Throughout my adult life I have suffered significant anxiety regarding any medical procedure that require physical intervention. This includes being at a doctors surgery, dentist and especially at hospital. In the weeks prior to a known medical procedure, my anxiety displayed itself mainly through my short tempered bad behaviour. I would also withdraw into myself contemplating the fear of what could go wrong with the procedure I was about to have. Despite recognising the impact of my bad behaviour to those around me, I was unable to overcome the anxiety and adapt my out of character behaviour. My anxiety was at such levels where I had been known to pass out whilst discussing upcoming procedures with a surgeon. I also recognised that the older I get, the more likely I am in need of medical intervention as manifested by recent hip and foot surgery. I could only imagine my anxiety growing and with more frequency.

I was discussing this with a good friend and he motivated me to stop fighting my anxiety and he also recommended that I contact Dr Katie Heath-Tilford to get professional help. I had never previously considered getting professional help as I was embarrassed to talk about my anxiety in public. The first meeting was a calming experience where she outlined a route map of help that included discussing my medical history, my current anxiety and also methods to help me in the future including the benefits and use of EMDR therapy.

I spoke with Dr Katie Heath-Tilford several times and each time she guided me to understand more about myself, and why and how I react. She very quickly understood my situation and asked very insightful questions that were sometimes difficult to answer, as I wasn’t even clear what my answer was. The times of reflection between each meeting allowed me to process the discussion that we had and to answer all the questions she asked. The recommendations and advice that she gave me resonated very well and my clarity of thought was improving immensely.

Over the period of a few months, I found that my anxiety was rapidly disappearing and I was able to talk about my situation in public without embarrassment. A few months after the last meeting with Dr Katie Heath-Tilford it became clear that I needed more hip surgery and as usual I took my wife to chaperone me at the meeting with the surgeon so that she could look after me and liaise with the surgeon. I still don’t know how Katie did what she did, but you could not stop me talking and asking questions to the surgeon and we soon agreed a suitable date for surgery. 

Dr Katie Heath-Tilford has transformed and improved my life.

Richard P.