Complex Chronic Conditions
Autoimmune Conditions, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Mystery Illnesses...
Have you been struggling with your health for a long time? Feeling like your world is shrinking? Not getting good answers or solutions no matter how many specialists or experts you see?
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Find out if we can help, book online here or contact us today.
Complex chronic health conditions affect many of us silently.
I should know, that was me for a long time. I tried to ignore and hide my autoimmune symptoms for years before finally getting on top of things.
These types of conditions can come in many shapes and sizes, but will share similarities such as:
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Difficult to diagnose and poorly understood
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Standard medical treatments are limited, often with unwanted potential side-effects
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Affect multiple body systems simultaneously
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Involve a web of symptoms that keep you feeling trapped and prevent you from fully engaging with life
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Can be invisible from the outside so that people may not realise something is wrong just from looking at you
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For some, you may be trying to get to the bottom of what’s going on with your body, but after doing the rounds of tests and specialists, still have no clear diagnosis or solutions.
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For others, you may have already received a diagnosis (or several), but have found this label has not come with the help you need to truly heal and start feeling better. Sometimes the diagnosis becomes our cage.
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Complex chronic conditions fall under labels such as:
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Autoimmune conditions in all of their manifestations
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Fibromyalgia
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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)
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Post-viral syndromes
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Lyme disease
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Toxicity from mould, heavy metals or other toxins
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Mystery illnesses with no diagnosis
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Each person will have their unique presentation, but often these conditions will involve a web of symptoms that can include any combination of chronic pain, migraines or headaches, extreme fatigue, concentration issues, memory loss, IBS or bowel irregularities, food allergies or sensitivities, insomnia, sensitivity to light/smells/touch/temperature, mood swings, and any number of other strange symptoms.
At times you can feel betrayed by your body. You feel stuck, unable to fully engage with life. Your world begins to shrink as you’re restricted in what you can do and where you’re willing to go.
Unfortunately these conditions can be so confusing that it’s hard to fit into a single diagnostic box or treat with medicines that merely seek to suppress symptoms.
It can be a scary and frustrating journey dealing with a complex chronic health condition. You find yourself scrambling to regain a sense of your old self.
You’re willing to try anything. Some things help, others don’t, then some just make you feel a whole lot worse.
Without the right guidance, the amount of information and different approaches out there can be overwhelming. Leaving you to jump from one promising treatment, technique or approach to the next, feeling like you never really get anywhere.
I made the same mistakes too, I know how totally overwhelming it can feel.
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A Different Approach To Complex Chronic Conditions
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I’ve learned a lot from my own experience having been diagnosed with two autoimmune conditions, and I continue to study and research in the hope to better guide others through the tangled maze of regaining their health.
The first important thing to understand when addressing these issues, is that each person has their own unique internal ecosystem. This ecosystem can get out of balance and dysregulated from a variety of causes. Once imbalance, this becomes holding patterns that keep a person in these patterns of illness.
Just because two people have fibromyalgia, does not mean that the same treatment or advice is appropriate for both of them. We have to treat a person as a whole person and what’s going on for them, not just as a diagnosis or set of symptoms.
The second important thing to understand is timing.
When things are complex and multiple systems are affected simultaneously, it helps to have an order of operations to what we do in treatments and what advice is given, as well as realistic expectations around how long things can take to change.
Timing is a largely overlooked part of healing - the best treatment at the wrong time, is still the wrong treatment.
Based on Chinese medicine theory, I utilise a 4-5 stage model to help us navigate your healing journey:
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Stage 1 Immune system
Stage 2 Gut microbiome
Stage 3 Nervous system
Stage 4 Blood circulation
Stage 5 Supplementation (if needed)
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It’s not always a linear progression for everyone and there are overlaps between stages, but it helps us to match the appropriate treatments and advice according to where you’re at.
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I wish I had this framework at the beginning of my own journey. Since learning it, making sense of all of the different treatments and approaches out there, and where/when they might fit in, has become much easier.
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If we do things out of order like focusing too much on supplementation when there is gut dysbiosis, we may just end up feeding the harmful gut bugs. Or if we focus too much on physical exercise when there are lingering pathogens that our immune system is struggling with, you will probably just end up feeling more sick and tired.
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If you’re looking for a fresh perspective on your health, or you’re just sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, please reach out with any questions or book online here.
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Acupuncture Grove in Bondi Sydney services areas such as Bondi Junction, Bondi Beach, Coogee, Clovelly, Bronte, Waverly, Randwick, Maroubra, Double Bay, Watson's Bay, Vaucluse and surrounding Sydney suburbs