Episode 209. What The Hell Is Wrong With Me? With Dr Gillian D Deakin

Welcome back to another episode of the In-situ Collective podcast! Today, we’re thrilled to be joined by Dr. Gillian Deakin, a Sydney-based GP with over 40 years of experience and the author of *What the Hell Is Wrong With Me?* Dr. Deakin has dedicated her career to understanding the hidden causes behind symptoms that often leave doctors stumped—pain, fatigue, nausea, and more. These are called functional symptoms.

In this episode, Dr. Deakin walks us through the 7 Body Stress Systems and shares her insights on what causes these mysterious symptoms, especially when all medical tests come back normal. She also outlines the 6-step recovery process to help people regain control of their health. Whether you’ve struggled with unexplained symptoms or are curious about how stress affects the body, this episode is packed with enlightening information that could change the way you view your health.

Buy Dr Gillian D Deakin’s Book “*What the Hell Is Wrong With Me?” https://www.whatthehellbook.com/store/p/whathehelliswrongwithme

 Dr Gillian D Deakin’s Blog: https://www.whatthehellbook.com/dr-deakins-blog

Find Dr Gillian D Deakin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/book_what.the.hell/?next=%2F 

Chapters

• 0:00 Dr. Gillian D Deakin discusses the importance of holistic healthcare.
• 2:25 Functional symptoms can be severe and persistent, mimicking physical illnesses.
• 7:00 Distinguishing between hardware and software problems in health.
• 9:20 Identifying and addressing unexplained symptoms.
• 13:40 Properly functioning immune cells clean up body waste.
• 15:50 It's okay to exercise a little and let your body heal.
• 19:40 Movement is crucial for improving mental health and overall well-being.
• 21:40 Importance of a healthy diet and its impact on the body.
• 25:55 Emotional decision-making overrides rationality.
• 27:45 Challenges in prescribing weight loss medications.
• 31:40 Importance of having a dedicated GP for personalised care.
• 33:40 Importance of maintaining medical records and being realistic about consultation time.
• 37:34 Challenges of working from home during lockdown.
• 39:25 Encouraging collaboration with Allied Health professionals.

Transcript

well I'm looking forward to learningwhat the hell is wrong with me okay uh how about you introduce yourselfto everybody and all our listeners andlet us know what you do righta welllovely to meet you Jack and I'm really thrilled to be on your program here because um I'm a GP and but I'm veryvery that in in the work you do and your efforts to encourage people to getactive and look after their nutrition you do 90% of my job so thank you somuch I just want to really say thatbecause you know the best medicine inthe world can't really cut it ifsomeone's body is very very poor so soit's so important what you do so I'mmore than happy to help um who am I I'mJillian deak and I'm a Sydney based GPalthough I have had U some lovely timeworking in Melbourneum and I've been working as a doctor forover 40 years now and so I've learnedquite a few things I've written a bookearlier I wrote a book called um 101things your GP would tell you if onlythere was time and that that really waswhy you should try and have one GP ifyou can someone who you can work withwho knows you and really understands youand your family history and what'shappened in the past um it's incrediblyhelpful for this doctor to have thatknowledge I can be a much better doctorwith that background so so um that'swhat I was trying to encourage the firstbook um second book now um what the hellis wrong with me um I really enjoyedwriting this and my colleagues inmedicine think I'm you know bravebecause I've ventured into an areathat's very very poorly managed andreally poorly understood and it's forthe people who might be asking that veryquestion you know they've got symptomsthey're sometimes quiet un well and theygo to their doctor and the doctor doesall the tests and they go everything'snormal all your tests are normal there'snothing wrong or it's all in your heador take it easy don't worry it'll beokay and that's okay sometimes that'strue about a third of the time symptomscome and go and you're okay but everynow and then they persist and can bequite frightening and sometimes they'revery severe sometimes the pain is worsefor example than someone with a physicalillness and I make that distinction umso the symptoms I'm talking about wegive it a label it's a really lousylabel but it's the best we've got and wecall them functional symptoms as opposedto physical on so your tests are allnormal doctors say there's no physicaldisease or problem wrong with you you'vestill got symptoms you're oftendismissed at that stage and I say readmy book you know I say there is anexplanation for it and it's just notwell taught I'm a examiner for theCollege of GPS and so I know what theyhave to learn and I can tell you it'snot on the curriculum how to managesymptoms that I'm talking about in mybook so you might want to know what arethe symptoms well it's virtuallyanything but typical ones are painunexplained pains fatigue nauseaweakness but you could have um doublevision or dry eyes or headaches or andsome people even have like a paralysisthat can mimic a stroke it can be veryvery serious there's a number of peoplein our country who are getting around inwheelchairs after the doctors have saidthere's no medical reason why you needto be in a wheelchair and yet they can'twalk it's quite serious for some peopleso Wheeling it back a little bit you andI jet we get these symptoms every singleday we get you know that's like IEtwitch when you're really tired or youget like a twang of pain in your bodyand you go you know you're not sure whatit is comes and it goes we don't care dowe you know it's when they come and staythat it starts to be an issue so I liketo sort of say there's a Continuumbetween what you and I will get as anormal part of a busy day sometimesthose symptoms hang around a bit don'tthey and we're a bit tireder a bitsicker a bit for a longer period of timeand sometimes they're really set in andcause a real problem to people um andthat's when you'd probably tell them tokind of back off their training ifthey're overdoing it um that sort ofthing um you'd be encouraging them toreally focus in on their nutrition butit's not often simply just those simplemeasures that that work um and that'swhen we need to take a more kind ofcomplex andNuance look at what's going on in theirlife and and I take that very broadpicture so it often is quite complex andthe setup for the symptoms could havehappened decades ago decades ago peoplewho come through a very demandingfrightening or abused childhood um cansometimes power through get everythingall stacked up and then in their 40sthey suddenly kill overand that's an extraordinary thing towitness and these people are incrediblyBrave and they've been through so muchbut suddenly they're very unwell and Isee them not infrequently nearly everyGP does but the question is what do wedo at thatpoint um my main message to people is toum to get them to turn away from thesymptom once the doctors said it's not amedical problem that's sort of goodisn't it you know you don't there'snothing really wrong with the physicalbody so then how do we treat thesymptoms and the message in my book isto stop going to doctors frankly um andthen allow yourself to step back and saywhat could be contributing to the loadthat my body's experiencing and I meanfrom several levels how much sleep andthe quality of the sleep and uh howoften you're eating and what demands areon you and what goes on in your mind itsure stress is a is a factor so it'sthat sort of broader picture that I tryand look and and put piece together arecovery program you had a great analogyand when I heard this I absolutely lovedit so I'd love to for you to dive intoit and explain it a little bit more youwere talking about your body and how yougot software andHardware on your Instagram it's helpfulisn't it yeah I I love that analogy canyou dive into that and break that up alittle bit sure sure Jack I I like thatas well so that does help for me tounderstand it as well so doctors um arelooking for Hardware problems so presumusing the analogy of your body as acomputer uh when we do all our tests andwe take a chest x-ray or do blood we'relooking for some physical changesomething broken or or disordered orunwell and when all those tests comeback normal there's no hardwar problembut there definitely could be a softwarproblem that means there's somethingwrong in the way that the wholephysiology is functioning the nerves andthe immune system and the pain systemand your circadian rhythm your brainsystem you know brain fog and people youknow get getting overwhelmed forgettingthings things like this they might thinkthey're going to meant it it's just asoftware problem we've got to reprogramthe software and that's a really helpfulway to rememberit be because you can't really measurethat software side of things do youthink that's why it's not taught as muchyeah as a GP yeah older GPS sort of getit a lot more the young doctors who'vecome out of Hospital everyone inhospital tends to be very sick you knowthey've got serious things going on sowhen we do our training we spend quite alot of time in hospitals and then wecome out and we become GPS and the youngdoctors are really scared they're goingto miss something serious um and that'sunderstandable and good in a way isn'tit that they're you know taking thatcare and look we'll just do another testwe'll just do another test um but thatcan be very a waste of time frankly foruh for youonce the basic tests been done forgoodness sake don't repeat them allagain um uh you want to feel confidentthe tests have been done and you you'rehappy that there's no medical problemthat's going on before you turn away andlook look at what I'm suggesting and ofcourse so you know in my practice as aGP two out of three patients will have aphysical illness and I have to treatthat with medicine of various forms butevery one in three approximately willhave what I'm talking about here I havegenuine symptoms but there's no medicalexplanation so it's really really commonand it's amazing that it's not taughtbetter so I'm trying to change that asyou know and um and I hope you canspread the word and and get the messageout that uh it is a thing soum so what would say somebody is reallyresonating with what you're saying andhas been through all the tests there'sno hardware issues and they have gotthat software issue what would be thefirst step into trying to improve thatwell what I do with that is I Iobviously get a list of the symptomsit's often not just one symptom theymight be fatigue there but they mighthave a pain there and they also mighthave a a gut disturbance as well um soyou know you've got a complex symptomand it's quite frustrating for theperson because they they often struggleto give a very clear history you know soif you got tonsilitis Jack you'd be veryclear you know you started to get a sorethroat then you felt unwell and then youknow so on it'd be pretty clear thestory but people with this they often golook I've got a bit of a discomfort inmy throat but it's not here today but itwas really bad on Monday you know it'sit's a lot more hectic and chaotic andthe doctors struggle to get a clearhistory um and that's the nature ofthese symptoms so the first thing to dois do your best to give a clear historymake sure the doctor's done their workthen what I would do is get a list ofall the symptoms and in my book I'vesort of put together the the systems inyour body that get disrupted so thereare seven systems that are disruptedwhen there's this process going on umobvious one would be is the Circadianrhythm that's how well you go to sleepand how well you wake up and I know You'focused in some of your talks on sleepwhich is just great but um when that isdisrupted you know people are just notthemselves they're feeling fatiguedthey're poor concentration mood changesaches and pains that you know theCircadian rhythm a healthy circadianrhythm how well you sleep and how wellyou wake up is such an important thingfor your sleep so I love the fact thatyou focus on that a little um but that'sone thing asleep uh the second one mightbe uh the what we call the autonomicnervous system and that's a fascinatingpart of your body your body runs mostlyautomatically and it's run by theautonomic nervous system so it will setyour heart rate and your breathing rateit will set how much you sweat um itwill set so many fun you how well yourgut functions so all these things areautomatic we can't just by thinking slowdown our pulse um it's an automaticprocess so um you can train to settleyour whole body down of course you canI'm a yoga practitioner I I know aboutthat but I can't just sit here right nowand say till my pulse to drop 20 pointsyou know it's it's an autonomic processso that's one system that can getdisrupted uh there's the hormone systemso everyone's heard about stresshormones now and that happens all thetime time our stress hormones go up andshould come down and that's a normalhealthy thing but sometimes people getum the hormones go up and stay up andthat's when they they stay in an unwellState and the body really doesn't liketo work under that sort of duress allthe time and there there'll beconsequences um so that's a hormonesystem there's also the um immuneinflammatory system so people can justfeel you know glands will come upthey'll feel achy they'll feel sorethey'll be rashes that break out they'rejust unwell all the time and the doctorsgo there's nothing really showing up inyour test there is something going onyour body but it's subtler than thetests that we can do and it's certainlynot something that doctors can cure withany pill that's the probably theimportant point to take away uh but it'sa very unpleasant state to have in yourbody that can get worse if people don'texercise you'd like to hear this I'msure Jack um there are little cellsimmune cells in your body called macreshave you heard of them they they cleanup they they do all the they're yourgaros they clean up all the rubbish thataccumulate in your body so they'recirculating right now through your bodyjust removing dead cells and viruses andjunk you know um and and re you knowprocess that and get it out of the bodywhen you're in a constant state of whatI'm talking about here that um they turnfrom being your nice friendly Garbocleaner into very Rogue States they goballistic and they release a whole lotofinflammatory um material and they stopcleaning you and they just releaseinflammation so I think some of yourlisteners probably go I know when thathappened to me you know they're justaching all over and they just feel lousyand the last thing they want to do is dowhat you want them to do which is gentleexercise at that point that's securegentle exercise just move a little bitand they need to know that safe A lot ofpeople feel frightened to exercise umwhen the doctor said there's nothingreally wrong with you um that's whenyou're allowed you should go and justget in a very gentle exercise programand after a couple of days I go oh thoseaches and pains are beginning to easehave you seen people do that Jack haveyou had that all the time all the timeyeah and it's just that this is thedoctors saying carry on you know just doit and there's good sound medical reasonjust think look after your macres andthey'll look afteryou um I had this conversation with a uhosto that we had on the podcast and heobviously works within the movementrealm a little bit more but like you hasthat holistic way of viewing somebody'sHealth it's not just one thing andespecially in the I guess Fitnessindustry over the last five to eightyears I've noticed that there's a lot ofpain diagnosis so there's an emphasis onpain and I asked him why and he sort ofwas sayingthat because so many people are gettingeducated on this and they need tosustain the industry it's like if yougot to pain come see us if you got topain come see us and I feel like thatmight be happening in the medicalindustry as well but but people get alittle ache or pain and then they'relike oh I've got to go to the emergencyor cgp or something like that so it'sgood to hear that you're saying it'sokay just exercise a little bit and yourbody will help help heal and you willfeel better yeah we've all heard peoplewho got a pain and then somethinghappened and then something happened andthere are those stories and so everyperson's got a right to feel confidentabout the advice they're getting um andif people are worried I'm very happyjust to say look you're fine get youknow safe to keep moving um I that'simportant isn't it like you can't give acut blanch statement to say work throughpain I'm not going to be saying that butum there's some pain you really shouldlisten to you probably know earlytrouble with tennis elbow and thingslike that it's not great to keep workingthrough that always is that what yourexperience is you know you know whenthey get that tornthe elbow pain yeah so I guess there aretimes you have to arrest people yeahthat would be my question like obviouslyif somebody comes in they got a littleniggle in their elbow and we'll stillwork through it obviously like you saidwe'll bring the pressure down a littlebit take a little bit easier if thatPain's still there like you know sessionafter session that's when we know it'san issue it's just that one off that ityou know it's usually okay if somebodyhas those niggling issues like like yousaid sometimes the headaches all thatsort of stuff yeah what should they bedoing to you know improve that or howshould they look at their health andwhat's happening in their life to startimproving well look you know you'vementioned something really importantthere and you know let me say Obviouslyas a doctor sudden severe headaches needsudden severe action you know that'ssomething totally new headache you'venever had before I'd want to see you andthat's an important point but thatniggling low grade headache that peoplecan have that goes on for months andmonths without any real change in theirbody I'd be looking at all the basicsfirst wouldn't you jack I'd be sayingyou know are you hydrated a lot ofpeople are doing this in front of theircomputer aren't they this you know theirtheir posture is really poor and theydon't realize it they're sitting withtheir neck you know down and and theythey don't realize how much strain thatis on their whole body you know just tonot be in a in a balanced posture umthey're often got a boss a boss yellingat them and you know everything's a bittense as well the the muscles they couldbe clenching their jaw that I find a lotof people uh jaw clenches you know theythey clench up here and they wake upthey sleep like that when wake up with aa headache you know and that's a veryongoing unpleasant source of pain youknow um I've had to give Botox well Idon't do it by send people to get BOTOXinto those muscles if they just can'trelease them you know but you know it'sum so all all those things but the thehaving a regular comfortable routinewhere you exercise and eat well um is agreat start and if people just did thatfor a month you know and just see whathappens that's a really great experimentto do you know and see if they you knowdecide that they like it yeah uh I'veasked this question to another guest andI I'd like to get your answer on it ifyou had the ultimate power to changeeverybody's life like you were thegovernment so you had to enforce onething that would improve everybody'slife you step in and tomorrow everybodyhad to do it what would what would bethe one thing you reckon would move theneedle the most to improve you know thepopulation'shealth it's probably what you just saidit's probably movement I think uheveryone everyone has to move that if Iwas able to encourage that I thinkmovement because then what happens withmovement you know you you've moved oftenit improves mental health and there's nodoubt about that we've got it's one ofthe most important things for someonewith mild depression or anxiety I'malways going to prescribe that as partof my efforts to get anxiety anddepression better because then they' ethen they get a healthy appetite youhope you know it's a it's a healthyappetite might drive them then to starteating better because they know oh Iwant to get stronger and then that mightdrive that um and and they sleep betterso they're going to need less drugs andthings to or alcohol to sleep so I wouldsay exercis is a really really corething um I think it's underestimated Ithink that also that awareness aboutyour body which can help as well becausea lot of people live up in their headsand they treat their body like some ununderclass like a slave that they takeabsolutely no regard for and and thenwonder why they get sick you know it'sum it's amazing so um connecting intothe fact that you have your body shouldbe your best friend you know and youshould treat it really well and I don'tmean indulgently I mean well you know soyou know in all the ways that youunderstand I think yeah yeah yeah um allright so movement what would be the nextstep after that well I've I um love goodnutrition and I was amazed because myfather was a physician and I actuallycome from very long line of doctors somy daughter is now the seventhgeneration of doctors so it's ridiculousamazing I know it's quite amazing but Igrew up in a home with a a dad who was aphysician but we had an organicvegetable garden back in the 1960s yes Iknow I'm thatold and um and I grew up with you knowfree ranged chickens at home and we grewour own food and and kind of ate wholemeal Foods right from a very young ageum and I just thought that was normal Ithought that's what everyone did ofcourse you know it's how we are whenwe're kids and I'm amazed how um whatpeople put in their shopping trolleysometimes I mean you can't really expectyou wouldn't do that to your car youwouldn't put this crappy oil or Petrolin your car and expect it to work youknow how could you do that to aincredibly refined body and the more Istudy medicine the more amazed I amabout the complex interplay between thethe immune system and the blood and thenerves and every every fiber in yourbody it's amazing system but we have toit works so much better if it's fed wellyou know and so we're talking about andI'm not sorry I don't want to offend anyof your sponsors but I'm not a great fanof supplements I tend to love a reallyreally good diet Tak regularly doesn'thave to be perfect doesn't have to beperfect every single day but it has tobe basically H having those you knowplentiful seven servings I like sevenservings of fruit and vegetable twofruit five vegges the sort of raw thumbthat I I live by and um then some goodquality protein and then whatever carbsyou need to stay healthy weight youknow that's my very broad thing I don'tknow ifyou 100% agreethat message is very to get AC to peopleand that's why has gone back to un tostud psychology to understand like againlike you said people wouldn't put thatstuff in their like the bad oils andstuff in their car but then they go andput this bad stuff in their mouth intotheir body yeah um what what's a goodway to help people understand that thatfood is causing them damage and is goingto make them unhealthy um and how theyshould start thinking about eatingbetter Foods well if they taught sciencebetter at school you we'd all be a longway ahead because if you understoodchemistry and how the body works youknow on a chemical level I'm not talkingabout spiritual or you knowphysiological but on a chemical level umthe energy cycle I remember learning theenergy cycle which has all the sugar andoxygen coming in but it needs likemaldium and M magnesium and manganeseand vitamins and you know so manyelements to make that system work and ifif they're deficient which they are inprobably eight of all I did know is 80%of Australians are deficient to somedegree in these basic elements in thebody um that system would just not workvery well just simply won't work verywell so fatigue is going to be aninevitable consequence of that and alsobad mental function as well you knowyour brain needs this food as well toyou know to function well so um I thinkit's great that Max's going to bestudying psychology becauseunfortunately half the psychologists areemployed on how to flog crappy food topeople and make them think it's good yyou know if you look at a Coca-Cola adum all those lovely healthy sexy youngpeople having great fun you know it's inthe brain Coke gets connected to havingfun it's just ridiculous it's stickyfoul Brown fluid how on Earth did theypersuade people that's fun you know it'sbut even my I never touched the stuffbut in my brain if I think Coca-Colait's very hard not to have the triggerthat the ads do for us isn't it you knowyeah so um I think I think Max on tosomething if she's going to study somepsychology and work out how how we ourbehavior is determined we're notrational beings right we're not rationalwe make our decisions very much on aemotional and that's not rational um andthat that's not them it's us ma it's yousorry Jack it's you and I and everyoneelse you know we make our decisions umon what we feel rather than what wethink yeah she actually was in a lecturethe other day and one of the lectureswas talking about emotional response toeating food and all that sort of stuffand he's like oh you don't even thinkabout it you just sort of wake up andyou eat a breakfast it's delicious andit's cereal or whatever it isand Mac was sitting there thinking Ithink about all the food I put in mybody it's a planned thing and and yeahshe was just surprised that yeah mostpeople don't the lecturer was right mostpeople don't it's is automatic and andeven all the people I see who earnestlywish to lose weight uh for example andand they're genuine they really do wantto lose weight they're really sick ofbeing overweight and yet that consciouseffort to um stop is is defies them itjust it's just not there you know itjust doesn't happen and some PE you knowlean people always say oh they reallycould do it well actually these peoplereally struggle to do that I think anduh I think it's authentic um it has beeninteresting these new drugs that arebeing used the asmic type drugs you knowdon't want to do an ad for them butthere are people who now go I now feelfull and I can stop it has you knowaltered a sensational fullness it'squite an interesting processum not sure whether I'm a great fan ofthem yet but um can we leave that for 10more years from now we'll we'll talkdiscuss again whether they're a goodthing or a bad thing yeah I was going toget you to have your opinion on thatbecause I've got a lot a lot of clientsof mine are on that now and same thing Ithink it's very useful but y it can beit's yeah it's going to be interestinganother 10 years yeah I I prescribe themyou know with with prepation um becauseas you say I haven't got the exitstrategy you know um and that worries mea little bit um you're right they workand people have very grateful for theweight loss that they can achieve onthem but the exit strategy is an issuehow do we ever get people off them againyou know so we haven't got an answer forthat yet that what is is a subtleconcern but just I guess for this isprobably my personal uh me personallytrying to give my clients advice whenyou do uh prescribe it is there anythingyou recommend like I know weighttraining is very important to maintainmuscle mass while you're on somethinglike oamic anything else that peopleshould I should be worried about when myclients are on it yeah um no I agreewith you I think weight training as youknow one of the major side effects isthe nausea and the constipation they'vegot to really stay on top of that wedon't want people to be permanentlyconstipated that makes people feel quiteunwell so they've got to try and stayahead of the game with that um andactivity and physical activity not justweights that more movement can help withgut function so I think um uh that ageardiscussion should we do weights orshould we do more aerobic stuff um I'malways going to say both you know sowhich I suspect you're you're a fan ofas well yeah um yeah sorry you go yesmuscle strength is um is one of thethings I see a lot of women a bit olderthan your clients you know umand their weight their muscle strengthand I can say even myself you know Ihave to work hard to keep strength up inmyself you know it's a deliberate thingit used to be much easier when I wasyounger you definitely have to put a lotmore effort towards it as you get olderso um it's good to build the habits thatyou're encouraging in people um Jackbecause then once it's habitual it's alot easier isn't it yeah all rightchanging topics a little bit going backto your first book uh what was the toyour first book again 101 things your GPwould tell you if only there was timeand how long ago was that I wrote it in2006 so of yeah it came out in 2006 yeahand why did you feel the need to writethat book then uh it's a good question Iguess these issues I mean I'm alwaysintellectually a bit you know busy umand as I treat people I often saw peoplegetting things quite wrong and you knoweach chapter would be dealing withthings like how do you go and see aspecialist like what's the way to taketo get the most out of these visits andum and what's what are all the aspectsof health so you've kind we've talked alittle bit about that about thenutrition and then there's a uh the theMind Body interaction um so importantand um you know your background likegenetics and whether you should getgenetic testing done and so on so I'vetried to kind of lay out the kind of ofwhat would I consider the full way totake advantage of um of AD doctors youknow the the amazing medical skills thatwe have now you know um I think it'sjust incredible what we've been able toachieve in my lifetime you know the Cureof cancers that once were considered umincurable it's just been amazing so butnone of that's really possible withoutyour sort of work so um so so betweenthe first book and the second book bookhave you noticed like what not changeshave you noticed in the medical industryin the population health and all thatsort of stuff and then why write thisbook now right um I love how you keepcalling it an industry I call it aprofession and there's a reason for thatwe are we are held to a code of ethicsnow some of your clients will thinkthat's um surprising but uh but we mostof us very much identify by a strongcode of ethics um so so what is thedifference well certainly one of the saddifferences and what I'm fighting a rearguard action and I'm probably losing isthat notion of having your own GP so Iat the stage of my career where I've nowclosed my books and I've only got myregular patients and that's all I'mgoing to see um I'm not taking in newpatients and that's another reason Iwrote the book I said well you know atleast I can share some of my experiencewith other people that way uh butthere's a been a move away from havingyour own GP and people go to a doctorand I just want to say they're gettingmuch more inferior care with that soseeing a GP your GP should have a planfor your future so they should know Jackif you got whatever family history towatch out for they should know all ofthat they should have sometimes agenetic profile on you for that you knowfor not everyone but for certainfamilies and we that's quite wellregulated ated now like who should get ascreen and who shouldn't but that's aconversation you need to have with yourGP they you should know your entirefamily history so you know what risk youcarry and also what risks your babycould get from you if you haven'tidentified a a rare Gene in you and yourpartner so um so all of these thingsshould be done and it's a proactiveeffort that a GP should be doing it'snot just oh coming in my elbow sawthat's not really good medicine I meanit's itial medicine that soil get ittreated but the really serious work doneby uh General Practitioners in Australiais that full background knowledge andthat requires you going regularly enoughfor them to gather that that story andhave a plan for you as you getolder um yeah so I have moved around afair bit all over Australia so it's hardit's been hard for me to find that onedoctor so when I go what should I bewhat question should I ask and whatshould I be looking for to get know thatI'm seeing the right doctor you're rightthat you're not alone with that Jack andit is an issue that that pereticlifestyle but I always tell my patientswho are like that I said look here'syour record whenever you're gonesomewhere you get that GP to write to uswe'll send it all down to them and whenyou move from there you move it on don'tdon't leave it all in bits and piecesbecause it's amazing how useful that canbe you know maybe not someone young andfit like your good self but um you knowit does get to be um I had someone in uhon Tuesday and they came in and theydescribed a series of problems and Iwent oh that could be concerning and Iwent back and they had exactly the samesymptom about 10 years ago right and Iwas able to show them and they hadtotally forgotten that and there it wasin the record and we go and what did wedo about it and we just were able to saynothing to really happen they had to doabout it if they'd seen a new doctorthere would have been a whole series oftests repeated and everything you knowso so that back knowledge is reallyhandy um so that's one thing I'd alwaysencourage people to do um and the otherthing is to be realistic about the timethat you've booked with someone um oneissue usually takes 15 minutes to do itproperly and so if you've got two orthree issues you're going to need a longconsultation or be prepared to come backand I know that hard I know it'sdifficult um with the current becauseand write to your health medicine saywhy are you trying to destroy generalpractice because it's bad forAustralians so this is not me I I Idon't as I say don't need any more workbut it breaks my heart to see that howgood general practice could be and howthe current system is doing its darnessto make sure it doesn't work effectivelyyou know what could it be well thisthing I'm talking about that you havetime you can ring up and see your doctorand have someone who and they've gottime for you they've got the U the meansto get you know spend the time togetherall that information all of that takestime and you know this you know crazyshortage of doctors that we're dealingwith right now and that crazy throughputthat you know you have to have um youit's going to be hard for you to get thecare that you're going to that you mightneed should you have a health issue youknow so um work hard on that yourself umand um but mainly um keep doing whatyou're doing so you don't need the likesof me as much you know diabetes istaking up a huge amount of our time nowmainly because people have now um youknow our lifestyles and the way thegovernment sets up the communities nowum with no parks and no safety peopledriving everywhere poor public transportum all leads to people getting um intheir cars and and getting overweightand you know there a very much blame thevictim here blame the person who'sgained that weight but they'redeliberate policies in government thatare aiding this and um and it's not likethey've suddenly got kind of moral Decaypeople you know there are structuralinstitutional things that cause peopleto end up being living the life thattheydo I was I was having that conversationthis morning um so I've been in Melwoodfor about a year and a half andobviously Melwood had a lot more likeserious lockdowns compared to Sydney andthe effects of that and like the workfrom home is just like it's pretty badI've got a few clients that won't evenleave home unless they come to the gymbecause they work from home they livefrom home they get their food deliveredthey won't even leave the house it'sit's scaryyeah yeah so I had food I had take awayfor the first time the this week forages and I was amazed like it's justfull of kind oil and sweet sauces andstuff like that it's just so you knowthere's hardly a vegetable in what isthis you know it's very just not greatyeah so um all right so let's wrap up umwhat will people learn from your bookThe your newest book what the hell iswrong with me love that title yeah theit's um the subtitle is how to recoverfrom Pain fatigue weakness and other UNDno symptoms it's mainly for those peoplegoing who are asking that question thedoctors haven't really explained thembecause they've not been given adiagnosis course there's no medicaldiagnosis so they're able to go to theirdoctor and they can go back to thedoctor could this be a functionalsymptom and the doctor will go well yeahthat you know that's what it is whydidn't you tell me that well because Idon't know how to treat it and it's truethe doctors haven't been told so I'vegathered research from all over theworld to write this book and theourGermans are way ahead of us by the waythey've got kind of quite systemized umteachings on it but Australia we're justnot there yet um watch this space overthe next 10 years I'd like to see thatchange but in the meantime if you go toyour doctor it's going to be hard foryou to get to the next step about how toget treated and that is a real issue Ihaven't solved that in my book my book'sthe beginning of the right conversationI hope um but it'd be helpful for peopleto read it and then I I've encouragedpeople to work with Allied Health peopledieticians and exercise physiologistsand and um physiotherapists speechpathologists and lots of other peoplewho can help people without a diagosismove forward and that's quite areasonable thing to do um and I supposethe main thing I want to do is not worrythat the doctors will miss something youknow especially if they're having asymptom that's ongoing and nothing elseis really changing in their body um andthat would prove that we're probablyright they're not showing adeterioration in function like you knowthat they might otherwise it's best Ican do talking you know broadly um uhbut I hope it's been my book might behelpful to some of your patients whomight be having those symptoms and knowone they don't know what to do with themum no I absolutely love it um as soon asI got introduced to your book throughJames I was just like yeah I had to getyou on cuz I think a lot I think a lotof my clients will absolutely Vibe withit and I think a lot of our listenerswill get a lot out of the book as wellright well I'm trying to do a littleInstagram thing right now which iscalled bookor whatdoth doell I think it is anywaysomething like that and um I'm trying todo a little short explanation of it butI might have to do what you do and do aYouTube because it does take a littlewhile to explain it yeah that's we westarted off trying to do the short formbut yeah I just didn't like it it's it'sthis sort of stuff is way too hard toput in a 60c I think so I think so Ithink I'm going to be obliged to extendto oh I'm looking forward to it you'veinspired me good good um we'll link allyour info all your books all that sortof stuff in the show notes if anybodywants to check those out um Jillianthanks again for coming on absolutepleasure it's lovely to meet you all thebest to you keep up the great workbyebye see here