I am a fully Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner. 

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• Applying Functional Medicine in  Clinical Practice

• Hormones (Re-establishing Hormonal Balance in the Hypothalamic, Pituitary, Adrenal, Thyroid, and Gonadal Axis).

• IFM Advanced Practice Modules in Gastrointestinal Health. 

• Bioenergetics advance Module (Evidence and Emerging Clinical Solutions for Mitochondrial and Metabolic Dysfunction).

• Cardiometabolic Advanced Module

• Immune advanced practice module 

• Environmental Health Advanced Practice Module: Addressing the Toxic Effects of the Exposome by Enhancing Biotransformation and EliminationImmune 

• I have also completed the IFM Reversing Cognitive decline Advanced Clinical Training and am a Cytoplan Licensed Practitioner for The Brain Health Programme.

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An Integrative, science based healthcare approach

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In the 21st century we need a new system of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of today’s patient. By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more patient-centered approach, Functional Medicine addresses the whole person and not just an isolated set of symptoms, promoting health as not just the absence of disease but an optimal vital state.

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Functional medicine is a rapidly growing field of medicine that emphasizes the diagnosis and treatment of root causes of chronic illnesses. This approach to healthcare is gaining more and more attention as its success in treating chronic and complex conditions has increased.

 

Modern allopathic medicine appears to be much more focused on acute or symptomatic care and has many tools that help im a symptomatic way.  But we are seeing a massive growth in chronic long term conditions (for example auto-immune conditions), where symptomatic care is frustratingly unsuccessful. Functional medicine seeks to identify and correct the underlying causes of illness instead of simply treating the symptoms. It's a science based healthcare system using an holistic approach, looking at the whole person instead of just their isolated symptoms. 

 

This isn’t different to how Medical Herbalists have always worked but what it does is include the best of traditional Western Medicine diagnostics with a person centred health care system. Functional Medicine Practitioners take into account, clinical test results, lifestyle, environmental, and genetic influences on an individual’s health,  to create personalized treatment plans. 

 

Functional medicine isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, instead it is tailored to the individual’s lifestyle, history, and circumstances. The focus is on preventing illness, not just treating it when it arises. As such, practitioners work closely with their patients to identify lifestyle changes or lifestyle interventions needed to prevent disease and maintain health. Functional medicine has the potential to drastically improve outcomes for those suffering from complex, chronic illness. 

 

Integrating best medical practices

 

I use Western Medical diagnostics, such as blood tests, gut microbiome tests, saliva and hormone testing then take a  thorough case history.  I then use a mixture of diet, lifestyle, exercise,  Herbal Medicine (of course), supplementation where necessary and personalised health coaching to improve health outcomes. 

 

The types of testing that we have available to us in Functional Medicine is far more in-depth than is available through the NHS.  Yes - you have to pay for it, but many patients  are  realising the importance of investing in their health and being proactive.   

It has become very obvious that we need to be much more

engaged with our  health given the epidemic of undiagnosed and diagnosed diabetes, heart disease and cancer that we are seeing.  So for example, while your GP will check three markers for cholesterol, usually total cholesterol, HLD and LDL, we would normally test up to 28 difference markers to assess someone's cardiometabolic risk.  

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If you have any questions about Functional Medicine please contact me and I will be delighted to answer these.

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