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Resistance to Seek Support

by Tansy Boggon

We may resist support for many reasons based on our beliefs and past experiences. Keep looking for those health professionals that ‘get’ you.

Recently, I was talking to someone about the resistance to committing to making an appointment to see a nutritionist or another health professional.

Often, with regard to making an appointment, people feel they need to be ‘ready’ and fear being told what to do or not to do. They fear not liking the recommendations or having to commit to the change. They fear having someone reveal the behaviours that they know aren’t healthy.

I like to put clients at ease by explaining this is not how I work.

After this conversation, I reflected on the resistance I might feel in seeing another health professional. I reflected on how it feels to be prescribed medications or supplements I don’t want to take. How it feels to not know whether the individual I seek advice from is on the same wavelength as me and whether they will listen to and understand me. Or whether they will be able to get to the root cause of my issues and be empathetic to my situation.

I’ve been told by two doctors over ten years that the hormonal symptoms I was experiencing were ‘in my head’. I’ve been given medications by doctors who have admitted they don’t know what I have but will rule out certain issues by giving me an antifungal or antibacterial, and if that doesn’t work, then try something else. I did not like feeling like a human petri dish or being dismissed when I knew things weren’t right. I’ve been told by alternative health practitioners to eat foods I didn’t enjoy to address nutritional deficiencies that weren’t even confirmed through diagnostics.

I know how frustrating and demotivating it can be to see practitioners who don’t listen or ‘get’ you.

Finding someone who ‘gets’ you and approaches your health in a way you want can be liberating.

For example, I found it comforting when I saw a doctor for a fever and sore throat that had persisted for longer than a week when I first arrived in Singapore, who tested my throat for bacteria rather than giving me an antibiotic immediately. When the results came back negative, I was supported in exploring alternative courses of action.

Only you, as the client or patient, know what you will and won’t do. The power to make change is yours. The final decision is always yours.

We may resist support for many reasons based on our beliefs and past experiences. However, I encourage you to keep looking for those individuals who can support you as the individual that you are.

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