Integrative Medicine

Alternative medicine uses non-conventional treatments instead of evidence-based conventional care. Integrative medicine uses evidence-based complementary approaches alongside conventional care — it does not replace standard medicine but adds nutritional, lifestyle, and mind-body dimensions that standard care often excludes. SPOKEmed is unambiguously integrative — not alternative. We prescribe FDA-approved medications, use standard diagnostics, and apply evidence-based protocols.

Functional medicine is generally more specific in its diagnostic methodology — it uses a defined systems-biology framework and emphasizes identifying the root biological mechanisms driving a patient's condition. Integrative medicine is a broader term describing the incorporation of evidence-based complementary and lifestyle approaches into conventional care — it is less prescriptive about methodology. In practice, SPOKEmed applies both: functional medicine's diagnostic depth (comprehensive testing, root-cause investigation, systems analysis) and integrative medicine's treatment breadth (combining prescription medications, nutrition, gut health, supplementation, and lifestyle as a unified protocol). The terms complement rather than compete with each other.

No. Integrative medicine does not exclude pharmaceutical intervention — it contextualizes it within a broader treatment approach. At SPOKEmed, medications including GLP-1 agents, hormone therapy, and peptides are prescribed as part of comprehensive protocols that also include nutrition, lifestyle, gut health, and testing-guided supplementation. The goal is to use the right tools at the right time for the right patient.