What I have learnt from many years of experiencing challenging symptoms such as migraines, IBS, chronic back pain and fatigue, is that very often the conventional medical approach is limited to administering medications, which can suppress symptoms but do not address the root causes of why these conditions come about in the first place. They also often have unwanted side effects, which the body needs to cope with on top of the original symptoms, and this is especially challenging for highly sensitive people like me.

Recovering successfully from 20 years of chronic fatigue and pain for me meant using a holistic approach, sometimes known as a bio-psycho-social approach, looking at things like my lifestyle, diet, gut health and stress management. Once I found the right approach, I was able to implement changes to how I was thinking, eating and living my life and I experienced a full recovery as a result of these changes.

You may be familiar with Dr Rangan Chatterjee. A GP of over 20 years, he is a huge advocate of this approach and has helped many patients to live their lives free of chronic symptoms using it. He recognises that doctors do not usually have the training or resources to help people with their stress or diet and he is training GPs in lifestyle medicine to help them to feel more equipped, but due to time restraints in NHS appointments, he is encouraging people to learn about the benefits of Health Coaching. Some Health and Wellbeing Coaches are now available in doctor’s surgeries in the UK, which is a great step forward. Having these sessions gives people the time to be heard and to reflect on and plan how self-care can be improved. Simple steps forward can reap profound results and lead to people feeling empowered to help themselves, instead of feeling helpless and reliant on a doctor (who often feels quite helpless too).

During my recovery journey, I trained as a Health Coach in 2020 and adding this to my 20 years of experience in Mind-Body therapy has been amazing. I've also completed specialist training to support recovery from Chronic Fatigue and other exhaustive conditions such as Long Covid and Fibromyalgia.

Dr Chatterjee is on the advisory panel of the UK and International Health Coaching Association. As an affiliate member of the UKIHCA, I’m passionate about empowering people to take steps to make positive changes in their lives for the benefit of their health and wellbeing, with the support of Health Coaching.

Learning to listen to what the body is trying to tell you is a crucial part of recovery. Often we are too busy to slow down, stop, or pay attention to what is going on in our lives and the impact it is having on us. Sometimes our body is trying to get our attention, but we just see the symptoms as a nuisance, something making our lives harder, instead of tuning in to the message behind them.

If you are familiar with the work of Louise Hay, you will know that she wrote a ground-breaking book called “You Can Heal Your Life” on this very topic. Often our pain is an expression of suppressed emotions. Dr John Sarno also has written a lot on this subject too and reading his thought-provoking books “Healing Back Pain” and “The Mind Body Connection” was a game changer for me.

We know for a fact that our minds and bodies are linked. When we get anxious thoughts, we experience physical disturbances such as digestive issues. The brain is a very powerful tool (the placebo affect demonstrates this) and this power can be harnessed to make real biological changes to our physical health (consider reading Bruce Lipton’s “The Biology of Belief”  if you’re not sure about this).

If you are struggling with chronic symptoms such as chronic fatigue/pain, auto-immune conditions, migraines, IBS or anxiety, with no end in sight, why not consider a different approach?

I offer a free 30 minute discovery call to tell you more about how the mind-body approach can help you get to the bottom of what is causing symptoms and get you on the road to healing.

You can sign up here: https://wendy-day-wellbeing.kit.com/d6ba080bc5

Wishing you all the best for your health and wellbeing,

Wendy x x