My Osteopath

I first went to see her to get some help with my migraines, which I have had since I was 11 years old. This was before I had my first child, after which I had started to collapse. She started by taking a history of my medical conditions and then did some work on my neck and upper back.

I came away feeling so much better but it was well over a year before I went again. This was because I had had a very unhelpful appointment at my local hospital about my vasovagal syncope, at which the doctor had told me the condition wasn't life threatening and I would simply have to live with it! I was so upset.

My husband suggested I should called my Osteopath, which I did and got an appointment. She was very intrrested in my condition and we had a long chat about what had been happening.

She treated me again and I went a full 16 days before I collapsed again. It was the longest I had gone, so I started seeing her every two weeks. I was still collapsing but it would be about 10 days after treatment that I would start collapsing again.

However, it soon got too expensive to see her twice a month, so we went to monthly appointments.

I found that just having that half hour every month was very relaxing and helped me a lot. Not only was I collapsing less often, it was also nice to open up to someone who was not close to the situation.

I loved having that half hour of peace and calm after a stressfull month of collapsing and not going out unless the children or I had a doctor's appointment. I don't drive (and wouldn't have been allowed to anyway because of my condition) so if I did ever go out I had to walk.

We used to live in a top floor flat at the top of a very steep hill, and going out was always a worry in case I collapsed. The route down the hill into town was along a busy round and if I did collapse there, the children's buggy would have continued down the hill and straight into any traffic that was coming along. So for most of the time I just stayed inside all day in our tiny flat.

Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing but I couldn't risk my children's safety if I collapsed on a road.

Going to see my Osteopath helped the stress of it all. The 'pummelling' as I call it, was good also and so was the chat.

I still see my Osteopath evey month even though I have not collapsed since having my pacemaker implanted.