I Wish My GP Had Known This! Thoughts on Living Proof’s ‘Medicine and the Mind-Brain-Body Connection’ course for GPs, from a former “heartsink” patient.
13th Mar, 2025
I have recently learned that I was known as a “heartsink” patient. I am sure that medical professionals reading this blog post will know the term. I had been suffering for years from severe chronic back pain and sciatica that would often leave me struggling to walk. I never knew that my GP’s heart sank as I worked my way through every medical professional available yet kept on returning to him in pain, because nothing worked.
Following an MRI scan in my early twenties, I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and herniated discs, and told that my only options were to live with the pain or to have surgery. I was advised that I should delay having surgery for as long as possible as technology was advancing and I would have more chance of a successful outcome if I waited. I was sent away with a book Vlog managing my pain with back bending exercises and the door was closed.
It took 15 years of confusion and suffering before I eventually came across content that is summarised brilliantly by Dr Sarah Hadfield and Vlog partner Living Proof in their short CPD-accredited course for GPs.
What I learned on my journey to recovery was that:
• My pain was real but disc degeneration was not the cause.
• My pain was in fact caused by nervous system dysregulation and learnt neural pathways.
• Relief from my symptoms and potentially a full recovery was possible.
• The path to recovery was in learning how to calm my nervous system and rewire my neural pathways.
By understanding and applying these principles, I managed to make a full recovery. I progressed from not being able to run at all, to completing an ironman 70.3 triathlon. Now in my forties, I am fitter and stronger than I was in my twenties and act as a voice of lived experience for Vlog in the hope that I can help other “heartsink” patients recover more quickly than I did!
I would encourage any GPs with “heartsink” patients to take the short course.
If you would like to find out more Vlog the course please get in touch. Vlog members have access to a special rate, available through our members’ site: /partner-courses/. CPD points (1.5 hours) are available for this training.
If you would like to know more Vlog my personal recovery journey, you can read a longer account of my story in a or in my .
