Functional doctor?

[Ronnie101]

Has anyone had a good or bad experience of a functional doctor?

[Dexawhy]

I was referred by my GP to a member of "The Physicians Clinic". This was a private, and therefore paying, consultation. He arranged MRI + DXA scans (routine!) but took over four weeks to send the results, accompanied by a three sentence letter stating that yes, I had osteoporosis, and that yes, I would eventually need treatment. No drug or physio recommendations, and his examination was identical to any you'd routinely get at your local GP's surgery. For this, he pocketed £200+

I am now doing my own research.

[Gillymar in reply to Dexawhy]

Is this a comment on a functional doctor? I was wondering what a functional doctor is.

[ITYFIALMCTT]

I've had indirect experience of functional doctors through family and friends who attended them.

I'm sure that they vary in quality and many of them seem to be very pleasant. However, over time, it seemed to run into thousands of pounds in tests, supplements, special treatments, retreats etc. to no avail. I was truly staggered by the number and cost of the supplements some people ended up being recommended - it worked out at several hundred pounds per month (never mind consultation fees, further testing etc). And several of these relationships ended up with the same patient-blaming in hints of non-compliance or MUS (medically-unexplained symptoms) as you can obtain, free of charge, in some places on the NHS.

[annelii]

Basically it is nutritional medicine as far as I can see, and some are trained naturopaths as well as functionally trained. I wish there were practitioners who had knowledge and experience of both mainstream and alternative approaches and could advise on how best to combine. US Dr Lani advocates use of medications in crisis (ie fractures) but only as a temporary measure while the condition is stabilised through diet, exercise etc. However all the US experts use a lot of tests to tailor the approach, which isn’t possible in the NHS here as far as I have found. Mainstream is so tied to medication. I hardly go to my GP as they are very intolerant of not wanting to take bisphosphonates. At the moment I just use diet, supplements and exercise especially core and try to chill out a bit as my work stress levels were sky high. My back isn’t great though and I can’t really lift anything heavy, it feels as if I’m putting too much pressure on my vertebrae. I’ve just retired so can focus on it a bit more.