What to expect in your first consultation
A detailed walkthrough of your first visit, from the questionnaires before you come in to your treatment and follow-up.
If you'd like a long first appointment that looks at your health from both a biomedical and a Chinese medicine point of view, and you're ready to put time and effort into it, this is the kind of care I offer.
Before you arrive: detailed questionnaires
Before I can help you, I need to know all about you! So before your first consultation, I'll email you a set of very detailed questionnaires. Please allow up to 2 hours to fill them in, and send them back at least 72 hours before our appointment, so I have time to go through your answers and come up with great recommendations for you.
They ask about every part of your health: your symptoms, emotions, lifestyle and diet, so I can start thinking about how to help you before I even see you. When you email them back, please also send scanned copies of any relevant pathology or radiology reports.
Part 1: your health history (60 to 75 minutes)
When you come and see me, I'll start by clarifying your health concerns and getting even more detail from you. If you've emailed me pathology or radiology reports, this is when I'll go through them with you and explain what your results mean. This takes 60 to 75 minutes of the up to 180 minutes we have.
Part 2: a full physical examination
Face and eye examination
I'll start by looking at your face: your complexion, nose, ears and eyes. I may also look at your irises (iridology, a traditional constitutional assessment) and ask about times in your life when you were under a lot of emotional or physical stress.
Tongue diagnosis
Next, I'll ask to look at your tongue. If you usually scrape your tongue in the morning, please don't do it on the day you see me. Your tongue tells me a lot about what's happening in your body. I look at its colour, shape and coating.
Hand and pulse examination
Then I'll examine your hands. I'll feel the temperature of your fingers, hands, wrists and arms, and check the colour of your nail beds. Next I'll take the pulses at both wrists, which tell me more about how your body is working from a Chinese medicine point of view. After that, I'll feel for lumps and bumps along the acupuncture channels of your hands and forearms.
Abdominal examination
After your pulses, I'll ask you to lie down so I can look at and feel your abdomen. I look at it first from the side and then from above, and check the temperature of different areas. Then I feel it, first with a light touch and then with firmer pressure, to find any tender spots.
Leg examination
To finish the examination, I'll look at the colour of your legs and check for varicose or spider veins and swelling. I'll feel the temperature of different parts of your legs and press in a few places to check for swelling and your pulses. Last, I'll feel for lumps and bumps along the acupuncture channels of your feet and lower legs.
Part 3: assessment and recommendations
After the examination, I'll give you my assessment of your health concerns and my recommendations. If they're needed, this is when I'll suggest any pathology or functional tests that could clarify your symptoms. I'll explain what's happening in your body from both a western and a Chinese medicine point of view. Then I'll give you diet and lifestyle recommendations, and any herbal or nutritional supplements if they're needed. Where it would help, I'll also refer you to other health practitioners I work with for other parts of your health.
Part 4: treatment and follow-up
To finish our first consultation, I'll do one of three things: make up your herbal formula, if you need one (about 20 minutes); explain any supplements that might help, why, and what they cost, so you can decide (about 20 minutes); or give you an acupuncture treatment (about 30 minutes).
Then I'll book your first follow-up, either for acupuncture or to see how you're going with the diet and lifestyle changes and any supplements or herbs. It's usually 7 to 14 days after your first consult. Before then, I'll check in with you by SMS 3 days after your initial consultation.
As you can see, our first consultation is jam-packed, and the aim is for you to leave with a much clearer picture of what may be going on and what you can do about your health concerns.
How long might care take?
It's the question almost everyone asks, and it's a good one. The honest answer is that it depends, because many things affect how soon your health improves after any kind of treatment. Here are the main ones.
How quickly it started
As a rough rule, minor problems that come on quickly, like a cold, tend to settle sooner. Most people get over a cold within a few days. (A sudden or severe new symptom always needs prompt medical care.)
How long you've been unwell
The longer you've had a health problem, the longer your body usually takes to recover. Long-term illness can bring physical and structural changes in the body. Some of these take time to improve, and some can't be reversed, or only with surgery or another physical treatment.
The kind of health concern
Some problems, like the common cold, settle quickly. Long-standing or complex health concerns affect the body in more ways, so they usually take longer.
Quick relief and lasting change
It's often quicker to feel some relief from symptoms than to make bigger changes, such as new eating habits, better sleep or losing weight. Those take time. Chinese medicine looks at the whole person, including your sleep, diet, stress and how your body is going overall.
Other things that make a difference
Every kind of health care has its strengths. Some suit muscle and joint problems better, and others suit complex medical problems better. Choosing the right kind of care, and the right practitioner within it, matters.
How you go also depends on how closely you can follow your plan: taking any herbs or supplements as advised, sticking with the diet and lifestyle changes, and coming back for follow-ups so I can see how you're going and adjust your care.
Some of these things are in your control and some aren't. Knowing roughly how long care might take helps you prepare, mentally, emotionally and financially, for the treatment ahead. At your first consultation, I'll give you my honest view of what to expect in your situation. No one can promise how quickly, or how much, things will change, and I won't.
If this sounds like the kind of care you've been looking for, send a booking request and I'll be in touch.
Request a booking