If you’re suffering from a confusing set of symptoms and have been cycling through doctors, discovering functional medicine is like a breath of fresh air.
It may sound too good to be true; a doctor that actually listens to you, takes a detailed health history and helps you reverse your disease by looking at the root causes. But that’s exactly what functional medicine doctors do. It’s a fundamentally different approach than conventional healthcare.
It’s helpful to understand conventional doctors are not typically equipped to handle chronic, ongoing health conditions. Managing a chronic condition takes lifestyle changes, stress reduction, and diet changes, things that doctors cannot give you in a quick, 15-minute appointment. This causes many to believe there aren’t any solutions to their health issues or that their condition is “incurable.”
Functional medicine doctors work holistically, looking at the full picture of your health, including physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. This holistic approach has proved to help find the root cause of common illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis, asthma, heart disease, and even cancer prevention. Alternatively, conventional healthcare addresses only the surface level of your health concerns by assessing your symptoms. This is the main difference between the two approaches.
If you’re in Arizona and looking for the right team of functional medicine doctors to help heal you once and hopefully for all, then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve handpicked some of the best innovative and alternative healthcare clinics in the area for you to consider on your road to healing.
What is functional medicine?
Functional medicine is personalized and uses in-depth analysis, advanced tests, and holistic knowledge to understand your situation and disease triggers. A functional medicine doctor would take the time to understand your lifestyle, genetics, and environment. Questions about your nutrition, sleeping patterns, exercise regimen, mental and emotional health, and much more are a part of a usual assessment. After the assessment, you’d most likely go through a series of advanced testing like specialized blood tests and saliva tests, to name a few, so the functional medicine doctor can further understand what’s going on in your body’s ecosystem. The objective with these first couple of steps is to consider all of the variables that may be causing your illness so that a proper treatment plan can be formulated. Some remedies of functional and integrative medicine doctor treatments include, but are definitely not limited to, change of diet, exercise, tai chi, acupuncture, and may even include prescribed medicines as a last resort.
Visiting a functional medicine doctor vs. a conventional doctor
A visit to the conventional doctor’s office may last around 20 minutes and consist of a brief Q&A about your symptoms and a prescription. Visiting a functional medicine doctor, on the other hand, may last approximately 60 minutes, and they’ll likely do an in-depth complete health analysis and order advanced labs and tests.
Your functional doctor will likely ask questions about your nutrition, exercise regimen, lifestyle changes, genetics, and more. Like a detective, they will search for the root cause of your condition and what’s going on inside your body. Root causes of digestive issues are often digestive issues, nutrient deficiencies, hormone imbalances, improper diet, or stress.
The 7 Best Functional Medicine Doctors in Arizona
We’ve narrowed down the list of many reputable functional medicine doctors in Arizona. Each clinic offers a plethora of services and provides a full spectrum assessment to understand your specific medical history, lifestyle, DNA, and so much more.
1. Integrated Pain Consultants
This functional and integrative medicine clinic offers a variety of pain treatment and management solutions that are dedicated to helping their clients reach effective results. They have plenty of reviews from people that deal with real complex problems, and each review proves the care the doctors have for each individual. You will be treated with one-on-one attention, offered clear explanations, and provided with personalized treatment plans that will help you on your road to a healthier life.
Integrated Pain Consultants clinic has a large team of exceptional and specialized doctors, including founder Dr. Nikesh Seth, Dr. Anne-Marie Cosijns, Dr. Michael Givens, Dr. Shawn Saini, Dr. Minesh Zaveri, and also a team of highly qualified nurse practitioners.
Services:
- Chiropractic care
- ARP wave therapy
- Medication management
- Radiofrequency ablation
- Spinal cord stimulation
- Suboxone therapy
- Ketamine infusions
- Kyphoplasty
- Manipulation under anesthesia
- Epidural steroid injections
- Joint injections
- Orthovisc / viscosupplementation
- Sympathetic blocks
- Botox
Insurances accepted: Integrated Pain Consultants works with most major insurances plans, which can be found listed on their website. The list is always changing so just give them a call to see if your insurance covers your tests, imagery, therapies or any part of your visit.
Neighborhood: Scottsdale, North Phoenix, and Mesa
Website: https://azipc.com
2. Arizona Institute of Integrative Medicine
Dr. Daniel Horzempa is the owner and primary functional medicine doctor at the Arizona Institute of Integrative Medicine. His approach includes:
- an hour-long assessment,
- Advanced lab tests, and a
- A detailed personalized treatment plan for patients looking for a healthy change.
The institute offers a hands-on approach leaving you with a full understanding of your body’s needs so you can feel fully in charge of living a fuller life.
Dr. Horzempa treats a long list of common conditions, including:
- Allergies
- Thyroid disease
- Metabolic syndrome
- IBS
- Weight loss
- Stress reduction
- Anti-aging
Dr. Bybee-Driscoll, a member of the staff, specializes in Frequency Specific Microcurrent Therapy which helps alleviate pain and inflammation. Additionally, the institute operates under the same roof as Mind Body MD. Mind-Body Psychiatry by Dr. Julia DiPierdomennico, and this specific partnership gives patients access to both mental and physical treatments if need be.
Services Include:
- Functional medicine lab testing
- Advanced biochemical testing
- Alzheimer’s reduction
- Nutritional evaluation and prescription
- Gut microbiome testing
- Heart rate variability analysis
- Hormonal balancing
- Sleep optimization
Insurances accepted: The institute is an out-of-network provider and currently not accepting insurance plans.
Neighborhood: Catalina Foothills of Tucson
Website: https://drhorzempa.com
3. Wellness 1st Integrative Medical Center
The Wellness 1st Integrative Medical Center team takes their time to thoroughly analyze your case and share with you the science behind your condition so it can be treated effectively. The functional medicine doctors at Wellness 1st Integrative Medical Center aim to educate so that you feel empowered and confident in how you can improve your health for the long term. Acute and chronic pain, fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease, lupus, hypothyroid, and IBS are only a few of the illnesses that Dr. Mark Carter and his team help you find solutions to.
Specialized services provided include:
- Functional medicine
- Suboxone treatment
- Injection free allergy treatment
- Chiropractic & physical therapy
- Regenerative medicine
- ChiroThin/Weight Loss
- POP
- IV therapy treatment
- Cold laser therapy
- Neurocorrect
- Supplement
- Food sensitivity testing
- Wound care
Neighborhood: Gilbert
Website: https://wellness1stimc.com
4. Integrative Medicine AZ
Dr. Dersam is a trained traditional and integrative medicine doctor who is fully dedicated to uncovering the specific manifestations that cause the condition or disease you are dealing with. As a highly experienced functional medicine doctor, she works on uncovering the interactions between lifestyle, genetic and environmental factors that may be influencing your health concerns. Her treatments may include diet plans, exercise routines, stress management techniques combined with access to dieticians, acupuncturists, and more.
Some of the services and consultations provided at Integrative Medicine AZ include:
- Functional medicine
- Laboratory tests
- Preventing and reversing Alzheimer’s disease
- Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy
- Digestive disorder protocol
- Small intestinal bacteria overgrowth testing
Insurance: Although the clinic is not contracted with any private insurance company, your private insurance may cover the out of pocket costs of lab tests, X-rays, emergency care and hospitalization. It’s recommended to give Integrative Medicine and your insurance provider a call to see what may be covered.
Neighborhood: Scottsdale
Website: https://integrativemedicineaz.com
5. Nizhoni Functional Medicine Doctors
The Nizhoni Functional Medicine center has a mission to help people in their community live and lead healthier lives by using the natural healing tools our earth provides us.
The center specializes in urgent care, cancer care and chronic infectious diseases where each of these sections have their own list of services, therapies and equipment. You’ll find that the doctors at the Nizhoni Functional Medicine center are highly-skilled in a variety of modalities that focus on fighting diseases through cutting-edge therapies. The list of doctors includes Dr. Paul Despres, Dr. Sydney Sharaf, Dr. Havens, Dr. Mitchell and plenty of nurses and other health practitioners.
The center is so passionate about helping people own their health that it also works with non-profit organizations to sponsor free care for native communities, low socioeconomic families, persons suffering from chronic disease, single parents and disabled parents.
Some of the services and procedures provided by this center:
- Functional medicine
- Chiropractic treatments
- Autism recovery
- Peptide therapy
- Hormone Replacement Therapy
- Hyperthermia rooms
- Homeopathy
- IV Therapies
- Acupuncture
- Cupping
- Footbath
- Hydrotherapy
- EVOX
- Softshell hyperbaric chamber therapy and home rental
- Nebulizer treatment and oxygen therapy
- Medicinal herb therapy
Insurance: The center is not affiliated with any private insurance company however you may be able to get your out of pocket charges reimbursed by your private insurance. We suggest calling your insurance company and getting more details.
Neighborhood: Scottsdale
Website: https://nizhonimedicine.com
6. Functional Medicine Doctor Dr. Emily Parke, Arizona Wellness Medicine
Dr. Emily Parke founded the Arizona Wellness Medicine Center and has a team of other functional medicine doctors working with her in providing clients with the support that they need. The team will spend time with you, approximately 120 minutes during your first consultation, to understand your back story and what you’re facing. The team addresses issues such as chronic inflammation, cardiovascular disorders, fatigue, fertility, and body pain.
To address your condition, you’ll first be given a detailed and comprehensive assessment through questions and laboratory testing. Once the team has a thorough understanding of the situation, you’ll finally be given a treatment plan that will be discussed with you in detail to ensure you are clear on what is prescribed to you.
The Arizona Wellness Medicine center provides services including:
- Functional medicine
- Medical acupuncture
- Cosmetic acupuncture
- Classical 5 elements acupuncture
- IV therapy
- Health coaching
- IR Sauna
- BioMat treatment
- Body composition analysis
Insurances accepted: The center has accounts with both Sonora Quest and LabCorp however they cannot guarantee what can be covered. We suggest checking with your insurance on this.
Neighborhood: Paradise Valley, Scottsdale
Website: https://www.azwellmed.com
7. Pure Body Health Clinic
Arizona’s Pure Body Health clinic strives to make your path to achieving your health goals as clear and simplified as possible. The team of functional medicine doctors, including Dr. Scott Maymom and Dr. Sarah Stone, provide effective and individualized health plans to patients of all ages. They are there to hear their clients and to work with them one-on-one on targeting the root causes of conditions from chronic pain and post-surgical pain to diabetes and endocrine disorders.
Services provided:
- Acute and chronic fatigue
- Acute and chronic pain
- Autoimmune disorders
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Environmental & food allergies/sensitivities
- Oxygen therapy
- Low-level laser therapy
- Regenerative injection therapy
- PEMF therapy
- Shockwave therapy
- Hormone health
- IV support treatments
- Immune health
- Sports medicine
- Body contouring & medical aesthetics
- Sexual health & wellness for men and women
- Erectile dysfunction treatment
Pure Body Clinic, similar to the other functional medicine doctor clinics in this article, do not partner up with insurance companies. They will however provide you will a detailed bill that you can show your insurance and see what may be covered.
Neighborhood: Tempe
Website: https://www.purebodyhealthaz.com
