Your Consultation - How to Arrange It and What is Involved

In a Nutshell:

Contact me to arrange an appointment for the initial consultation.
Complete the questionnaire and return it (click here to download).
The initial consultation.
Receive a printed report detailing the actions you need to make.
Follow-up consultations to review progress and make adjustments to the programme as necessary.

Having a consultation is a simple three-step process:

1. Before The Initial Consultation

First of all, contact me to arrange a date and time for an initial consultation, which will be at one of the clinics where I practice. You can do this either by telephone or email. You are also welcome to contact me if you have any queries about the consultation process or nutritional therapy in general.

I will send you a questionnaire, including a 3-day food diary, which you should complete as accurately as possible and return to me at least 48 hours before we meet. The questionnaire asks for a brief medical history - details of your health problems and symptoms, any treatments you have had or are currently having, family history and details of your diet and lifestyle factors etc.

The questionnaire also asks for details of any medication and/or nutritional supplements you are taking but if you aren’t sure what to put then by all means bring the containers along with you to the initial consultation. If you have the results of any recent medical tests then please bring them too as they may be relevant to the nutritional programme.

Usually I will send you the questionnaire by post but if you are happy to print it yourself then you may click here to download a copy in Adobe PDF format [198KB]. If you don't have the free Adobe Reader software installed on your computer you can download it from the Adobe web site by clicking the icon below:

2. The Initial Consultation

This is about 1 to 1½ hours in length and comprises three stages:

Firstly we’ll go through your completed questionnaire and I may need to ask you a few more questions to clarify certain facts or collect additional information.
Next I’ll explain what I think are the key factors underlying your health issues and the kinds of changes you may need to make in order to improve them. It’s at this stage that I may recommend you undergo one or more diagnostic tests; see below for details.
Finally we’ll agree some practical and realistic changes to your diet and lifestyle – it’s important that you go away with a programme that you know you can achieve and that you are motivated to get on with right away. As part of the programme I am also likely to recommend some nutritional supplements (explained further below).

After the consultation you will receive a comprehensive printed report detailing the possible factors underlying your health issues and what, in general, can be done to address them, a list of the actions making up your agreed nutritional programme and any other information that may be useful in helping you to successfully put it into practice.

Tests

Tests may be recommended if the underlying cause of your health concerns is not obvious or where several possibilities exist. There are many different types of test available, for example to investigate allergies, hormonal and metabolic imbalances and digestive dysfunction. Some require a blood sample but others use saliva, hair, stool etc.

As with everything else I recommend, it’s up to you whether or not you undergo the tests but they often help to speed up the diagnostic process.

Some tests can be performed during the consultation, some can done by your GP (i.e. on the NHS) but others need to be performed by a private laboratory and would therefore be chargeable. I’ll explain fully what’s involved with any test and often there may be more than one available option.

Supplements

Diet is always the main focus of any nutritional programme however, supplements may be recommended for various reasons, for example to compensate for unavoidable dietary inadequacies, diminished digestion or absorption capacity, or to meet increased needs due to certain medical conditions (e.g. diabetes may cause increased losses of magnesium and vitamin B1). They may also be used to speed up recovery or to treat certain microbial imbalances.

Any supplement programme will always be designed with your co-operation and often various options are available in order to meet any budgetary constraints you may have. The cost of supplements is in addition to the consultation fees.

3. Follow-Up Consultations

Visiting a nutritional therapist is not like visiting your GP. Nutritional therapy does not involve the use of drugs to treat symptoms. Rather, like most complementary therapies, it aims to identify the root causes of any health problem and then come up with a programme of treatment which addresses every aspect. This takes time. Identifying the root causes may not be straightforward and may require a process of elimination. Furthermore, treatment and recovery usually takes longer, sometimes much longer, before lasting changes are seen.

So, follow-up appointments are recommended to review progress and to make any necessary changes to your nutritional programme. They also encourage motivation and help you to achieve your goals.

Follow-up consultations are of about 45 minutes to 1 hour in duration and usually begin one month after the initial consultation. For most people 3 or 4 appointments in total are sufficient although in some cases more may be required, particularly if tests have been done and there is a need to review their results.

Confidentiality

Please note that your consultations, and any information you give me, are completely confidential and will not be disclosed to any third party without your prior consent. Your records are stored securely in compliance with the requirements of Data Protection legislation.

The questionnaire you complete prior to the initial consultation asks whether you consent to my contacting your GP and communicating details of your case to him/her. I will however not normally contact your GP unless there is something important to pass on, I need to request information, or suggest that a test be performed.

Having said that it is recommended that you do inform your GP that you are seeing a nutritional therapist as future treatment may be affected by, or impact on, your nutritional programme.