Online Functional Medicine Consultations Across New Zealand

If you have ongoing symptoms that do not fit neatly into one diagnosis, it can be difficult to know where to begin.

You may have seen several practitioners, undergone the usual investigations and been told that the results are normal. That does not necessarily mean that nothing is wrong. It may mean that the different parts of the story have not yet been brought together.

I provide online functional and integrative medicine consultations throughout New Zealand. My role is to look carefully at your medical history, symptoms, existing results, medications, nutrition, sleep, metabolism, hormones, environmental exposures and lifestyle—and work out which factors are most likely to matter. 

Functional medicine looks at how different systems in the body interact rather than treating every symptom as an isolated problem.

Fatigue, brain fog, digestive symptoms, poor sleep, hormonal changes and difficulty regulating weight may have separate causes. They may also be connected through metabolism, inflammation, nutrition, medication effects, stress physiology or environmental exposures.

The aim is not to attach everything to a fashionable “root cause”. It is to understand the pattern, decide what requires further investigation and identify what can reasonably be changed. 

I am a New Zealand registered medical doctor. My background includes many years in specialist anaesthesia, pain medicine, perioperative medicine and hyperbaric medicine, followed by further training in functional, nutritional and environmental medicine.

This means I can approach complex symptoms from both directions.

I can consider nutrition, lifestyle, sleep, metabolic health and environmental factors while also reviewing diagnoses, medications, conventional investigations and medical risks. Where appropriate, I can arrange investigations, prescribe medication and communicate with your GP or specialist.

Functional medicine should expand medical thinking. It should not require us to abandon it.

People often contact me because they are experiencing one or more of the following:

• persistent fatigue or poor recovery
• brain fog or changes in concentration
• digestive problems or food-related symptoms
• hormonal or metabolic concerns
• difficulty losing weight despite sustained effort
• inflammation or immune-related symptoms
• possible mould, heavy-metal or other environmental exposure
• several overlapping symptoms without a satisfactory explanation
• ongoing problems despite apparently normal standard investigations

You do not need to arrive with a diagnosis. Establishing what may be happening is part of the work. 

Before we meet, you will complete detailed questionnaires covering your medical history, current symptoms, medications, supplements, nutrition, lifestyle and relevant environmental exposures.

I will also ask for copies of useful laboratory results, specialist correspondence, imaging reports and other medical records.

This allows us to spend the consultation discussing what matters rather than using most of the appointment to collect basic information.

We go through your story carefully.

I want to know when the problems started, what was happening around that time and how the symptoms have changed. We review what has already been investigated, what treatment you have tried and what may have been overlooked.

We then decide which parts of the picture are most important.

That may include metabolism, hormones, nutrition, gut health, inflammation, sleep, medication effects, stress physiology or environmental exposure. It will be different for every person.

By the end of the consultation, we should have a much clearer idea of what needs attention first.

A great deal of this work can be done very well online.

The most important parts are taking a thorough history, reviewing your records and recognising patterns that may have developed over several years.

Blood tests can usually be arranged through a laboratory near you. Many specialised tests can be completed at home and sent directly to the laboratory. Prescriptions can generally be arranged within New Zealand when medication is appropriate.

There are limits, of course. If you need a physical examination, imaging or urgent medical assessment, I will tell you. Where necessary, I will ask you to see your GP, specialist or another local healthcare provider.

Possibly, but not automatically.

I do not believe in ordering every available functional test and hoping that something interesting appears.

We begin with your history and the results you already have. Sometimes the most useful next step is a carefully selected group of ordinary blood tests. In other situations, more specialised testing may help us look at hormones, gut function, nutrition, metabolism or environmental exposure.

A test should help us answer a real question. Ideally, the result should also have some bearing on what we do next.

That depends entirely on what we find.

Your plan may involve nutrition, sleep, movement, alcohol, stress, supplements or medication. It may include further investigation or communication with another healthcare provider.

I usually prefer to work in stages. There is little value in giving someone a list of 25 things to change at once. We start with the issues most likely to matter, see how you respond and adjust the plan from there.

The plan has to make sense medically. It also has to be realistic for the person expected to follow it.

This may be helpful if you have been dealing with persistent or overlapping symptoms and feel that nobody has yet brought the whole story together.

It is particularly suited to people who want a doctor to look beyond a brief appointment and consider how their medical history, metabolism, nutrition, sleep, environment and lifestyle may be interacting.

I do not provide emergency care, and I do not replace your usual GP. If you have a new or urgent medical problem, please seek appropriate local medical assessment.

Complete the initial enquiry form and tell me briefly what has been happening, what has already been investigated and what you would like help with.

I will review your enquiry and let you know which type of consultation is likely to be most useful.

Online consultations are available throughout New Zealand.