Posted by janejane on March 5, 2009, at 12:49:32
In reply to Type of physician to work with for blood tests?, posted by FourFeathers on March 4, 2009, at 13:53:30
Depending on how open-minded your regular doc is, she should be able to order the tests for you, even though she may not be able to help much with the interpretation. I've been looking for a physician who practices functional medicine, and I can tell you, it hasn't been easy. It seems like a good number of specialists in the area have self-filing policies for insurance, and since I'm specifically looking for someone who participates with my plan, I've found that I've really got my work cut out for me!
There are some testing labs that you can get services from directly, but I haven't looked into them much myself. Some labs offer lists of practitioners who use their services, so you may be able to find some candidates that way. I think you'll uncover the most possibilities by googling "functional medicine" along with your location. I'd avoid simply searching for "holistic" practitioners since they will not necessarily know about this stuff. Make sure to check insurance coverage if that's important to you. You'll probably get a lot of hits for naturopathic physicians, for example, but depending what state you live in, and your insurance policy, they will probably be completely self-pay.
Another place worth looking:
http://www.functionalmedicine.org/findfmphysician/index.asp
The list is very limited, but I did find some names there that didn't immediately pop up in a google search so I think it's worth checking out.
poster:janejane
thread:883745
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20090204/msgs/883913.html