WHEN THE RIGHT PRACTITIONER IS WORTH THE JOURNEY
When it comes to your health, convenience isn’t always the best guide. Sometimes, finding the right practitioner, the right expertise, and the right treatment means travelling further than you would ideally like. But if you have been struggling with a complex or long-standing health problem, making that extra effort can be worthwhile in terms of restored health. The right practitioner may see something others have missed, ask different questions, or have experience with different approaches that simply aren’t available closer to home. When it comes to getting well, sometimes that journey is worth making. To find out more, please read on …
The uncomfortable truth is that not all practitioners know the same things. A GP, consultant, naturopath, nutritionist, dentist or other practitioner may be highly knowledgeable within their own field, but that doesn’t mean they know everything about every aspect of health. And this matters enormously when you have a complex or unusual problem. You cannot look for what you don’t know exists. If a practitioner has never been taught about a particular condition, mechanism, test or treatment approach, it may never enter their thinking. This is true both in private medicine and the NHS. They may be super confident and genuinely believe they have investigated everything relevant - where, from another practitioner’s perspective, there are still important avenues left unexplored.
This can be particularly relevant where you are looking to find the root causes of a condition, rather than simply trying to squash the symptoms. This is not necessarily a reflection of their ability - it is simply a limitation of their training, experience and field of expertise. It can also be a reflection of the limitation of their intellectual curiosity.
The prospect of travelling for healthcare can feel daunting, particularly when someone is already dealing with persistent symptoms, uncertainty or previous disappointing experiences. Concerns about cost, time away from work or family, physical discomfort, accessibility and the possibility of receiving no clear answers may all make the person reluctant to travel. These concerns are understandable. However, when a problem is complex or unusual and local practitioners do not have relevant experience, seeking a specialist opinion at a distance may open the door to real progress. Before making travel arrangements, I recommend finding out as much as you can about the practitioner’s approach and treatment costs etc. In the case of the Good health Clinic, remote consultations are a good option. However, where relevant, I do refer patients for face to face consultations with other specialists I know who have specific expertise i.e. dentists, Ear Nose Throat surgeons, osteopaths, cardiologists, gastroenterologists where I think they would most benefit.
Some case examples include:
*Sally suffered from Chronic Fatigue/ME for years. After optimising her diet, testing for stealth infections and chronic immune suppression, I referred her to a Biological dentist as I suspected her 3 root canals were holding down her white blood cell count. Sally travelled from the West Country to London, had a Cone Beam Scan which showed several areas of tooth and jawbone infection. They were subsequently safely removed by the specialist dentist and Sally turned a corner in her healing journey and at last started to make progress with the right support.
*Jim had a mouthful of mercury fillings and had not felt well for years. After optimising his diet, test info chronic infections and providing the right nutritional support, Jim began to make progress but he still had a chronic metallic taste in his mouth and suffered from brain fog. I referred him to a Biological dentist about 100 miles away from his home for safe mercury amalgam replacement. I gave Jim the correct nutritional pre- and post- amalgam replacement support so things would go more smoothly. At the end of two months, Jim’s mouth was amalgam free and he began to feel the brain fog lifting. Jim then began gentle heavy metal detoxification and felt even better.
*Mark had had to have a large portion of his small intestine removed after a blood clot had blocked the main artery to his stomach. His survival had been touch and go. The problem post surgery was that he could no longer eat normally and needed intravenous feeding at night. He had an overactive stoma and was losing approximately 4 pints of fluid a day. This resulted in loss of electrolytes, particularly potassium, which made his heart stop for 26 minutes on one occasion. He was a difficult case and his consultant said the outlook was bleak as he would be on intravenous feeding for the rest of his life. I had heard of the pioneering work of Dr Gabe at St Mark’s Hospital, London (a centre of excellence for gastroenterology) and Mark had consultation with him and was accepted into the hospital for assessment. The outcome was that an excellent surgeon at St Mark’s managed to reverse the stoma so that Mark could eat normally and not have to lose pints of fluid each day. This could not have been done at Mark’s local hospital, and although mark had to spend several months at St Mark’s, the result was definitely worth it!
*Patrick is a young man in his early 30’s who had developed chronic fatigue and brain fog over a few years and had had to step back from a promising career outdoors that he really enjoyed. After optimising his diet, running some lab tests and getting a programme in place to address his underlying low grade infections and immune suppression, I saw that his tonsils looked swollen and inflamed and sent him to an ENT surgeon in London. Within a week, the offending tonsils had been removed. Within a month, Patrick began to feel significantly better and within 3 months, sufficiently well enough to resume his outdoors career.
All of the above patients are examples of people who had taken the decision to travel to find the help they needed the most. It was worth it to regain their health. They had to travel some distance simply because there isn’t a Biological dentist or ENT surgeon who knows about focal infections or safe removal of mercury amalgams in every major city in the UK. There are a handful only in the whole of the UK! Focal infections are local infections that are affecting the whole body’s health.
The message is simple. If you have a complex chronic condition, you may need to travel to consult the right person who can help. If you are not happy with the medical opinion you have, do your own research and get a second opinion, even if you have to travel to see that person. I have seen too many people fail to do this and not get well.
If you feel are experiencing complex chronic symptoms and wish to feel better, please get in touch with the Good Health Clinic on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com to request a free 30 minute Enquiry Call or book an appointment. Please note that an Enquiry call is not a consultation but an exploratory call to see if this is a clinical approach you wish to pursue.To your very good health,
Suzanne Jeffery (Nutritional Medicine Consultant)
M.A.(Oxon), BSc.(NMed), PGCE, GNC, BSEM, MNNA, CNHC
The Good Health Clinic at The Business Centre, 2, Cattedown Road, Plymouth PL4 0EG
Tel no: 07836 552936/ Answer phone: 01752 774755
Disclaimer:
All advice given out by Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic is for general guidance and informational purposes only. All advice relating to other health professionals’ advice is for general guidance and information purposes only. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information provided with other sources. Patients and consumers should review the information carefully with their professional health care provider. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by other practitioners and physicians. Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising therefrom.