Time Stamped Show Notes:

24s: Dr Indra is a functional GP, you can find out more at www.drindra.co.uk

46s: What is functional medicine? Dr Indra has been a GP in the NHS for over 17 years and felt she wasn’t helping patients and was just giving them more and more medicine. She came across functional medicine and started to wonder why they were becoming unwell.

1min 35s: When did it come about and where from? A doctor in America called Jeffrey Bland coined the term but it’s also known as integrative medicine, environmental medicine, nutritional medicine, etc. It has been around for about 30 years.

2min 13s: How many Gps are there? Not many, Dr Indra is the most Northern there is and she is based in Rothwell, Leeds with another practice in Manchester.

3mins 6s: What did your colleagues think? Where is the evidence? NICE doesn’t say that – National Institute of Clinical Excellence. She had a regular patient who was a diabetic and gave him new medications each time, one of them would actually give him a yeast infection which just didn’t feel right and wanted to find a different way.

4mins 16s: How would you design the NHS today with functional medicine? You would need to change your mindset, at the moment it is if I’m ill, I’ll get medication. We need to change it to “I have the power to heal myself”.

5mins 7s: So everyone would have their own functional GP in due course? It’s about prevention and allowing ourselves to function more effectively.

5mins 34s: Who are your typical patients? Those who have been through the NHS and not had a diagnosis or treatment that has made them feel better. We make them feel better by going back to basics.

6mins 11s: We have a lot of chronic pain cases, where would you be involved in this process? There are a lot in the NHS, chronic pain is long term and usually treated with painkillers. With functional medicine we ask why do you have pain? Pain is inflammation, the body is trying to protect itself and they are built to heal so something is stopping the healing. This could be stress, lack of sleep or nutrients, etc.

8mins 19s: What id the issues are hereditary – how do you deal with it without GenoTesting? We listen to the patient and they tell you what is wrong and from what they tell you, you can see how their body will respond.

10mins 28s: You are still registered with the GMC – General Medical Council, how do the NHS deal with you? Actually more and more GPs are looking for alternative ways to treat people.

11mins 44s: You look undoctory! Are you normally informal? I try not to be scary, functional medicine is also about a therapeutic relationship. I dress to feel grounded and connected so I can give you the best of me.

12mins 53s: What is the wellness spectrum? We are all on a line. When you’re ok, you’re in the middle. Then on one side you have premature death and operations and on the other side you have optimal vitality and energy. We aim to shift you along the line from not great to ok and then from ok to optimal vitality.

14mins 15s: Are there other professionals who refer to you and you to them? Most are from patients themselves.

15mins 20s: What are your top tips to overcome illness? The 3 A’s of transformation.

  1. Become aware of how the pain is affecting you, where it becomes more or less and the impact on your life.
  2. Acknowledge without judgement – so don’t tell yourself stories about what the pain means.
  3. Take action – one little step at a time like having more veg for anti-inflammatory

17mins 43s: How can people contact you? Go to www.drindra.co.uk

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