MEDICAL MATTERS

[Stanley]

Helpful information Moh. All ,is well this morning and no local reaction at the injection site. Wonderful to think that the virus and my immune agents are shaking hands and getting to know each other as I write this.....

[Stanley]

The nurse's instructions to take two Metformin twice a day have been ditched, I shall take one four times a day instead. The reason I've done this is that I thing two at once is a bit savage for me....

[Moh]

Hubby takes 2 at morning & 2 at teatime.

[plaques]

Metformin has a half life of 6 hours, meaning that within 24 hours its virtually out of the system. I suppose the dosage and frequency depend on your condition and lifestyle. Metformin This post comes with the health warning that you shouldn't be reading this stuff anyway.

[Stanley]

The 1 X 4 times a day is working better for me and gives me good coverage in terms of half life. It's coincided with my increased activity in the shed and a fall in appetite. I'm at the stage where I have a slack trouser waistband....

[Tizer]

A lot of fuss on the news about the fragile state of Accident & Emergency departments at UK hospitals, said to be due to increasing numbers of people presenting themselves at A&E. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has now opened a national investigation into why their patrol cars are being used to transport sick patients to hospital when ambulances are unavailable. In all that I've read I haven't seen any mention of what I believe to be a major factor in the increasing load on A&E, the ambulance service and the police forces. That factor is the campaign to get the elderly to stay living in their own homes, regardless of their illnesses and disabilities. I've seen this at first hand with my Dad, Mrs Tiz's parents and other relatives and friends. Staying in your own home is fine while you're fit and healthy but once you start having falls, passing out, becoming disabled, suffering dementia, or even simply having a bad panic then the A&E problems begin. When carers or police find you on the floor unable to get up, or in a distressed mental state, they are obliged to send for an ambulance which then takes you to A&E and the start of various tests. It's comforting to know that if you have such a problem there is help at hand. But it might be happening almost every time you are returned to your home. What's more, if you've simply slid down onto the floor with no injuries there's still a good chance you'll be taken to A&E - `just in case'. So if we want to lower the pressure on A&E then one way is to give attention to the policy of encouraging old people to live in their own homes. Perhaps we need to admit there is a time when living in a care home or nursing home is more appropriate than living alone or as a lone couple where both have serious difficulties.

[Stanley]

Perhaps some sort of sanction against A&E customers who are there because of self-inflicted problems such as drink or drugs might reduce the load.....
I noticed this morning that I was reading the small print in Private Eye without having to use a magnifying glass. Early days of course but it would seem that the slow improvement in my right eye is continuing. Very welcome.

[Cathy]

One of my volunteering days is spent in an admin part of the A&E dept and I can see and hear everyone who presents themselves to the admin counter before they are seen by A&E staff. Everyone is asked 'Accident or Illness?' and it's amazing the reasons people have for coming to the Emergency Dept that have nothing to do with having an accident or illness. Some get upset when they are told they could have a 4hr wait and they would probably have been seen quicker had they gone to a GP. There's talk of charges being brought in for the ones who don't come under 'Accident or Illness'.

[Stanley]

That's very similar to the reasons people give for calling 999 for an ambulance Cathy. Some of them are quite amazing. I am all for free health services but would support sanctions against people abusing the system and yes, drinking yourself senseless should be counted as abuse.

[Tizer]

Another time and money waster...Our local surgery has a big notice in the waiting room showing the latest figure for the number of failed appointments, i.e. the times when people don't turn up for the appointment, without giving warning or explanation. It's hundreds per month!

[Moh]

Same here - 162 last month.

[David Whipp]

...died waiting?

(Sorry...)

[Stanley]

Those figures always amaze me as well. Perhaps they just felt better...... At the very least it's bad manners not to ring and cancel.

[Stanley]

See THIS for a report on the human trials of the Ebola Vaccine. It looks very promising and will be fast-tracked. Hopefully they have got it right and if so it just goes to show how well the scientists can respond given the right incentives. Makes you think about other, less attractive drug prospects....

[Stanley]

Yesterday's Reith lecture was splendid! Please listen to it......

[Stanley]

I was discussing child poverty with daughter Susan yesterday and she drew my attention to the high Infant Mortality Rate in Pendle. At one point when latest confirmed statistics were available it was the highest in the UK. Have a look at THIS and then go and read Charlie Webster again.... Meanwhile, our local MP rabbits on about motherhood and apple pie and the latest poison generated by Tory Central Office. This is disgraceful!

[PanBiker]

Not really a medical matter as such but involving mother and child. I saw yesterday that that bloke Farage had been asked for his opinion regarding the young breastfeeding mother who had been asked to "cover up" and was provided with a large serviette for the purpose whilst having tea at Claridge's. The pompous idiot spouted that he though that mothers should have to retire to some rest room area or other such place out of public view. Claridge's have apologies to the young mum, Farage is Farage, God help us. Nothing as nice or more natural to behold as a breastfeeding mum.

[Stanley]

I agree with you Ian. I am deeply suspicious of the attitudes to women that engender objections to breast feeding.... Well done the ladies who demonstrated yesterday outside Claridges by having a mass feeding session!

[Bruff]

Farage’s intervention was rather predicted some time back now when a spoof ‘UKIP-line’ on matters appeared in one newspaper. Breastfeeding was one of them, where UKIP’s likely line was cheekily noted as : ‘disgusting – if God had wanted women to do this sort of thing in public, He wouldn’t have made breasts rude’.

As ever, a decent bit of humour nails it.

Richard Broughton

[Stanley]

When I think back to how many things were taught to be 'rude' in my youth it makes you wonder how we ever functioned! How many brides insisted on their husband never seeing them naked?
I always think of a letter to Mrs Marriott, the Agony Aunt in Woman's Weekly (I used to read everything that came in the house in those days...) which was from a man who was engaged to a woman and he had never told her that he had an artificial leg. They had got engaged and he was asking how he should break the news to her. I doubt if it was a spoof letter, WW was a very serious publication in those days.

[Tizer]

The News Quiz mentioned a restaurant that has put up a notice something along the lines of "Sorry, but we can't have you breast feeding your baby and upsetting our customers so you'll be given a spot in a dark corner where you can go and hide and be given a tablecloth to put over yourself so you look a right tit".

[Bodger]

As a lad in Yorkshire. west riding, at harvest time etc. when loads of neighbours were helping and sat at the table after a days work it was common for mothers to breast feed openly during the meal

[Stanley]

We are so hypocritical about things these days. OK for a woman to be plastered naked all over page 3 or on an advert but a no-no when we have to deal with something like breast feeding which is as natural as breathing....

[PanBiker]

Cant help thinking of Sally when we had a visit from the post natal care nurse. We had a large wicker bucket chair with throw cushions which Sally favoured for feeding. I think it was around three months when the nurse called. She found Sally flopped in the chair with her baggy dungarees bib down at one side and blouse open, feeding Dan. She stood and watched for about 30 seconds then said, "nowt for me to do then, never seen a more contented mother and child, a picture of motherhood". She turned and left. Both our lads were breast fed and were better for it.

[Cathy]

Breast feeding in public doesn't bother me, even tho I wasn't quite sure what to think when I first noticed it happening (many moons ago). A bit of modesty goes a long way - a specially made breast feeding garment, a shawl, a napkin etc. These days I think it's fine and a contented baby is obviously so much happier and so is Mum. I'd much rather see a Mum breastfeeding than seeing and hearing a distressed baby and fraught Mum.

I dont' think that the complainers understand that if baby is upset/hungry etc that Mum feels it too because they are connected, then baby picks up on that and around and around it goes, until baby is contented.