If you have type 2 diabetes, there’s really no time to lose when it comes to taking charge of your health. Because it is a chronic, degenerative condition, symptoms worsen over time when diabetes is poorly managed. The likelihood of developing serious complications and additional diseases increases over time, too. What can really help you improve your health is a multi-faceted approach—one that is comprehensive.

Proper management of type 2 diabetes may involve daily medication, but it should always involve much, much more. Adequate, appropriate exercise, effective stress management, and a proper diet should be part of your lifestyle. Coming from a general practitioner, lifestyle recommendations may sound like vague guidelines you ‘should’ follow to improve your health. In fact, lifestyle choices have tremendous power to impact function throughout the body and your overall health in very specific ways.

Unfortunately, most practitioners in conventional medicine have little or no training in nutrition or the specific dietary needs of individuals. The role of exercise in improving the health of those with type 2 diabetes is understood in only general ways. General practitioners typically don’t stay informed on research currently being done outside of pharmacology. As someone with type 2 diabetes, what your health care provider doesn’t know cannot help you.

It’s up to you to take a proactive approach to best support your health through necessary lifestyle changes. No matter how dire your situation may seem or how out of control it feels, you can achieve a much better level of wellness if you are willing to take responsibility for your own health. Fortunately, you don’t have to tackle your health problem alone. When you work with a functional neurologist, you’ll enter a relationship with a health care provider that is a partnership.

Functional neurology is a different type of health care—one that focuses on finding and addressing the root cause of chronic health problems like diabetes. Instead of attempting to control or mask symptoms through the use of medications, functional neurologists seek to help patients heal, recover, and achieve the best health they possibly can. They offer patients long term solutions, and they focus on therapeutic support that is safe, natural and side-effect free.

A comprehensive assessment is the first step in discovering all that can really be done to improve your condition through lifestyle interventions. It’s important to understand that type 2 diabetes is not a simple problem. A proper evaluation involves in-depth testing of multiple systems throughout the body. It also requires a careful investigation of your health history and lifestyle, too.

Once the underlying reasons for your condition are identified through evaluation, a customized program of care will be developed that is exactly right for you. You can then begin to make necessary lifestyle changes that will support healing and recovery and help you achieve optimal wellness in the long term, too.