Mark Webster is more than your average pharmacist. People know they can come to Stay Well Pharmacy in Christchurch for prescriptions, or to get ears pierced, or even flight socks to protect their legs on a long flight. Some are still a bit confused about Stay Well Clinic.
As a pharmacist and now as a health coach and integrative Health Practitioner, with his Masters of Health Science in Integrated Medicine, Mark has a new role within Christchurch’s wider health system. If you’re sick, you visit your GP. Dental problems? Go to your dentist. In a serious emergency, you go to the Christchurch Hospital or call an ambulance, but what do you do when you know you’re not well, but you don’t fit into any of those boxes?
This is where Mark and Stay Well Clinic come in. Instead of the standard 15 minutes you spend with your GP, you can have a whole hour with Mark to go over a full rundown of your health and wellbeing. Working with Mark, he’ll help you find new ways to live well and stay well.
A 57 year old male came to see Mark at Stay Well Clinic in Merivale. He suffered from pain in multiple joints, plus slight constipation with painful bowel movements. On top of that, he had low energy and was always feeling tired, but he was waking every few hours at night and never seemed to get enough sleep.
Uncovering all these health issues takes time. He needed a health coach and integrative health practitioner committed to quality follow-up care. The patient filled out Mark’s comprehensive health questionnaire before coming to see him, and in the consultation, they worked through all of the issues to make sure nothing had been missed out.
For the low energy and poor sleeping habits, Mark prescribed a sleep hygiene program and used some adaptogenic herbs. He worked with him to develop stress relief techniques, to help him feel more relaxed before going to sleep, and made simple changes in preparing for sleep, like putting his phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’ and not looking at it while in bed.
For the joint pain and bowel problems, Mark started a food elimination program to find out if the patient had any food allergies or intolerances. It’s surprising how many people have various food intolerances, like dairy or gluten, and have no idea. When we find the foods causing the reaction, Mark can recommend dietary substitutes, and work with you to build healthier meal plans. On top of this, Mark recommended his client take probiotics and supplements, both to help with the digestion and sleep issues.
Within four weeks, this patient had seen major improvements. Pain with bowel movements and digestion issues had all but gone, and his joint pain was only flaring up every other day. Thanks to the stress management and sleep hygiene, he is now sleeping six hours or more each night, and his energy levels have jumped from a self-proclaimed 2/10 to 6/10.
This man had already seen his GP about his health issues. In his 15 minute appointment, he didn’t have time to explain in detail how he was feeling. His doctor prescribed anti-inflammatories for the joint pain, and a laxative for his bowel movements, but these only treat the symptoms, and not the underlying causes. GPs play an important role in our healthcare system, but most are not trained to respond to these kinds of health issues.
Stay Well Clinic fills an important gap in providing health care solutions for our community in Christchurch. Non-urgent, evidence-based health care recommendations to help you live well, stay well and get more out of life.
Do you feel like you’re living your best life? Have you talked to a GP about your health problems, taken their prescription, but not felt your best? It’s time to see Mark Webster, Stay Well Man at Stay Well Clinic. Helping you Live Well, Stay Well.
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Stay Well Clinic
C/O 27 Shands Road
Hornby
Christchurch 8042
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