Register here for a naturopathic appointment

It is with great sadness that we write to inform you that Privategp.com will be closed with effect from the 30th of September 2023.
It has been our privilege to look after you, our PGP “extended family”, which includes over 30,000 patients during our 28-year history.
Our integrative work has been groundbreaking with some truly remarkable and humbling results for which, I believe, we became quite famous.
I would like to thank past and present patients and staff for your tremendous work as an extended team, together with our network of colleagues throughout the UK.
We have worked very hard to try and ensure a smooth transition for your healthcare.
We hope that the information below will be helpful to you.

Your future medical care

It is important that you have access to your NHS GP or other medical service in future should you need prescription-based medications. We are unable to recommend a medical practice but may be able to signpost you to appropriate support via drpiper@privategp.com
If you have special requirements as a past patient please email drpiper@privategp.com. Responses are not guaranteed and will be discretionary.

How we handle your data

We have a legal duty to inform you of the way we are managing your data. Over the past two or three years, our policy has been to send you copies of all your letters, blood results, and notes from your consultations. Therefore, you should have enough information to provide any new GMC-registered medical practitioner.
Past medical records are held securely. Please send any SARS requests to drpiper@privategp.com

PGP still retains the contact data of all patients with an email address. This is with a view to making future contact to advise of any services being provided by PGP going forward. All patients are offered the option of opting out of this and having their contact data removed if they so wish.

Yours in health and happiness.
The PGP Team

Depression

Prevalence, Causes and Solutions to Depression/Mental Health

Statistics show that as many as 15% of people will suffer with depression at sometime in their life.

I suspect that this is an underestimate and that the spectrum of mental illness that Includes anxiety, depression, psychosis, obsessional disorders, addictions and phobic problems will hit us all at sometime during our lives.  If you then add in the huge epidemic of autism, Asperger’s disease, ADHD link with neurodiversity and asthma with allergies, also the Modern epidemic of stress, it is not surprising that mental illness will touch most of our lives at sometime.

Depression is characterised by persistent low mood so much so that we lose our will to carry out our normal daily activities and withdraw. For other people depression involves a swinging mood between negative and positive symptoms. Long-term anxiety can sometimes lead to Depression since living with anxiety is pretty Miserable so that in the end we will end up feeling depressed as well.

Mental health within the NHS Setting is not always well handled. In my experience of depression for example, only 30% of depression is actually resolved with drug therapy. This is Because there are many different types of depression depending on the Biochemical causes. Occasionally a depression can be reactive due to the stress of a bereavement or a significant happening in our lives such as a loss of job, move out of house, divorce, etc. Other times it can be a latent biochemical illness which has built up over the lifetime.

Depression can also be related to biochemical changes. People with depression are sometimes found to be low in thyroid function,  low in various vitamin B preparations such as B12, folate or other vitamins; also essential fatty acids. Much of the latter revolves around the reducing amount of nutrients that we have in our food these days compared with 50 to 60 years ago. It also revolves around our poor diet which is based on processed food, trans and hydrogenated fats with added preservatives.

Here at the practice we have access to new functional medical blood tests. Functional medicines the process by which we understand the underlying mechanisms behind illnesses such as depression rather than label them after a tick-box symptom check thereafter treating with drugs.

The functional Medical approach looks for deficiencies, nutrition, absorption, digestion, deficiencies and dependencies and minerals, vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids, also the interrelationship between the eco-system of our bowel, liver detoxification, our Neuro-hormonal systems and our neurotransmitters. Correcting some of the imbalances that underpin depression is part of the multidisciplinary approach to the treatment.

The subendophenotypes of depression which exist can sometimes be apportioned to deficiencies or excesses of various neurotransmitters. Depending on your symptoms, we can quite often support these excesses or deficiencies with nutrient supplements which have proven benefit. In the USA, this technique is Utilised on a more frequent basis but overall the professional psychiatric world in the UK does not recognise functional medicine despite the Biochemical Evidence that exists to support it. Functional medicine however is a Young Science and needs to be given more attention in the world of research.

I often find that before nutritional and biochemical deficiencies are addressed, drug therapy may not work particularly well but after the deficiencies have been addressed, drug therapy can work much better.

There are other therapies such as massage therapy, psychotherapy, psychological mapping of our early childhood relationships in order to underpin transference reactions, Reiki, art therapy, music therapy and many, many more. In short, there are Multitudes of Ways to get better from depression.

One of the tools that I use in my Practice is hypnotherapy and neurolinguistic programming. I teach people self-hypnosis which is the ability to relax very deeply and to access the part of their hard drive within their Mind-Body System and soul which does not always get accessed. Remember that your Intuitions Work at their Best when your hard drive is aware that the conscious Mind is listening; also when you are totally relaxed. It is better to work as a whole complete person than it is with different parts of us fighting other areas of our Personality on different levels. The concept of self-hypnosis can help with this.

If you would like to find out more about any of these issues please contact the Practice or make an appointment with myself, Dr J Piper, with one of our other GPs,  psychologists, psychiatrists or other therapists. Our functional nutritionist is also Present on site to help you obtain optimal biochemistry.

We run some of the leading functional medical tests in the world, and we will be happy to discuss your needs.

If you have a query or would like to email us please go to our contact us page.

If you would like to book an appointment please call us on 0116 2700 373 or email info@privategp.com.

You are unique and we are ready to listen

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