What to expect from the first consultation 

 

Functional Medicine consultations:

 

Initial consultations last up to 1.5 hours, during which time the practitioner gathers as much information as possible. As we look beyond your symptoms to find the root cause of your issue(s), we ask a wide variety of questions about your current health, health history, family medical history, and about the different systems of your body. We try to navigate our way towards the ‘root cause’ of a symptom or condition, of where there are many and each person's is different.

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It’s essential we get a clear picture of who you are and how your symptoms have developed so that we can offer an informed and targeted approach. This differs from the traditional medical model of working with patients by treating symptoms. We don't work with any protocols as the human body is so individualised and with chronic illness there are never two bodies the same!

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More about Functional Medicine

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Functional Medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many which contributes to an individual’s illness.

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As the graphic below illustrates, a symptom/condition can be the result of more than one cause. For example, depression can be caused by many different factors, including inflammation. Likewise, a cause such as inflammation may lead to various diagnoses, including depression. The precise manifestation of each cause depends on the individual’s genetics, environment, and lifestyle, and only approaches which address the right cause will have lasting benefit beyond symptom suppression.