I was always a sickly child. Although I enjoyed sports, particularly swimming, as a child, I would regularly fall ill with upper respiratory tract infections. When I was 12, I was diagnosed with a heart condition (Atrial Septal Defect) which resulted in heart surgery to seal the hole, followed by 3 years where I was not allowed to do sport. I quickly put on weight and turned my attention to music and reading. In adulthood, the frequent infections, palpitations, migraines, stomach cramps and high blood pressure resulted in very frequent visits to doctors, and far too many tablets to swallow each day.

I have always been passionate about learning, and a number of years ago I started collecting and studying medical textbooks on Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, and so on. One day, whilst searching for an online course I could take in the medical field, I came across the field of Naturopathy. Up until that point the words ‘Naturopathy’, ‘Homeopathy’, ‘Alternative Medicine’, ‘Complementary Medicine’, ‘Herbalism’ all sort of meant the same to me, and I didn’t really know what the difference was. The more I read, the more I was intrigued. So off I went and started taking course after course on everything from Shiatsu and Sports Massage, to Clinical Nutrition and Herbal Medicine. A whole new world of information was opening up to me.

Towards the end of that year (2015) I became terribly ill with yet another upper airway infection, severe enough that I had lost my voice. So as per usual, off I trotted to the local MD to be ‘cured’. He took my temperature, looked in my throat, and gave me some antibiotics and a throat spray. I took the antibiotics and started using the throat spray immediately, and as would be expected, the symptoms started to fade. However, one week later and they returned with a vengeance. I then went to see a second MD for help. This time, she gave me cortisone and more throat spray. A similar outcome to before. Now five weeks since the initial infection and I was desperate. I went to a third MD for help, who simply said she didn’t know what else to do, and so ordered some blood tests.

At this point, I started thinking about everything I had been learning. The more I thought about what was happening to me, and the treatment offered by these MD’s, the angrier I became. The throat sprays I was given were vaso-constrictors, which prevented the white blood cells from entering the infected tissue, which meant that the inflammatory process was interrupted, which meant that the symptoms got better, but it left the microbes to run around more freely than ever. The antibiotic was prescribed as a seemingly knee-jerk reaction and probably has done more harm than good.

When I asked myself the question: “Why am I sick?”, the answer seemed obvious. There is some sort of microbe (most likely a virus) in my chest, and my immune system is too weak to fight it off. What I really needed was to boost my immune system and an anti-microbial. Not one of the doctors asked me any questions about stress, sleeping or diet (all things that could weaken the immune system). None of them offered me anything to boost my immune system. So I started taking echinacea and propolis to enhance my immune system. Cinnamon and Cayenne as expectorants and Origanum oil and Ginger as an anti-microbial. Within three days I had my voice back and all signs of infection were gone.

It was not magic, it was just logic.

Since that moment, I have never had another chest infection, not even a cold. As soon as that familiar tingling appears at the back of my throat, out comes the echinacea to nip it in the bud, and I’m sure my daily rooibos tea with ginger, cinnamon and honey does wonders for warding off microbial assaults.

Thus began my journey in Natural Medicine.