Self-diagnosis

Self-diagnosing an illness is a dicey game. There are many checklists available which may link some of your presenting symptoms with known diseases. However, just because you tick most of the boxes or can identify 100% with certain case studies does not mean that you should now adopt that specific label.

Once you have decided on your diagnosis it is easy to trawl the mass media for cures. Information can be very conflicting and the products suggested varying in efficacy. Few treatments exclude dietary changes and this too can be a minefield. We are almost daily bombarded with different research supports varying eating regimes. From raw food, to the Atkins diet, to the low carbohydrate diet, the specific blood type diet, vegetarianism or veganism, never mind the anti-candida diet. On Monday we are told that coffee is bad for you and on Friday we read that coffee is the answer to Alzheimer’s disease. How are you to choose which protocol will give you your life back?

Diagnosis without specific testing is a gamble. Chances are you are spot on, but then again, you may be way off the mark and after a couple of months have invested a substantial amount of money and effort with no lasting success.

In my clinic I do not opt for the stab-in-the-dark approach. I am a woman of science and I prefer to see my suspicions either confirmed of dispelled before I suggest a specific, therapeutic approach. I have had many a patient walk into my clinic convinced that they have Candida (a common label for yeast overgrowth) because they have failed the spit in a glass test. They may have been on the anti-candida diet for years and have now reached the end of their tether. How liberating is it not when, after specific testing (for yeast investigation I only rely on a comprehensive stool analysis), their results reveal that they have no yeast overgrowth in the gut, which is supported by microscopic investigation.

All too often I notice that my patients come to me with questionable eating habits. I am not referring to the select few who enjoy a can of Red Bullas a breakfast option. Patients often choose the same food over and over without realizing that they are limited on variety. For example:

Breakfast: Wheetabix with semi-skimmed milk
Snack: Low fat yogurt
Lunch: Tuna and mayonnaise wholemeal baguette
Snack: Tea with semi-skimmed milk and a digestive biscuit
Dinner: Pasta with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese

The following options are all made of wheat, wheetabix, wholemeal baguette, digestive biscuit and pasta. These choices are all cow milk derived, semi-skimmed milk, yogurt, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese.

The issue with the above choices is that these three meals and two snacks are almost exclusively based on two ingredients, wheat and dairy. There is no variety. Neither one of these two ingredients is a definitive problem when consumed sparingly (provided you have not been tested intolerant).

Often re-organising current eating habits is the starting point in addressing symptoms of ill health.

What is the best route to follow when you are experiencing ill health and your GP has exhausted all possible medical avenues? In my clinic I encourage specific testing to identify the root cause of your presenting symptoms. The results determine what individual protocol is suggested to assist you in reaching your goals in the shortest time possible.

Email me direct to order your test to be sent to you.