Are you honest with your health practitioner?

Spinal & Natural Healthcare Centre

Are you completely honest when you visit your health practitioner? Perhaps you think you are but you don’t see the need to divulge that you are feeling down because of a bullying colleague or that your elderly parent passed away and you are having trouble coming to terms with the loss. Your mind and body are intimately connected: they are part of the same living system that is you and so your moods and feelings affect your physical condition and your bodily health in turn affects your emotions and state of mind.

Many of my patients who have suffered long term back pain tell me of their loneliness as their pain has prevented them from working or enjoying social occasions. They describe to me how they feel that their suffering is invisible as it doesn’t have any outward obvious symptoms and most people who have not experienced back pain have little understanding or sympathy towards them.

It’s vital for me as their Osteomyologist to know about these feelings as stress and depression increase the levels and duration of pain your experience. We can also work together to get you back to work and back to your social activities to stop those feelings of isolation.

I understand that you may find it difficult to discuss personal problems but if you are using alcohol or drugs as a support for your problem, your health practitioner needs to be aware of this in order to treat you properly and to offer to point you towards sources of help. Likewise, if you have been a victim of domestic abuse, your health care practitioner is not going to judge you but he or she needs to be aware of the implications of this on your skeletal health and adjust your treatment accordingly.

After being in practice now for several years, I can say, hand on heart, that there is nothing that a patient can tell me that will shock me or make me judge them or betray professional confidences.

If you would like to discuss something in your life that is causing you stress, fatigue or emotional upset then don’t be afraid to ask for a longer appointment. Most GP surgeries will be able to schedule this for you and at our clinic we are happy to offer you as long as you need if it means that we can offer you a more successful holistic treatment programme.

Myself and all my colleagues are trained in stress management techniques and we will refer you to local counsellors where appropriate: the important thing is that the whole of you, your mind and body, is working together to achieve your optimum health level.

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