Thursday, February 5, 2015

Your health is more than your symptom(s)

Everything that is impacting on us physically is going to also have an emotional impact.  When a patient comes in to see me and they have for example neck pain and they have had this neck pain for maybe over a year or more and their doctor has told them, 'Well I think you might also be depressed.’  Am I surprised they are feeling depressed?  Pain doesn't exist in isolation and will create other issues for the patient!

The holistic viewpoint of a patient is why I allow up to 2 hours for your initial consultation at my practice (www.5elementacupuncturedublin.ie) because as part of this process will include a long list of questions — some of which seemingly having nothing to do with your ,main complaint.

By getting a full picture of your health requires more information than a list of your symptoms.  How would you think that I could help you to to heal — whether it’s a pain disorder or any kind of disorder — if you don’t know who you are?

This is how many family doctors practised in the past.  The doctor knew the family. He knew the children, the parents, the grandparents.