My healthcare journey started as a child, when I realised it was an effort to keep up with my peers. My school career was hampered by frequent absences that the medical profession couldn’t explain. I was often tired and experienced a consistent array of symptoms that didn’t seem to fit neatly into a particular diagnosis.
It wasn’t until I was nineteen that I discovered I had Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, a genetic condition. EDS weakens the connective tissue, which means that symptoms can arise in pretty much any organ.
It Got Worse Before It Got Better…
I had to withdraw from my bricks and mortar university and transferred my credits to an online university. My symptoms meant that I spent a period of time unable to leave my house. The emotional toll of living a life dictated by my condition was enormous.
I tried many interventions to improve my health. Eventually, I rehabilitated myself after finally finding the right medical support. I then made gradual progress by incorporating exercise and dietary changes into my routine, alongside talking and complementary therapies.
…But Then It Did Get Better
Ten years after the diagnosis, I now understand my condition and how to manage it. I have developed the type of self-awareness that most people with a chronic condition eventually do. My life now resembles the ‘norm’ I was striving for when I was ill and I finally made it to where I wanted to be.
I recently visited the Scottish Highlands in my campervan. During the trip, I found myself reflecting back on a few years ago, when I was too unwell to leave my bed. At the time, I never thought I’d see life outside my house again. And yet here I was, feeling immense gratitude as I watched a pair of eagles swoop and soar over the crest of a mountain.
I never thought I’d experience life like this again, standing on the edge of a mountain, overlooking the Scottish Highlands.
Healing Is Not Linear
My journey to better health was a process of trial and error. I tried countless interventions which didn’t work and were costly. It shouldn’t have been so difficult to find the right support in the first place.
The work we do at the Private Practice Hub seeks to address this issue. We know from personal experience how time consuming and expensive it can be to find a successful approach to managing your health. We also know that the process of finding suitable treatment can be fraught.
Our Mission Is to Create a Practitioner Directory You Can Trust, Specialising in All Aspects of Healthcare and Wellbeing
We want to provide you with as much information as possible regarding our practitioners, so that you can make an informed decision. We want to reduce the time you spend experimenting with your healthcare so that you don’t have to invest money and other resources on interventions that may not work for you.
To make our vision a reality, we use the Short Assessment of Patient Satisfaction (SAPS) survey to standardise patient feedback. We use these assessments to compile reliable rating metrics for the practitioner, measuring treatment satisfaction, explanation of treatment results, clinician care, participation in medical decision making, respect from the clinician, time with the clinician, and satisfaction with hospital/clinic care.
We are also personally reviewing products and interventions that may be beneficial to you as a health consumer, patient or loved one seeking solutions to problems you can relate to.
Our vision is currently in its infancy. We have made recent changes to the Private Practice Hub so that clients can now review their practitioners. It’s exciting to see our vision grow, and I hope it will help enable people experiencing a difficult time with their health (as I know all too well!) to find a swiffer resolution.
We Would Love to Hear Stories of Your Healthcare Journey
Please get in touch if you would like to share your experience anonymously, or indeed if there are conditions, areas or products you would like us to cover for you.
