Look After Yourself

I have posted a couple of times recently urging people to take more responsibility for their own health. The post was prompted largely by me listening to a stunning audio programme called ‘The Five Forces of Wellness: The Ultraprevention System for Living an Active, Age-Defying, Disease-Free Life by Dr Mark Hyman.

 

Dr Hyman makes no apologies for relentlessly pushing people that don’t feel 100% to ask more questions of their GP, get more tests and be more aware of what they put into their body. I bought the book purely and simply because I thought it may help me with some clients. I take an holistic approach to life coaching and I like to understand as much as I can about the interaction between all the elements i.e. mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. Of course I’m not a doctor and I don’t diagnose for clients, but if I suspect that a problem could be helped by a change of diet or increased exercise etc then I like to be in a position to refer them on to suitable material that can be helpful.

 

As I was listening to The Five Forces I suddenly started to think it had been written for me. It talked about all sorts of symptoms that I’d encountered over the last 5 years. On the surface they looked completely unconnected but in reality pointed towards one of two things; either gluten intolerance or lactose intolerance.

 

I trotted off to my doctors with my newfound knowledge and after he declared me a picture of health I asked for 2 more tests to be run. In fairness he readily agreed and sent me for the gluten and lactose intolerance tests. Yesterday I got my results and they point towards Celiac Disease. This is a condition caused by gluten intolerance and is not easy to diagnose, indeed I now have to undergo the delightful experience of an endoscopy so that they can do a biopsy and confirm that it’s definitively the problem.

 

Like yesterday this is not meant to be a self-indulgent ‘wo is me’ type post because I am grateful that I seem to have found the culprit to some issues that have dogged me for close on 10 years. Too many people see their doctors as demigods that can do no wrong. I really like my doctor and do not blame him for not suggesting I get tested before I asked him to, because like most doctors he is under incredible pressure. The real blame lies with a system that isn’t designed to offer the best possible care (it’s designed to make profit if you were in any doubt) and to the individual (including me) for not demanding change and taking responsibility to be as well informed as we possibly can be. Listening to ‘The Five Forces’ would be a great starting point in my opinion.

Enjoyed this post? Please share it!

Digg it | Stumble it |

 

Post a Comment

Name

Mail (will not be published)

Website

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail