As a clinical naturopath (ANPA) I help people recover from illness. That can be acute infection or chronic illness or physical trauma.
Also, as a clinical hypnotherapist (AHA) psychotherapist and registered mental health professional (PACFA) this may also include the recovery from mental illness. You may even get health fund rebates.
As a clinician your physical and mental health is my passion. We all experience illness at some stage but you may not really know what you need to do to recover.
Simply taking medication or having surgery alone addresses your immediate needs. Recovery, however, takes longer and requires more consideration. It’s practically recognised in post-surgery as convalescence. (1)
Avoiding chronic illness
We live in a very highly pressured world that seems to move very fast and creates great demands on us. In some countries, but not all, if you are employed you may get sick pay when you are ill. The length of that sick pay can be a few days to a month.
If you are on a contract or self-employed, you may not get any sick pay. This means there is pressure on you to get back to work as soon as possible so you can pay your bills.
The difference between being acutely ill and recovering from illness is that you may be able to go back to work even when you have not fully recovered.
The problem here however is sometimes if you are not fully recovered you can develop chronic illnesses and render yourself susceptible to other illnesses.
Also, everyone’s behavior is different so you need support plans to prevent a relapse and manage getting well. Recovery from chronic illnesses need to be individually tailored. (2)
Is my employer being fair when I’m sick?
The reality is your employer is running a business. If they’re not making money, no one gets paid, and you can end up without a job, particularly in small business.
It’s not that they are generally greedy or ruthless, but their first duty is to the survival of the business so everyone can get paid.
Your employer wants you to be the be well and happy because then you’re more productive. (3)
Happy people in happy companies, work harder, produce better results and help grow the business. So, your employer must do a balancing act, getting you back to work as soon as possible, but only when you can do your job.
Recouperation from illness
There are two phases of recovery for any illness. The first is recovery from the acute stage of bacterial or viral infections or physical trauma. This takes you out of the crisis stage which may include remedial intervention or a stay in hospital.
In the case when you have physical trauma like breaking a bone or physical trauma that opens wounds or damages organs so recovery may be complex.
That second stage is recovery of your strength, stamina and vigor so that you can restore your ability to lead a full life. This may take much longer even though you may be able to return to work.
If you were weak before the illness both stages would take longer, and it will be more difficult to recover.
One of the challenges that patients often face, with multiple practitioners involved in their care, is that the thread of care can be lost due to lack of interdisciplinary or staff change over miscommunications. (4)
Why is resting so important in healing for illness?
In naturopathic medicine we talk about a person’s vital force (life force). We must invest our time and effort after illness in not only rebuilding that life force but also maintaining it on a daily and weekly basis.
If your vital force is low, you are more likely to get sick, stay ill and have less resilience to recover.
Having rest time in your daily schedule, as well as good sleep, allows your immune system to be strong in present and create defenses against future infection.
It allows and activates cellular repair, which is when you dead dying cells are eliminated, new cells are generated and the damaged part of your body get repaired, renewed and rebuilt.
What can help you recover?
- Cancel unnecessary commitments for a few weeks
- Catnaps throughout the day help restore your strength
- Ask for help from others
- Eat exquisitely well with as much fruit and greens as you can
- See a medical nutritionist for help you with supplements
- Go to bed early and get up with the sun or later if you need to rest more
- Get 8-to-10 hours sleep
- See a herbalist to help restore you strength.
- Spend time just for you where you do something you enjoy
- Practice daily self-hypnosis or meditation
Your aim is to restore a balanced lifestyle including you mental health.
Why it is as important to recover mentally as well as physically?
There is no separation between mind and body as you are all one person. Your body affects your mind and mind affects your body.
The more stressed you are is the more likely you are to be ill and have greater difficulty recovering from illness. When you are calm, your body heals faster.
So, in restoring the balance of health you need to take care of them both together at the same time. We know this from studies that have observed how faster patients’ health recover under holistic circumstances, so I practice a holistic approach to your recovery. (5)
Dr Tracie O’Keefe, BHSc, ND Clinical Naturopath, Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist, Naturopath & Medical Nutritionist and Orthomolecular Practitioner, PACFA Registered Mental Health Professional. You can visit the clinic or connect by zoom anywhere in the world. Telephone 0403 398808
References
(1) Hollenbeck, B. K., Dunn, R. L., Wolf, J. S., Sanda, M. G., Wood, D. P., Gilbert, S. M., Weizer, A. Z., Montie, J. E., & Wei, J. T. (2008). Development and validation of the convalescence and recovery evaluation (CARE) for measuring quality of life after surgery. Journal of Urology, 180(1), 229-235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2008.03.024
(2) Kralik, D., Koch, T., Price, K., & Howard, N. (2013). The over time development of chronic illness self-management patterns: A longitudinal qualitative study. BMC Public Health, 13, 452. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-452
(3) Iyer, P. (2020, May 7). Happier staff bring greater profits. The Australian. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-deal-magazine/happier-staff-bring-greater-profits/news-story/77610c02d0fcc6bf98733be996565960
(4) Chien, L. J., Slade, D., Dahm, M. R., Brady, B., Roberts, E., Goncharov, L., Taylor, J., Eggins, S., & Thornton, A. (2021). Improving patient-centred care through a tailored intervention addressing nursing clinical handover communication in its organizational and cultural context. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 78(2), 453-463. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15110
(5) Del Rosso, A., & Maddali-Bongi, S. (2015). Mind-body therapies in rehabilitation of patients with rheumatic diseases. Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology, 29(1), 152-163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.berh.2015.03.019
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