Functional medicine in Cairns.
You were handed a result and a shrug. The bloods came back “normal”, and you still don't feel right. Most clinics are good at naming the problem; functional medicine asks a harder question — why is it happening? It treats your body as one interacting system and works back toward the cause instead of chasing each symptom in turn. The fatigue that travels with the broken sleep that travels with the stress that travels with the gut that never quite settles is usually one pattern, not four problems. In clinic at 17 Anderson St, Manunda, or by telehealth anywhere in Australia — same root-cause consultation either way.
What is functional medicine?
Functional medicine is root-cause, systems-biology medicine. It starts from a different question than a standard appointment does: not just what to call the problem, but why it's happening, and what would actually move the system rather than the number on a single test.
The model behind it is simple to say and harder to practise. Your body isn't a set of separate departments. The gut, the hormones, the immune response, the metabolism and the nervous system are one connected web, and a problem that shows up in one place often starts somewhere else entirely. Functional medicine maps those upstream drivers instead of treating each symptom where it lands.
Modern healthcare was built for acute problems — the infection, the fracture, the things that arrive suddenly and resolve cleanly. A seven-minute appointment does that work well. It was never built to hold a slow, overlapping picture that's been building for years. Functional medicine puts the time back in so that picture can actually be mapped — you can't map a system in seven minutes.
One thing matters more than any of it: this is doctor-led and accountable. Functional thinking is broad, but at Sohma it sits under a prescribing, AHPRA-registered doctor responsible for the whole plan. That governance is the line between functional medicine and unregulated wellness. The thinking is broad. The governance is not. Functional thinking sits inside the wider integrative model — if you want the detail on the coordinated team and shared record behind it, read about the coordinated-care model behind it.
The root-cause difference: naming a problem vs explaining it
Naming a problem and managing a problem are not the same thing. The difference is a way of thinking, and it's worth spelling out plainly, because it's where functional medicine earns its place.
- Systems, not silos
- Your organ systems interact constantly. The gut influences immunity, mood and metabolism, so we read it alongside the hormones, the nervous system and the rest — one web, not separate rooms — rather than one specialist at a time.
- Upstream, not downstream
- A symptom is usually the end of a chain, not the start of it. Functional medicine works back toward the driver rather than quieting the thing the driver produces.
- The whole timeline
- When did this start, what changed around then, and what is your body responding to? The story across years often explains more than a single result taken today.
- Function before pathology
- Sub-optimal function tends to show up before a disease label does. The aim is to notice and shift it earlier, while it's still a pattern rather than a diagnosis.
- Personalised, not protocolised
- The plan is built around your data and your history — your own biochemical individuality — not a template. Two people with the same symptom rarely get the same plan, because the cause underneath it is rarely the same.
This is the part that takes time, and it's why a functional consultation runs longer than a standard appointment. Mapping a system properly is the whole point.
Advanced and functional pathology testing
Functional and advanced pathology testing is a process, not a product. The point isn't to run more tests — it's to look at how your systems are functioning, not only whether a single marker has crept outside its reference range, and to read every result in the context of your whole picture.
A standard panel asks a yes/no question: is this number inside the range? Functional pathology asks a more useful one: how is this system actually working, and does the result fit the story you're telling? Sometimes a number sits inside “normal” while the function it's meant to reflect clearly isn't. That gap is often where the answer lives.
The kinds of testing that may be considered — always when it's clinically appropriate, never as a default — span a few recognised categories: comprehensive blood and metabolic panels, including insulin resistance and metabolic-syndrome markers; nutrient and micronutrient status (iron, B12, folate, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc); hormonal, thyroid and adrenal panels, including HPA-axis and cortisol patterns and dried-urine hormone testing; gut and digestive function, including the microbiome, intestinal permeability, the gut–brain axis and comprehensive stool analysis; methylation and genetic markers such as MTHFR; food-sensitivity assessment; and inflammatory markers. These are categories of approach, considered by your practitioner after a proper assessment — not a menu you order from, and not a promise that any one of them explains everything.
Three principles keep it honest.
Function, not just range
We're interested in how a system is working, not only whether one marker has tipped over a line.
Read in context
A test result is a clue, not a verdict. It informs the plan; it doesn't replace the conversation or the assessment that surrounds it.
Only when it changes the plan
If a test wouldn't alter what we'd do next, there's little reason to run it. More testing isn't better testing, and a longer invoice isn't a deeper answer.
Whether any test is worth doing is talked through and decided by your practitioner after a proper assessment — not assumed, and not sold.
What functional medicine helps with
People come to functional medicine with patterns more often than single diagnoses, and the overlap between them is usually where the real picture lives. This approach tends to fit when the story is slow, layered, and hasn't quite added up elsewhere. At a category level, the ground we cover most often includes:
- Persistent or chronic fatigue and low energy — especially when standard results came back “normal” but you still don't feel right
- Gut and digestive health — the gut influences immunity, mood and metabolism, so we look at the whole-body connection (the microbiome, the gut–brain axis, intestinal permeability), not just the symptom
- Hormonal and metabolic concerns — thyroid, adrenal and blood-sugar regulation, insulin resistance, and the shifts of perimenopause and menopause
- Difficult sleep — particularly when it sits downstream of stress or hormonal change rather than being the problem itself
- Stress, burnout and nervous-system dysregulation — including HPA-axis and cortisol patterns that ordinary rest doesn't seem to fix
- Persistent inflammation and autoimmune-pattern presentations that span more than one system
- Complex, overlapping presentations where several things connect and the story hasn't added up elsewhere
Not everyone is best served here. If your concern is acute, surgical, or already well-handled by a single specialist, a functional model may add little — and we'll tell you that rather than book you in. Seeing your concern listed means we're familiar with the territory, not that any single approach is right for you, because only a proper assessment and a real conversation can answer that. For the full picture, see everything we help with.
What to expect at your first appointment
The path in is deliberately low-friction. You don't need a referral, and you can start with a free, no-pressure conversation before committing to anything.
- 1
A free nurse consultation
A short, no-pressure conversation with our nurse to understand what's going on and whether Sohma is the right next step. If we're not the right fit, we'll say so and point you somewhere that is.
- 2
Your initial consultation
An extended first session with our integrative registered nurse, including 15 to 20 minutes with a prescribing doctor. You complete a secure intake form beforehand — your history, current medications, what you want to change. Mapping root causes properly, and talking through any functional testing that might help, is exactly what this unhurried time is for.
- 3
A written plan
You leave with clear next steps, written down and explained. Any tests are talked through before they're ordered, referrals are coordinated, and where it helps your case is reviewed by the wider team.
- 4
Reviews and continuity
Root-cause work happens over weeks and months, not in a single visit. Reviews keep the plan on track, and the team adjusts as your results and your picture change, all on one shared record.
For the full walk-through, read how Sohma works or what to expect on your visit.
Root-cause care in Cairns, and by telehealth Australia-wide
Sohma House is a real clinic, not a directory or a phone line. You'll find us at 17 Anderson St, Manunda QLD 4870, a few minutes from central Cairns, with free on-site parking. Call 07 4015 3444 or open the map to find us, and see Sohma House in Cairns to plan a visit.
If you're not in Far North Queensland, the same root-cause consultation comes to you by telehealth, anywhere in Australia. Same unhurried first appointment, same coordinated team, same shared record. The only thing that changes is whether you're sitting in the house in Manunda or joining from your kitchen table in another state.
That hybrid model is the point. Functional medicine shouldn't depend on your postcode — the systems-biology thinking, and the time it takes, travel just as well down a video link as across a consulting room.
Why Sohma House
We didn't start Sohma because we think we're better than the system. The system was optimised for throughput, not coherence, and the people inside it are doing their best with the time they're given. We built something with the time built back in.
What that looks like in practice: a clinician-founder accountable for the model, a named team of AHPRA-registered practitioners you can verify, transparent pricing published up front, and a single coordinated root-cause plan instead of a folder of results that each look fine on their own. Sohma House is led by founder and clinical director Cameron Rosin, and built for people who've been managed instead of met.
The other part is breadth. Functional thinking is one tool among several here, not the whole kit. A plan can draw on conventional prescribing, nutrition, lifestyle medicine, and botanical and plant-based medicine — each weighed on its merits, none of it the headline, all of it coordinated by one team on one shared record. That genuine multidisciplinary range is what separates a real integrative clinic from a single-modality herb shop or a single-medicine mill. We cover the plant-based and botanical side in depth on our page about alternative and plant-based medicine, and it sits in the same plan as everything else, considered individually by your practitioner after a proper assessment.
Functional medicine isn't a fit for everyone, and we'll say so early rather than overpromise. But if your tests came back normal and you still don't feel well, this is a reasonable place to start. Learn more about Sohma House, read our philosophy of care, or get in touch if you'd like to ask first.
No call required to find out what it costs
Your initial consultation is $99 as an opening special, an extended first session that includes time with a prescribing doctor. Reviews are $89. And the nurse consultation is free, so you can find out whether we're the right fit before committing to anything.
The price is the same whether you see us in clinic or by telehealth. Medicare rebates may apply for eligible GP consultations, and we confirm your out-of-pocket cost before your appointment, so there are no surprises. Transferring from another clinic? Ask about our transfer discount.
Functional medicine nationally is notorious for opaque, cash-only pricing — $400-plus consultations, four-figure lab bills, expensive programs you commit to before you know the cost. We publish ours up front instead.
Functional medicine, answered.
The questions people ask before booking. If yours isn't here, the free nurse consultation is the easiest way to ask.
What is functional medicine, and how is it different from a regular GP visit?
Functional medicine is root-cause, systems-biology medicine: it asks why a problem is happening, not just what to name it, and treats your body as one interacting system rather than a list of separate complaints. The practical difference from a standard GP visit is time and reasoning — a longer, unhurried consultation that maps the pattern across your symptoms and works back toward the cause. A standard GP appointment does important work, but a seven-minute slot was never built to hold a slow, overlapping picture.
What's the difference between functional, integrative and naturopathic medicine?
Functional medicine is a root-cause way of thinking — looking at the body as interacting systems and asking why a problem is happening. At Sohma that thinking sits inside the integrative model, which is the doctor-led umbrella that coordinates conventional and evidence-informed approaches under one plan. Naturopathy is a separate, distinct profession without a prescribing medical doctor, which is the line that matters most when prescription medicines are part of the picture. At Sohma, a registered doctor is accountable for the whole plan.
What is functional pathology testing, and do I need it?
Functional and advanced pathology testing is a process, not a product. It looks at how your systems are functioning — across areas like gut and digestive function, hormonal, thyroid and adrenal patterns, nutrient status, and inflammatory and metabolic markers — not only whether a single marker is inside its reference range, and every result is read in the context of your whole picture. You may not need it at all — tests are only recommended when they're clinically appropriate, talked through, and likely to change the plan, and that decision is made by your practitioner after a proper assessment. More testing isn't better testing.
Can functional medicine help when my results came back normal but I still don't feel well?
That’s one of the most common reasons people look at functional medicine, and it’s worth taking seriously. A result can sit inside the "normal" range while the function it’s meant to reflect clearly isn’t right for you — functional medicine is interested in that gap. What we can offer is an approach: an unhurried assessment that maps the whole pattern across fatigue, gut, hormonal and metabolic concerns, and works back toward the cause. We can’t promise an outcome, and only a proper assessment can tell you whether this is the right fit.
Are your practitioners registered doctors?
Yes. Our care is doctor-led, and our nurses, doctors and other registered health practitioners hold current AHPRA registration — public, so you can verify it. Other practitioners are members of their relevant professional associations. Our care is doctor-led, our protocols are evidence-informed and peer-reviewed, and the clinic is led by founder and clinical director Cameron Rosin. We'd rather you check than simply take our word for it.
Do I need a referral to see a functional medicine doctor at Sohma?
No referral is needed. You can start with a free nurse consultation or book an initial consultation directly. If you’d like your regular GP kept in the loop, we coordinate that, so your care stays connected rather than running in parallel.
How much is an initial consultation, and are Medicare rebates available?
The initial consultation is $99 as an opening special and includes time with a prescribing doctor. Reviews are $89, and the nurse consultation is free. Medicare rebates may apply for eligible GP consultations, and we confirm your out-of-pocket cost before your appointment. Pricing is the same in clinic or by telehealth, anywhere in Australia.
Can I see you by telehealth if I don't live in Cairns?
Yes. We offer the same root-cause consultation by telehealth anywhere in Australia, with the same coordinated team and shared record. The care doesn't change with your postcode — only whether you visit the clinic in Manunda or join online.
Ready to begin?
Book your initial consultation
In clinic in Manunda, Cairns, or by telehealth across Australia. An unhurried, root-cause first appointment with a doctor on the team, fees confirmed before you arrive.
- In clinic in Manunda, Cairns
- Telehealth Australia-wide
- Initial consult from $99
- Root-cause, doctor-led