Eyeglasses/spectacles and posture for computer use.

Hi again

Re the your cheap shot at occupational therapists and gynaecologists, I had a good old chuckle. I know it was tongue in cheek but it is yet another example of how we 'worship' experts in their many guises. They are human, and just like me, fallible. They put up their moniker, whether it be builder, house painter, OT, Gyno, school or whatever, and if we decide to utilise their services we make the decision to put ourselves in their hands, at least initially.

Many times I have placed my trust in professionals of the health kind, only to find that many dollars and months (or years) down the track I am no closer to the answer I am seeking, and end up using my own curiosity, sixth sense and literacy to find new possibilities to explore. I have ultimately had a few major wins, uncovering solutions to health problems in our family by sheer detective work and reading. This is of course one of the reasons that I am on this site!

All apples in the shop may be the same shiny combination of bright reds, yellows and greens, but they are not all delicious, juicy, crunchy, sweet with a touch of sharpness, and satisfying to eat.

Experts are no different. I no longer hand over to professionals my current problem, responsibility for finding the solution, and a fistful of dollars, then sit back and expect a solution. That has often been a recipe for disappointment, resentment and further ill health. I now learn a little of their language beforehand, answer their questions and expect them to answer mine; respect their training and experience, and expect them to respect my knowledge of my own body (which I have to study). We have to be partners. If I find I am being patronised, or discounted, I won't go back.

Even if the relationship is good, sometimes the expert is unable to solve the problem to my satisfaction. So I just have to remember what I've learnt and move on. Ultimately, I have often found that all the information I have gleaned comes together in the end when a solution is found.

All registered plumbers know how to unblock a sewerage pipe, but all plumbers do not have sufficient working knowledge to figure out how to plumb a solar hot water system with a slow combustion stove as a winter booster. Yes, it happened to us!

Likewise it is sometimes wise to smile nicely at an occupational therapist who insists that I sit in a certain way on the chair then, when she has gone, use my own knowledge of my body to use the chair in a way that accomplishes my own aims.

I really think that gynaecologists on the whole are doing what they are asked to do, ie fix up body parts that the patient says are not working properly, using the knowledge and skills that they have. They are selling products, some of which are more closely related to facelifts and collagen injections than to restoring integrity to a woman's body.

The media show us examples of ourselves on television, billboards, magazine and newspaper pages, and it is tempting to think that we all need to be slim, classy, successful women, who sport a uterus that sits up high in the pelvic cavity, PC muscles of steel, a butt that wiggles in just the perfect way, a bladder that empties only when commanded, and pert little boobies on the front. And where are all the ordinary women in those pictures? Behind the camera, lights, props, image editing workstations etc. and having a life, that's where!

So if a woman visits a gynaecologist because she feels imperfect, damaged and droopy, undesirable and worried about peeing herself before the end of the day, and asks the Dr what he/she can do to make her better, what is the Dr supposed to say?

"Visit www.wholewoman.com, fix up your posture, eat rabbit food ;-), refurnish your house, attend to your spiritual self and learn about your body, $180 please?" I wish!

Sadly, it is a sellers' market out there in unhappy-woman-land, whether it is a vagina that is not the same as it used to be, or a butt that is not like J-Lo's, or crows' feet (a dreadful term) round the eyes.

Once we can accept the reality of prolapse and the fact that it not the end of sexual pleasure, or the end of the world (which takes some doing in our media and medical quick fix world) we can move on to living in the body we have, in a better way, not the body that an anonymous marketer tells we should have, and can have if we buy their product; whether the product is a plasma TV or pelvic reconstructive surgery.

The responsibility for my body and health is ultimately only mine, not theirs. I make the choices, not them.

Keep doing what you are doing, Christine. If it wasn't for you I would probably be without a uterus by now, because my gynaecologist wanted to remove my functioning uterus so that he could hang my bladder from the remaining stumps. That solution sounded a bit like sitting on the tree branch you are trying to chop off so that you don't have to climb back down the tree again at the end of the job. I didn't go back.