MEDICAL MATTERS

[plaques]

Waste not want not to I gave the vinyl floor in the kitchen a wipe over.

Hospitals now only use a mop head to clean one ward room it is then changed for a new head. Obviously trying to cut down on cross infection. And here we have Stanley mopping his bin out and then doing the kitchen floor. Must be trying to build up his immune system.

[Tizer]

There won't be many bugs in it after he'd dowsed it in Jeyes Fluid!

[Stanley]

I haven't gone down with anything yet....
I checked on the Ibuprofen. I was wrong with the weight, they are 200mgm tablets. This morning's has worn off so I've just taken another one.

[Nolic]

Had my flu jab yesterday at the local chemist. Saves waiting in a crowded surgery and he was much more gentle than the practice nurses!! Nolic

[Stanley]

Bullet-proof for yet another winter Comrade!

[Stanley]

I've surrendered to the nagging pain in my old war wound in my left side and have taken two 200mg Ibuprofen. I hate doing it but the alternative is worse! Amazing how the old traumas have a habit of coming back occasionally and biting you! A friend once warned me about this when I was a relatively young man and I didn't believe him. He was right again!

[Cathy]

Everything that happens to us always leaves a little bit of itself behind, just to remind us from time to time.

[Marilyn]

Like pregnancy?

[plaques]

Everything that happens to us always leaves a little bit of itself behind

This appears to be the problem with Ebola. The virus hides itself away in hard to reach places like eyeballs, the nervous system and the brain plus another area which I will refrain from mentioning. Then when everything has settled down out it pops and starts the cycle all over again. I don't think we have seen the end of this problem.

[Tizer]

A similar strategy to that of herpes viruses such as those causing shingles and cold sores...but much more serious.

A new view on the `two-sleep' hypothesis...LINK
Ignore the first sentence (`Our ancestors may have got less sleep than we do, a study suggests') which is not what it's about - the study found there wasn't much difference. More interesting is the bit that begins: "While some European documents suggested that people used to wake up for a while during the night, sleeping in two shifts, the researchers found this was not the case with the hunter gatherers."

[Stanley]

"the researchers found this was not the case with the hunter gatherers." That must have been a particularly restricted sample! Not a lot of them about these days.....

[Tizer]

They're out there still if we look hard enough. The Hazda of Tanzania are an example... LINK

[Stanley]

I'll take their word for it....
I am happy to report the back pain has subsided as the muscle slowly gets itself straight again so I have ditched the Ibuprofen. Good! I hate the bloody things, in the end they cause more problems than they solve....

[PanBiker]

One minute apart for our appointments for our flu jabs today, good job we have Finlay to hold our hands, better be brave.

[Stanley]

Back has quietened down.... No Ibuprofen. Right knee has a slight twinge, almost certainly a side effect of the pills, it will go away as the effects wear off. There is a price to pay for the relief from pain....

[Tripps]

"There is a price to pay for the relief from pain...."

It's not the same for everyone, and I speak from experience. Before my recent surgery, I took a large 400mg Ibuprofen (prescribed), every day. I don't like taking tablets, and minimise wherever I can. I tried stopping for a few days, and came to complete standstill. Whilst taking the tablets, I had no side effects whatever. I now don't need any painkillers. Great.

Changing the subject - I heard on my insomnia radio station (LBC), early this morning the host, (the unique Steve Allen), mentioned Sanderson's Throat Specific. As soon as he said Sandersons - I knew the next word would be Specific. It took me back to my youth, when my step father swore by it for sore throats. He tried it live on air, and I'm still not sure if he was doing a product placement, or really needed it. I've checked it out, and the ingredients look as if they would be stocked by a Victorian herbalist, and it seems there is a Manchester connection.

Looks like this company is earning their fee. Sandersons Specific You really can't be too cynical these days!

[Stanley]

I agree David, everyone's body is different. Glad you don't need to take them any longer....
'Squill' is one of those words I have been reading on labels since I was a lad. It always made me think of porcupines! I looked it up on our friendly 'tinternetwebthingy' and found THIS.

[Tripps]

Wow - that's all you need to know abut squill.

Memory in overdrive now - the other thing in the bathroom cabinet was Phenate of Soda, and it had to be Woolley's preparation. Used as a mouth wash gargle etc. I used it neat for a mouth ulcer once, (on the 'whattle do a lottle do a little' principal) and blistered my lips.
Seeing now that it is made from 'one part of caustic soda to five parts of carbolic acid' I'm not really surpised !

Ignorance is not always bliss.

[Marilyn]

My husband refers to all creams, regardless of purpose, as "Oolahlooley Cream".
Whatever ails him, he can always find a bit of "Oolahlooley Cream" to put on it!

[Stanley]

Sounds more like drain cleaner David.... We always had a big tin of Germolene ointment and my mother put it on everything! Main ingredient was Oil of Wintergreen. I think you can still get it but Bayer bought it and changed the formula. I still have straight Wintergreen in my cupboard it's good for lots of things including freeing seized nuts!

[plaques]

including freeing seized nuts!

This should come with a health warning. I'm not surprised that Bayer changed the formula. I can see the headline now in the B&E. "Stanley's nuts have dropped off using Germolene".

[Cathy]

I can only presume that Oolahlooley Cream is different to Ooh la la Cream..
???

[Stanley]

Oil of Ulay? Why has the name changed so much over the years. One favourite of mine is the Chinese remedy Po Sum On....

[Stanley]

See THIS for a report of the case of Anthrax in cattle confirmed in Wiltshire. very rare these days but it can still happen. The most amazing characteristic of Anthrax spores is their longevity in the ground. At least centuries in the right conditions. In addition the spores can be imported on hides. I remember when I picked up a load of Best Scottish Number 1 Skin oil from a tannery in Scotland (and delivered it to a soap and margarine factory in St Helens...) there were signs all over the tannery warning of the dangers of Anthrax.
It was very common in imported fleeces as well and in Bradford 'Wool Sorter's disease' was a recognised danger. If inhaled the spores could cause death in 24 hours. One thing I noted was that the bales of imported wool were closed with sharp skewers of hardwood and if you scratched yourself on one of these it almost always turned septic. Nasty things!

[PanBiker]

Going to the docs tonight to see why I can't raise my right arm above shoulder height without excruciating pain. I think I have done something to it during the kitchen build with all the heavy shifting and lifting, it's been like this for about 5 weeks. I thought it might mend up given a bit of time but it is still very painful if I try to extend it. The pain extends from the shoulder and down my arm. It's the same shoulder that I had an accident with over 30 years ago. A mistake with a falling ladder dislocated it and then it snapped back in when I could get my arm free, I remember the pain very well! Nothing broken at the time but I was strapped up for about a week, I wonder if I have aggravated this old injury in some way.