We sat down with FunctionalDX Practitioner and Medical Advisor Indra Barathan to find out why she chooses FDX and why she recommends it to other practitioners. You can watch the video of our discussion below or keep scrolling to read the blog version.
Indra Barathan’s Practitioner experience
Indra began her career as a General Practitioner and spent years working as a partner in a practice. Around six years ago, she came to the realisation that changes in practice were making it harder to do the job that she set out to do when she qualified. The real turning point for Indra was when she understood that patients weren’t feeling any better, despite medications. Following her instinct that “something’s missing” from patient care, she began to ask patients what their conditions – such as diabetes – meant to them. When she discovered that lifestyle, nutrition and stress had been given very little consideration, she began her own exploration into new ways of working. That’s when she discovered functional medicine.
“Why didn’t I know about this? It absolutely blew my mind that actually we could support patients, and actually make them feel better. I thought it was all Hocus Pocus at the beginning. But then started doing my own studies and thought, I need to start up my own practice. And that’s when I started my practice five years ago.”
Dr Indra Barathan
FDX Practitioner and Medical Advisor
How Indra Barathan became a FunctionalDX Practitioner
“I was drawn to FDX by the panels; it was a revelation that patients only needed to have one test to cover a multitude of areas. I found that patients were finally able to totally understand their health, in every way. Conventional medicine understands blood tests and actually having the report that pulls together all the connections, that’s fantastic. And I think patients really love that as well.”
Dr Indra Barathan
FDX Practitioner and Medical Advisor
What FunctionalDX blood panels does Indra Barathan use?
Indra’s go-to panel is the FDX Ultra, which she describes as giving a really broad view on what’s going on within the body.
“FDX Ultra allows you to see pretty much everything that you need to. And it gives a really good grounding. FDX is great, especially when people are just coming to see where they are; it’s more of a preventative approach. For those who are feeling very unwell, knowing that there are dysfunctions, and where they’re not optimal is really helpful. And, on the positive side, when you can see that actually, 65 out of 100 markers are optimal, that’s a positive boost for patients.”
Dr Indra Barathan
FDX Practitioner and Medical Advisor
A case study from Indra Barathan where hidden dysfunctions were identified
“A patient came to see me who wasn’t feeling great, wasn’t able to lose weight, but didn’t have any particular symptoms. He just wanted to make sure everything was in balance and the FDX results showed him that his insulin resistance was creeping up and he needed anti-inflammatory support because those markers were starting to rise as well. Seeing the numbers and how far he was from optimum really helped him internalise it and make the changes he needed.”
Dr Indra Barathan
FDX Practitioner and Medical Advisor
Why does Indra Barathan choose FunctionalDX?
“FDX, for me, is a one stop shop for blood tests. You know you’re going to get what you need. And then the support is there as well and the amount that I’ve learned about testing, which I didn’t realise before I went into it has been totally amazing and totally transformative to the way I look at blood tests.”
Dr Indra Barathan
FDX Practitioner and Medical Advisor
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Dr Indra Barathan graduated from Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School in 1997 and worked as an NHS GP until 2015 when she opened her specialist functional medical practice to provide personalised functional medicine consultations. Indra now has practices in Leeds and Manchester and a multi-disciplinary team comprising doctors, health coaches and a nutritional therapist.
Indra’s passion is helping her patients learn how they have got to where they have got to and what they can do to help themselves shift towards vitality. She loves supporting patients with complex medical needs, hormonal problems and gut issues.