Which holistic therapy would be best do you reckon?

[spacedonkey]

I seem to be feeling very run down and suffering from numerous minor ailments following a major period of depression over the last year. I have a feeling that, rather than go to my GP about each individual ailment, I might be better seeing someone like a homeopath or acupuncturist for a more holistic approach.

Any ideas, suggestions or recommendations?

Reiki.

Works on balancing your whole body. If nothing else you should find it fantastically relaxing which can only be a good thing

I went to Reiki, I don't know how it works but it's soooo relaxing, I fell better since the consultations thought there'sstill a long way ahead.

fell?????? feel!

does reiki work on a similar principle to acupuncture?

I think the relaxation aspect alone would be extremely therapeutic for me as anxiety is a big problem for me at the moment.

Any recommendations for reiki practitioners in London?

i don't think you can beat a good massage. if you can narrow it down to something specific you can get referred to a homeopath on the nhs, which is the way i'd prefer to do it.

I've got skin problems and a persistent bladder infection that keeps coming back. I'm very anxious and I smoke too much. I do eat healthily though. I'd like to give up smoking but I think in the short term that could stress me out even more!

Or a herbalist. I visited a herbalist many years ago when in a similiar position to you - many minor ailments which added up to making me feel seriously crap!

He looked in my eyes and did something called Irisology (sp?) before telling me what was wrong with me. He was amazing - pin pointed all the major times of stress in the previous 2 years and tied all my ailments into them.

The stuff he prescribed was disgusting - foul tasting liquid and massive green horse tablets. I had 2 weeks of really bad skin (he warned me) whilst all the toxins came out and afterwards felt amazing. Would love to visit him again but he retired a few years ago and I haven't tracked anyone else down locally. Highly recommend the treatment though.

i met a pretty convincing gp recently who claims good results using hypnotherapy to help his patients stop smoking..would you like me to get in touch with him for you? also there's a fabulous masseuse at work but i'm not sure if she does stuff outside the bbc...

ooh lou33 was telling me how accurate iridology can be when we discussed this earlier on, ta! Herbalist sounds good. I'll go and consult my yellow pages.

yes please bundle. I wondered if hypnotherapy could help with the anxiety as well as the smoking.

(btw, if you have any kidney or liver problems i would avoid herbalists because of potential toxicity problems, as i believe the dosage is difficult to control)

spacedonkey, i'm sure it could help. i am a pretty sceptical person but i felt a bit like i was looking into helterskelter eyes (in jungle book??) when i was just talking to this guy...

ah! ok, will bear that in mind

the confused was about the herbalist thing btw!

like the sound of mad googly eyes

hello donkey

hello bundle

One of my problems was kidney related. The herbalist was fully aware of it and just amended his prescription accordingly. Suppose it would depend on how good the herbalist is though.

trusssssssssssssst in meeeeeeeeeee...........

I haven't even signed up with a new GP since I moved. I'd like to find one that is sympathetic to holistic approaches though. I'm in south west London now if anyone knows of a good un

this is the thing SG, I don't like the idea of just pulling someone at random out of the yellow pages. I'd rather get a recommendation from a trusted source. I.e. mumsnet!

Hello lou btw

saintgeorge, i meant because you cannot analyse what is in each individual plant/batch you cannot accurately monitor the dosage like you can conventional medicines. but i suppose i'm thinking about about chinese herbalists, with big wodges of twigs/leaves. i personally wouldn't take the risk.

hello lou.

yeeeessssss - trusssssssssssssst in meeeeeeeeeeeeeee........... it was exactly like that ("sceptical hard-headed journo type gets pulled in by googly eyes" shocker)

Yes Reiki... treats everything, known and unknown (to the person suffering from it!).. and absolutely no negative effects whatsoever for anyone.

SJ x

I went to a kinesiologist and was balanced by her (severe imbalance before ). She picked up various areas of old trauma and fixed them and told me what minerals I was deficient in and which foods I was intolerant to. I have lost 1st 4lbs since eliminating those things from my diet. Can thoroughly recommend it

bundle - agree about chinese herbalism, they use some incredibly potent stuff. The guy I saw was a traditional English herbalist and spent ages grinding up stuff and making a fresh batch of tablets for me, so I assume the dosage was as accurate as he could make it. He was also very specific about instructions for checking urine colour and even gave me a colour chart for comparison. Not that I needed it - I think if my wee turned blue or red I would notice without help from a chart!

sd - tru about the yellow pages! Unfortunately I am at the wrong end of the country to recommend anyone but hopefully someone will be more helpful

thanks all for your ideas. Any recommendations for particular practitioners/GPs would be very welcome