Our next visitor Q&A is from Rashid Messoudi, medical herbalist from London. Here he talks about how he was influenced by his late mother’s traditional midwifery and herbal practice in his childhood.
Full name: Rashid Messoudi
Job title: Medical Herbalist (phytotherapy, medical aromatherapy & nutrition correction)
Company: Avicenna Clinic of Medical Herbalism
Town: North Finchley, London
Tell us a bit about your background and what led you into complementary medicine?
I am from an Algerian background, Arabic and French-speaking. My mother used to be a traditional midwife (her last delivery was at 81 years old!) She also was an osteopath, herbalist, weaver, potter, and community counsellor - I seem to have interiorised her herbal practice since my childhood. When I came to Britain in 1974 for a postgraduate, I discovered about western herbalism by the famous French herbalist Maurice Mésségué. This man, from the ‘civilised’ west, made me suddenly realise the importance of my mother’s traditional natural health practice.
The surprising success of my amateurish herbalism, coupled with me being the victim of drug side-effects and a serious medical blunder, whipped up my motivation for more extensive readings and encouraged me to study for a BSc. in medical herbalism.
Since 2007, I have extended the range of my therapies and developed wide-ranging protocols to deal successfully with conditions considered incurable by the medical establishment. I follow closely francophone, arabophone and anglophone leading doctors who are concerned about their type of medicine, and have therefore turned to natural therapies for efficiency and harmless treatments.
What do you love most about your work?
Helping people with chronic and degenerative disorders, who were abandoned or further damaged by orthodox medicine protocols.
What’s your most memorable work moment?
This was a momentous event in 2007 when, as a fledging medical herbalist, I treated a 17 year-old Czech female suffering with a one-year old juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus. The orthodox protocol (six drugs) had caused her a steatosis and the consultant wanted her to take five additional drugs to deal with this ‘collateral’ damage. I was asked to deal with her case when her mother, a nurse, was frightened by the vicious circle of synthetic drugs-side-effects. I worked with the girl regularly till 2010, where she successfully no longer suffered with these side-effects.
What’s the single biggest challenge in your work?
Convincing patients to adopt my protocol, which they find daunting, or to follow up the ‘consolidation’ programme once they have benefitted from my protocol.
What tips and advice would you give someone who is just starting their career in health care/complementary medicine?
• Conduct a holistic patient interrogation.
• Read extensively and widely, and follow topical news especially by orthodox doctors in order to be able to explain in detail and contrast natural medicine with the traditional approach.
• Focus on the patients’ nutrition and life-style.
How many years have you visited camexpo?
Since 2007
What are you most looking forward to about camexpo 2015?
New therapies/equipment, new products and networking!
To book an entry ticket, please visit www.camexpo.co.uk/register-to-visit-camexpo-2015. Use priority code CMXP580 to register for £7.50 before 25 September. Entry to the Nutrition Theatre, Keynote Theatre, Demo Theatre and Business Clinic, is included with all tickets (space permitting).
The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily those of the event organisers.
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