QOOL

Early 2026 – Preamble: this post is the speech I wrote as part of my pathway as a Toastmaster. But it’s also a reflection on society as I happen to see it at the time.

Thank you toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and guests.

Symptomania – that term popped into my head while watching TV commercials during my recent business trip to Las Vegas. Advertisements for pharmaceuticals that beat depression, overweight, ADHD, heart diseases, and even compression socks for legs that have trouble with blood flow – the list goes on. While at the same time, fast food and continuous entertainment are available at any time, at the literal touch of your fingertips. And it dawned to me that if people would change habits, they would change symptoms or outcomes.

My purpose is not to convince you to stop any treatment or medication, but to challenge yourself and your medical practitioners to look critically at your habits and behaviours, and create a balanced view on your health.

To illustrate this I will describe my own gout journey as an example. So let me explain briefly what gout is. Gout is a form of arthritis, a painful joint swelling due to a high uric acid level in the blood that cristallises in the cartilage of joints and gets inflamed. My big toe joint is usually affected when gout flares up.

In 2017, I had a gout flare in Singapore, but I had no idea at the time. Doctors did Xrays and MRI scans but couldn’t find anything. I was prescribed rest until it went away. It did eventually, after 2 weeks of pain, paracetamol and ice. 

In 2018 I moved to New Zealand, and had another flare. As I walked into the White Cross New Lynn clinic, the nurse said: “That looks like a gout flare”. I asked if she was sure. 12 hours and 2 x diclofenac pills later, I could walk again. 

As I got older the flares appeared more regularly. And during a casual conversation a kiwi friend said he’d used a medication every day for years to prevent high uric acid levels. So I started to take that medication, Allopurinol, as well and it helped to prevent most flares.

Another medical journey and treatments had me knocked off hormonally last year. To recover I used various supplements: Vitamin A, C, D3, Red Krill, magnesium, selenium, zinc, whey protein, creatine, turmeric, rosemary and tea tree oil. The aim was to get my testosterone back to normal levels as fast as possible, but instead, my gout flared up with a vengeance. And with the doctor’s advice to double the normal dose of Allopurinol, it became a continuous pain.

With the gout operating efficiently in my foot, I wasn’t able to train and work out. And finally I fell over on my motorbike because I could not support the bike. There and then I decided to stop every medicine and supplement despite the advice of doctors, herbal healers, osteopaths and long form podcasts. I wanted to troubleshoot and start taking only the bare minimum required to see what was the cause of the gout flare.

But I didn’t. I started boxing again, slowly but surely building myself up physically. Then I noticed that my testosterone was going up. I started hiking again and even found the energy to argue with my wife. That was early December last year. Today, as I stand here now, my testosterone level is within normal range. I trained a bit this morning and last weekend I had a long ride with my gravel friends. But I haven’t taken any medication or supplements regularly since.

My total stop of supplements and regular medication, my change in behaviour, has certainly influenced a remarkable recovery. The realisation in Las Vegas was only 3 weeks ago and after I had stopped and changed. But amplified the concept of changing behaviours, changing habits and therefore outcomes, symptoms. 

The push of the commercial medical industry to consume more pharmaceuticals, treatments and supplements, will not stop despite advances in knowledge and insights in various fields of medical science. It’s easy to get disillusioned, when the change from for-profit to for-health seems insurmountable. But there is hope, there is information and there is you. 

My request to you, and to anyone, is to look at your habits with a critical view, and stay informed. It has changed my outcomes, my symptoms, and it may change yours too. And perhaps, hopefully, we could stop this symptomania and live a healthier life. Thank you.