Over two decades ago I was working in Government managing research projects, working long hours, eating takeaways, smoking numerous cigarettes at my desk (yes that was a long time ago!) and socialising most nights. Then a member of my team, said to me “Tracey, you are the most unhealthy person I know”.  Really, surely not I thought, in shock she had said that.  But yes I was.  I had periods from hell, strange pelvic aches, pains in my chest and felt sad if I wasn’t distracting myself with being busy.

I turned to a weekend course in massage for self-relaxation and that was the first turning point.  I then found aromatherapy and became a massage therapist in 2002, while still doing my research job.  I knew fairly quickly that healthcare was the right path for me and started a degree in acupuncture near where I worked.  It was an incredibly tough three years, studying full-time and working in a stressful job, three days a week and doing massage.  I think this high level of stress triggered my autoimmune disease which became severe in 2007, just as I graduated and started working as an acupuncturist.  What timing!