Yeah @Learner1 it sounds like it'd be interesting, just a bit steep for me to gamble right now. I enjoyed his books but also found them a little useless at the same time - ie he doesn't give a flow chart of what he'd look at when and what to do in what situation, just very broad recommendations. Overall gave me the impression that you'd have to see one of his team to actually see what their process is
unfortunately, beyond general things, This is not a do-it-yourself project. Everything must be individualized to the individual patient who has unique genetics and environmental factors creating their illness. This particular course is for medical practitioners, and not patients, and it assists doctors in knowing what tests to run and what treatments can be prescribed.
you could go on the medical medium protocol,it's for free and has all the similar approaches than every functional medicine practioner has
unfortunately, as others have said, his approach is not based on science. And some of his prescriptions can be quite harmful, for instance, he suggests a lot of high oxalate foods and juices, which could exacerbate the oxalate problems of patients who have been on antibiotics.
What should this bord become? Do we still take science serious?
I don't believe that “functional doctors” are much better. You nailed it in your post above what they all do and you pay them thousands of dollars for sth you could easily read up in Facebook groups... Might be harsh, but that is my impression
agreed, we need to use science in what we're doing. The problem is is studies are not run on patients like us, they are run on generic people who may or may not share our characteristics. That's why functional medicine needs to be individualized to the patient, with tests being run to determine someone's unique characteristics.
I've also seen the limits of both functional medicine and conventional medicine, and believe that a large box of tools should be used to help complex patients like us. There are no easy answers.
QUOTE="Shanti1, post: 2367769, member: 41115"]I have attended Dr. Kharrazian's thyroid and digestive courses in the past. I rate him a step above many functional doctors in that he conducts a great deal of research and seems to critically evaluate scientific literature himself instead of simply repeating functional medicine narratives. He also upfront tells people that there is no cure for autoimmune diseases and many complex conditions, and if someone tells you that they can cure you, you should run. In his workshops, he does go into depth and provide a step-by-step process.
He does use tools that are helpful for many people, ie identifying food sensitivities/autoimmune cross-reactivities, trying an "auto-immune paleo diet", optimizing adrenal, identifying pathogens, using neutraceuticals etc, and I can see how he would get results for many conditions, but I think many of us here have done all of these things, with modest to no benefit. I am doubtful of any added insight beyond the above.[/QUOTE]
We have complex issues. Just doing spinal surgery, antivirals, antibiotics, or immune modulators is not enough. The kinds of things that have plagued us have caused a cascade of other issues, and this is where functional medicine can help reverse some of that cascade. It is best to use in concert with the best of conventional medicine in using an individualized approach.
Thank you and for investing the time and money to attend and summarizing what you learn for us. I too doubt that he's going to fix anyone's ME CFS permanently, although I think a lot of what he does can be very beneficial.