MEDICAL MATTERS

[PanBiker]

As reported earlier in the thread, the practice nurse at the surgery asked me to do a session of home monitoring of my BP as she reckoned it was a bit high. I already do this on an ad-hoc basis whenever the thought takes me. I finished the regime the other day but have only just worked out the average reading. Guess what, my average reading from this 5 day session two readings AM and two PM works out exactly at what my own self monitoring spreadsheet says which I have been recording for the last 18 months or so.

I gave her these figures when I went for my check, I'll put the others in through reception next week.

[Stanley]

Sue, there is also the question about 'killing all germs' especially on your skin. Even bad germs have a good effect if they trigger and train your immune system so some exposure to them is good. I always remember watching a Horizon programme about the bacteria and other life forms that cover our skin. In tests they proved the most effective mix of the lot in killing really bad germs. My mate Dr Ken Sansome cured a rash of skin diseases in the young college men by advising them to shower less and stop using a very strong germicidal soap that was being advertised as a sure way to attract women!

[Tizer]

Sue's done an authoritative exposition on bactericides in her last post. She's certainly got a lot of practical experience and knowledge of the subject. I'll just mention something else about bacteria that I think she'll agree with. People generally fear most the well-known dangerous pathogens such as botulism, cholera, typhoid. Those pathogens can be avoided or controlled by good hygiene and food safety measures. But if we return to a world without antibiotics there will be another, greater danger. Other bacteria are everywhere in our environment and most of the time they do us no harm and may be beneficial. But if they get into our body tissues and bloodstream they can kill, and did so, frequently. One of my father's sisters died after a motorcycle accident in about 1930, due to wound infection. Another of his sisters died after childbirth in the late 1930s, probably due to infection. But for about 75 years we have been able to protect ourselves from these environmental bacteria by using antibiotics. One of my cousins suffered a minor cut on his foot while paddling in a river with his kids on a Sunday outing some years ago. On the Monday he collapsed at work and was rushed by ambulance to hospital as an assumed case of heart attack. Then the doctors realised he had blood poisoning. An immediate treatment with antibiotic saved his life. Otherwise he would have been killed by what would normally be described as an innocuous type of bacteria that lives a quiet, harmless life in a clean river. If we lose our antibiotics the greater danger will be from these types of bacteria and they can't be completely avoided by more hygiene.

After writing the above I saw this latest research on antibiotic resistant bacteria...
`Drug-resistant bacteria in patients’ urine or stools raise risk of drug-resistant sepsis'
21 April 2017 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Under embargo until 22 April 2017 22:01 GMT

People who have recently been found to have drug-resistant bacteria in their urine or stool samples have a greatly increased risk of developing a bloodstream infection that is also resistant to certain antibiotics, according to a study presented at the 27th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID). Sepsis affects an estimated 30 million people worldwide each year. Without quick treatment, it can lead to multiple organ failure and death. Treating sepsis can be even more difficult if the bacteria responsible are resistant to antibiotics. Presenting the research, Dr Joakim Isendahl from the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden told the congress that in some cases bacteria may be spreading from the bowel or urinary tract into the bloodstream, while in others the bacteria found in patients’ urine or stool samples could be transferring their ability to resist antibiotics to other bacteria in the body, which then can cause sepsis.....
More here: LINK

[Sue]

So I read this article and I was logged in. I pressed reply and I became logged outAgain?


Tiz I agree completely. I never understood why more work has not been done on phage treatment of infections instead of antibiotics. The Chinese did some wonderful work about 30 years ago. For those who do not know, every organism has its own parasite including bacteria. Their parasites are viruses called bacteriophages and these are very specific i.e. A different specific phage for each type of bacteria. Destruction is complete and no side effects. The phage cannot infect anything else only ots appropriate bacteria . As bacteria mutate and change the phases should evolve in tandem

[Sue]

Stanley you too are correct. The bacteria on the skin help to maintain the healthy pH of the skin. This too is protective as different bacteria prefer different pH conditions. Normal skin bacteria will live in harmony with a correct skin environment, change the conditions and the skin cells may start to dry up and die resulting in different types of bacteria such as the farmful MRSA, multi / methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus and resulting in skin lesions. We use to call it methicillin resistant but the wider resistance to antibiotics has seen a change to multi resistant...the Americans started using this term I believe. As Tiz says resistance can be passed on to other bacteria living in the same environment . The resistance is a genetic condition in the bacterial DNA. When the celll dies the DNA is released into the body fluids and some forms of bacteria have the ability to absorb thisDNA into their own cells. That is a simple explanation of a very complicated process.

[PanBiker]

So I read this article and I was logged in. I pressed reply and I became logged outAgain?

Sue, what platform are you running, is it Apple?

[Tizer]

Sue, don't let me distract you from Ian's question about what computer platform you're using but when you have time please listen to this episode of the Radio 4 programme `Life Scientific'. You can listen on iPlayer or download the podcast. The lady interviewed is very worth listening to. and she describes another way of tackling antibiotic resistance. LINK

From the BBC web site:
`Liz Sockett on friendly killer bacteria' (The Life Scientific)

Professor Liz Sockett studies an extraordinary group of predatory bacteria. Bdellovibrio may be small but they kill other bacteria with ingenious and ruthless efficiency. Liz has devoted the last fifteen years of her career as a microbiologist to work out how this microscopic killer invades and consumes its victims - victims which include a host of disease-causing bacteria which have also acquired resistance to antibiotics which once killed them.

As well as studying the numerous tricks and weapons which Bdellovibrio have evolved to despatch and feed on other bugs, Prof Sockett's lab at the University of Nottingham is also testing the bacteria's potential as a new kind of treatment in the era of antibiotic resistance. Deadly infections may not be able to outwit this bacterial top predator in the way they have with ever increasing numbers of antibiotic drugs. Liz talks to Jim Al-Khalili about how a BBC TV children's show first introduced her to the superfast killer bacteria, how Roman villas led her towards a life of discovery, and how her lab in Nottingham might be compared to the kitchen of a restaurant and her team to a brigade of chefs.

[Stanley]

I heard that programme as well Tiz and was fascinated by Liz Sockett. Her description of the process was clear and perfectly logical. When you think about it, these internal and little understood mechanisms may already be playing a part. Consider how, for a certain exposure, some go down with a disease whilst others are not affected. Could what we describe as the immune system be partly a result of the natural process that Liz describes? As I have described many times, particularly in my work with cattle, I must have had high exposures to many organisms but survived them all. The only one that did get me was Brucellosis but that was most likely from raw milk. In Microbiologist's terms I was functioning in a living nightmare, my environment and body were submerged in a morass of dangerous organisms but I thrived on it. This experience and what I have learned from my reading and particularly from Sue and yourself are what leads me to believe that exposure in moderation to these organisms is a way of massaging the bodies inbuilt ability to defend itself. Hence my antipathy towards modern popular concepts of cleanliness and safety. It seems to me that the people who espouse this view are perhaps the ones most likely to succumb to attack. (But this is of course a layman's gut feeling......)

[Sue]

Thanks Tiz, I will try and do that. It sounds like a similar idea to phage treatment but using predatory bacteria.

And yes I am using Apple, iPad. This is a very recent problem but does precede the last iOS update. It did it again just now as I started to reply to you.

[PanBiker]

That's odd Sue. I had a look around in the admin control panel for possible changes since the upgrade and found a cookie setting that I thought may have a bearing. I have changed that but obviously it has no effect for you. It would be useful if you could try using a different browser on the same platform. Do you have the remember my login details ticked?

Back on topic, I am with Sam the physiotherapist this afternoon. I will be reporting an improvement in my condition so I think the plan will be to expand my range of exercises, I'll see what she has to say.

[Tizer]

This is an example of something I raised a few weeks ago....
`Derby button battery girl Kacie Barradell home after ordeal' LINK

[Sue]

That's odd Sue. I had a look around in the admin control panel for possible changes since the upgrade and found a cookie setting that I thought may have a bearing. I have changed that but obviously it has no effect for you. It would be useful if you could try using a different browser on the same platform. Do you have the remember my login details ticked?

Back on topic, I am with Sam the physiotherapist this afternoon. I will be reporting an improvement in my condition so I think the plan will be to expand my range of exercises, I'll see what she has to say.

Yes I have it ticked. It does seem to be an intermittent fault. As for browser, I have the webpage on my iPad as desk top equivalent and just click on it, always have. I presume my browser is safari, but I always search for things with google and the website that I saved was found through google. When I open the website it comes up in safari

[PanBiker]

Safari will be your default browser, I am trying to determine if it is a platform issue or a browser problem, Using Google search is still through your default browser can you load Chrome or Firefox?

[PanBiker]

Sue if you try another browser can you reply in the computer thread, it will just help to keep the topics tidy.

Been to see Sam this afternoon and she is pleased that the exercise regime is having some effect. She gave me a right going over, especially up and down each spinal vertebrae, one was a bit tender compared to the rest, I can tell she has been there. She has given me another five routines to do on top of the six I already have, these are strengthening exercises and to work the glutes to help stronger lower back posture. With my impending six weeks of exams she has given me until the 1st July to see how I go and if there is further improvement. There are strengthening exercise classes available to me if I need them.

[Sue]

Safari will be your default browser, I am trying to determine if it is a platform issue or a browser problem, Using Google search is still through your default browser can you load Chrome or Firefox?

I don't think so I have never tried on the ipad

[Stanley]

Two cancer related matters grabbed me. First was THIS, a report on Cameron's flagship initiative, The Cancer Fund. According to the experts this was a complete waste of money and actually did harm. When will politicians learn that health is best left to the doctors.
While I was looking for that report I tripped over THIS, a Guardian report on a fire at Christie's in Manchester. Cancer Research UK support a facility there and fear that much data and equipment has been lost. The fire started in the roof space and they have the builders in! I hope they have a good insurance.

[Sue]

The fire happened a couple of days ago Stanley. There is some fund raising going on in JUST GIVING to help with initial costs of repair. It's a bit of a tragedy

[PanBiker]

Yes, the fire at Christie's is a tragedy. I was thinking though that it would have been better planning to store records and data on the ground floor or basement, fire goes upwards and even if the building collapsed it could have been dug out.

[Stanley]

The 1980 fire in the Onward Building at Nelson and Colne College. Started in the roof space while paint stripping was being done with a blow torch. Building completely gutted. I have a suspicion that when the cause is revealed it could well be related to the building works. The same thing happened to one of Robert's mills at Todmorden. Someone has not been aware of the danger.

[Stanley]

I think the no-kicking rule with Jack's ball is working. My right knee is definitely more reliable than it was. I think it was the sideways flicking of the ball as I sat on the sofa to pander to his needs was the cause. Amazing how such small things can affect you as you get older!

[Tizer]

I'm having a bad time now with lack of sleep. It's been going on for a couple of years and getting worse. I saw the Doc recently but he wouldn't prescribe anything. Now that we've started the house buying & selling process it's got worse and that makes it difficult for me to cope with the extra stress and work. I get to sleep quickly and sleep OK until somewhere around 3 to 5am then can't get back to sleep. For many years I've needed 9 hours sleep a night to function effectively; 8 hours and I can get by during the following day but have to avoid anything stressful, physically or mentally. Less than 8 hours sleep and I'm useless, dangerous to myself even - I can't drive, daren't stand on a step ladder, feel faint and ill, confused, not safe making any important decisions or handling money. It gives me great sympathy for people with dementia. It got critical this week when I was losing even more sleep so I rang the surgery to get something urgently to help me catch up on sleep. (We soon go on holiday and I need to be able to drive a dn bew awake enough to appreciate holiday). I explained to the receptionist and arranged an appointment that morning with someone on duty. Mrs Tiz drove me there and came in with me. It turned out to be a duty nurse and trying to get her to prescribe a few sleeping pills was like getting blood out of a stone, even though Mrs Tiz was supporting my explanations of the problem. I took the approach that I wasn't leaving until I got something. After much unnecessary discussion of all the usual things you should avoid if you're not sleeping we managed to get her to ask one of the docs for something to take. Of course, I've now also got an appointment to see my own GP but the first they could give me was the day before we go on holiday.

I was given 7 Zoplicone pills, 3.75mg. I've tried them the last two nights and so far it's made little difference. The first time I took one on retiring to bed, the second time I took the pill when I woke in the middle of the night. I'll have to try one in the day time to see if it makes me sleepy under any conditions!

[Marilyn]

Perhaps an evening walk?
Don't scoff until you have tried it, and it needs to be of 45 mins to an hour. Take the wife, and have a good old chin wag as you go. Talk about anything....I swear it works.( we rabbit on about all sorts!)
Walk upright, like a young man...hold your tummy in. Pretend you are younger than your years, and breathe deep.
Much better than anything chemical.
(Waking early and being unable to go back to sleep is an indication of depression rather than anxiety)

[PanBiker]

Did you see Dr Michael McIntyre's program last night on his efforts to counter insomnia as he is a long time sufferer from the condition?

[Moh]

I used to have that problem a long time ago and it became a habit to wake up in the early hours then to think I wouldn't get back to sleep so I may as well get up. (I had the tidiest drawers in Colne). I eventually decided I had to cure myself and not look at the clock when I woke up but to just turn over and it worked.

[Tripps]

I'm with Marilyn on this - very much so. Work it all out for yourself, and don't get stressed about a house move - you've barely started yet. It will get worse - trust me.

Read this - if you haven't already - Zoplicane That would be enough for me to avoid it.