The Mind and Body section of The West
Australian reports on a consultation with Dr Kitty Campion.
Lethargic and feeling lacklustre? Seeing a medical herbalist could be your cure. Maya Anderson tries it out.
Stressed out and stretched him, I felt exhausted when I visited medical herbalist Kitty Campion. Dr Campion is relatively new to Perth, arriving earlier this year to treat patients at the Perth Natural Medical Clinic. She graduated with the General Council Register of Consultant Medical Herbalists in England in 1979, received a PhD in natural healing in the US and later trained in Germany before founding the College of Herbs and Natural Healing in Britain. Dr Campion has also written nine books on medical herbalism and has additional training in iridology, bioresonance, Bowen therapy, reiki, Thai medical massage and counselling.
When I sat down for my consultation with Dr Campion, I was frazzled.
She starts a consultation by using body scan tests for a fast blueprint of a person's health, she then treats her clients with herbs and by excluding, as much as possible, contaminants that can disrupt a person's health.
She instantly made me feel at ease. The first step was a Vegatest screen. This checked my body's stimulus reaction and homed in on areas of stress in my body. It gave a snapshot of my health; pinpointing allergies, toxins, hormonal imbalances, food tolerances and infections.
My test indicated I had mental distress and heavy metal and pollutant toxins.
Dr Campion advised me think about decreasing lifestyle stress situations as I was headed for an emotional burnout. She then did a Vegacheck screen which showed areas of my body susceptible to disease and pinpointed things I had consumed in the past 48 hours that had not done my body any favours. It appeared coffee was my problem.
While the thought of going without coffee horrified me, after my consultation I followed Dr Campion's advice to stop drinking it. I felt much healthier, focused and more energized on the guarana Dr Campion's recommended instead.
She also noted that my pancreas was stressed, which explained my frequent stomach upsets. After beginning a prescribed herbal tonic, I noticed my digestive system calmed down and after two weeks tests showed my energy levels had increased by 10 per cent. It appeared I had hypoglycaemia and that giving into my daily 3pm cravings for chocolate and coffee was harmful as it caused my energy to spike and fall.
Dr Campion prescribed chromium tablets to regulate my blood sugar and advised me to eat something with protein every three hours to restore my balance.
My treatments with Dr Campion were a wake-up call for me to start changing my lifestyle and to step back from my tendency to overwork.
She showed me that unwinding and taking care of emotional health was just as important for the wellbeing as diet and exercise.
This article written by Maya Anderson appeared in The West Australian on 16 November 2010.
Read Dr Kitty Campion's profile.