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Functional medical doctors in the UK on NHS?

Clodomir

Where is the sun?
Messages
212
Location
Belgium
Hi,

Georges mouton is a belgian doctor. He isn't working anymore ( I think) in belgium, because he was suspected of doping. Apparently, he Run away just before the trial, in Spain, then in England. I don't know if it is true that he gave some doping products, but, for me, he isn't a top dog. Maybe a good doctor, but not the one I will go to.

Have a nice day

Clodomir
 

Tito

Senior Member
Messages
300
It seems Dr mouton even spent 5 months in jail. If I were you, I'd try someone else...
Generally speaking, beware of all non-British doctors who work in the Uk. There is usually a reason why they no longer work in their own country...
 

ukxmrv

Senior Member
Messages
4,413
Location
London
Many of the doctors who treat ME and CFS both on the NHS and privately have either left the country, retired or stopped treating patients.

You will find them very sparse on the NHS and they do tend to "keep their heads down". Even the private ones have been under threat (like Dr Myhill) or stopped because of GMC action (like Dr Andy Wright). The NHS Homeopethic Hospitals (like the one in London) can sometimes give you access to "alternative" therapies but this is patchy now.

The Breakspear clinic has had one NHS referral. Patients report mixed results there. You might be after the OHC in London if after nutritional advice (but personally I'd not go there).

If you give us an idea of what you are after someone should be able to point you in the right direction either on this thread or as a private message.
 
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MeSci

ME/CFS since 1995; activity level 6?
Messages
8,231
Location
Cornwall, UK
Dr George Mouton

http://www.haleclinic.com/therapist/dr-georges-mouton-md

Dr RODNEY ADENIYI-JONES


https://www.functionalmedicine.org/practitioner_detail.aspx?practitioner_id=5771&ref_page_id=117

Both top of their game in functional medicine. I'm looking for a top dog who I can see on the NHS. Am i being unrealistic, do all top dogs go private?

I got alarm bells ringing at the word 'functional', as this is often used as a synonym for psychosomatic in relation to symptoms or 'syndromes', with the usual suspects including ME/CFS under that umbrella. But it looks as though these people are using it in a different context.

Just be careful what kind of 'functional' any doctor is talking about!
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Functional medicine appears to have no relation to a functional disorder.

Functional medicine focuses on interactions between the environment and the gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems of patients. Practitioners attempt to develop individual treatment plans for each patient.

Functional medicine typically seeks to provide chronic care management based on the assumption that "diet, nutrition, and exposure to environmental toxins play central roles in a predisposition to illness and "provoke symptoms, and modulate the activity of biochemical mediators through a complex and diverse set of mechanisms."

Functional medicine was developed and originated by Dr. Helmut W. Schimmel.

Source: here.

A functional disorder is defined as a disease in which the function of the body is faulty (for example, there may be pain or diarrhoea), but we dont know the cause. Theories as the actual cause of the functional disorder include: mental factors (somatisation disorder), physical factors that have not yet been discovered, or a combination of both.

Source: here.

Some people equate functional disorder to somatisation disorder, but you can see by the above definition this is not correct. Somatisation is just one tendered theory to explain a functional disorder — and a theory that rightly has been vilified as a speculative explanation for ME/CFS. But a functional disorder may also be speculatively explained by physical factors, such as an infectious cause.
 
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alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
When I first read this title, my initial irreverent thought was, I wonder how many medical doctors in the UK are functional?:D

Functional Disorder is code in most of medicine for psychiatric, including somatization, as several posters have pointed to. Functional Medicine on the other hand is an approach based on the systematic use of biochemical and physiological findings. Its about looking at a broad range of factors, not just the usual diagnostic criteria. Its tricky, expensive, and not too reliable just yet, but for patients with complex problems its probably the best hope in the future.

So why do they use "functional" and not "this patient is a nut-case?" Because patients object if they use the latter phrase or similar, but "functional' is easily misinterpreted. In other words, its a way for doctors to lie to patients in such as manner as most patients think its one thing, but doctors and especially psychiatrists think its something else.

My guess is that most Functional Medicine doctors in the UK are not going to be under the NHS and will need to be seen privately, at full cost. Given the testing that might be required, this could be a major financial burden. Those who still act within the NHS are likely to be severely limited in what they can do, because the have to stay within the system or be targeted.
 

MeSci

ME/CFS since 1995; activity level 6?
Messages
8,231
Location
Cornwall, UK
When I first read this title, my initial irreverent thought was, I wonder how many medical doctors in the UK are functional?:D

Functional Disorder is code in most of medicine for psychiatric, including somatization, as several posters have pointed to. Functional Medicine on the other hand is an approach based on the systematic use of biochemical and physiological findings. Its about looking at a broad range of factors, not just the usual diagnostic criteria. Its tricky, expensive, and not too reliable just yet, but for patients with complex problems its probably the best hope in the future.

So why do they use "functional" and not "this patient is a nut-case?" Because patients object if they use the latter phrase or similar, but "functional' is easily misinterpreted. In other words, its a way for doctors to lie to patients in such as manner as most patients think its one thing, but doctors and especially psychiatrists think its something else.

My guess is that most Functional Medicine doctors in the UK are not going to be under the NHS and will need to be seen privately, at full cost. Given the testing that might be required, this could be a major financial burden. Those who still act within the NHS are likely to be severely limited in what they can do, because the have to stay within the system or be targeted.

A number of people with ME have been taken in by this weird site which is run by a British neurologist. (I've linked to the page that refers to ME, although I notice that he has been careful to state that it is actually a 'genuine illness' and not included in his remit.) His view of ME is that it involves fatigue with 'no other neurological symptoms'!

The author and one of his cronies were featured on a BBC radio health programme for which the transcript is here. I was so shocked by the lack of rigour and absence of challenge in the piece that I emailed the programme (no reply, of course). The case used featured a condition (facial paralysis, often called Bell's Palsy) that usually resolves without treatment. I know because I had it and was one of the unfortunate few who does not recover.

A bit more searching reveals that one of Stone's colleagues is none other than Michael Sharpe, as shown here where there is a good deal of BS, including symptoms listed in Table 2 that are actually part of ME for many of us: I, for example, have a dragging gait when my legs are tired and weak.

That's why it's so important not to confuse the two meanings of 'functional' or you may end up with CBT/GET!
 

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
I looked up practitioners in the UK and actually
found one practising not far from me in the North West of the UK. She is an ex GP, hospital consultant and used to lecture medical students. She has become disillusioned within the NHS and turned to functional medicine. Other than that I know nothing.
I'm not looking for a doctor at present, too much going on, but may be of use to someone who is.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
@MeSci
You know that Bell's palsy is often part of Lyme disease, and if you have general ME/CFS-like symptoms and have experienced Bell's palsy, this may indicate you have Lyme rather than ME/CFS. For more info, see this post.
 

MeSci

ME/CFS since 1995; activity level 6?
Messages
8,231
Location
Cornwall, UK
@MeSci
You know that Bell's palsy is often part of Lyme disease, and if you have general ME/CFS-like symptoms and have experienced Bell's palsy, this may indicate you have Lyme rather than ME/CFS. For more info, see this post.

I think I developed Bell's Palsy after/during a bad case of chickenpox at 5 years old, and it appears that it can be caused by the chickenpox (Herpes/Varicella zoster) virus among other things.

I would be happy to have a Lyme test, as there have been plenty of opportunities for me to catch it (lots of time spent in the countryside, and having cats who have had ticks), as long as it did not involve a lumbar puncture! :eek:
 

anniekim

Senior Member
Messages
779
Location
U.K
I looked up practitioners in the UK and actually
found one practising not far from me in the North West of the UK. She is an ex GP, hospital consultant and used to lecture medical students. She has become disillusioned within the NHS and turned to functional medicine. Other than that I know nothing.
I'm not looking for a doctor at present, too much going on, but may be of use to someone who is.
Is that Dr Myhill? Thanks