Functional practitoner: In my search for answers... - IBS Network

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Functional practitoner

Poshy profile image
13 Replies

In my search for answers, other than taking pills only for any manifestations of illness which occur (I have Sjogrens disease also), I am speaking with a functional practitioner tonight as they claim to find out causes of and then treat so it should be interesting. Doctors just give you more and more pills at the end of the day which only masks the pains which is good in the short term but doesn't solve anything overall.

I will let you know how it goes.

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Poshy
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13 Replies
Linley profile image
Linley

Good luck👍

winfong profile image
winfong

Didn't know there was such a thing. Please let us know how it goes.

1Unicorn profile image
1Unicorn

Interested to know more about functional practitioner

grumpyold profile image
grumpyold

I have Hashi's . I also have many symptoms of Sjogren's but an ANA test was negative so as far as my GP is concerned, I don't have Sjogren's. I would love to know how you got on last night. Good to know that there are practitioners out there who look at the whole picture.

I hope it went well for you.

roseter profile image
roseter

Very interested to hear about it and costs etc.

Bekindtoyou profile image
Bekindtoyou

Interesting!

xjrs profile image
xjrs

Unfortunately functional practitioners are not medically trained. I dealt with them and sorely regretted it. They tend to be nutritional therapists that have gone on a functional medicine course. Many of the courses only have basic English and maths as prerequisites. They carry out tests that require a degree in microbiology to interpret them. Many of these people don't have any form of degree, let alone a medical one. It is often used as a lifestyle choice to make lots of money out of vulnerable people and work their own hours.

Unfortunately, the information they base their treatments on are generally not fully clinical studies that have been accepted by the health commission such as NICE, which is why the practice isn't currently used or recommended by the NHS in the UK.

I thought I picked two of the best functional practitioners after scouring the whole market in the UK and they made me seriously ill, robbed my bank account of thousands with their fees and expensive supplements (none of which worked), to the point where the NHS ended up having to pick up the pieces to get me back on track again.

Here are scientists' view of Functional Medicine:

sciencebasedmedicine.org/fu...

skeptic.com/reading_room/wh...

They call it "quackery".

Poshy profile image
Poshy in reply toxjrs

Yes I see your point and a good one but I hope to do my homework before deciding on this. It is all a minefield in our quest to find answers to our health. It seems to be science versus so called quackery. A hard one to fathom.

Maureen1958 profile image
Maureen1958 in reply toPoshy

Please be careful, xjrs knows what he/she is talking about and has a wealth of knowledge of IBS.

b1b1b1 profile image
b1b1b1 in reply toPoshy

I agree with x j r s. Sjogrens disease is a serious illness, and should not be taken lightly. You need to be under the care of a good rheumatologist on an ongoing basis. I don't think your condition will respond to nutritional supplements. It might make sense, however, to speak to a good medical based dietician and make sure your diet consists of good healthy foods and does not include many processed foods. Your rheumatologist can probably recommend this type of dietician as most major hospitals have them.

Poshy profile image
Poshy

Hi TTF. I have the autoimmune disease Sjogrens and I think I have unofficially undiagnosed IBS. Could you possibly elaborate on exactly what you did to cure your colitis please? How long did it take please? In fact any info that points the way would be very useful. Thank you.

Poshy profile image
Poshy

Thank you for replying. I know colitis is not IBS as such but related but you said in your experience that probiotic and yogurt cultures upset your immune system and that extra mature cheese did that too plus high fibre. I do not doubt you for one minute but other than the cheese we are all encouraged to have those things. Did you research any of this beforehand or was it just your take on it.

Rosills1 profile image
Rosills1

There are many functional medicine doctors who are also medically trained.

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