by Chrissy Iley
I first came across The Organic Pharmacy as a place where you could just buy a very nice cleanser when I tried their homeopathic jet lag pills.
I find jet lag excruciating, especially coming west to east. I have tried all the usual suspects; melatonin gives me nightmares and sleeping just when I feel like it doesn’t get work done.
I was very impressed with the homeopathic pills. They didn’t knock it out completely but they made a significant improvement.
So I decided to try a health assessment. I wasn’t really sure what I had let myself in for when I arrived at the gleaming white and turquoise branch in Great Marlborough Street, Soho. There are a selection of treatment rooms for all kinds of organic waxings and facials.
The health assessment requires wearing a contraption around your head and having something attached to your ankles while the very efficient Sofia asks questions and ticks boxes. The person before me had apparently said they felt they were being lined up for the execution chair. I preferred to think of myself as Pocohontas for half an hour with a rubber head band.
I am not quite sure how the testing works. Various hissings and quirky notes emit from the computer and then come the on screen results telling me that my vitamin and mineral levels are quite good as they should be as I take a shed load of supplements. But my triglycerides are a problem. I was missing folic acid and magnesium.
It also evaluates your food sensitivities/allergies. And it told me quite correctly that I’m allergic to cow’s milk although I’d no idea I should avoid rhubarb, banana, apples, carrots and cabbage.
Then it revealed that I am allergic to just about every kind of dust possible but specifically upholstery dust. Although I didn’t actually need a testing to tell me that it’s interesting to have it confirmed that upholstery dust is the worst kind of dust for me along with goose feathers and rabbit fur.
I don’t have any rabbits but I took the precaution of swapping a gooses feather duvet for a microfibre one which leads to a cosy sleep and not waking up sneezing and streaming which I hadn’t believed possible.
I am a little, no actually, very phobic of doctors and health issues, but I found the Organic Pharmacy’s health assessment strangely relaxing and extremely instructive and would absolutely recommend it.