Longevity & Diagnostics
Functional Medicine in Dubai
Root-cause, systems-based medicine — a deeper look at why symptoms persist, and a plan built from your own biology rather than from a protocol. Physician-led, DHA-licensed, in Business Bay.
Most people who book this have already been somewhere else and come away without an answer. The first thing we do is take the whole history, not the last symptom.
- DHA-licensed
- Business Bay, Dubai
- Physician-led
What it is
Start with the cause, not the symptom.
Functional medicine is a root-cause approach that looks at how the body’s systems interact — diet, hormones, gut, metabolism and lifestyle — to understand why symptoms occur, rather than treating them in isolation.
In practice that means a longer first consultation, a fuller history, and testing chosen to answer particular questions rather than ordered as a routine bundle. The output is a plan you understand: what we think is driving this, what to change, and how we will know whether it worked.
It sits alongside the care you already have rather than replacing it. Where something needs a specialist, or belongs with your regular doctor, that is what you will be told.
What we investigate
The things that have not been explained yet.
These are concerns we help you look into. Whether anything here can be improved — and how — depends entirely on what the assessment finds.
Persistent fatigue and low energy
Tiredness that rest does not shift, and that has usually been looked at once already without a clear answer.
Digestive and gut symptoms
Bloating, irregularity or discomfort that comes and goes, and seems to track with food, stress or sleep.
Hormonal symptoms
Changes in cycle, mood, libido, temperature or recovery that do not sit neatly under one heading.
Metabolic concerns and weight that will not move
Weight, appetite or energy that behave differently than they used to, despite no change in what you are doing.
Sleep that is not restoring you
Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking unrefreshed after a full night.
Brain fog and poor concentration
Slower recall, difficulty holding focus, or a sense of thinking through fog that has become normal.
Recurring symptoms without a clear answer
Several small things at once, each minor on its own, that you suspect are connected.
If what is happening to you is not on this list, it is still worth a conversation. The point of the consultation is to work out what is going on, not to match you to a category.
The approach
Systems, not silos.
01
The whole history first
Not just the presenting complaint. What changed, when, and what else was happening at the time — because the answer is usually in the sequence.
02
Testing that answers a question
Panels are chosen to test a specific idea about what is driving your symptoms, not ordered wholesale in the hope that something turns up.
03
One plan, not four opinions
Diet, sleep, movement, hormones and any treatment are set out together and sequenced, so they are not pulling against each other.
The consultation
What actually happens.
- 01
A long first consultation
Your physician takes a full history — symptoms, timeline, diet, sleep, stress, medications, family history and anything already investigated elsewhere. Bring previous results if you have them.
- 02
Testing where it is indicated
Blood work, and gut, hormone, metabolic or micronutrient panels only where there is a specific question they can answer.
- 03
A plan you understand and own
What the results suggest, what to change and in what order, and how we will re-measure. Written so it makes sense to you rather than to a file.
This is the same order the clinic works in everywhere — measure, intervene, extend. Functional medicine is that method applied to symptoms rather than to ageing.
Where it leads
- Longevity AssessmentThe diagnostic foundation — bloods, body composition and biomarkers, read together.
- Longevity & DiagnosticsThe wider practice this sits inside: measure first, then build the protocol.
- IV TherapyPhysician-formulated infusions, used where a deficit has actually been measured.
- Peptides — field guideEducational reading on peptide science. No pricing, no booking — reference only.
Physician-led
Our functional medicine physician
Functional medicine at Shookra is physician-led and DHA-licensed. The first consultation is long on purpose: most people arrive with a long history to tell, and it takes time to hear properly.
You will be told what your physician thinks is going on, what the testing can and cannot settle, and where the honest answer is that something sits outside this practice.
- Root-cause assessment
- Functional testing
- Metabolic health
- Hormonal health
- Gut health
Questions
The ones worth asking.
- What is functional medicine?
- It is an approach that treats the body as a set of connected systems rather than a list of separate complaints. The work is to understand why a symptom is occurring — what is driving it across diet, sleep, stress, hormones, gut function and metabolism — and to build a plan from that, rather than managing the symptom in isolation.
- How is this different from seeing my GP?
- It is not a replacement for one, and it is not in competition with the care you already have. The difference is time and depth: a long first consultation, a fuller history, and testing chosen to answer specific questions about how your systems are working. Where something needs a specialist or your regular doctor, that is what we will tell you.
- Is functional medicine evidence-based?
- Partly, and it is worth being precise about which parts. The diagnostics used here are standard, validated laboratory tests, and the interventions — nutrition, sleep, exercise, correcting a measured deficiency, treating a diagnosed condition — are conventional and evidence-based. What functional medicine adds is the organising idea of reading those results together to look for an underlying driver. That framework is not itself proven to the standard of a drug trial, and some tests marketed under the functional-medicine label have limited validation. Your physician will tell you which category anything we suggest falls into.
- What testing is involved?
- It depends entirely on what your history raises. Commonly it includes blood work covering metabolic, hormonal, thyroid, inflammatory and micronutrient markers. Gut, hormone or other functional panels are used only where there is a specific question they can answer. Nothing is ordered as a routine bundle.
- How long does it take to see a change?
- That is not something anyone can tell you in advance, and we will not pretend otherwise. It depends on what the assessment finds, how long it has been going on, and what the plan asks of you. What you are given at the end of the first consultation is a plan and a way to measure whether it is working.
- How much does it cost?
- Pricing depends on the consultation and any testing your physician recommends, so it is discussed with you directly rather than published. Message us on WhatsApp and the team will talk you through it and help you arrange a consultation.
Licensed & Regulated
DHA-licensed. MOHAP-approved.
Every treatment is delivered at Shookra, a DHA-licensed medical facility in Dubai. Every physician and clinician on our team is DHA-licensed and works to clinical protocol. Our health communications are independently reviewed and approved by the UAE Ministry of Health & Prevention (MOHAP).
Shookra Polyclinic · DHA Facility Permit #3449309 · MOHAP Advertisement Licence T0UOE5NK-020526
Bring the whole history.
Message our team on WhatsApp and we’ll arrange a functional medicine consultation in Business Bay — a full history first, testing where it is indicated, then a plan you understand.
Mon–Sun · 10:00–22:00