MEDICAL MATTERS

[Tizer]

Plaques,yes, there is a delay before the GB syndrome starts but once it starts the paralysis can move up from feet to lungs in an hour or less so rapid identification and treatment is absolutely essential.

Margaret, I agree with you, it's the worst food poisoning I've ever had. The night it started I was lying in bed with uncontrollable shaking and I had horrible hallucinations. From then on I was rushing to the loo every 4 hours. We were staying in Sydney but had to catch a plane to Auckland a few days later. The `runs' were still affecting me but I was very lucky and the plane flight took place between `events'!

[plaques]

Plaques,yes, there is a delay before the GB syndrome starts but once it starts the paralysis can move up from feet to lungs in an hour or less so rapid identification and treatment is absolutely essential.

Its an auto immune reaction. In Mrs P case it was a slow progression into intensive care. A relatively rare occurrence in the UK so the fact that I kept pushing the Gastro event seemed to be ignored. I don't think there is a magic bullet cure only to remove the debris from the nerve damage.

[Mags]

I am aware of GB Syndrome, my GP is keeping a close eye on me and is calling me regularly to check up on me.

[Stanley]

Nice, I'm getting to hear from M on both channels this morning..... (Oneguy and Whatsapp)

[Big Kev]

Further physio sessions have effectively been stopped by my insurance company (following the RTC last July) as their doctor said I would be fully recovered after 7 months (he said this in his report 5 months ago). My physiotherapist disagreed but to move on it would involve a visit to an orthopedic consultant. To be honest I can't be bothered with the aggravation, my physiotherapist told me what was wrong so I can treat myself. I bought a TENS machine today which should help with the inflammation and stop the numbness in my fingers. I think the insurance company just want to submit the claim, to the third party, and get their money.

This is the TENS machine, I'm currently working my neck and shoulders with it, there are 20 levels of intensity and I'm currently using level 2. It's a powerful wee beastie

20230328_195716.jpg

[plaques]

Not sure how TENS machines work other than electrocuting the nerves up to a point where they give up.

A few months ago an old rotary cuff injury, Normally classed as a 'frozen shoulder' by the less well versed hypochondriacs, started acting up big style. Physiotherapy recommended some standard arm movements to get rid of the clicks and bangs. Most of these can be seen on various YouTube clips. I can recommend them up to the point that if they give pain STOP. The arm/shoulder is must freer now but still suffers under load. The physio appointment was up at Colne Health Centre for a 20 min session. Come back if you want more pain.

[Big Kev]

I understand the basic principle of it blocking pain signals to the brain and, potentially, encouraging muscles to relax. This is the problem I have with neck and arm, the initial injury hurt so muscles tensed up. This, in turn, tightened everything up and restricted movement. The physio was doing the job and I still do the exercises. I know TENS machines are not a proven but, after just 20 minutes of stimulating my neck muscles I have noticed a difference.

[Stanley]

I hope the TENS treatment does the trick Kev.
My hypochondriacal tendencies went into full flow as Ken described his shoulder injury. That's what I have had for over 50 years since I wrote Richard's car off. It lies quiescent for long periods but then something triggers it. The last episode was when I fall and cut my head..... That was almost a year since in May 2022. It is still crunching and banging but not as bad as it was.....
Over the years I have learned to live with it but I wouldn't wish it on anyone.....

[plaques]

The physio was doing the job and I still do the exercises. I know TENS machines are not a proven but, after just 20 minutes of stimulating my neck muscles I have noticed a difference.

Once you start looking at the anatomy of the shoulder you realize what a complicate joint it is. The socket isn't really a true socket but a lump of gristle type material held in place by ligaments, tendons, all attached to the skeleton by muscles all holding it into place. An injury can damage any of these connections. A good physiotherapist should be able pinpoint the main areas which hopefully are muscular. Anything that is tendon or ligament related is a different matter and really needs a scan to see what's going on.
TENS, Lasers, deep heat, tension strips all appear to help some people so its hard to discount any of them.
Exercises seem to be the best for me but even then I don't see them as an absolute cure.

[Stanley]

I agree Ken. I don't think there is any 'absolute cure' if you have significant damage anywhere in the area......
Over the years I have learned to simply put up with it!

[Stanley]

It struck me yesterday that my general pain levels are lower than they have been for months. I can't think why but it's a very welcome state of affairs. As one of my ladies says, getting old isn't for cissies!
(long may it continue.....)

[PanBiker]

Late on the site today, been at Burnley General with Sally for a chest X-Ray. She is no better, after two lots of antibiotics. It's over two months now so she went back to the doctors yesterday and has now been moved on to X-Ray and blood tests to see if it is bacterial or a virus based infection. X-Ray sorted, she has her blood test this afternoon at the surgery.

[Big Kev]

Hope Sally gets sorted out soon.

In another matter I saw that Whitworth chemist were without a pharmacist again this morning.

[PanBiker]

Took longer at BGH to find somewhere to park than it took for the X-Ray!

[Big Kev]

Took longer at BGH to find somewhere to park than it took for the X-Ray!

It will do sadly. It's easier to park at the retail park by Iceland and enter the hospital through the Brierfield Road entrance (zone 7). XRAY is signposted inside the building

[plaques]

It will do sadly. It's easier to park at the retail park by Iceland and enter the hospital through the Brierfield Road entrance (zone 7). XRAY is signposted inside the building

If you're not quite sure where it is .. Take the Casterton Ave to the round-a-bout and then down Briercliffe Rd, 500yd past the main hospital entrance is the retail park on the right. Parking is free but make sure that there are no signs giving restrictions. You never know now-a days. Its now about a 600 yd walk to the main entrance. I've never had any problems parking here.

[Stanley]

Thinking about Sally. Is it my imagination or are there more people with conditions like hers that seem to be baffling clinicians. Susan was the same until they eventually diagnosed Sarcoidosis, a very rare condition. Nobody is quite certain but as it is an immune related condition it's suspected to be post Covid.

[Tizer]

From my own experience and what I read and hear of others I suspect that we've always had lasting `side effects' or `secondary effects' (for want of definitions) after serious virus infections (and perhaps bacterial ones too). In the past we didn't make the link because we didn't have the testing methods we've got now and also people are less willing to `quietly suffer' from chronic aliments of unknown origin. I've known a number of people who had chronic fatigue syndrome and they had all been ambitious and stressing themselves. I've always thought that the combination of serious stress with infection (bacterial or viral) was dangerous and could account for many of the chronic conditions.

On a different note...I had an odd medical upset last night. We ate a normal meal with a glass of wine and sat down to watch a TV programme (Rick Stein in Cornwall). I ate one of those little `Celebrations' chocolates (a mini Milky Way). A short while later I started coughing and felt like there was something small but irritating in my throat. I couldn't stop coughing. Drank a lot of water but it didn't stop the irritation on the right side of my throat and still coughing. Then my right eye started watering and my right nostril running. The irritation was painful and making me weary with all the coughing too. It continued but the coughing became less frequent. I took paracetamol and went to bed. Got to sleep for most of the night. This morning I'm OK and there's only a trace of irritation left. Whatever was going on I don't want it again!

[PanBiker]

There are a lot of folk with dodgy chest infections either on the go or have eventually got over them. Some reported 2 - 3 months duration to get clear properly. Sally is now into her third month. Mine was straight bacterial and reacted well to the antibiotics, it has still whacked me and I still have the odd cough but I can take a proper lungful of air which in my case was the main problem. My go for the X-Ray machine on Monday but at Airedale.

[Stanley]

Peter.... What strikes me is that even if it was a contaminant in the chocolate you could never prove it because your body has eliminated whatever it was. Just one more instance of a highly processed food being suspect.

[PanBiker]

I once popped a single continental liqueur chocolate on Christmas Day evening. It was a Vodka one for which I have a weakness. 10 minutes later I was shaking, shivering and sweating with a flashing light migraine, felt like my head was about to explode . Had to take myself to my bed but the room was spinning if I shut my eyes. Nasty, never touched foreign chocolate since, they process it differently.

[Cathy]

I stopped eating Milky Ways a few years ago.
They affect my throat and I don’t breathe properly for a minute or two. They are reported to contain allergens.

[Tripps]

never touched foreign chocolate since, they process it differently.

Are you sure?

One surprise (amongst many) to me when working in HMRC at Dover was that tankers of chocolate from Belgium wre regularly passing through on their way to Thorntons in Alfreton. They are owned by Ferrero Rocher now, so who knows what goes on?

[Stanley]

I think the key point is the fact that the higher the level of processing, the better the chance that the food being processed is bad for you. I know that's bad news because many of the foods we most desire are the highly processed ones. Chocolate is one of the most highly processed foods there is and so is verboten!
One of the things I have learned whilst cooking for diabetes is that the simplest foods are also really tasty when you have re-calibrated your taste buds by abstinence. For instance, sugar in coffee spoils it completely for me.
Always remember that the aim of the processor is to make the substance as desirable as possible and they know the taste buds to target, that's why salt and sugar levels are higher. (And why in the early days of manufacture the extract from Coca leaves was used in making Coca-Cola. The clue was in the name.....)
The processors are only interested in one thing, sales levels and subsequent profits.

[Tizer]

I don't blame my throat incident on the chocolate or its filling. It's me having a funny throat. In recent years my throat has become very sensitive to dust or specks of material. I suspect they sometimes stick to my vocal cords because when it happens my voice starts to fail and I can lose it altogether for a short while. Flecky bits of bran or tiny nut particles do it. They can also make me cough involuntarily as my body tries to dislodge them. It can be embarrassing sometimes like when I've lost my voice in a shop where some dust is being raised. I open my mouth to ask for an item and no sound comes out!

I note the comments above about chocolate. It all depends on what you grow up eating but I've always disliked milk chocolate and much preferred the dark stuff (ideally 70-75% cocoa solids). We Brits are the odd ones out and the rest of the world can't understand how we can eat milk chocolate. Of course it started here simply as a way of making cheap chocolate for the masses and big profits for the makers.