With over 30 years of clinical experience, I can state with confidence that the one test that I have found to be the most valuable in the assessment of a patient’s state of health is blood analysis. At FDX, we have found the saying “blood does not lie” to be true time and time again.
Of course, blood testing is the primary, or go-to test, run by the medical profession and is used by them to identify health dysfunction. The issue I found was that patients who were complaining of being or feeling sick were told time and time again that everything was fine, and they had nothing to worry about.
This highlighted to 4 areas that needed addressing:
- Available biomarkers. There was a lack of available biomarkers that could be used to address the state of functionality of the body systems and organs. A standard test received from a GP measured very little and as such, states very little about what goes on “under the hood”. Whilst the tests from private laboratories produced much larger panel sizes, they presented a further range of barriers for the majority of clients.
- Affordability. At the time, the costs of private testing were prohibitive. Creating a series of panels and being able to offer these at the lowest possible pricing was essential.
- Clinical ranges. The ranges that we used to identify functionality were too narrow. Whilst these ranges are perfectly good for identifying the need for clinical intervention, I found were not optimum for dealing with subclinical issues.
- Interpretation of data. When received in a conventional linear or long list fashion, correlating biomarkers together involved a considerable investment of time and effort and required comprehensive knowledge on the part of the practitioner.
To fill the void in the testing world in the UK and Europe, I established FunctionalDx with Dr. Dicken Weatherby in 2015. By combining Dr Weatherby’s proprietary algorithms along with a cost-effective and large range of biomarkers, FDX was able to offer the most comprehensive and advanced blood chemistry panels and functional health reports.
Our product was a revolutionary offering for health professionals in the UK. From our early stages of offering 2 to 3 substantial panels, FDX has evolved to offer a range of over 20 specialist panels. Our extensive panel size covers general health assessment, fertility, cardio risk, cognitive function, and lifestyle testing including workplace performance and weight management amongst many others.
FunctionalDx reports on the status of 13 body systems, seven accessory systems, seven macronutrient systems, over 40 nutrient deficiencies, assesses over 40 clinical dysfunctions, and so much more. We use between 65 and 115 biomarkers per panel and provide practitioners with reports for both their professional use and for their patients. Each professional report consists of over 18 individual reports collated together to make 1 larger report of up to 100 pages in length.
FDX was not created by lab technicians but by us as clinicians for our fellow clinicians and as such, we recognise that time is of the essence and rather than creating reports that involved scrolling and searching we created interactive hyperlinked PDFs. Getting lost or forgetting where one was in a long document, was now consigned to the ark. Instead, our intuitive hyperlinking allows both practitioners and patients to get the most from their report.
It is with great pride that I can state that FunctionalDx testing takes the hardship out of blood chemistry analysis and enables the professional user to be a blood chemistry expert, clinically proficient in the assessment of their client’s state of being.
