For You?
For the first years of her practice, patients would come to Dana Morgan, MD, describing classic perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms: brain fog, irritability, weight gain, anxiety, poor sleep, changing cycles, and upended libido.
All she could offer was, “Yep, that’s normal at your age.”
“Medicine was broken for me,” she said. “I felt like I wasn’t helping them age better or feel better.”
Then Dr. Morgan entered her 40s and experienced the struggles her patients had described. She could barely recognize herself. That’s when she shifted her practice to functional medicine and healthy aging. Dr. Morgan, who is currently working for Benefis in Great Falls and Fort Benton, will be a physician at the Goodnow Healthy Aging Center.
“Working with patients as they navigate the changes and challenges that come along with aging has given me the most satisfaction in my medical career,” she said. “It has allowed me to help establish a foundation of good health to build on so they can participate in the activities they love with the people they love for years to come.”
Functional medicine is a more holistic approach to medicine, focusing on the root of issues and not symptom management. A patient’s stage of life helps shape what setting that foundation for the next decades looks like.
At 35 to 50 years old, the patients she sees typically are in menopause/perimenopause, struggling to sleep, more anxious and irritable, and experiencing brain fog. Weight loss is a common goal. First, Dr. Morgan checks hormones and begins hormone replacement therapy. They work together on integrating diet and exercise to set a path into menopause.
Women older than 50 may have very low hormone levels. They still have those symptoms, and they typically haven’t had hormone support because of the warnings now dropped by the FDA. At 70+, her joints hurt. She’s tired. She wants to engage in the fullness of life, but she doesn’t feel like it. She’s been without estrogen for 20 years. There may be changes in her brain that are precursors to dementia.
“Medicine should be personal,” she said. “I want to help women feel better, and it is the coolest thing I do, the best medicine I could practice, and it hasn’t been mainstream for most clinicians to work in hormones.”
Dr. Morgan’s patients also include some men, who benefit from hormone replacement, too. She sees herself as a coach who will help patients work on their goals.
“Let’s start early with the discussions about your health, talk about your weight, get your hormones balanced, and get you back on a vibrant path so you can continue,” she said. “We will work together on your goals. This doesn’t fix everything. Life still happens, but it does help you cope with it better and help you navigate the aging process.”
