Advice needed please

[Surfing Instructor]

Dear All,

I hope you can help me with this one. A lady in her late 60's has been having reflexology treatments with me, one session a week. she has arthritis and is on steroids and has had physiotheraoy following a fall. she is mainly looking for pain relief and relaxation. Af her second session I asked her for some feedback and she said initially she was going to the loo more (which I assured her was normal) but that she felt tired (all normal reactions to reflexology). At her 3rd treatment she was pleased that the swelling around her ankles had improved and she was able to walk for longer. However, she told me that her GP had increased her steroids slightly after recent tests. she is due to come in tomorrow for treatment 4 but phoned me yesterday to say that following last weeks treatment she has felt terrible and literally aches all over her body. I've never had this extreme reaction before and I've given treatments to people undergoing chemotherapy. Is this normal? I don't want to continue with the treatments if it is making her feel so ill.
Any advice much appreciated.
WW2

 

[Beckiie]

Hiya

She could just have flu you know!

 

[ricardo d]

Hello Wenywoo,
Theres nothing to say that your treament gave her this reaction?? Maybe the increase of tablets could have given her some strange side effects?
Did you get the doctors consent before starting Reflexology treatment? The thing with holistic therapy is that some times things have to get worst before they get better...and many clients/people look for a quick fix... and are always quick to point the finger when things seem to be going wrong!
Keep up the good work and just make a note on your client records and hopefully things will settle down soon and your client will be running back for more.
Bye for now
Rachelx

 

[Kumi]

Hi Wendywoo

I agree with Hallos and Chris that it may not be the reflexology making her feel this way. However because to this lady maybe reflexology is something new it gets the blame straight away.

I always get the name of the drug the patient is on because then you can look it up in the BNF and check for yourself what the side effects of the drug could be. When you say the GP has increased the steroids slightly, by how much for that type of drug. 10mg is slightly for some drugs where as 30mg might be slightly for others and then the side effects really show. Also how long has she been taking the steroids, less than a month? If so maybe the 3rd treatment eliminated most of the steroid?

Why not give her a caring call next week to see how she is, one thing ive always found when you do that they think you care more than the Dr, which I do, but as Hallos said, she'll be running back for more



hope this helps