About

I love to listen.  Maybe nearly as much as I love to talk.  I have been in osteopathic practice for nearly twenty years,  and have been honoured to have learned a great deal from many different people in different walks of life.

Sometimes I can treat and chat at the same time.  And conversations with patients are fascinating.  Only someone going through it knows what a frozen shoulder really feels like, or what is the worst thing about having fibromyalgia, or what a rocky emotional road it is going through IVF treatment.  Textbooks have their place, but patients help me understand how that they don’t really explain how that condition really feels to the person suffering or what that person really needs.  Patients also remind me again and again that everyone has their own unique experience, and that illness and pain are not just a physical phenomenon, but have a wide impact on their life and people around them.

Then there are the questions.  I am asked all sorts of things that I don’t always have the answer to:  What is my doctor testing my blood for?  (No idea)  Why won’t she send me for an Xray?  (I launch into long discussion about the pointless in most cases of Xrays, try to summarize the NICE guidelines for low back pain, maybe mention radiation dangers, as patient gently drifts off…) Can I show you my MRI scan so you can tell me what it means?  (You can show it to me, I probably won’t know be able to tell you what it means) Does cranberry juice really work for cystitis?   (Probably no more than a glass of orange juice, but strangely they both work better than placebo!) Is my pain caused by stress?  (How do I even begin?)

My knowledge is limited, and I often lamely suggest that people write all their questions down to ask the doctor at their next appointment. But I know that medical appointments can be rushed, unfulfilling or disorientating.  You go in, immediately forget the questions you wanted to ask, along with half the symptoms you’re suffering, struggle to take in what the doctor has said, come out clutching a prescription and race to catch the chemist before it’s shut.  You are then confronted with a lengthy list of alarming side effects in print so small you realise your eyes could really do with another test as well.  Doctors don’t have the luxury, like I have, of a leisurely forty minute chat every week to winkle out what someone is really worried about, share the kinds of experiences other people in a similar position have had,  reassure them that they are not making it up and let them wonder out loud about the various options they have.  I  might ask about how their eldest child is getting on at their new school,  before reminding them that at their age they should be making sure they get enough calcium  in their diet, wondering if they’ve had their blood pressure checked recently, and chatting about what exercise appeals to them.  This kind of private healthcare is great, but unfortunately many people don’t have the good fortune to have money to spare to pay for that kind of individual attention.  And many healthcare practitioners, especially in the alternative field, have the time but don’t have the extent or quality of knowledge and experience that would really help.

Just as I sometimes feel like my treatment room is a halfway house between patient and doctor, this website is intended to be something similar.  A place of support and sharing.  We all have so much to offer by telling our stories.  The NHS is doing great work now, collecting patients’ stories and using them as guidance, but patientfm is hoping to be a more immediate meeting ground,  easy to use, with open access to all,  where we can learn from each others’  experiences.  The more voices out there, the more we all learn, and the more power to the patient.  So soon there will be a little more structure, and we will be inviting you to talk.  Until then bear with us, and pop back from time to time to see our progress.  We will be posting helpful titbits of information, mostly about general health, but also including musculoskeletal conditions as this is my special interest.  In the meantime, look after your health.  You are important.