I know it's partly my fault. Having booked a an older male doctor in a rural clinic, I wasn't expecting brilliance. However, I am also incredibly reluctant to stereotype, and there wasn't another appointment til next week. I knew what I wanted to ask. How bad could it be? It couldn't be as bad as the doctor who told me taking the pill was just like putting a different kind of petrol in the car, could it, or the one that told me that I was being paranoid to think that I might need a heart stress test without bothering to ask my family history. Turns out it was as bad as many other experiences I've had with male doctors. I am now refusing to book in with them unless it's an absolute emergency.

David (which may or may not be his real name) asks what he can do for me today. I start with the most simple thing first - I need to see an asthma specialist, because I don't want to take corticosteroids as a preventative. He looks at me. 'Why don't you just take a lower dose?'. I explain that I've been told mixed things by various General Practitioners from taking a break to lower dose to higher doses, and that from reading research online, I was worried it was causing me more harm than good. Asthmatics who take Symbicort are 6 times more likely to suffer a heart attack, for one. And it exacerbates anxiety.

He interrupts. 'You aren't likely to have a heart attack' he said. 'You aren't in the right demographic'. It's my turn to blink. Does no-one ask family history questions anymore? I tell him my sister had one at 38, and my father did despite excellent health. 'Oh,' he says. 'I will write you a referral. You do realise,' he says, 'that he is a private consultant and it costs?'. I look at my ugg boots with the smear of paint on them and my old jeans. I've come straight from the garden. I ignore him. I'm desperately trying not to judge him. He seems not suffer from this concern.

'Okay, but what do you think of the research that highlights these issues with oral cortisteroids?' I ask. He tells me - again - that I should just take a lower dose. Lest we continue to talk in circles, I nod, as if that's a fair enough suggestion. Which it isn't. I'm wondering what it is about men - okay, okay, some men - who have be be right, and couldn't possibly say: 'Let me check with my colleagues, as it's not my area of expertise'.

He suggests a mental health plan would be good for my anxiety. I have a lot on my plate at the moment. It is a fair call, though I'm reluctant to just rattle words around and talk to a counsellor that won't really get it. But I'm not doing great and I'll clutch at anything This plan gives you ten free counselling sessions courtesy of the government, with particular providers. Not the good clinic though. The plan will just drop it down a notch. From $280 dollars to $155. To talk to someone. I'll join the queue for it to be free. Wait a couple of weeks. 'Great' he says. 'But you'll need to book in next week to see someone to get the mental health plan.' I wonder why I can't do it now. I am here after all. He simply repeat that I need to book in to see somebody. This isn't what happened last time but I shrug and deal with it.

I then asked for another test , something more specific. He says that he will do an ordinary blood test. Thyroid, iron levels. Kidneys. I asked him how that would diagnose the thing that I'm worried about because I have particular symptoms (which he doesn't ask about). "You seem like a very intelligent woman", he says. "I will repeat myself. I will do this blood test and if that shows up anything we can go from there." Gritting my teeth, I ask him politely what that test might reveal in terms of my symptoms. He grits his teeth back. "Again, we'd do the blood test. You seem like an intelligent woman".

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In fact in the next five minutes he will tell me that I am an intelligent woman about 5 times. Perhaps this is because I tell him about the research paper that I had read, or that I showed a basic knowledge of my endocrine system. When telling my mother about this later she was as indignant as I. Quite likely, she suggested, what he actually meant was that you were being assertive and he didn't like that. I am my mother's daughter, and I had thought the same thing . In fact the he showed very little tolerance for my assertiveness or that I seem to know a little bit more then he would have liked me to. It was keeping him on his toes and he could not possibly admit that he wasn't sure of the answer. In fact the best thing to do was to get rid of me as quickly as possible and pass me on to somebody else.

'Have you tried deep breathing?' he offers. It is my term to interrupt him. I rattle off all of the mental health advice I have learnt over the years, including what they recommend on BuzzFeed - he's offering me advice that's easily accessible to anyone who can google. He raises his eyebrows. It seems I am affirming his view of me as an intelligent woman. Next I will be telling him I can cook and clean as well as read.

When I go to pay, the receptionist surely notices the look on my face. I tell her I need to book in for a mental health plan. She raises her eyebrows, but in quite a different way. The kind of look that says she understands what I have just been through. The kind of look that says you're not the only one dissatisfied with the bedside manner or the treatment by this particular doctor. She rolls her eyes. I laugh. "We can do better than that", she says. "How are you with young female doctors?"

I am fine with them, I say. I find them empathetic, diligent and attentive - and often, flexible thinkers who treat you as an equal. She agrees. She believes that it is because they have to prove themselves to be as good as men. I shake my head. We both know it's a weird world we live in that this is the state of things. She senses my disappointment and frustration that I have to book another unnecessary appointment , bulk bills me for this one (in Australia, this means that you aren't charged, instead of paying the subsidised fee - it's usually up to the doctor's discretion) and she ensures that I will be bulk billed for the next. I feel a bit better. At least someone there has understood the situation and shown empathy.

The appointment the following day is a very different one. I'm booked in to see my naturopath. She talks to me about new research, listens to my symptoms, asks if I have heard particular herbs and if I have used them, what I think of them. She offers her own story of extreme anxiety, which is identical to mine except for one detail only, the trauma which induced it. The physical sensations were the same. The sleepless nights period the weight on your chest. The tremors. The restlessness, the feeling that you were going to die, or that dying was preferable to this overwhelming physical sensation in the body. We are both nearly crying. She gets it.

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She gives me the number of a reiki specialist that she knows. She looks into my eyes to confirm what we suspect. It is extraordinary because she immediately can see what I have been self diagnosing and was trying to tell the doctor, who dismissed me outright because despite being an intelligent woman, it was he that had the knowledge. She gives me the herbs I need, plus another powder that has had good results in a private clinical trial in Sydney. She gives me her email address and books me in for a new appointment in six weeks time. She tells me that I can email her anytime if I have any questions, and if things get too bad that she will somehow fit me in, and that everything will be ok.

This incredible naturopath studied for years - biological science, herbal medicine, lifestyle coaching, botany, clinical practice and a plethora of other things that make her professional and knowledgeable when it comes to health. She is also studying to be a TCM doctor, in part because that title will enable her to allow people to get treated on a private health fund. This April, naturopathy was listed by the Australian government as one of the alternative practices that could no longer fall under a private health fund. This doesn't affect me as I don't have private health care. I believe, like she does, that go money is better saved instead and put towards where it is needed most - plus, we have a pretty good health care system in Australia. However, she knew of many families with private health care and children that would stop coming because they simply could not afford it even though they got more success and help from this alternative practice then their local mainstream doctor.

It's estimated that complimentary medicine is used by over two thirds of Australians, and well educated woman make up the greatest proportion of uses. Naturopathy welcomed a report into natural medicines by the government (who were looking at savings) becaus they presumed they'd be recognised for the work they do. How wrong they were.

Basically, they narrowed the scope of assessment down so much that naturopathy was bound to fail - they assesed ONLY English studies, disregarded studies that focused on PREVENTION rather than cure, only looked at studies in last 5 years, ignored studies that showed specific health outcomes like increased well being, better elf-esteem and decreased anxiety, and ignored the tools of their trade - that is, it ignored any naturopathy who used lifestyle education, nutritional supplementation and herbal medicine. It also ignored thousands upon thousands of privately funded studies that DID show the benefits of natural medicines, from curcumin to reishi to inositol to magnesium and many, many more.

How crazy is that? That's like judging a surgeon on how they talk to their patients and not their operating skills. And if my GP went under THAT study, he'd be struck off. Of course, big pharma is rubbing their hands - as they stand to benefit. More money for drugs. Yay.

Not only that, the media this absolute farce of an investigation generated meant that once again, naturopathy's reputation in the public eye is lowered. If you can't claim a rebate for it, and the government doesn't support it, most people won't see it as legit. They won't look into it further. Consider also the dangers of people using natural medicines without professional guidance - something the government advises against, yet in the same breath limits the very people who can do just that.

And this is at a time when we need natural medicines as a preventative more than ever.

Have you visited a naturopath? What is your experience?

 

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