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February 13 2012,Last year I was lucky enough to go a press trip to South Africa and experience the excitement of a safari game drive and see some Marula trees growing in the wild - they're one of nature's wonders and you can read all about them in my three page travel feature in the March 2012 issue of Spirit and Destiny magazine.
February 5 2012,If you're recovering from some dreadful hard-to-shift chest infection and debating whether you need antibiotics - think seriously before asking for them. Antibiotics are life saving and the wonder drugs of the 20th century of course and they'll often do the trick when nothing else will - but they've also been over prescribed. This has led to the growing problems of drug resistance but what is often overlooked is that antibiotics can also have unpleasant side effects - and in rarer case these can be extremely serious. Read my article in today's Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2097415/Taking-antibiotics-ruptured-tendon-The-hidden-dangers-everyday-drugs-assume-harmless.html about tendon problems associated with the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. Judy Thomas suffered a painful Achilles tendon rupture and was horrified to find out it was a rare side effect of a course of antibiotics she'd been given for a chest infection - months later she is still on crutches and wondering why there wasn't a more prominent warning on the packaging. Rebecca Robinson a hairdresser from Bristol says she is still suffering persistent lower leg pain and other unexplained symptoms five years after was prescribed five courses of ciprofloxacin for cystitis and a kidney infection in a 12 month period.After several brain scans and other investigations doctors can find no medical explanation for her symptoms - but Rebecca is convinced they are are linked to taking ciprofloxacin. Type in "cipro toxicity" on the internet and you'll find hundreds of other similar stories. In the US there is even a patient group called the Fluroquinolone Vigilance Foundation - which campaigns to highlight the side effects they claim are associated with these drugs - read more at www.saferpills.org - where many UK patient stories are listed too. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the Uk's drug safety watchdog, received 2,269 'suspected' adverse reaction reports associated with fluroquinolone antibiotics, including 67 deaths , since January 2000. This isn't a high number when you consider there are a million prescriptions for fluroquinolones in the UK every year - but it is widely accepted that only 10 per cent of adverse drug reactions are ever reported - so the true incidence is likely to be much higher. Even if these side effects are rare though - surely it makes sense to put more emphasis on making patients more aware of the dangers? Of course no one is saying antibiotics don't have their place (they can save your life for God's sake) - but in those situations where it's a toss up between taking them and struggling on with an infection for a few days I think I'd rather wait and see if my body can fight it off. Not everyone has that choice of course - but experts agree that we certainly shouldn't be popping antibiotics like vitamin pills.Antibiotics are powerful drugs which should be reserved for serious illnesses and their flip side is that they can have powerful adverse side effects too. January 27 2012,Had a really good day today running a workshop on pitching to journalists for CharityComms. In these days of email and even Twitter pitches I was urging them not to be afraid to pick up the phone and try to build relationships with journalists. Emails save time but sometimes a short phone call can jog a journalist's memory and prompt them to make a decision rather than leaving a PR's press release languishing in their email box (which in my case can after a few days turn into a No Man's Land). Obviously ask if it's a good moment though - phone when they're on deadline and you can get your head snapped off. At the end of the day all journalists need ideas for stories so we need PRs to pitch to us just as much PRs need us to write about their press releases and case study ideas. Be kind to each other I say. Had a really receptive group who took everything we talked about on board and used them in their pitching exercises and they gave me some great ideas for stories too! Great news is that the Guild of Health Writers Writing Awards has attracted record entries this year and the judging process is now underway. The awards will be presented at a ceremony to be held in central London on 29 March. The Guild of Health Writers is also running a seminar on dementia on 21 February in central London, The 'Coping with the dementia time bomb' line up includes Anglea Rippon, ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society. Guild member Jerome Burne will be talking about the secrets of healthy ageing (he's just written a book on it) and Professor Sube Banerjee (co-author of the UK's Dementia Strategy) will give an update on latest research on causes of dementia and the new treatments on the horizon. Dr Graham Stokes from Bupa Care Homes will talk about Tickets are free and include a buffet supper and wine, available from the Guild web site www.healthwriters.com. The event is kindly sponsored by Bupa. Been busy on lots of writing jobs I can't blog about yet as they're not in print yet - but I'll give them a mention when they're published in the near future. Oh yes I've managed to give up alcohol for most of January - only four days to go now (and counting!). I nearly gave up when I read the research published this month that said it wasn't worth giving up alcohol completely for a comparatively short time - but feeling really pleased with myself that I stuck at it now.
You can catch my article on the benefits of salt caves for asthma sufferers in the latest issue of Psychologies magazine this month. January 3 2012, Happy New Year everyone, hope you enjoyed your Christmas /New Year break. Like everyone else I'm full of new resolutions for improving my health this year and one of them is signing up for a Bupa 10 K run in May. I know it's hardly a marathon but a big step up for me as I've only previously managed 5ks ( badly!). Last year I improved my time in a Race for Life event at Battersea Park after taking some coaching tips from uber runner and journalist Fiona Bugler http://therunningbug.co.uk/rbblogs/she-runs-she-writes/b/weblog/archive/2011/12/31/coming-out-of-hibernation.aspxr -she honestly believes everyone can run - and the only reason most of us don't enjoy it is that we're not fit - five months of training might make all the difference, so watch this space! Also on my list for self improvement this week is buying is Anna Magee and Charlotte Watts's new book The De Stress Diet http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stress-Diet-Revolutionary-Lifestyle-Slimmer/dp/1848507798 - which aims to tackle stress as well as overeating to make you slimmer and calmer - surely the two goals most of us want to achieve. If you have a busy life and are having trouble sleeping and feel tempted to go down the prescribed sleeping pill route read my article about Z-drugs in today's Daily Mail first http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2081488/Are-sleeping-pills-mothers-NEW-little-helper.html. There were over six million prescriptions for Z drugs (a group of hypnotic sleeping pills) in England and Wales in 2010 and over four million more for other hypnotic sleeping pills called benzodiazepines .Although z drugs are an effective short term treatment for sleeping problems - taking them long term can cause problems as some patients can develop tolerance and need higher and higher doses in order to sleep. Some patients have also reported serious withdrawal symptoms - including anxiety and insomnia. Whilst I've every sympathy for the sleep deprived - there's nothing worse than a sleepless night - I still believe if something is keeping you awake at night it's better to tackle the root cause rather than try and mask the symptoms with drugs. Come on GPs - stop reaching for the prescription pad so readily - and if you do - stick to short term prescriptions only. Bowel cancer screening has been introduced in England and Wales for men and women over 60, but new research suggests more lives could be saved by lowering the screening age to 50. Read more about this in my article in the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2078810/Simple-test-men-50-save-thousands-death.html The sun has come out while I've been writing and I'm off to jog around the block in my lunch hour... let you know how I get on.... Happy New Year and here's hoping you all stick to your healthy New Year resolutions too. December 6 2011,This week I've been writing about the return of the bone disease rickets and the general lack of awareness that children aged 6 months to five years need supplements. Toby Ault is a well cared for toddler - who eats well and gets to play outside on his pony - and yet last year he was diagnosed with rickets - a disease straight from the pages of a Dickens novel. See my article in today's Daily Mail Good Health section http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2070353/Rickets-No-told-children-vitamin-D-pills--son-got-disease.html Toby's not that unusual either - a study published earlier this year by researchers at Southampton University found around 18 per cent of children who attended an orthopaedic clinic had vitamin D deficiency - and that's in one of the sunniest areas of Britain. Another survey of paediatric dietitians by the cereal manufacturer Kellogg's found 82 per cent had seen a rise in cases in the last year. Why's it happening? Too much sun cream and our increasingly indoor lifestyles mean many of us aren't getting enough exposure to the sun so that our bodies can't make enough vitamin D - but we're also eating fewer eggs and less oily fish - the best dietary sources of vitamin D. I've got three children but was unaware that daily vitamin D supplements are recommended for the under 5s and can't remember any health professional ever mentioning it to me either. Maybe going back to a spoonful of cod liver oil is unpalatable these days - so fortifying everyday foods like breakfast cereals , milk and orange juice would seem to be a good idea. I've also got an article in the December issue of Psychologies magazine about a complementary health therapy called bio dynamic psychotherapy.It's a mixture of psychotherapy and massage. It's an interesting idea and based on the premise that stress is stored in the gut and needs to be released. I've written about mainstream medics using similar types of techniques at St Mark's Hospital (a tertiary referral centre for bowel problems in north London), as a treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome - so I think it's one of those complementary therapies that actually does makes sense. Definitely worth a try for people with stressful lifetsyles. The Usual Suspects were out en masse on Thursday December 1 for the Guild of Health Writers Christmas party at the House of Lords - the champagne flowed and there was a delicious food , music and a chance to catch up with other health writers - great evening. There is still time left to enter the Guild's Health Writing Awards 2012 with over £11k to be won in prize money - deadline for entries is December 16 , more details on www.healthwriters.com.
November 8 2011,
 This week you can read my article on Seasonal Affective Disorder in Healthy magazine's November/ December issue http://www.healthy-magazine.co.uk/experts/feeling-sad I know everyone probably thinks they have have SAD - but it's more than just feeling tired and grumpy because the skies are grey. The defining symptoms of SAD are craving carbs, feeling low and sleeping more than usual - all starting around the time the clocks go back in late October and not lifting again until Spring. As someone who has to fight off the urge to hibernate from November to February I was interested in finding out about what treatments are available. Daily doses of light therapy from portable lamps which give off a minimum of 500 lux can apparently improve your symptoms within four days. Newer studies suggest that low-intensity blue light may be more effective than intense white light because it activates a receptor called melanopsin which regulates alertness and circadian rhythms (the body's natural cycle of biological activity/sleep). Getting outside in daylight hours for a walk is also recommended by Dr Deenesh Khoosal the consultant psychiatrist I interviewed. He also swears by winter holidays somewhere hot and simple lifestyle changes like learning to relax. I've been trialling a blue light and a dawn simulator alarm clock (thank you Philips! This week also saw the launch of an exciting new online magazine I've been writing for called www.Multiplymagazine.com. My co-contributors are the brilliant freelance journalists Martine Gallie, a former editor of www.babycentre.co.uk and Emily Cook, a former health correspondent with the Daily Mirror. Here's one of the stories of hope I've written about a couple who spent £35,000 on their treatment http://www.multiplymagazine.com/articles/i_hate_needles_but_just_got_on_with_it
Multiplymagazine is a niche web magazine for anyone experiencing fertility problems -with a wealth of informative articles about fertility, infertility and IVF techniques, plus some inspiring stories of hope - all written in chatty women's magazine style. It's the brainchild of radio producer David Prever and his wife Victoria, also a journalist, who underwent six rounds of IVF treatment before having their two children and sets out to meet the needs of couples hungry for in-depth information and encouragement. Check it out - its a fantastic read and should be your first port of call if you're experiencing infertility. I was also out and about last week visiting the Fertility Show at Olympia - picking up some stories about new treatments including a fascinating talk by Dr Gillian Lockwood on how flash-freezing techniques have improved success rates with IVF using frozen eggs.Hope to be writing this story up for up for magazines and newspapers soon. November 1 2011,Many older women suffer fractures from minor falls and the causes are never fully investigated. In a significant number of these cases the underlying cause is brittle bones or osteoporosis. Read my interview in today's Daily Mail Good Health section http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2055906/Fragile-bones-This-cruel-betrayal-Doctors-failing-thousands-victims-says-damning-report.html with hairdresser with Christine Sharp,68, about her long battle to get a diagnosis for her condition . Christine, a hairdresser, suffered seven fractures in 14 years and lost six inches in height and was left in so much pain she had no alternative but to give up her thriving hairdressing business and end the 52 years career she adored. When she eventually paid privately for to see a specialist - a DXA bone scan was done to measure her bone density and Christine was told she had one of the worst cases of osteoporosis the specialist had ever seen. Her spine was literally crumbling away and yet it could have been prevented if she had been diagnosed and treated earlier. When Christine rang the hospital to ask why they didn't employ a fracture liaison nurse to investigate fractures in the over 50s there was just silence at the end of the phone. The NHS is failing women (and men) like Christine who suffer painful fractures without being diagnosed and treated for osteoporosis and more needs to be done to improve diagnosis of this painful condition. October 26 2011,Osteoporsis affects over three million people in the UK yet the NHS just doesn't seem to be taking it seriously enough. More people have osteoporosis than have breast cancer or suffer a stroke combined - but do we really hear as much about the risks of your bones shattering as we do the other two conditions? It's not just elderly women who are at risk either - men can get osteoporosis too and increasingly younger women as well. You can read my article about three young women who developed bones so brittle they suffered fractures after following faddy diets in today's Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2053545/Fatal-toll-fragile-bones--women-suffer-osteoporosis.html?ito=feeds-newsxml. Until researching this feature I just didn't realise it was possible to suffer fractures in your 20's because of faddy diets - but some of the women I interviewed had crumbling bones in their early twenties because of their highly restricted diets and punishing exercise regimes. All said they had been partly influenced by super skinny celebs and women's magazines The Daily Mail is campaigning to highlight the plight of osteoporosis sufferers in the hope of improving diagnosis and treatment for those affected. Osteoporosis has been a Cinderella condition for too long and is great the disease is getting high profile recognition at last. Too many women - and men - are never offered a DXA bone scan to check their bone density after suffering a fracture and many go on to suffer serious breaks including hip fractures - which can lead to premature death and long term disability. Find out more about osteoporosis and what your risk factors are for developing it on the National Osteoporosis Society's web site www.nos.org.uk October 11 2011,Read my article in today's Daily Mail Good Health section highlighting the problem of neuropathic back pain http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2047604/The-pain-victims-suffer-needlessly-years.html. Nerve pain symptoms including shooting, stabbing , electric shock -type pains, tingling and numbness with pain. It's a complicated condition and traditionally regarded as hard to resolve, particularly as neuropathic pain can also co-exist with a mechanical back pain problems or on its own - so it can hard to pinpoint exactly what is causing the problem. Standard painkillers like paracetamol and ibupofen don't work as well on neuropathic pain - the National Institute for Clinical Excellence says the condition is best treated with the antidepressant amitryptiline and an anti-epilectic drugs pregabalin.Exercise and pain management techniques can be helpful too. My case study Maggie had suffered from a combination of mechanical and neuropathic pain for decades - but only her mechanical problems were ever treated - she even remortgaged her house to spend £35,000 on a back pain operation - which didn't work. It wasn't until a physio mentioned she could have nerve pain that the breakthrough came by trying exercise techniques. Doctors working in secondary care pain clinics say they often see patients who have been suffering neuropathic pain for years and never been offered the most effective drugs. They hope greater awareness of the condition will mean patients don't have to suffer needlessly for so long before getting treatment that works . September 20 2011,Oh god - nothing worse than a neglected blog. You'll have to excuse me have been away in Turkey (more about that later) and then there was the Health Benefits of Beer Conference in Brussels (yes really), and in between have been catching up with my writing jobs (lots and lots of content writing for a brand new health website launching next month).Well this month my work load has certainly been varied and spread across a number of different publications.I've got two articles in the latest issue of At Home With Jo Frost a magazine featuring parenting advice and tips and lots of input from the celebrity SuperNanny. You can read my feature on Getting Children to Break Bad Habits http://www.athomemagazine.co.uk/more-celeb/jo-frost/4600-how-to-get-your-child-to-break-bad-habits - tackling common problems like clinginess , bed wetting and thumb sucking, plus another article on child development. Talking of Turkey - its definitely a land of smokers and a bit of a culture shock for those of used to the UK's smoking ban in restaurants and bars. A tour guide on a trio we took told us life expectancy in Turkey lags stubbornly behind some parts of the world because of the country's high smoking rates. I've been writing about smoking cessation for The Advisor a magazine aimed at clinic staff - highlighting the controversy over e-cigarettes (Eastenders actress June Brown aka Dot Branning reportedly loves them). I've also written another article on the role of complementary therapies like hypnotherapy and acupuncture - all useful things to try if you're struggling to give up smoking - although they don't have the clinical evidence behind them that nicotine replacement therapy has built up, the anecdotal evidence from patients is persuasive and I think both warrant larger randomised controlled trials. You can also catch another of my articles in the September issue of Healthy Food Guide Magazine on Do You Really Need Vitamins and Supplements? - an investigation of what supplements you need and why. And in the September 5 issue of Yours magazine (www.yours.co.uk) I wrote a feature on Maggie's battle to get a correct diagnosis for her fluttering heart, dizziness and breathlessness, (Saved By A Chance Discovery pge 48-49). She thought she was just tired and stressed from work - but in fact she had Atrial Fibrillation,an electrical heart rhythm disorder which causes your heart to beat too fast or too slow. Find out more about how to spot the symptoms at www.knowyourpulse.org. I've also been writing about sweeteners (Are your sweeteners making you fat?) for Top Sante magazine's September issue. I was fascinated to interview Professor Susan Purdue from the US about her research in rats which showed those fed yogurt laced with sweeteners gained more weight than those fed yoghurt sweetened with sugar. Could it be that sweeteners just make us crave more sweet things and end up making us fat? It's certainly an interesting theory and may go some way towards explaining the obesity crisis in the US (and the UK). Move Over Red Wine..... This week I've been in Brussels at a symposium on the Health Benefits of Beer www.beerandhealth.eu (yeah right - that's what I thought!). However I stand corrected - I'd no idea for instance that beer contains silicon - a mineral we need for all connective tissue including bones (Professor Jonathan Powell from the MRC Human Nutrition Unit at Cambridge University says its works like reinforced concrete for bones), plus the aorta. Professor Powell says moderate consumption of beer (which has higher concentration of silicon than other food sources) has two beneficial effects on bone health - the silicon enhances bone formation and the ethanol (alcohol) inhibits bone loss. Wine does not contain silicon and yet we constantly hear that's good for us and a main staple of the Med diet - but beer just doesn't get the same sort of good press. Instead it's blamed for beer bellies etc - although at another presentation by Professor Arne Arstrup from the University of Copenhagen we heard there was no scientific evidence to support the idea that moderate beer drinking produces abdominal fatness. He said instead that the well established risk factors for a beer belly were male gender, smoking, physical inactivity, mental stress, impaired sleep and high intake of certain trans fats and use of certain drugs. Dr Maria-Teresa Hernandez from Spain also presented research that found that giving breastfeeding women non-alcoholic beer slowed down the decline in antioxidant concentration in breast milk between 15 days and one month. Although the concentration of antioxidants still decline - the decline was much less in the mothers who had a daily tipple of non alcoholic beer. She concluded that non alcoholic beer may be a good source of nutrients and antioxidants to add to other healthy foods for lactating mums. No-one is suggesting we all start drinking vast quantities of beer - but small quantities it seems may be good for us after all. Maybe its time to give beer another chance?
August 16 2011,This month I've been writing for Yours magazine about Dupuytren's contracture, a common condition which causes fingers to bend into the palm of the hand. It affects around one in five men over 60 and one in five women over 80 and can be extremely debilitating if you are unlucky enough to develop it. My case study Hannah Lambert struggled to do up buttons and write letters and had repeated operations to correct the problem which all required recovery time and physiotherapy.She finally got relief when she was selected for a trial of a new injection called Xiapex - the first injectable treatment for Dupuytren's licensed in the UK. The new injection can be given in an outpatient setting. It consists of two enzymes that work by breaking down the structure of a cord that develops in the connective tissue of the hand. Twenty four hours after the injection is given, a simple procedure can be performed to help straighten the finger -avoiding the need for surgery. You can also read my article Are your sweeteners making you fat? in the September issue (out now) of Top Sante magazine (page 108/109). It was a fascinating subject to research - particularly interviewing Professor Susan Swithers from Purdue University in West Lafayette, USA, who made the startling discovery that sweeteners may actually make you gain weight rather than lose it. Her research on rats found that those fed a type of yoghurt laced with artificial sweeteners put on more weight than those fed yoghurt with sugar added. The Purdue theory is that when we eat artificially sweetened food with no calories it disrupts the link between sweetness and calories , so the brain doesn't register that its is full quite so quickly, so we eat more and gain weight. There are plenty of experts who disagree of course - but it might partly explain why obesity rates are rocketing despite an explosion in the number of artificially sweetened 'diet' foods and fizzy drinks. JULY 19 2011,Most women have heard about Pre Menstrual Syndrome (PMS) and its debilitating side effects - but not so far many are familiar with the term Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) - the American name for the most severe form of PMS.The condition is believed to affect an estimated 500,000 to one million women in the UK. To be diagnosed with PMDD a woman must suffer from at least four of the following symptoms: markedly depressed mood, marked anxiety or tension, persistent irritability or anger, difficulty in concentrating, decreased interest in usual activities, noticeable lack of energy, marked change in appetite, insomnia or hypersomnia (sleeping too much), sense of being overwhelmed or out of control, sudden sadness or depression and physical symptoms such as joint pains, headaches, breast tenderness or "bloating."
Symptoms usually occur a week before a menstrual cycle begins and disappear a few days after the menstrual cycle starts. The symptoms must recur in at least two consecutive menstrual cycles and must also "markedly interfere" with work, basic functioning or social relationships.Read all about how how PMDD wreaked havoc on 42 year old Kirsty Baranowski's life in my article in today's Daily Mail Good Health section http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2016172/Women-told-theyre-mentally-ill-really-crippled-period-pain.html.The worrying thing is that many PMDD sufferers are either never diagnosed or treated or sometimes it is claimed - misdiagnosed as having a mental illness. The good news is that it can be treated with either drug treatments or in the most severe cases surgery.You can find out more PMDD from the excellent information provided on the Pre Menstrual Syndrome Association's web site www.pms.org. Over the last few weeks I've also been writing about the return of measles in the UK - mainly due to low uptake rates for the MMR vaccine in the late 1990s and early part of the century. Thankfully MMR immunisation rates in England have just got back to 90 per cent again for the under fives - but there are still older children in their teens who may be at risk because they were not vaccinated at the height of the Andrew Wakefield scare. Wakefield's research - which has been discredited - linked the MMR to autism and bowel conditions. You can read my article on this in the Daily Mail athttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2011310/Why-measles-rise-Just-blame-French.html I've also been interviewing actress Patsy Kensit about her health regime - she swears by exercising , meditation, coffee enemas and organic food - and she's looking great on it. You can read the interview at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2011277/Patsy-Kensit-I-used-able-eat-I-wanted-I-hit-30-I-ballooned.html . Really sweet lady - even sent my kids an autograph (they're big Holby City fans!). Also took some time out to go on a short course run by Susan Grossman www.susangrossman.co.uk/ -called Pitching to Editors which was fantastic and really inspiring. I've already made a successsful pitch to a new editor so the £125 course has paid for itself in just a week! The Guild of Health Writers www.healthwriters.com also held its Annual Summer Party at the House of Lords on 7 July and it was a great evening with lots of editors , commissioning editors and journalists and PRs coming along for a few drinks and a catch-up - great way to mix business with pleasure and put faces to names. June 21 2011, I grew up hearing my parents and grandparents talking about how TB cast a shadow over their childhoods and the family members who were sent off to sanatoriums for treatment in isolation. Like them though I thought those days were confined to the history books - but as with most things if you get too complacent about something it tends to reappear.Now drug resistant strains of TB and other bacterial infections, as well as viruses are causing scientists a big headache. Read my article in today's Daily Mail Good health section http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2005954/Anna-spent-16-weeks-quarantine-The-common-diseases-mutating-killers.html about Anna Waterson who spent four months in an isolation hospital after picking up a drug resistant strain of TB. The drug treatment lasted 18 months - three times as long as normal and the antibiotics used had more side effects - not so easy to treat after all.While Anna eventually made a full recovery and is now completely clear of the disease , cases such as hers are becoming alarmingly common, the World Health Organisation recently warned. Millions of patients worldwide are falling victim to diseases which are becoming increasingly resistant to standard medical treatments. As well as TB, these include other diseases linked to bacteria, including the hospital superbug MRSA which caused over 1,898 case of bloodstream infections in 2009/10 and another called pseudomonas which causes potentially fatal infections in intensive care patients and those with cystic fibrosis. Cases of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea which are resistant to the standard antibiotic treatment ciprofloxacin are also on the increase.There are also signs of drug resistance emerging in malaria, influenza and HIV. Another reminder that nature is always one step ahead of the human race and to not take anything for granted.
May 24 2011,This week I've been writing about the dangers of buying prescription drugs on the internet. Fake medicines are a huge global problem and most consumers seem dangerously unaware that counterfeit drugs are everywhere now. See my article in today's Daily Mail for more details http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1390133/Can-buying-prescription-pills-internet-EVER-safe.html.I'm also the new Chairman of the Guild of Health Writers and I'd like to flag up an upcoming event - a Charity Speed networking evening for health charities and health journalists on June 8 - should be a great evening and tickets are only £10 for members and £15 for non members including a buffet supper. For more details see the Guild of Health Writers web site http://www.healthwriters.com.
April 26 2011,Back after the Easter Break. Take a look at my article in today's Daily Mail Good Health section on Claire Carlson who paid out thousands in critical illness cover only to be told she had the wrong sort of cancer for a payout. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1380581/Claire-paid-health-cover-years-needed-help-told-wrong-type-cancer.html. Claire's experience illustrates why its always best to check the small print and that critical illness insurance is by no means a catch-all safety net which covers you for all illnesses Independent Financial adviser Alan Lakey is so concerned about the situation that he has set up a new website criticalillnessinsider.com to give consumers and other IFAs expert advice on what these policies do and don't cover. You can read more of my articles on www.journalisted.com/jo-waters
March 23 2011 I've written about the problem of long term addiction to benzodiazepines before - but sadly the problem isn't going away. I think it's scandalous that milliions of people are being prescribed drugs for years on end rather than the then 4 to 6 weeks recommended in official guidelines. These patients are involuntary drug addicts - but unlike illegal drug users - specialist help for those with addictions to prescription drugs is not widely available. That's why its alarming to hear of anecdotal reports that GPs are taking long term addicts off these drugs too quickly and without offering any specialist support. See my article in Daily Mail Good Health http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1368666/Misery-tranquilliser-addicts-forced-cold-turkey-GPs.html. Some of the benzo charities are doing a fantastic job offering advice and support via help-lines - but more NHS specialist clinics are desperately needed to help these people come off benzos on a tapered withdrawal programme. Lets hope some of the GPs taking over the reins in the NHS will commission these services. March 8 2011Read my article in today's Daily Mail Good Health scetion about how the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra is turning out to have some unexpected heath benefits for patients who suffer from Raynauds syndrome.Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1363948/My-fingers-toes-ached-cold--I-took-Viagra.html#ixzz1G0X5fyZp Was away in South Africa last week learning all about the Marula fruit - a gourmet feast for elephants (they'll walk vast distances to feast on them), that grows wild in the African bush. It tastes a little like a lychee but has four times the vitamin C content of an orange despite being about a quarter of the size. Locals also use it to make wine and beer, plus supply fruit to the makers of the Amarula fruit liquer. Sadly, the fruit decomposes rapidly so cannot be exported to Europe,although you can now buy juices containing the super fruit in the UK and the kernels are ground up to make oils used in some Body Shop products.
Red meat consumption amongst women slumped massively in the UK by 40 per cent between 2003 and 2008, fuelled by health scares. Now surveys have found up to 40 per cent of 25 to 34 year olds have an insufficient iron intake, putting them at risk of developing iron defciency anaemia. February 1 2011 It's not happening with all cancers of course and obvioulsy there are still 150,000 deaths a years from cancer in the UK, but many patients are living much longer than could have ever been contemplated even a decade ago. The breakthroughs made with treating diseases like chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), multiple myeloma and follicular lymphoma , are also being applied to other cancers. Some CML patients are still alive 14 years after starting their treatment with these genetically targeted drugs. Just as important is tha fact is that these treatments are well tolerated - because the treatments target the tumour cells and not healthy cells - side effects are minimal when compared to chemotherapy. A diagnosis of cancer is always devastating but no longer automatically a death sentence and increasingly people are living for many years with certain types of cancer and eventually dying of other conditions. Good news for a change and some I wanted to share. You can read more of articles on www.journalisted.com.
The experts at St Mark's Hospital's Psychological Medicine Unit in north London help 150 patients a year with IBS and other bowel conditions. They say stress and the memories of traumatic events in childhood and adult life can actually manifest itself themselves in physical symptoms like bloating, constipation and tummy cramps. The treatment certainly worked for Angela Harewood, December 7 2010, November 2 2010, Millions of pounds of NHS money is being wasted on drugs patients don't even need according to research. More worrying is the fact that these drugs can expose patients to dangerous side effects completely unnecessarily. Up to 30 per cent of hospital admissions amongst the elderly for instance, are due to inappropriate prescribing. October 19 2010,
August 17 2010 This week I've been writing about the growing problem of antibiotic resistance (see today's Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1303652/Invasion-superbugs-As-run-weapons-fight-protect-yourself.html).
You can read more of my articles on www.journalisted.com
These include hormonal menopause-type symptoms, breast cancer , osteoporosis. migraines, varicose veins and incontinence. There are common themes to emerge with all these illnesses -men don't believe they can get them and tend to present to a doctor late and doctors are less likely to diagnose these problems in men because they are more unusual. The key is greater awareness about these conditons so men don't miss out on effective treatments. Tuesday June 15, As you'll read in the article 44 year old Elizabeth Ogg waited months for an RA diagnosis after she developed agonising pains in her arms and legs completely out of the blue. But a recent Public Accounts Committee report has found that delaying diagnosis and treatment can affect the progression of RA and urges that patients start treatment within the first three months of symptoms. This could prevent patients suffering serious disability because effective treatments are now available which can halt the progression of the disease. Also very exciting news to report to blog readers today - my new book is out and available to buy on Amazon for £8.99. Written with my co-author the brilliant journalist Martine Gallie and expertly edited by GP Dr David Edwards - Family Health: The Essential Guide to Diet, Medicine and Wellbeing - is a handy medical reference book aimed at busy time-poor families. I hope it's a less confusing alternative to dipping into millions of internet sites which all tell you something different! You can buy one by clicking this link http://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Health-Essential-Medicine-Wellbeing/dp/1847867065/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276507856&sr=8-1-spell. The publisher is Flametree Publishing. You can also check out my web copywriting skills this week at www.constipationfacts.co.uk/index/asap
Tuesday June 1 2010, If you've ever felt sleepy behind the wheel or drowsy at your desk at work but shrugged it off as just overdoing it - read my article in today's Daily Mail Good Health section - a cautionary tale about obstructive sleep apnoea. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1282935/Could-snoring-make-deadly-driver-One-sleep-deprived-motorists-cautionary-tale.html It's possible that the reason for your sleepiness is obstructive sleep apnoea. Classic symptoms include loud snoring, spluttering/gasping for breath in your sleep and waking unrefreshed from sleep in the morning,plus daytime sleepiness. More serious risks include high blood pressure and a higher risk of strokes and heart disease. Daytime sleepiness cause accidents at work and you're also 15 times more likely to be involved in a road accident. Many drivers are in denial about their symptoms because they fear losing their licence and their livelihoods, but effective treatments are available. The gold standard treatment endorsed by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence is the Continuous Positive Airways Pressure (CPAP) machine - a mask worn during sleep that's connected to an electrical pump to supply air to the mask and keep the airways open. Once symptoms are brought under control drivers can get their licences get from the DVLA and be safe in the knowledge that they are unlikely to doze off at the wheel. For more information on OSA go to www.osauk.org
Read my artiicle in today's Daily Mail Good Health section about whether there really is such a thing as the male menopause http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1269067/Its-derided-myth-doctors-convinced-men-fatigue-flagging-libido-going-MALE-menopause.html Although not technically a menopause (the word has a very specific medical meaning referring to the end of periods in women) - experts do believe men do suffer falls in the levels of their sex homone - testosterone - in their middle to later years. This condition is known as Testosterone Deficiency Syndrome (TDS) and is caused by either the testicles not functioning normally or when the body's overall hormone production is out of balance. Testosterone is not only vital to a man's potency and sex drive, but is also important for maintaining muscle strength, healthy bones, positive mood and energy levels. Ken Harvey a 47 year old TDS sufferer I interviewed for the piece talks frankly about how he suffered mood swings, loss of libido, weight gain round his middle, fatigue and joint pain , as well as loss of facial and body hair and hot flushes. His symptoms improved markedly after he began testosterone replacement therapy and he feels that more men could benefit from the treatment. Indeed there do seem to be sound medical reasons for treating TDS. A 2007 study by the University of California's San Diego School of Medicine found men with low levels of testosterone are more likely to die prematurely from all causes. This is thought to be because TDS causes weight gain round the middle, which raises their chances of developing type 2 diabtes and increases their cardiovascular risks. But some doctors believe falls in testosterone levels are just a normal part of getting older and do not need treatment and are cautious about putting thousands of men on a hormone treatment they will need for the rest of their lives. To find out more about TDS go to www.sda.uk.net Tuesday April 20 2010 Gout is actually a form of arthritis caused by deposits of uric acid crystals forming in the joints and if left untreated can cause serious damage to the joints and bones. The good news is that highly effective treatments are now available which can prevent further attacks - so sufferers don't have to just put up with it and endure all the jokes about tippling too much port and red wine. Incidentally beer is actually worse for gout sufferers than wine, probably because it contains preservatives that have a higher purine content - a compound that is broken down into uric acid in the boy. To find out more about how to prevent anad manage gout symptoms contact the UK Gout Society http://www.ukgoutsociety.org/ I've also got a feature in this month's Spirit and Destiny magazine (on sale April 8) on Bend i |
) for a few weeks and am definitely feeling chirpier than normal seeing as it's now November - so think they may be worth a go. That's if (like me) you can't afford two weeks in the Maldives....
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