I guess you could be wondering why I’ve changed my IG handle from @still_on_that_boat to @thehealthrecoverycoach? Well, firstly I’m finally, after 15 years, off that god dammed boat which is honestly something I was starting to think would never actually happen. I’d almost started to accept that I’d just have vertigo for the rest of my life which was a rather sobering thought. Vertigo, for anyone lucky enough never to have experienced it, is one of the most awful symptoms on the planet. Its a sensation of spinning or the world tipping, or as the name of this site suggests a sensation of being on a rocky boat. It’s horrendous, like torture and it is totally invisible to everyone around you which means that it is an illness that makes it very isolating for you – well, until it becomes so bad that you collapse – people tend to notice that something is a bit off then. You can literally be in your own personal rocking hell, without balance you can’t move, you can’t focus, you can’t function. Meanwhile everyone around you tries to tell you how to deal with this symptom that most have never experienced with stellar advice like ‘Just push through’, ‘Have you tried yoga?’ and the old classic, ‘Just be more positive’ to name but a few. The reality was that the only thing that calmed the vertigo down was staying still and resting for hours, days, sometimes weeks – whatever it took. If I did try and “push through” my body would just take over and collapse on the floor.

I ‘lived’ like that for well over 12 years until for a number of reasons (I need another blog entry to cover that) it gradually started to settle down and one day eventually the attacks became so few and far between I almost forgot that it could happen. I say almost, as I don’t think I’ll ever quite forget something that ruled my life for so long.

Now to the next part. Why the Health Recovery Coach I hear you ask? My health has improved so much so that I’d love to share all that I have learnt, and there is a lot, in this space to help others start to reclaim their lives. A bit about me that you probably didn’t know is that I was in health care before I became sick. I was a Junior Doctor and I really thought that I had a fairly good understanding of how the human body worked…until mine broke of course and I realised it wasn’t quite so simple. I have developed this knowledge over the course of my illness, learning from a number of practitioners both Western and Alternative and perhaps, even more so, with my own journey and research into what actually worked for me. I think completing my Integrative Health Coaching course is the culmination of that journey with many aspects confirming what I had discovered from my own health experiences.

I definitely lost myself along the way, putting my trust into people that maybe didn’t quite deserve it and totally ignored what my body was trying to tell me. I certainly didn’t need the 127 tablets I was taking daily at one point or the advice given by an ENT consultant to undertake ballet classes! I started to make subtle and slow shifts in my health when I had the realisation that my body held many of the answers that I needed to help me heal – my body didn’t want to be in bed 23 out of the 24 hours a day. You have to start trusting yourself again, take back your control and begin to understand what your body needs most. I’ve learnt that we are all individual – there is no one magic bullet to cure all – but there are fundamental strategies that we can all harness to improve our well being.

I still have to be very careful with my energy. I’d say that I’ve got the Chronic Lyme Disease in remission but it has left me with residual CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) symptoms. I have to pace my energy, listen to my body and rest when it tells me to.

So, shortly I will be embarking on the really exciting journey of offering my services to others to help overcome their health problems, in particular energy limiting illnesses. This site will remain active as I feel its a good record of how far I’ve come – from rotting in bed thinking that I had no future, to walking my dog Alfie over the fields. It’s been quite the journey and I’m thrilled that I’m finally off that boat!!!!! I’ve had practitioners try and help me before and I knew in my heart that they didn’t really understand my level of fatigue and desperation. If you’ve ever been so exhausted that the two metre trek to the bathroom felt like a full marathon – and you briefly considered just staying put – then trust me, I’m the woman for you. Get in touch and lets recover your health together.

Please stay tuned for www.thehealthrecoverycoach.com which will be coming very soon.