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Our blogs provide a snapshot of the very personal daily lives of people living with various health issues, the viewpoints of industry experts and the latest health news written by talkhealth. Take a look around our blog and follow your favourites - we welcome all new bloggers– so do get in touch.

My Non-complaining Socks and Me

Posted on February 21, 2012

Barbara

Barbara

A few years ago, I decided for Lent, to give up complaining.

WOW!

Talk about an eye opener.  I bit my tongue many times over those forty-some days.  What happened though, was a small miracle.  I found myself, toward the end of Lent, barely trying to complain.  The thoughts didn’t even bop into my head, much…

Not complaining left space for  thanking, joking, analyzing, admiring, praising, listening, and singing.  (I don’t have a great voice but happily husband Cliff never complains unless I sing the same song ad infinitum.)

And not complaining inspired this poem, titled “Socks.”

Socks don’t lead

An easy life.

Missing partners,

Sweaty feet, and

Hours squinched

In tight quarters,

Yet I never hear

My socks complain.

Maybe I should be

More like socks.

Complaining less,

Absorbing more,

And ever ready to

Step into shoes

For the next adventure.

I hope you won’t complain about my pun, but  I have to say that menopause socked it all to me.  I’m  finally getting  that life throws us punches; that not everything is fair; that yes, there’s plenty of malfunction in the world; and that complaining IS optional.  Time is short and why spend it as an old grump.

What about you?  Do you find yourself complaining more or less the older you get?  And what lessons have you learned from your humble socks?

 

Posted in Barbara's blog | 2 Comments

Online Clinic on Food Allergies

Posted on February 21, 2012

talkhealth

talkhealth

talkhealth in partnership with NHS Choices, Action Against Allergy and Allergy Academy have today launched an Online Clinic on Food Allergies.

Clinical experts from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital including Dr Adam Fox, Dr Helen Brough, Dr Rubaiyat Haque and Dr Stephen Till will be on hand to answer your questions or concerns about food allergies.

To participate in the clinic you need to be a member, this is quick, easy and free and can be done here. If you are already a member you can post your questions now in the clinic.

We hope you will join us in this lively and informative event!

Posted in general health | 2 Comments

Egg-less, non-dairy, gluten-free Pancake recipe. Yay!

Posted on February 20, 2012

Janet

Janet

Hello again,

If you’ve tried making a half-decent pancake without eggs or milk and given up in disgust I can understand why. I’ve had several attempts at making pancake batter without these ingredients and failed miserably.

But now, I think I’ve cracked it! And if you want your crepes to be gluten-free too, then you can adjust the flour to suit.

Download my Allergy-free Pancake Recipe now. It’s in the Info & Advice section at www.allergybestbuys.co.uk and tell me if this isn’t the nearest thing to a “normal” crepe you’ve ever tasted! Enjoy.

Posted in allergy, general health, Janet's blog | Leave a comment

Is advertising to blame for childhood obesity?

Posted on February 17, 2012

Deborah Mason

Deborah Mason

Obesity in the UK is rising – and more children than ever before are now obese. It’s all very worrying.

There are a deluge of programmes on TV about being overweight and obese from A Year to Save My Life to The Biggest Loser all highlighting the very real issues surrounding obesity (heart disease, liver disease, cancer, diabetes and much more!). And yet, whilst Government bodies, healthcare professionals, fitness gurus and support web sites like talkhealth are collaborating to provide people with information and support in the fight against obesity, it would seem that the advertising world keeps churning out media campaigns that are keeping people hooked on junk food. From finger licking good to I’m loving it our kids, as well as many adults, are being drawn into the junk food life-style!

Despite tighter advertising regulations, children are still being exposed to the same level of junk food advertising, according to new research undertaken at Newcastle University, as they were before the regulations were changed. In the UK regulations ban advertising of foods that are high in fat, salt or sugar during times when children’s programmes are being shown.

Are TV adverts for junk food making UK kids obese?

However, researchers have recorded a rise in adverts about junk food seen by children since the ban. Before the ban 6.1% of adverts were about junk food, and after the ban this rose to 7%. Clearly, the ban is not working!! The problem is that children don’t just watch programmes during children’s TV-time; they are exposed to other types of TV at other times of the day on other channels where the ban does not necessarily apply.

So, is there a loophole in the advertising regulations?

The British Heart Foundation seem to think so. BHF policy manager Mubeen Bhutta said: “To protect children all junk food adverts should be screened after the 9pm watershed and we want to see consistent advertising regulations across all forms of media, including online, to protect our children. It’s time for the government to put the health of our children above the health of the advertising industry.”

If we don’t educate our children about the dangers of being over weight and obese, and eating a healthy diet and instead merely subject them to subliminal messages in junk food adverts on TV, online and across other forms of media, aren’t we just storing up more problems for the future?

Posted in Deborah's blog, diabetes, fitness & exercise, general health, IN-HOUSE BLOG, nutrition, weight | Leave a comment

Diet Drinks and Weight Loss

Posted on February 16, 2012

AnnA_R

AnnA_R

Apparently new research to be published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition claims that if you will only swop your ‘normal’ drinks for the ‘sugar-free’ version you can lose up to 5 per cent of your body weight in just six months.

Really?  I have never been keen on that term ‘sugar-free’ and prefer the slightly longer, but rather more truthful, description of them as ‘chemical-full.’  The diet drink industry is huge and as England now is apparently the most obese nation in Europe I am all for helpling us to lose weight – but not at the expense of the our overall health.

Diet drinks have had a bad press for the very specific reason that their ‘non-sugar’ element is all too often a chemical that has a less than sweet effect.

The American Diabetes Association’s recent study shows that while diet drinks may be free of calories, they do not prevent you from gaining weight but in fact, they may contribute to weight gain.

Artificial sweeteners can have the effect of triggering appetite but unlike regular sugars they don’t deliver something that will suppress the appetite and in fact the lack of real sugar could inhibit the body from feeling full – so you will eat more.  Along with your diet drink you can also be more vulnerable to a side helping of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic conditions.

If you want to lose weight it is usually a multi-pronged approach that works best and encompasses diet, exercise and a good reason for doing so.   Instead of encouraging people to focus on one small element and to drink chemically enhanced products what about good old fashioned water or diluted fruit juices or is that too simple, or whisper it softly, not nearly as profitable?

Read more from AnnA at http://www.bio-hormone-health.com/

Posted in AnnA R's blog, nutrition, weight | 2 Comments

Happy Birthday!

Posted on February 15, 2012

Catriona W

Catriona W

It’s my mother’s 92nd birthday on 18th February, but unfortunately like last years she will have no idea that this day is any different from any other day.  However on her 90th she did understand what was happening, but sadly it wasn’t a happy time.  I had arranged for a number of friends and family to attend a tea party at my house to celebrate.  I made sure we have all the things she liked to eat, from small sandwiches to la birthday cake and in particular I had made sure I had used bone china cups and plates and pretty napkins and tea cloth.  All the things that were important to her. 

I picked her up from her  nursing home and she was looking pretty much as normal, very smart with earrings and pearls on.  Everyone was in place to give her a surprise welcome at my home, but as soon as she saw them that’s when the afternoon turned sour.  Nothing was right in her eyes, from who was there, what people were wearing to the seating plan.  Unless the conversation was directed 100% of the time at her she just looked out of the window and ignored everyone.  Her neighbour from her old house was there, and they have both supported each other through their husbands respective deaths and the normal family crisis’s that occur.  Infact the said neighbour was also very good at helping my mother recover from some of her attacks which we now know to have been the effects of a stroke caused by her dementia, but described as ‘her funny turns’ as the doctors seemed totally clueless as to what they were.  Back to the party – my mother turned on the lovely supportive neighbour and just told her exactly what she thought of her – which was that she was opinionated and just wanted to be the centre of attention all the time etc etc – infact describing herself (i.e. my mother) to a tee and not the neighbour!

After that the party quickly finished with lots of apologies all round, apart from my mother who was obviously completely oblivious to her offensive comments.  I vowed at that point to be very careful indeed who my mother met and to make sure that all realised in advance this was not what my mother ever thought regardless of what she said.  Fortunately this phase didn’t last too long but whilst it did it was upsetting to all concerned as my mother looked and sounded exactly as normal but just what she was saying was all so wrong……

TO READ CATRIONA’S PREVIOUS DEMENTIA BLOG POSTINGS : www.talkhealthpartnership.com/blog/category/inhouse-blog/catrionas-blog/

Posted in Catriona's blog, dementia, general health, IN-HOUSE BLOG | Leave a comment

What do you keep on in the bedroom?

Posted on February 13, 2012

Sally

Sally

Don’t worry, this is not an article about your personal habits! I was listening to a disturbing discussion on Woman’s Hour on Thursday 9 February re Male Infertility. Sadly there is very little basic research into the causes of male infertility and few specialists to take an indepth interest in mens’s reproductive health. Dr Allen Pacey, Senior Lecturer in Andrology at Sheffield University has recently become Chair of the British Fertility Society and, from that stance, will be championing a campaign for men to get access to the right specialist. It looks though that, until trials, studies and evidence are collated, it will remain difficult to attract doctors to specialise in this field.

Women continue to feel the impact of this shortage as they are encouraged to go down the IVF route or one of the Assisted Conception programmes, perhaps unnecessarily.

According to the European Science Foundation (ESF), the semen quality of at least one in five 18-25 year old men in Europe is in the subfertile range. Is this genetic or are environmental factors the cause?

I’m sure many couples with fertility issues have heard parents and grandparents say that ‘in their day’ they had no problems conceiving a child. One does begin to wonder if a major contributory factor is our use of so many electronic and and electric equipment in the home.

So, back to the bedroom! When couples come to see me to start a course of reflexology one of the first issues we look at is electro-pollution in their home. This is always the subject that gets the chaps looking more interested! Many homes have a complex mixture of electromagnetic fields pulsing around the rooms 24 hours a day. Think WI-FI routers, cordless phones, TVs, computer screens, mobile phones etc etc.

Then I ask, ‘What do you keep on in your bedroom overnight?’ and the answers can be interesting. Recharging the mobile phones on the bedside tables, electric blankets, TV left on stand-by, cordless phones – even Bluetooth and WI-FI enabled technology. For the 8 or so hours you are asleep, you are surrounded by electromagnetic pollution. It must surely be worthwhile to clear the clutter out of the bedroom just in case this is a contributory factor of a fertility issue.

And, I haven’t even begun to go into the effects of ‘rogue electricity’, geo stress and men carrying mobiles in their pockets!

Do take a look at www.royriggs.co.uk. Roy is an expert in this field and his website makes very interesting reading.

 

 

Posted in fertility and infertility, general health, Sally's blog | Leave a comment

Red red wine, might make you feel fine…

Posted on February 10, 2012

Alison

Alison

…if you know where to draw the line

Amongst all the vexed and knotty questions of our time, one that keeps scientists foggy and perplexed is whether wine is good for you or not.

You may cynically wonder, of course, just how closely they are involved in the day to day experimental work on this issue, and how greatly that influences their level of fogginess. But that would be to under-estimate the complexity of the subject. So put the bottle down and focus.

Wine, specifically red wine, has been associated with various health benefits since the early 1990s, when the benefits of resveratrol and procyanidins in red wine were proposed as the reason that the wine-drinking French did not seem to suffer the levels of cardiovascular disease of other populations. These substances were thought to provide a protective effect on blood vessels, sufficient to reduce heart disease. Wine-drinkers cheered and raised their glasses, and more abstemious souls hurried to their health stores to stock up on red wine tablets (I know, but stranger things are sold, believe me).

The news got even better with the arrival of a 16-year long study that followed the stroke incidence of over 13,300 Danes. Compared with abstainers, those drinking wine weekly had a 34% reduced risk of stroke, and those drinking daily a 32% reduced risk. Letting your wine intake drop to merely monthly lowered your reduced risk to a meagre16%. [1] A global upsurge in demand followed, with wine producers delightedly contemplating the possibilities of labelling their stock as health food…

Beer and spirit manufacturers were unable to share the global glee, as no association was found between the intake of beer or spirits and the risk of stroke.

But before you ditch your whisky and check out the nearest vineyard, consider this. The Danish study was not controlled for confounding factors, and there are many, many potential confounding factors with this topic. For a bleary-eyed start, what about the social standing of different drinks? How about the fact that wine drinkers, especially a couple of decades ago when daily wine intake would not have been within the economic grasp of many social layers, might be better waged, with concomitantly better diets, better housing, and better health education? No one looked at the likelihood that regular red wine drinkers might be attending yoga classes and dining lightly on organic salad and salmon, thereby benefiting their cardiovascular health without any help from procyanidins.

The most recent contribution to this (red) hot topic appears in the form of a meta-analysis of 44 studies [2], and comes to a definite conclusion: it’s complicated…

A cardio-protective association (note the word ‘association’ – not as definite as ‘effect’) can be found between alcohol use and ischemic heart disease, but the benefits vary depending on many other factors.

  • Are you female? In that case you can’t get away with anything more than a glass before the benefits start to disappear. Even with one drink per day the risk of breast cancer increases, although other health risks lessen.
  • Do you binge drink once or more per month? (More than four drinks on one occasion for women or more than five for men.) This ruins the health benefits gained by light to moderate drinking.
  • Are you predisposed to certain diseases due to your family genetics? Well this messes up the chances of drink protecting your health generally.
  • Do you take Milk Thistle on a regular basis? Ok, this wasn’t mentioned in the study, but it’s the kind of factor that might be quite instrumental in improving outcomes – it protects liver cells from damage caused by alcohol [3], and has therefore gained a reputation as a good companion to a glass or two.

All of this explains why the study is hesitant about any conclusion other than moderate drinking is probably low risk, so long as women recognise that they can’t drink male quantities without harm.

It may well turn out that all daily low level red wine consumption can generally indicate is that you have sufficient spare cash to indulge in a crimson tipple, and sufficient self restraint to keep to one or two glasses. All of which might be an indicator of a generally healthy lifestyle. Cheers!

[1] Truelsen Dr T et al. Stroke 1998; 9: 2467-2472

[2] Michael Roerecke and Jürgen Rehm. Addiction 107: doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03780.x

[3] Saller R et al. Forsch Komplementmed. 2008 Feb;15 (1):9-20.

Posted in Alison's blog | Leave a comment

I think I’m like Karren Brady

Posted on February 10, 2012

Deborah Mason

Deborah Mason

I was reading my monthly Woman & Home magazine this week (Feb edition) and read, as always, Karren Brady’s column.

Karren talked about how she is extremely well organised, disciplined, focussed and determined in her professional business life, but how when it comes to food, she has very little will power. This really struck a cord with me as I am also completely disciplined, determined and organised in my business life, but when it comes to food and eating …. forget it.

Like Karren I always start out with all the best intentions – I’ll go to a restaurant determined just have a sensible low calorie main course (which I usually manage to order so start off feeling good about my choices) but then it often goes downhill from there. I spend the entire time eating my carefully chosen low calorie meal and picking at the side dish of chips that my husband has ordered for himself!!!!! Then when it comes to the dessert menu and I glance at what’s on offer I just can’t resist even though I told myself I wouldn’t have a pud! Thankfully I don’t eat out much these days and at home I don’t buy the sort of yummy puddings that are on offer in a restaurant (much to my children’s annoyance).

Wonderful, tasty chips!

So I’ve been giving some thought as to why I might be ‘giving in’ so quickly to temptation when I eat out in particular, and why I intend to eat sensibly then go over the top and overeat!

Could it be:

1. I’m not as hungry as I think but thirsty instead? So next time I’m out for dinner I will have a large glass of water before I start eating to see if this makes a difference.

2. I’m trying too hard to be healthy? Perhaps because I go into the restaurant with the mind-set that I have to eat healthily it back fires. Maybe I should choose wisely from the menu but not deny myself.

3. Perhaps I should have one day off my healthy eating regime each week? Maybe if I knew I was allowed a treat once a week I wouldn’t feel so guilty knowing I’m in control 6 out of 7 days.

This weekend the children are busy with friends and at sleepovers. So, my husband and I have decided to have a meal out either on Saturday or Sunday lunchtime. I’m going to enjoy myself, not deny myself and bear in mind my 3 little tips. I will let you know how I get on.

Oh, and by the way, whilst I’ve still not lost any more weight, I have lost 7 pounds in total so far and I need to keep this in the forefront of my mind as it is a positive step in the right direction!

Posted in Deborah's blog, general health, IN-HOUSE BLOG, nutrition, weight | Leave a comment

A bad time

Posted on February 10, 2012

Nikki and Chris

Nikki and Chris

Hi everyone

Sorry its been so long since I last blogged but the eczema went mad so spent most of my time trying to sort it out as best I could.

I’m not sure how it all started but two weeks ago my son had a sore throat, I thought it was tonsiliitis but the GP said it was a simple throat infection (is there a difference?) so no antibiotics this time.

This was a Friday afternoon, so the weekend ahead of us, things to do like the usual football, friends to play with and for me housework, shopping etc etc.  all was ok until Monday when the eczema went berserk.  It was on the face but particularly the hands and feet, where it was open and extremely sore.

The GP said plaster it with hypermol and then wet wrap plus of course a good dose of antibiotics.  This we did and the face began to dry up quite quickly but the feet oh my god, he screamed with the pain as the wet wraps (now dry) were gently taken off and it looked like the skin on the top of the feet with it.  As I plastered on the Hypermol again with me telling him to be brave and doing it as quickly as I could and then quickly put on cold wet wraps the pain eased slightly.  But he cried with it and you can bet that I did too. 

This is such an awful skin disease, it can suddenly flare up with no rhyme or reason and take  you by surprise.  Me being a superstitious person had just mentioned to a customer that the eczema was much improved as she was telling me about her toddler with mild eczema and talking through her concerns.  I just felt afterwards me and my mouth why did I tempt fate.  Yes I know it sounds daft but I’m sure there are some of you out there who would understand my thinking!

Anyway we managed to get the GOSH appointment after several attempts at trying to talk to someone and I have to say they were brilliant, very thorough with blood tests, swab tests and anything else they needed to do.  They said it was connected to the Herpes (chickenpox virus) which had caused the outbreak but what I don’t understand is why it was mainly on the feet and hands. With all the distress I can’t remember if I questioned it.  We were given a stronger antibiotic and told to ring and attend the clinic immediately if this happened again. 

The good news is it has disappeared (please don’t let me say this and it happens again this weekend)

But one of the things I must say is that in the school playground were a couple of Mums who looked at him and muttered.  Now me being a bit deaf at times was not entirely sure if they were talking about us but it seems a bit likely.  This distressed little boy was trying to hide himself from everyone and told me “just look at my face” in reply in a loud voice I told him he was a lovely kind boy and if people couldn’t see that instead of a few eczema spots they were rather silly.  Needless to say the two Mums disappeared quickly but I was so incensed at their lack of sensitivity and hoped that they never had the misfortune to have a child with eczema or even in later years acne which a lot of children and adults suffer with.

Yes as you can tell I’m still upset and cross at this so hopefully letting you know through my blog I will regain my sense of purpose and get on with life and not let it bother me.

So back to business as usual with www.snugglepaws.com

Posted in eczema, general health, Nikki and Chris' blog | Leave a comment