Danielle Perry is a radio presenter at Absolute Radio, a band manager, DJ, podcaster and writer for Q Magazine. She’s also a new mum to baby Etta. Although life has changed somewhat, there is a common ground between everything and that’s what she’s going to be writing about in this new column, 'Me +1'. She’s not going to be banging on about sensory classes or Peppa Pig – but the way our interests, styles and passions shift throughout our lives and how it is possible to not lose any of your identity or fun with the impending feeling of being a proper grown up.
Gwyneth Paltrow has been in the news for a while now with her GOOP brand, controversial pelvic personal trainers and a penchant for the alternative lifestyle. I read her interviews with a curled lip - an understanding smile and the wish I could have hair that straight.
I've long been a supporter of an alternative diet and medicine. I come from a family where nursing was a major career trend. Science, my dear, science. Alongside a scientific education you do, of course, need bedside manner, and with those two things in place you're in pretty safe hands.
How I Know
I was really ill for a coupe of years at the start of my 20s. It all started with glandular fever - arghhhh the kissing disease! But without going into too much detail and becoming self indulgent it got to a point where I couldn't drive, concentrate, stand for very long or think clearly. Work was on hold. Travel plans were on hold. Me and the sofa became best buds and I spent a lot of those years horizontal getting more and more depressed.
What seemed like hundreds of appointments with the GP proved fruitless. 'Chronic fatigue..' they would say. 'Just rest'. I'VE BEEN RESTING FOR A YEAR. IT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE HELPING DOES IT?
More appointments followed. I got offered anti depressants, a trek through the mountains of Nepal, CBT, antibiotics - you name it, if they could fit it onto a little green prescription sheet then it was all go.
My mum had always been a fan of the alternative - she treated her cancer with homeopathy alongside conventional treatment and is now a beacon of sparkle and pizazz. I'd grown up watching her open-mindness and quest for knowledge and it was this route that was to become my recovery.
After months back and forth to London seeing specialists and the like I stumbled across a small practice in Petersfield. Let's just say I met a wonderful retired GP who was, like a lot of us, fascinated by the practice of an alternative diet (gut health essentially) and alternative treatments. After two years of feeling genuinely awful I began to turn a corner within a couple of weeks of my first visit. Vitamins, tinctures, huge change to diet and the kindest smile I've seen bought me back to peak DP sooner than I could ever have imagined. There's been no looking back since, and I still find it really hard to just lie on a sofa.
Why I Will Use Alternative Diet And Medicine On My Daughter
After such an amazing result, of course I'll be looking to bring this into our family home whenever needed. Thankfully the only thing we've invested in so far is an amber necklace that apparently aids the pain of teething. It MUST be Baltic Amber though I'm told, quite firmly, by the company in question.
Some blindly follow the scientific procedure - immunisations (that's a WHOLE other topic) antibiotics and the like without any question. Do we REALLY know what we're turning up for with our little ones in the early days? There's a fascinating museum smack back in the middle of London Bridge called Old Operating Theatre. Pretty morbid stuff but a fascinating excursion as you find yourself spiralling up a tiny staircase hidden on a street literally next door to The Shard. It is Europe’s oldest surviving operating theatre dating back to 1822 and is housed within the attic of an 18th century church. It was used once by apothecaries to store herbs from which to make medicines. HERBS you say! How INTERESTING!
And I can see peoples eyes glaze over when I mention it.. 'All this hurdy-gurdy fairy nonsense - you believe in that?..' How can they tell by touch or by you holding metal rods patched into a machine that you can't eat sesame seeds?' Load of old codswallop'. And if it hadn't worked for me and my family I could be inclined to agree. But it did and I do and I really hope you do too. I dread to think of myself still lying on that sofa.
Listen to Absolute Radio at absoluteradio.co.uk and catch Danielle Perry 4-6pm Weekdays on Absolute Radio, and on The Sunday Night Music Club - 8pm - 12am.
READ MORE OF DANIELLE'S COLUMNS:
Why I'm Cautious Of Sharing Photos Of My Daughter On Social Media