Gut Brain Glow Up

I think it's safe to say that everyone has heard of 'legalese' - the seemingly whole new language you need to know in order to understand anything about the law. Having had a fair few consultant appointments now, I think it's safe to say there is also 'medicalese'!  I can't count the number of times I've come out of a consultation and googled a phrase or word that has been said in the consultation but I've not had the presence of mind or nerve to ask what it meant. This is where I think that us non-medics are faced with the challenge of not fully understanding the language of the medical world. Yes it's easy to say 'just ask if you're not sure!' but if you're anything like me then your trying to absorb what's being said at the time. Appointments can also feel very pressured in that we only have a limited amount of time to go over 101 things, especially if you've been waiting months for that single appointment. This means y...

As the saying goes: 'everyday is a school day', and it certainly feels like that lately.  Why, you may ask; well after almost 12 months from being referred, I finally had a consultation with the Gut-Lead Hypnotherapy Team, and it was enlightening. Before I get into the feedback, I'll quickly explain about the team and my understanding of who they are. From what I have gathered, the team is led by a Gastroenterologist who has taken another step further in their specialism, and focuses on the gut brain connection and associated issues. This has meant a dedicated team has been set up to research the effects and deliver tailored hypnotherapy for those struggling with issues such as Gut Brain Disconnect (GBD). I say research because I believe the clinic is associated with a large university and has been the centre of many successful trials. So what was the enlightening moment from this chat? Well, I have now learned that GBD is an umbrella term for 22 (yes 22!) different types o...

It's amazing how much we talk about motivation everyday; whether it's the motivation to start a task that's been hanging about for a while, or simply the motivation to get up in the morning, motivation is in everything we do. I think you may get drunk quickly if you take a shot for each mention of 'motivation' this week! No matter how big or small a task may be, if you haven't got the motivation to do it then it suddenly becomes a mountain the size of Everest. Some days we can wake up with all the motivation in the world and get loads done, other days the tank is empty, and that's ok. Where motivation can really start to waver though, is when you have been doing something repeatedly over a long time; the first few maybe great and you feel super motivated to do it, but after a while of doing the same thing over and over it becomes tedious, and getting the umph to do it becomes harder and more draining. This is where I start to realise that there are many diff...

After a much needed week away, I thought I'd come back this week with a progress update. I'd like to say that everything is hunky dorey and on a constant path upward, but frustratingly recovery doesn't seem to work like that...!  I'm not saying that I haven't improved, that would be silly, as a quick think back to this time last year would prove me instantly wrong; however, I have gone into a progress plateau (with a small step backwards) following a long period of consistent improvement. I guess it would be naive to think this wouldn't happen but I prefer to think of it as hopeful. I imagine there's a lot of people out there who have felt this frustration and found it hard to find reasons as to why this may be. I found it took having another check in with the GP to start to have a few tangible reasons as to why - mainly that I've been over doing it (no surprises there, that push through mentality raising it's head again). There is another reason tho...

In the final part of my relationships series, I'm ending on what are probably the most formative relationships we have: family. Family can either be something that is your biggest supporter, or part of your issue; for me it's a bit of both. I wouldn't say there has been a seismic shift in the relationship with my family, but I feel the biggest alteration is that I've become a 'worry' in more than a simple familial bond way. There's also this sudden pressure that I feel to be constantly improving, and when I'm not, or I've taken a step backwards, it feels as though I've let them down and I'm not getting better fast enough for them. Part of this maybe true, as they just want me back to 'me', but a lot of the time it's also pressure from myself to get better. There's also the inevitable questions of 'when are you going to do x, or why aren't you doing z' that come with complicated feelings and I just find myself autom...

Friends are a huge part of life; they come in many forms, some are actually aquaitances who will fizzle out, some are found through joint experience, you may find some who are simply there for a good time until life gets serious, and then there are true friends. True friends are the family we choose, they're there when you need them, they're honest with you, and you know that no matter what you can always count on them, even if it's been a while since you last caught up. True friends are those friends you don't see often, let alone regularly message with, but when you do it's as though no time has past and you're picking right up where you left off. I'm very lucky in that I have a core collective of true friends who have stuck with me through the good and bad, the poor boyfriend choices and the years I had an awful fringe; they've also unknowingly got me through and made life worth living when I've had my darkest times.  In this day and age where eve...

 Last week I mentioned how I've had to take a step back from work and career in order to focus on my health, so it seemed fitting to talk about our relationship with work/colleagues and how putting your health first can impact you in more ways than one.  I imagine that most people reading this have had a moment of realisation that perhaps their work life balance isn't the best. Work life balance seems to be something that alot of us talk about and are aware of but aren't always that motivated, or perhaps able, to do something about. For me, I figured this out a little too late when my body was already trying to warn me (cue losing my voice for 3 years and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), and my husband trying to encourage me to finish on time more often than I did. Now, before anyone gets the wrong impression, work was not the cause of my issues, this was already long embedded in my system, but the associated stress (normally created by myself for being a perfectionist and people...