Lucy Batham-Read
Founder & Managing Director
Over the past nine years I have travelled a very long journey, on behalf of both myself and my family. Along the way I learnt many painful lessons but for the first time in my life I am happy with who I am and what I am. I feel as though my life is just starting.
It all began with my eldest daughter, Ella. From the age of six months, she had suffered from a permanent cold and cough. It took at least another six months for me to convince the doctor she had asthma and she then spent the next year-and-a half using a nebuliser every day. She was sick every night and we often sat next to her bed just to make sure she was still breathing. She also had adenoid problems and her nose was so blocked she could not breathe properly.
When Ella was three, the doctor referred her to a consultant because she was still breathing badly and snoring so loudly it was keeping us all up, herself included. Consequently, she was tired in the day.
The consultant said she should have both her tonsils and adenoids out and that we should set a date for the operation. At this point I felt enough was enough. This poor child had been on steroids several times, used inhalers every day and was now facing a general anaesthetic, and all before she was four years old! I needed an alternative.
Without any previsous knowledge of complementary medicine I took Ella to a homeopath called Sarah. I was not sure where it was going to take but both my husband and I felt anything seemed better than an operation. Within three months, instead of steroids, a nebuliser and an inhaler, Ella was just using the inhaler and only because I was too scared for her to stop. Although she was still snoring, she no longer looked like she had stopped breathing. And the eczema for which the doctors constantly prescribed creams had disappeared.
Ella is now 12 and not using any inhalers at all and she has not had any further problems with either her tonsils or adenoids. Not only this, but the last time she went to the doctors was to get her pre-school injections!
Whilst I was taking Ella to the homeopath, she also noticed my son Kit had really bad eczema on the inside of his arms, so Kit started seeing her, too. At the time he was suffering from bad tantrums and his lashing out and his temper would make me cry. Within six months he was no longer constantly scratching and while it does come back from time to time these days it is usually stress-related and only lasts a few days.
As the family history was discussed during our sessions, Sarah the homeopath noted that I needed taking care of, too. It was probably the first time anyone had ever said that to me, so having got the children’s health on an even keel, I embarked upon a journey of discovery about myself ….
Her first point of call was my physical symptoms. I, too, had suffered from asthma since I was a child and had used inhalers since I was about nine. My eczema had also got progressively worse over the years and in the winter my hands were so bad that they bled. Like Ella, I no longer need an inhaler (although I still use it as a safety net before exercise) and my eczema only recurs when I have had a stressful time and it settles down pretty quickly.
For me however, seeing a homeopath took me on a whole journey into my past that would effectively break me down and build me back up again. With help from both Sarah and my cranial osteopath Jean I have learned to understand my past and deal with it – and at 41 I can now finally say that I like who and what I am. As a family we now see our cranial osteopath at least every six months and for us it keeps us all healthy in both mind and body.
Because of what my experience has done for my family and I , I beleive that we are all diferent and fear of change is often what stops us from moving forward. When it comes to our health we often even more fearful and stick to what we have always known even if when we are honest it is not quite working. By creating Loveursoul we hope to give something back and to help others find a way of learning to help themselves and take responsiblity for their health. As I know only too well, if our own lives don’t work then the chances are that the lives of others around us will also suffer. One of the great lessons I have learned is that if we don’t love ourselves, no-one can really love us either.