Ice cream can help women get pregnant
Extract:
"Eating ice cream and drinking full-fat milk can significantly improve women's chances of getting pregnant, scientists say.
US researchers found that women who consumed a lot of low-fat dairy products such as skimmed milk were almost twice as likely to suffer period-related fertility problems as those who did not.
Around a quarter of women who have difficulties becoming pregnant have ovulatory disorders. The main symptoms are stopping having periods or irregular periods.
The research found that in comparison to those who ate ice cream less than once a week, participants who did so at least twice a week were almost 40 per cent less likely to fail to become pregnant because of period-related infertility."
Well, I'm all in favour of dissuading people to avoid skimmed milk, which is an abomination...)o: but I doubt that eating more ice cream is meaningful advice to give to women experiencing fertility problems. - Obesity is a significant factor in infertility and obesity is caused by sodium retention and the fluid retention it causes. The best, safest and most reliable way to reduce fluid retention and obesity is to minimise salt intake; it follows then that infertile women should be advised to eat less salt. This would be far more effective, and also good for the health of any baby that might then be conceived, than the ice cream gimmick!
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Healthcare Commission Report finds three in four British hospitals fail children. I find Healthcare Commission fails patients harmed by the NHS.
Report finds three in four hospitals fail children
Extracts:
"Three quarters of hospitals in England are failing to meet standards of quality and safety in the care they provide for children, a damning report has found.
The investigation by the Healthcare Commission, the health services regulator, today says that 70 per cent of 157 trusts scored only "fair" and five per cent scored "weak" when measured against national standards set by the Government, three years ago.
Only four per cent had services that were "excellent".
Nearly one hospital in five failed to provide sufficient emergency life support systems for children at night and, across the board, too few staff were trained in pain management of children.
Lack of training of staff, from nurses through to surgeons and anaesthetists, in communicating with children was a common criticism."
"The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said it was "dismayed" by the findings. "It starkly demonstrates that NHS hospitals have made poor progress in meeting the needs of children and young people," said Dr Patricia Hamilton, the college president.
It was unacceptable but "not surprising" that 75 per cent of hospitals were rated as fair or weak. She said: "Children's services have long been under-resourced and have not been given the priority they deserve.""
Well I suppose the Healthcare Commissions reports may do a bit of good. - A bit. - But what is overwhelmingly needed is some help and support for the individual victims of the NHS system, the victims of medical negligence, ignorance, incompetence and couldn't-care-lessness, all too common in this huge, badly run, employee-oriented, politically manipulated business in which patients get a lot of lip-service and fancy rhetoric from politicians and NHS bureaucrats but precious little real care. - If there were to be prompt and appropriately severe sanctions against personnel who treat patients badly, carelessly, negligently, incompetently - sometimes downright cruelly (which at present happens far too often - because they know they can get away with it) - then there would quickly be an improvement in service and consequent improvement in the nation's health, happiness and wellbeing.
Nothing gets done about the horror of the suffering endured by steroid victims; they continue to be given the wrong advice about their morbid obesity - which is the direct consequence of the medical profession's negligence and which could be lessened if they were to be clearly and directly told that calorie restriction is damaging and they must cut out all avoidable sodium from what they eat. - I feel this blog entry could be better worded but I am so tired and ill that I can't spare the energy to work on the wording or to add more points that cry out to be made. I know that my website and my blog have had many visitors from hospitals, medical centres, universities and other academic institutions from all over the world, visitors from the Houses of Parliament, the BBC, drug companies, etc. etc. and maybe some doctors are at last warning their patients to avoid eating salt while taking dangerous drugs like prednisolone, like HRT, etc, - but WHEN ARE EXISTING STEROID VICTIMS GOING TO BE TOLD THE TRUTH? - When Hell freezes over, I suspect, if the guilty can get away with it.
If and when sodium retention and salt sensitivity are finally, inescapably, recognised as the primary cause of obesity, then I feel confident that the cover-up position will be that it is caused partly by sodium retention, but mainly by over-eating, and the destructive calorie reduction advice will continue as an adjunct to the sodium advice....)o: - BUT THE CALORIE EXPLANATION WILL STILL NOT BE TRUE AND THE STEROID VICTIMS AND OTHER OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE WILL CONTINUE TO BE DAMAGED FURTHER BECAUSE THE SPIN CULTURE DEMANDS THAT POWERFUL PEOPLE BE PROTECTED FROM DAMAGE TO THEIR REPUTATIONS.
My emails to the Healthcare Commission did not even get to them because there are gatekeepers who protect them from unimportant messages like those of damaged citizens...
If anyone has the concern and the courage to want to help me in my mission, I can be emailed from my website.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extracts:
"Three quarters of hospitals in England are failing to meet standards of quality and safety in the care they provide for children, a damning report has found.
The investigation by the Healthcare Commission, the health services regulator, today says that 70 per cent of 157 trusts scored only "fair" and five per cent scored "weak" when measured against national standards set by the Government, three years ago.
Only four per cent had services that were "excellent".
Nearly one hospital in five failed to provide sufficient emergency life support systems for children at night and, across the board, too few staff were trained in pain management of children.
Lack of training of staff, from nurses through to surgeons and anaesthetists, in communicating with children was a common criticism."
"The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said it was "dismayed" by the findings. "It starkly demonstrates that NHS hospitals have made poor progress in meeting the needs of children and young people," said Dr Patricia Hamilton, the college president.
It was unacceptable but "not surprising" that 75 per cent of hospitals were rated as fair or weak. She said: "Children's services have long been under-resourced and have not been given the priority they deserve.""
Well I suppose the Healthcare Commissions reports may do a bit of good. - A bit. - But what is overwhelmingly needed is some help and support for the individual victims of the NHS system, the victims of medical negligence, ignorance, incompetence and couldn't-care-lessness, all too common in this huge, badly run, employee-oriented, politically manipulated business in which patients get a lot of lip-service and fancy rhetoric from politicians and NHS bureaucrats but precious little real care. - If there were to be prompt and appropriately severe sanctions against personnel who treat patients badly, carelessly, negligently, incompetently - sometimes downright cruelly (which at present happens far too often - because they know they can get away with it) - then there would quickly be an improvement in service and consequent improvement in the nation's health, happiness and wellbeing.
Nothing gets done about the horror of the suffering endured by steroid victims; they continue to be given the wrong advice about their morbid obesity - which is the direct consequence of the medical profession's negligence and which could be lessened if they were to be clearly and directly told that calorie restriction is damaging and they must cut out all avoidable sodium from what they eat. - I feel this blog entry could be better worded but I am so tired and ill that I can't spare the energy to work on the wording or to add more points that cry out to be made. I know that my website and my blog have had many visitors from hospitals, medical centres, universities and other academic institutions from all over the world, visitors from the Houses of Parliament, the BBC, drug companies, etc. etc. and maybe some doctors are at last warning their patients to avoid eating salt while taking dangerous drugs like prednisolone, like HRT, etc, - but WHEN ARE EXISTING STEROID VICTIMS GOING TO BE TOLD THE TRUTH? - When Hell freezes over, I suspect, if the guilty can get away with it.
If and when sodium retention and salt sensitivity are finally, inescapably, recognised as the primary cause of obesity, then I feel confident that the cover-up position will be that it is caused partly by sodium retention, but mainly by over-eating, and the destructive calorie reduction advice will continue as an adjunct to the sodium advice....)o: - BUT THE CALORIE EXPLANATION WILL STILL NOT BE TRUE AND THE STEROID VICTIMS AND OTHER OVERWEIGHT PEOPLE WILL CONTINUE TO BE DAMAGED FURTHER BECAUSE THE SPIN CULTURE DEMANDS THAT POWERFUL PEOPLE BE PROTECTED FROM DAMAGE TO THEIR REPUTATIONS.
My emails to the Healthcare Commission did not even get to them because there are gatekeepers who protect them from unimportant messages like those of damaged citizens...
Health professionals are even allowed to refuse to give evidence at the inquest into the death of a patient whose care was their responsibility and whose death resulted from their error! - see http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2007/02/police-to-review-case-of-fatal-calcium.html
Maybe one day I'll write in this blog about the way the 'caring professions' in the NHS destroyed my own health and happiness so needlessly and with such long, sustained cruelty - for years - in complete confidence that no-one would do anything at all about it! - Meanwhile I invite you to read about Andrea Carey's experience of the NHS and its 'aftercare' of patients in these two blog entries:
If anyone has the concern and the courage to want to help me in my mission, I can be emailed from my website.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
The Prince of Wales, visiting a diabetes centre in Abu Dhabi, suggested that banning McDonald’s was the “key” to children eating more healthily.
Charles hits out McDonald's
Extract:
"The Prince spoke as he and the Duchess of Cornwall visited a diabetes centre in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, and watched children packing healthy lunch boxes to encourage awareness of the disease.
As nutritionist Nadine Tayara told him they tried to discourage children from eating fast food, he retorted: “Have you got anywhere with McDonald’s, have you tried getting it banned? That’s the key.” "
"The United Arab Emirates has the second highest prevalence of diabetes in the world with 20 per cent of its adult population diagnosed with type two diabetes due to the sedentary lifestyle of this oil-rich nation, and the change in just 50 years from a harsh desert subsistence diet to a western fast-food culture. "
I must say that my sympathies are with the Prince of Wales on this matter, especially as it was a diabetes centre he and the Duchess of Cornwall were visiting. - McDonald's fast food restaurants mostly serve food that is high in salt/sodium and low in potassium and so is unsuitable for children. - Children are the largest group of people vulnerable to salt, and if fed a diet high in salt/sodium and low in potassium they are at risk of becoming obese because of fluid retention. And diabetes is one of the many other health problems that comprise the 'obesity collection', if I may coin a phrase. - Other members of the collection are heart disease, hypertension, breathlessness, depression, etc. etc. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html
All overweight people suffer from fluid retention. - You can reduce this and lose some of the excess fluid you have in your body by eating less salt and making sure you eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. - You do NOT need to restrict calories!
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extract:
"The Prince spoke as he and the Duchess of Cornwall visited a diabetes centre in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, and watched children packing healthy lunch boxes to encourage awareness of the disease.
As nutritionist Nadine Tayara told him they tried to discourage children from eating fast food, he retorted: “Have you got anywhere with McDonald’s, have you tried getting it banned? That’s the key.” "
"The United Arab Emirates has the second highest prevalence of diabetes in the world with 20 per cent of its adult population diagnosed with type two diabetes due to the sedentary lifestyle of this oil-rich nation, and the change in just 50 years from a harsh desert subsistence diet to a western fast-food culture. "
I must say that my sympathies are with the Prince of Wales on this matter, especially as it was a diabetes centre he and the Duchess of Cornwall were visiting. - McDonald's fast food restaurants mostly serve food that is high in salt/sodium and low in potassium and so is unsuitable for children. - Children are the largest group of people vulnerable to salt, and if fed a diet high in salt/sodium and low in potassium they are at risk of becoming obese because of fluid retention. And diabetes is one of the many other health problems that comprise the 'obesity collection', if I may coin a phrase. - Other members of the collection are heart disease, hypertension, breathlessness, depression, etc. etc. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html
All overweight people suffer from fluid retention. - You can reduce this and lose some of the excess fluid you have in your body by eating less salt and making sure you eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. - You do NOT need to restrict calories!
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Suffering from Mastitis (Painful Breasts)? Swollen Breasts? Heavy Breasts? Drooping Breasts? Sagging Breasts? Gynaecomastia? - Try eating less salt!
Suffering from Mastitis (Painful Breasts)? Swollen Breasts? Heavy Breasts? Drooping Breasts? Sagging Breasts? Gynaecomastia?
All of these problems are caused by fluid retention/salt sensitivity/sodium retention and will be lessened by cutting down on salt...(o:
Many other health problems will also improve. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/lose_weight.html for more information.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
All of these problems are caused by fluid retention/salt sensitivity/sodium retention and will be lessened by cutting down on salt...(o:
Many other health problems will also improve. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/lose_weight.html for more information.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Obese/Overweight women force up rate of caesarean births
Obese women force up rate of caesarean births
Extract:
"Overweight women are driving up the number of babies born by caesarean section, which stands at almost one in four of all births, statisticians said yesterday.
Being overweight or obese increases the risks of problems in labour and caesarean rates show no sign of declining.
In 1995 the rate was 16.6 per cent and last year it was up to 23.2 per cent.
At the same time obesity in women has become much more common, with 21 per cent of women obese compared with 16.5 per cent in 1995.
The Office of Health Economics (OHE), which published its annual Compendium of Health Statistics yesterday, said that each caesarean delivery cost the NHS twice as much as a normal birth.
The health service could save £1 million for every 800 caesareans compared with births that are normal and uncomplicated."
Remember - obesity is caused by fluid retention, which is in turn usually caused by salt/sodium retention, and pregnant women are particularly at risk of these problems, and also of raised blood pressure, if they eat salt or salty food during pregnancy. For further information, see http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html
To cut down on caesareans, therefore, pregnant women should be being advised to minimise their salt/sodium intake during pregnancy.
Extract:
"Overweight women are driving up the number of babies born by caesarean section, which stands at almost one in four of all births, statisticians said yesterday.
Being overweight or obese increases the risks of problems in labour and caesarean rates show no sign of declining.
In 1995 the rate was 16.6 per cent and last year it was up to 23.2 per cent.
At the same time obesity in women has become much more common, with 21 per cent of women obese compared with 16.5 per cent in 1995.
The Office of Health Economics (OHE), which published its annual Compendium of Health Statistics yesterday, said that each caesarean delivery cost the NHS twice as much as a normal birth.
The health service could save £1 million for every 800 caesareans compared with births that are normal and uncomplicated."
Remember - obesity is caused by fluid retention, which is in turn usually caused by salt/sodium retention, and pregnant women are particularly at risk of these problems, and also of raised blood pressure, if they eat salt or salty food during pregnancy. For further information, see http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html
To cut down on caesareans, therefore, pregnant women should be being advised to minimise their salt/sodium intake during pregnancy.
Leading headache pills 'put strain on the heart' and up risk of high blood pressure, stroke, kidney failure: - NSAIDs, ibuprofen, paracetamol, aspirin
Leading headache pills 'put strain on the heart'
Extracts:
"Regularly taking some of the most popular painkillers on the market is linked to a much greater risk of stroke and heart attack from higher blood pressure, according to research published yesterday."
"Graham MacGregor, the professor of cardiovascular medicine at St George's Hospital, London, and chairman of the Blood Pressure Association, said last night: "High blood pressure is the biggest cause of death and disability in the UK."
There should have been warnings about these drugs years ago! - It's good to know that medical advice is catching up with the advice on my website! - My website has long had the following information (on page http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html):
A Note about Pain-killers.
The class of drugs known as NSAIDs - Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs - is listed as causing Sodium Retention and in particular causing swelling in the lower legs and ankles. These include commonly used pain-killers, which are available both as prescription drugs and over the counter drugs. Examples are Ibuprofen (Brufen), Aspirin, Diclofenic and many others.
Also remember that effervescent tablets may contain a high proportion of sodium, so you may prefer to change from taking effervescent tablets to taking the non-effervescent type.
And throughout my website (and in this blog) it is made clear that sodium retention is the main cause of fluid retention and obesity, which in turn causes many other health problems, the most significant of which is high blood pressure.
To avoid/reduce high blood pressure, try to avoid unnecessary medication. - If you have to take drugs it is usually a wise precaution to minimise salt intake because so many drugs cause sodium retention.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extracts:
"Regularly taking some of the most popular painkillers on the market is linked to a much greater risk of stroke and heart attack from higher blood pressure, according to research published yesterday."
"Graham MacGregor, the professor of cardiovascular medicine at St George's Hospital, London, and chairman of the Blood Pressure Association, said last night: "High blood pressure is the biggest cause of death and disability in the UK."
There should have been warnings about these drugs years ago! - It's good to know that medical advice is catching up with the advice on my website! - My website has long had the following information (on page http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html):
A Note about Pain-killers.
The class of drugs known as NSAIDs - Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs - is listed as causing Sodium Retention and in particular causing swelling in the lower legs and ankles. These include commonly used pain-killers, which are available both as prescription drugs and over the counter drugs. Examples are Ibuprofen (Brufen), Aspirin, Diclofenic and many others.
Also remember that effervescent tablets may contain a high proportion of sodium, so you may prefer to change from taking effervescent tablets to taking the non-effervescent type.
And throughout my website (and in this blog) it is made clear that sodium retention is the main cause of fluid retention and obesity, which in turn causes many other health problems, the most significant of which is high blood pressure.
To avoid/reduce high blood pressure, try to avoid unnecessary medication. - If you have to take drugs it is usually a wise precaution to minimise salt intake because so many drugs cause sodium retention.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Monday, 26 February 2007
Fat boy may be put into care - Phone in on Radio Five Live. I managed - just! - to mention my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
I managed to get onto the phone-in about an hour ago and to say that child obesity is caused not by overeating but by salt intake leading to fluid retention and increased blood volume. I had gone to bed and was in bed when I started to listen to the phone-in and rang in, and so I did not, I think, get my points over as well as I should have, and I am disappointed about that. I found it rather difficult because the presenter to whom I was speaking was unreceptive to what I was saying. Sadly people have been so conditioned to believe the false claim that overeating is the cause of obesity that many of them cannot open their minds to an alternative concept. I was only able to speak very briefly and was barely able to mention my website because the presenter cut me off as soon as I mentioned that I had a website. I then got up in order to post this entry while it was fresh in my mind. - Hopefully some of the listeners will have benefited from what I said and will be cutting down on salt in order to lose weight.
Another contributor to the phone-in was very angry about what I had said, and reiterated the calories in calories out message we have all heard many thousands of times but which results in ever more people becoming obese. - There is no evidence to support the calorie theory about obesity. - And reducing calories does not reduce obesity. - Reducing salt intake DOES reduce obesity. - A big problem with the obese young boy in question is that he does not eat much in the way of fruit and vegetables. This makes it extra difficult for his body to get rid of excess sodium. - Fruit and fresh vegetables contain high levels of potassium, and potassium displaces sodium from the body.
Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat and carbohydrate intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 British Medical Journal article for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ and for special advice about children, see http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Fat boy may be put in care
Another contributor to the phone-in was very angry about what I had said, and reiterated the calories in calories out message we have all heard many thousands of times but which results in ever more people becoming obese. - There is no evidence to support the calorie theory about obesity. - And reducing calories does not reduce obesity. - Reducing salt intake DOES reduce obesity. - A big problem with the obese young boy in question is that he does not eat much in the way of fruit and vegetables. This makes it extra difficult for his body to get rid of excess sodium. - Fruit and fresh vegetables contain high levels of potassium, and potassium displaces sodium from the body.
Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat and carbohydrate intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 British Medical Journal article for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ and for special advice about children, see http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Fat boy may be put in care
Sunday, 25 February 2007
Are you thinking of having liposuction? - I urge you to reconsider. - Here is a safe, cost-free way to lose excess weight fast. - Cut down on salt!
Are you thinking of having liposuction? - I urge you to reconsider. - Here is a safe, cost-free way to lose excess weight fast. - Cut down on salt!
All overweight people suffer from fluid retention. - You can reduce this and lose some of the excess fluid you have in your body by eating less salt and making sure you eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. - You do NOT need to restrict calories!
Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt ConnectionAnd Sodium in foods
See also FAT RETENTION
Is your face red, swollen, painful? Are your hands and feet swollen, painful? Are you overweight? - The problem is fluid retention.
Is your face red, swollen, painful? Are your hands and feet swollen, painful? Are you overweight? - The problem is salt sensitivity/fluid retention and it can be reduced by eating less salt/sodium and to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.
Cutting down on salt will help with many other health problems too. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Cutting down on salt will help with many other health problems too. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
In one of its leading articles today, The Sunday Telegraph critically reviews ten years' political control of the NHS
Ten years of the wrong medicine
Extract:
"Take the issue of waiting times, of which the Government has made so much. Liam Halligan, our economics editor, reports today that his research has established that almost half of all hospital trusts admit to operating minimum waiting times for surgical procedures. Those minimum waiting times often turn out to be close to six months, the maximum the Government has said we will wait for in-patient treatment.
The minimum waiting times are not the result of a lack of capacity within the NHS. Surgeons are available to perform the procedures; nurses to help them and to provide post-operative care; and there are operating theatres on standby. Why then are patients in pain being kept waiting for six months for the procedures they need? Purely, it seems, for political reasons. The Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has said she will resign if the NHS does not show a surplus by April 1, the end of the financial year. In the last quarter, the NHS ran up a deficit of £1.3 billion. In order to get the NHS into surplus and to keep Ms Hewitt in her post, surgeons and nurses are being kept idle and operating theatres left empty."
I agree completely with the argument and the tenor of this article, but I believe that there is a more fundamental problem at the heart of dealing with ill-health in this country - namely negligent prescribing practices by health professionals, and wrong assumptions and advice about the causes and treatment of obesity.
It is over 50 years since steroids were first prescribed and it is beyond belief that most doctors are still unaware in practice of their potential for causing sodium and water retention and morbid obesity and the many other serious health problems attendant on these - diabetes, hypertension, osteopenia, etc. and are still failing to warn patients to avoid eating salt while taking the medication.
Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat and carbohydrate intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 British Medical Journal article for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.
It is commonly accepted now, except by the 'experts', that less than 5% of dieters actually lose weight, and most gain weight as a result of dieting. - Even the ones who manage to lose weight do not usually improve their health. - See Guardian article for a report in The Guardian of Monday, June 27th 2005. It is about a huge research study of nearly 3000 people over a period of 18 years. The study found that overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat. It also found that dieting causes physiological damage that in the long term can outweigh the benefits of the weight loss.
Contributing to the increase in obesity we have the widespread prescribing of corticosteroids and HRT and other drugs which cause weight gain, and the failure of doctors to adhere to the protocols connected with the prescribing and monitoring of steroids. But pre-eminent, in my opinion, is the catastrophically damaging calorie-reduction advice that continues to be given despite such a wealth of evidence that it is bad advice.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
Visit my website for the FACTS about obesity - www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.).
Extract:
"Take the issue of waiting times, of which the Government has made so much. Liam Halligan, our economics editor, reports today that his research has established that almost half of all hospital trusts admit to operating minimum waiting times for surgical procedures. Those minimum waiting times often turn out to be close to six months, the maximum the Government has said we will wait for in-patient treatment.
The minimum waiting times are not the result of a lack of capacity within the NHS. Surgeons are available to perform the procedures; nurses to help them and to provide post-operative care; and there are operating theatres on standby. Why then are patients in pain being kept waiting for six months for the procedures they need? Purely, it seems, for political reasons. The Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has said she will resign if the NHS does not show a surplus by April 1, the end of the financial year. In the last quarter, the NHS ran up a deficit of £1.3 billion. In order to get the NHS into surplus and to keep Ms Hewitt in her post, surgeons and nurses are being kept idle and operating theatres left empty."
I agree completely with the argument and the tenor of this article, but I believe that there is a more fundamental problem at the heart of dealing with ill-health in this country - namely negligent prescribing practices by health professionals, and wrong assumptions and advice about the causes and treatment of obesity.
It is over 50 years since steroids were first prescribed and it is beyond belief that most doctors are still unaware in practice of their potential for causing sodium and water retention and morbid obesity and the many other serious health problems attendant on these - diabetes, hypertension, osteopenia, etc. and are still failing to warn patients to avoid eating salt while taking the medication.
Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat and carbohydrate intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 British Medical Journal article for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.
It is commonly accepted now, except by the 'experts', that less than 5% of dieters actually lose weight, and most gain weight as a result of dieting. - Even the ones who manage to lose weight do not usually improve their health. - See Guardian article for a report in The Guardian of Monday, June 27th 2005. It is about a huge research study of nearly 3000 people over a period of 18 years. The study found that overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat. It also found that dieting causes physiological damage that in the long term can outweigh the benefits of the weight loss.
Contributing to the increase in obesity we have the widespread prescribing of corticosteroids and HRT and other drugs which cause weight gain, and the failure of doctors to adhere to the protocols connected with the prescribing and monitoring of steroids. But pre-eminent, in my opinion, is the catastrophically damaging calorie-reduction advice that continues to be given despite such a wealth of evidence that it is bad advice.
Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
Visit my website for the FACTS about obesity - www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.).
In particular, read my page about the politics and vested interests involved in the obesity epidemic
Half of hospitals in England delay surgery to save money
Half of hospitals delay surgery to save cash
Extracts:
"Almost half of NHS hospitals across England are now deliberately delaying operations to save money.
"Minimum waiting times" have been imposed by at least 43 per cent of Acute NHS Trusts, a survey for Channel 4's Dispatches programme found. Treatments are often postponed for more than 20 weeks, despite staff and equipment being available.
Patricia Hewitt, the beleaguered Health Secretary, has vowed to resign if the NHS fails to balance its books by the end of the financial year.
Her Tory shadow, Andrew Lansley, said: "Staff are being paid to do nothing in the current quarter because Patricia Hewitt needs to get the NHS back into the black by April to save her job. Labour's NHS mismanagement has reached crisis proportions.""
"In an interview for Dispatches, Mrs Hewitt described minimum waiting times as "unfortunate and frustrating but necessary"."
Extracts:
"Almost half of NHS hospitals across England are now deliberately delaying operations to save money.
"Minimum waiting times" have been imposed by at least 43 per cent of Acute NHS Trusts, a survey for Channel 4's Dispatches programme found. Treatments are often postponed for more than 20 weeks, despite staff and equipment being available.
Patricia Hewitt, the beleaguered Health Secretary, has vowed to resign if the NHS fails to balance its books by the end of the financial year.
Her Tory shadow, Andrew Lansley, said: "Staff are being paid to do nothing in the current quarter because Patricia Hewitt needs to get the NHS back into the black by April to save her job. Labour's NHS mismanagement has reached crisis proportions.""
"In an interview for Dispatches, Mrs Hewitt described minimum waiting times as "unfortunate and frustrating but necessary"."
24 weeks is too late for abortion says Stuart Campbell, a consultant at the Create Health Clinic and formerly head of obs and gynae at King's College
24 weeks is too late for abortion
Extract:
"Professor Stuart Campbell, a consultant at the Create Health Clinic and formerly head of obstetrics and gynaecology at King's College School of Medicine, says he no longer carries out late-term abortions because advances in neo-natal care have led to the survival of a rising number of babies born between 21 and 24 weeks.
"If the decision were mine I would immediately reduce the termination limit to 20 weeks," he said. "To me it seems utterly illogical that, in adjacent wards, one doctor is struggling to save a baby delivered at 23 weeks while another is aborting a healthy baby of the same age.""
Extract:
"Professor Stuart Campbell, a consultant at the Create Health Clinic and formerly head of obstetrics and gynaecology at King's College School of Medicine, says he no longer carries out late-term abortions because advances in neo-natal care have led to the survival of a rising number of babies born between 21 and 24 weeks.
"If the decision were mine I would immediately reduce the termination limit to 20 weeks," he said. "To me it seems utterly illogical that, in adjacent wards, one doctor is struggling to save a baby delivered at 23 weeks while another is aborting a healthy baby of the same age.""
Saturday, 24 February 2007
Are jowls and a double chin upsetting you? - They are caused by fluid retention. - Cutting down on salt would reduce them. You would also lose weight.
Jowls and double chin are two of the many health problems caused or made worse by fluid retention. These problems can be lessened by eating less salt. You will also lose weight. See health problems associated with salt sensitivity and fluid retention
LEARNED BEHAVIOUR - Short Story by Margaret Wilde
Learned Behaviour
She watched on television the newly-hatched snakes immediately snaking off on urgent snake business and admired their purposefulness. – Just as she admired dogs when, dog-certain, they followed their confident noses to apparent predestinations. She would emulate them. She too would follow instinct not reason.
She ate a second cream bun.
Margaret Wilde © 2007
She watched on television the newly-hatched snakes immediately snaking off on urgent snake business and admired their purposefulness. – Just as she admired dogs when, dog-certain, they followed their confident noses to apparent predestinations. She would emulate them. She too would follow instinct not reason.
She ate a second cream bun.
Margaret Wilde © 2007
Friday, 23 February 2007
Deaths caused by two superbugs soar as health inspectorate accuses UK government
Deaths caused by two superbugs soar as health inspectorate accuses government
Extract:
"The number of deaths caused by two superbugs soared in 2005, raising new concerns over the standard of hygiene at hospitals across the country. According to government statistics, the number of deaths linked to MRSA rose by 39% in 2005 and deaths linked to a second superbug, Clostridium difficile, increased by 69%.
The head of the health inspectorate accused the government yesterday of failing to give enough priority to patient safety while Age Concern accused it of shirking responsibility for cleaning hospitals.
Levin Wheller of the Office for National Statistics said cases of superbugs had increased dramatically since MRSA emerged in the 1990s. C. difficile is now recorded as the cause or a factor in more than twice as many deaths as MRSA: 1,629 people died after contracting MRSA and 3,807 after C. difficile in 2005.
The new figures show that C. difficile-related deaths now outnumber deaths on UK roads. In 2005, 3,201 people were killed in road accidents, a 1% fall on 2004.
Men are twice as likely to contract MRSA as women. Mr Wheller suggested one reason could be personal hygiene; other factors might include the type of operations they are having. The vast majority of deaths were among the over-75s."
See Thousands of hospital staff fail to wash hands correctly
Dirty Hands, Dirty Health Service (UK) - The reason we have MRSA and C Diff on hospital wards?
Extract:
"The number of deaths caused by two superbugs soared in 2005, raising new concerns over the standard of hygiene at hospitals across the country. According to government statistics, the number of deaths linked to MRSA rose by 39% in 2005 and deaths linked to a second superbug, Clostridium difficile, increased by 69%.
The head of the health inspectorate accused the government yesterday of failing to give enough priority to patient safety while Age Concern accused it of shirking responsibility for cleaning hospitals.
Levin Wheller of the Office for National Statistics said cases of superbugs had increased dramatically since MRSA emerged in the 1990s. C. difficile is now recorded as the cause or a factor in more than twice as many deaths as MRSA: 1,629 people died after contracting MRSA and 3,807 after C. difficile in 2005.
The new figures show that C. difficile-related deaths now outnumber deaths on UK roads. In 2005, 3,201 people were killed in road accidents, a 1% fall on 2004.
Men are twice as likely to contract MRSA as women. Mr Wheller suggested one reason could be personal hygiene; other factors might include the type of operations they are having. The vast majority of deaths were among the over-75s."
See Thousands of hospital staff fail to wash hands correctly
Dirty Hands, Dirty Health Service (UK) - The reason we have MRSA and C Diff on hospital wards?
Junk food TV ad ban will cover under-16s: Ofcom
Junk food TV ad ban will cover under-16s
Extract:
"New rules designed to reduce children's exposure to "junk food" adverts on television were announced yesterday — and immediately came under fire from the food industry and health campaigners.
The regulator Ofcom said the ban will stop commercials for foods high in salt, sugar and fat being broadcast during children's programmes and shows "of particular appeal to viewers under 16".
This is part of a Government drive to reduce childhood obesity after evidence that television adverts have a modest effect on youngsters' diets.
The food industry called the rules ridiculous and disproportionate. Under the formula used to define junk food, adverts for cheddar cheese, Marmite, ketchup, raisins and porridge would be banned."
See also Junk food ad rules too watered down, say health groups
If adverts for "raisins and porridge" would be banned that would be strange indeed because both of these foods are low in salt and so are very good for children and would certainly not cause obesity in children! - Cheddar cheese, Marmite, ketchup are all high in salt/sodium and so are unsuitable foods for children, especially if the children are already overweight.
When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.
Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many snacks and instant foods. Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages, burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which helps to displace sodium from the body.
Extract:
"New rules designed to reduce children's exposure to "junk food" adverts on television were announced yesterday — and immediately came under fire from the food industry and health campaigners.
The regulator Ofcom said the ban will stop commercials for foods high in salt, sugar and fat being broadcast during children's programmes and shows "of particular appeal to viewers under 16".
This is part of a Government drive to reduce childhood obesity after evidence that television adverts have a modest effect on youngsters' diets.
The food industry called the rules ridiculous and disproportionate. Under the formula used to define junk food, adverts for cheddar cheese, Marmite, ketchup, raisins and porridge would be banned."
See also Junk food ad rules too watered down, say health groups
If adverts for "raisins and porridge" would be banned that would be strange indeed because both of these foods are low in salt and so are very good for children and would certainly not cause obesity in children! - Cheddar cheese, Marmite, ketchup are all high in salt/sodium and so are unsuitable foods for children, especially if the children are already overweight.
When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.
Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many snacks and instant foods. Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages, burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which helps to displace sodium from the body.
Number of drink deaths in Britain doubles in 13 years
Number of drink deaths doubles in 13 years
Extract:
"Britain is in the grip of an alcohol crisis, according to official figures which show the number of people drinking themselves to death has almost doubled.
In 2004 there were 8,221 alcohol-related deaths, such as cirrhosis of the liver, in the UK, almost double the total of 4,144 in 1991. Of those 5,465 were men and 2,915 women.
Men and women in Scotland are twice as likely to die an alcohol-related death as people in the UK as a whole."
What is seldom, if ever, stated, is that salt sensitivity plays a large part in cirrhosis of the liver and so cutting down significantly on salt/sodium intake can lessen your chances of developing cirrhosis of the liver or can reduce its severity.
See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html for many other health problems that can be prevented or reduced by eating less salt/sodium.
Extract:
"Britain is in the grip of an alcohol crisis, according to official figures which show the number of people drinking themselves to death has almost doubled.
In 2004 there were 8,221 alcohol-related deaths, such as cirrhosis of the liver, in the UK, almost double the total of 4,144 in 1991. Of those 5,465 were men and 2,915 women.
Men and women in Scotland are twice as likely to die an alcohol-related death as people in the UK as a whole."
What is seldom, if ever, stated, is that salt sensitivity plays a large part in cirrhosis of the liver and so cutting down significantly on salt/sodium intake can lessen your chances of developing cirrhosis of the liver or can reduce its severity.
See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html for many other health problems that can be prevented or reduced by eating less salt/sodium.
Sharp rise in under-16 pregnancy rates in England
Sharp rise in under-16 pregnancy rates
Extracts:
"Hundreds more girls aged 15 or younger are getting pregnant despite a multi-million pound Government campaign.
Official statistics show that 7,464 girls under the age of 16 – some as young as 13 — fell pregnant in England in 2005, a rise of 283 on 2004. The age of consent is 16.
Nearly six in 10 ended in abortion.
The numbers translate to an increase in the rate of under-age pregnancies per 1,000 girls of four per cent, the biggest single annual increase for 10 years. "
"The Family Education Trust, a charity, said: "The Government's teenage pregnancy strategy is failing. Sex education and handing out contraception to young people without their parents' knowledge may be giving the green light to sexual experimentation.""
Extracts:
"Hundreds more girls aged 15 or younger are getting pregnant despite a multi-million pound Government campaign.
Official statistics show that 7,464 girls under the age of 16 – some as young as 13 — fell pregnant in England in 2005, a rise of 283 on 2004. The age of consent is 16.
Nearly six in 10 ended in abortion.
The numbers translate to an increase in the rate of under-age pregnancies per 1,000 girls of four per cent, the biggest single annual increase for 10 years. "
"The Family Education Trust, a charity, said: "The Government's teenage pregnancy strategy is failing. Sex education and handing out contraception to young people without their parents' knowledge may be giving the green light to sexual experimentation.""
Pregnancy hormone reverses MS damage - The New Scientist has an article about prolactin and multiple sclerosis
Pregnancy hormone reverses MS damage
Extract:
"A hormone produced during pregnancy could reverse some of the neurological damage associated with multiple sclerosis, a mouse study suggests.
The finding could help explain why women with MS suffer fewer symptoms during pregnancy. And the results suggest that the hormone - prolactin - might one day be used to treat people with the disorder."
Extract:
"A hormone produced during pregnancy could reverse some of the neurological damage associated with multiple sclerosis, a mouse study suggests.
The finding could help explain why women with MS suffer fewer symptoms during pregnancy. And the results suggest that the hormone - prolactin - might one day be used to treat people with the disorder."
Wednesday, 21 February 2007
The English are Europe's fattest people with 61 per cent rated obese or overweight by European Union statisticians. Read my blog to find out why!
English tip Europe's scales - article in today's Daily Telegraph.
My webpage about the people and agencies responsible for the huge surge in the incidence of obesity in Britain is here. Please spare the time to read it.
You may like also to read UK has highest obesity rate in Europe
Department of Health Draft Paper
Prescribed Steroids
Past recommendations about daily intake of salt
and my Mensa article Obesity and the Salt Connection
My webpage about the people and agencies responsible for the huge surge in the incidence of obesity in Britain is here. Please spare the time to read it.
You may like also to read UK has highest obesity rate in Europe
Department of Health Draft Paper
Prescribed Steroids
Past recommendations about daily intake of salt
and my Mensa article Obesity and the Salt Connection
UK Doctors to face regular competency tests and General Medical Council stripped of some powers. Also Nick Clegg, Andy Burnham, complacency...
Doctors to face regular competency tests
Extract:
"Doctors are to face checks every five years to check that they are competent to continue working, under new plans announced today.
The Government is also to strip the doctors' regulatory body of a key powers, in a move likely to anger medical professionals.
The General Medical Council will lose the right to adjudicate in fitness to practise cases when complaints are made against doctors.
The GMC will still investigate concerns about doctors but the final decision on what happens to a doctor is likely to pass to an independent tribunal.
The Government's White Paper is part of a response to the Shipman inquiry, which was heavily critical of the GMC. "
Well it's certainly high time for the GMC to be stripped of its adjudication of complaints about doctors since it has always so scandalously favoured doctors over complainants. But I question the procedures that will comprise the competency tests. - Consider the following:
The high prices of new drugs is claimed to be necessary to pay the huge costs involved in the research and testing that by law has to precede the launch of a new drug. - But this 'justification' rings very hollow to me, a steroid victim.
The British National Formulary is a reference book doctors are assumed to use to look up important information about the drugs they prescribe. - For well over 20 years certainly, and maybe even longer, sodium retention has been among the side-effects listed for the drug that made me a steroid victim. - Because of this side-effect of sodium retention, all patients who are prescribed this medication, or any other of the many medications that result in sodium retention, should be warned not to eat salt or food containing added salt/sodium while taking the medication. - I was not given this VITAL warning and I do not know of even ONE person who was given this warning! - In consequence there are scores of thousands of steroid victims in this country - made needlessly and gravely ill and disabled because they were not given a simple piece of information, which surely, is the very reason that for all the expensive testing... - What use, then, all the testing? all the vast expense? all the laboratory animals that suffered to provide information for the researchers? - ARE ANY OF THE MANY, MANY DOCTORS WHO PRESCRIBE STEROIDS (INCLUDING PREDNISOLONE AND HRT) ET AL IN THIS NEGLIGENT WAY COMPETENT TO PRACTISE? - NOT IN MY OPINION. - THEY ARE CERTAINLY NOT COMPETENT TO PRESCRIBE OR TO MONITOR THESE DRUGS. - The drug companies themselves must have long known of the need to avoid salt while taking these medications and must also have soon become aware, as the numbers of steroid victims grew, that doctors were not giving the warnings, but there was no warning on the packs of drugs with which I was issued...
When is this scandalous situation going to be remedied? - My MP, Nick Clegg, wrote to the Secretary of State for Health about it last year but received only complacency in the response from Andy Burnham, and no promise of any action. See Individuals and agencies who are responsible for the 'Obesity Epidemic' - I hope you will read the whole page.
Extract:
"Doctors are to face checks every five years to check that they are competent to continue working, under new plans announced today.
The Government is also to strip the doctors' regulatory body of a key powers, in a move likely to anger medical professionals.
The General Medical Council will lose the right to adjudicate in fitness to practise cases when complaints are made against doctors.
The GMC will still investigate concerns about doctors but the final decision on what happens to a doctor is likely to pass to an independent tribunal.
The Government's White Paper is part of a response to the Shipman inquiry, which was heavily critical of the GMC. "
Well it's certainly high time for the GMC to be stripped of its adjudication of complaints about doctors since it has always so scandalously favoured doctors over complainants. But I question the procedures that will comprise the competency tests. - Consider the following:
The high prices of new drugs is claimed to be necessary to pay the huge costs involved in the research and testing that by law has to precede the launch of a new drug. - But this 'justification' rings very hollow to me, a steroid victim.
The British National Formulary is a reference book doctors are assumed to use to look up important information about the drugs they prescribe. - For well over 20 years certainly, and maybe even longer, sodium retention has been among the side-effects listed for the drug that made me a steroid victim. - Because of this side-effect of sodium retention, all patients who are prescribed this medication, or any other of the many medications that result in sodium retention, should be warned not to eat salt or food containing added salt/sodium while taking the medication. - I was not given this VITAL warning and I do not know of even ONE person who was given this warning! - In consequence there are scores of thousands of steroid victims in this country - made needlessly and gravely ill and disabled because they were not given a simple piece of information, which surely, is the very reason that for all the expensive testing... - What use, then, all the testing? all the vast expense? all the laboratory animals that suffered to provide information for the researchers? - ARE ANY OF THE MANY, MANY DOCTORS WHO PRESCRIBE STEROIDS (INCLUDING PREDNISOLONE AND HRT) ET AL IN THIS NEGLIGENT WAY COMPETENT TO PRACTISE? - NOT IN MY OPINION. - THEY ARE CERTAINLY NOT COMPETENT TO PRESCRIBE OR TO MONITOR THESE DRUGS. - The drug companies themselves must have long known of the need to avoid salt while taking these medications and must also have soon become aware, as the numbers of steroid victims grew, that doctors were not giving the warnings, but there was no warning on the packs of drugs with which I was issued...
When is this scandalous situation going to be remedied? - My MP, Nick Clegg, wrote to the Secretary of State for Health about it last year but received only complacency in the response from Andy Burnham, and no promise of any action. See Individuals and agencies who are responsible for the 'Obesity Epidemic' - I hope you will read the whole page.
Tuesday, 20 February 2007
NHS 'overspending by millions' on drugs - report by Britain's Office of Fair Trading
NHS 'overspending by millions' on drugs
Extract:
"Drugs companies are being paid millions of pounds too much by the NHS for branded medicines, according to the Office of Fair Trading.
Some treatments currently prescribed in large quantities are up to ten times more expensive than products which deliver similar results, the competition watchdog claims in a new report.
The prices paid for cholesterol, blood pressure and stomach acid drugs in particular are said to be “significantly out of line with patient benefits”. "
Blood pressure problems are usually caused by fluid retention and salt sensitivity and are most safely addressed by cutting down on salt/sodium intake. Another effective way to reduce fluid retention is by diuretics, the cheapest of which costs only a few pence per tablet.
Cholesterol problems also tend to develop in the wake of fluid retention/hypervolemia/obesity and so to prevent or reduce many health problems, eating less salt is a wise, safe, cost-free course of action.
And the most sinister and shameful aspect of all this drug expenditure, is that the widespread and inappropriate prescribing - often in high dose - of steroids, HRT, certain anti-depressants, including amitripyline, and certain other drugs, including many painkillers, are the very cause of the weight gain, the raised blood pressure, et al!
Extract:
"Drugs companies are being paid millions of pounds too much by the NHS for branded medicines, according to the Office of Fair Trading.
Some treatments currently prescribed in large quantities are up to ten times more expensive than products which deliver similar results, the competition watchdog claims in a new report.
The prices paid for cholesterol, blood pressure and stomach acid drugs in particular are said to be “significantly out of line with patient benefits”. "
Blood pressure problems are usually caused by fluid retention and salt sensitivity and are most safely addressed by cutting down on salt/sodium intake. Another effective way to reduce fluid retention is by diuretics, the cheapest of which costs only a few pence per tablet.
Cholesterol problems also tend to develop in the wake of fluid retention/hypervolemia/obesity and so to prevent or reduce many health problems, eating less salt is a wise, safe, cost-free course of action.
And the most sinister and shameful aspect of all this drug expenditure, is that the widespread and inappropriate prescribing - often in high dose - of steroids, HRT, certain anti-depressants, including amitripyline, and certain other drugs, including many painkillers, are the very cause of the weight gain, the raised blood pressure, et al!
Half of women in the UK 'would consider plastic surgery' - research, conducted by BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat and 1extra's TXU
Half of women 'would consider plastic surgery'
Extract:
"The spokeswoman revealed that around 1.1 million people in the UK suffer from eating disorders.
The survey of 25,000 women, mostly aged between 17 and 34, also showed that two thirds of size 14 women consider themselves overweight and more than ten per cent claim to hate their appearance. "
This is such a pity and so unnecessary. Overweight is caused by fluid retention and all that is normally necessary to lose excess weight is to eat less salt, i.e. to reduce one's sodium intake, and to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.
Conventional advice about eating less and increasing exercise and reducing fat and carbohydrate intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7423/1085 for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.
It is commonly accepted now, except by the 'experts', that less than 5% of dieters actually lose weight, and most gain weight as a result of dieting. - Even the ones who manage to lose weight do not usually improve their health. - See http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1515455,00.html for a report in The Guardian of Monday, June 27th 2005. It is about a huge research study of nearly 3000 people over a period of 18 years. The study found that overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat. It also found that dieting causes physiological damage that in the long term can outweigh the benefits of the weight loss.
Contributing to the increase in obesity we have the widespread prescribing of steroids and HRT and other drugs which cause weight gain, and the failure of doctors to adhere to the protocols connected with the prescribing and monitoring of steroids. But pre-eminent, in my opinion, is the catastrophically damaging calorie-reduction advice that continues to be given despite such a wealth of evidence that it is bad advice.
Extract:
"The spokeswoman revealed that around 1.1 million people in the UK suffer from eating disorders.
The survey of 25,000 women, mostly aged between 17 and 34, also showed that two thirds of size 14 women consider themselves overweight and more than ten per cent claim to hate their appearance. "
This is such a pity and so unnecessary. Overweight is caused by fluid retention and all that is normally necessary to lose excess weight is to eat less salt, i.e. to reduce one's sodium intake, and to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.
Conventional advice about eating less and increasing exercise and reducing fat and carbohydrate intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7423/1085 for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.
It is commonly accepted now, except by the 'experts', that less than 5% of dieters actually lose weight, and most gain weight as a result of dieting. - Even the ones who manage to lose weight do not usually improve their health. - See http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1515455,00.html for a report in The Guardian of Monday, June 27th 2005. It is about a huge research study of nearly 3000 people over a period of 18 years. The study found that overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat. It also found that dieting causes physiological damage that in the long term can outweigh the benefits of the weight loss.
Contributing to the increase in obesity we have the widespread prescribing of steroids and HRT and other drugs which cause weight gain, and the failure of doctors to adhere to the protocols connected with the prescribing and monitoring of steroids. But pre-eminent, in my opinion, is the catastrophically damaging calorie-reduction advice that continues to be given despite such a wealth of evidence that it is bad advice.
Connection found between nations' blood pressure and happiness - University of Warwick study
Connection found between nations' blood pressure and happiness
High blood pressure is strongly associated with salt sensitivity and fluid retention/hypervolemia, and the safest way to prevent it or lessen it is to cut down on salt intake. This will also help with losing excess weight. - See my webpage http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html
High blood pressure is strongly associated with salt sensitivity and fluid retention/hypervolemia, and the safest way to prevent it or lessen it is to cut down on salt intake. This will also help with losing excess weight. - See my webpage http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html
Cancer of the womb linked to large waist
Cancer of the womb linked to large waist
Extract:
"Women with a waist measurement of more than 34in have nearly double the risk of developing the disease than those whose waist is 31in or less, according to research published yesterday.
The risk is also almost doubled in those who have put on more than 44lb since the age of 20, and among the obese.
More than 5,500 women a year in the UK are diagnosed with endometrial cancer, or lining of the womb, and as many as 1,000 a year die from the disease. Incidence of the condition rose by 19 per cent between 1993 and 2002."
Since obesity is caused by fluid retention, which in turn is usually caused by salt sensitivity and can be prevented or lessened by eating less salt/sodium, it follows that in order to reduce the likelihood of developing cancer of the womb, women at risk should cut down on salt. - Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extract:
"Women with a waist measurement of more than 34in have nearly double the risk of developing the disease than those whose waist is 31in or less, according to research published yesterday.
The risk is also almost doubled in those who have put on more than 44lb since the age of 20, and among the obese.
More than 5,500 women a year in the UK are diagnosed with endometrial cancer, or lining of the womb, and as many as 1,000 a year die from the disease. Incidence of the condition rose by 19 per cent between 1993 and 2002."
Since obesity is caused by fluid retention, which in turn is usually caused by salt sensitivity and can be prevented or lessened by eating less salt/sodium, it follows that in order to reduce the likelihood of developing cancer of the womb, women at risk should cut down on salt. - Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Surgeons' skin filler - hyaluronic acid - may erase wrinkles
Surgeons' skin filler may erase wrinkles
Extract:
"Cosmetic surgeons often use hyaluronic acid, a natural material that helps glue skin cells together, to repair acne scars and fill in the lines and wrinkles of ageing. It was approved a few years ago but despite being in widespread use the detailed, biochemical effects on the skin have not been known until now.
Although natural hyaluronic acid lasts no more than days in the body, it is chemically toughened for use by surgeons using a process called cross linking, and is also thought to have longer lasting effects because it draws water into the skin as it is broken down.
A team reports today in the Archives of Dermatology that injections of hyaluronic acid also appear to stimulate production of collagen, the major structural protein in the skin, and may partially restore the structure of sun-damaged skin."
"the Michigan team found that the effects were also because the injections induced new collagen production in skin by stretching skin cells called fibroblasts.
Although it was unclear whether a single injection stimulated enough collagen to create noticeable clinical changes, "we hypothesise that collagen accumulation from multiple injections over time may yield durable cosmetic effects. Long-term studies correlating biochemical changes to observable clinical improvements may clarify this."
These findings suggest that, in addition to its cosmetic benefits, hyaluronic acid may be beneficial in skin-wasting diseases that involve collagen deficiencies, such as those associated with cortisone injections."
'skin-wasting diseases that involve collagen deficiencies, such as those associated with cortisone injections' are the fate of steroid victims - i.e. people grossly harmed by negligent prescribing/monitoring. - I wonder whether they will, in fact, ever be offered this treatment. - My personal experience as a steroid victim is that the medical profession offers steroid victims little apart from insults, casuistry, cover-up and misinformation...
Extract:
"Cosmetic surgeons often use hyaluronic acid, a natural material that helps glue skin cells together, to repair acne scars and fill in the lines and wrinkles of ageing. It was approved a few years ago but despite being in widespread use the detailed, biochemical effects on the skin have not been known until now.
Although natural hyaluronic acid lasts no more than days in the body, it is chemically toughened for use by surgeons using a process called cross linking, and is also thought to have longer lasting effects because it draws water into the skin as it is broken down.
A team reports today in the Archives of Dermatology that injections of hyaluronic acid also appear to stimulate production of collagen, the major structural protein in the skin, and may partially restore the structure of sun-damaged skin."
"the Michigan team found that the effects were also because the injections induced new collagen production in skin by stretching skin cells called fibroblasts.
Although it was unclear whether a single injection stimulated enough collagen to create noticeable clinical changes, "we hypothesise that collagen accumulation from multiple injections over time may yield durable cosmetic effects. Long-term studies correlating biochemical changes to observable clinical improvements may clarify this."
These findings suggest that, in addition to its cosmetic benefits, hyaluronic acid may be beneficial in skin-wasting diseases that involve collagen deficiencies, such as those associated with cortisone injections."
'skin-wasting diseases that involve collagen deficiencies, such as those associated with cortisone injections' are the fate of steroid victims - i.e. people grossly harmed by negligent prescribing/monitoring. - I wonder whether they will, in fact, ever be offered this treatment. - My personal experience as a steroid victim is that the medical profession offers steroid victims little apart from insults, casuistry, cover-up and misinformation...
Prof David Southall, who was suspended from child protection work for three years in 2004, is to have previous cases reviewed
Prof Southall to have previous cases reviewed
Extract:
"Prof Southall is currently facing a hearing before a General Medical Council fitness-to-practise panel on a separate matter.
He is alleged to have kept about 4,450 “special” case files on children which were not stored on the child’s proper hospital file.
Lord Goldsmith’s spokesman said there were concerns that proper disclosure of medical records may not have been made in cases that led to a prosecution.. "
This is good to hear. Far too often crucial medical records get removed or are 'lost' when doctors are at fault and I have yet to hear of any sanctions being taken against this practice.
Extract:
"Prof Southall is currently facing a hearing before a General Medical Council fitness-to-practise panel on a separate matter.
He is alleged to have kept about 4,450 “special” case files on children which were not stored on the child’s proper hospital file.
Lord Goldsmith’s spokesman said there were concerns that proper disclosure of medical records may not have been made in cases that led to a prosecution.. "
This is good to hear. Far too often crucial medical records get removed or are 'lost' when doctors are at fault and I have yet to hear of any sanctions being taken against this practice.
Tony Blair's latest wheeze - round-the-clock surgery - will not save the NHS
Round-the-clock surgery will not save the NHS
Extract:
"Even in the more efficient trusts, it is rare to find operating theatres in use on Friday afternoons, let alone at the weekends. There are some good, practical reasons for this. Operating theatres require deep cleaning on a regular basis if MRSA is not to become even more prevalent than at present. And staffing up for such round-the-clock surgery would add enormously to the NHS's already gargantuan wage bill.
On a more prosaic note, who among us would want to undergo a tricky surgical procedure at three in the morning, when even the most skilled surgeons may not be quite up to snuff?
Does Mr Blair spell out how this exciting new vision of round-the-clock surgery is to be delivered? Only by invoking his old friends "change and innovation" - the same change and innovation that were supposed to accompany the record levels of NHS spending under New Labour, but that have been palpably absent throughout."
Operations round the clock would not help the NHS for the reasons detailed in the article.
Improving the NHS should start with basics: instruct medical students clearly about drug side-effects and test them rigorously on these. - Instil in them that if they are not absolutely up to speed on a drug's side-effects when they are practising doctors, that it is unwise, immoral and downright dangerous to prescribe it. - That would be a good start to meaningful and inexpensive reform of the NHS.
Extract:
"Even in the more efficient trusts, it is rare to find operating theatres in use on Friday afternoons, let alone at the weekends. There are some good, practical reasons for this. Operating theatres require deep cleaning on a regular basis if MRSA is not to become even more prevalent than at present. And staffing up for such round-the-clock surgery would add enormously to the NHS's already gargantuan wage bill.
On a more prosaic note, who among us would want to undergo a tricky surgical procedure at three in the morning, when even the most skilled surgeons may not be quite up to snuff?
Does Mr Blair spell out how this exciting new vision of round-the-clock surgery is to be delivered? Only by invoking his old friends "change and innovation" - the same change and innovation that were supposed to accompany the record levels of NHS spending under New Labour, but that have been palpably absent throughout."
Operations round the clock would not help the NHS for the reasons detailed in the article.
Improving the NHS should start with basics: instruct medical students clearly about drug side-effects and test them rigorously on these. - Instil in them that if they are not absolutely up to speed on a drug's side-effects when they are practising doctors, that it is unwise, immoral and downright dangerous to prescribe it. - That would be a good start to meaningful and inexpensive reform of the NHS.
Monday, 19 February 2007
Bernard Matthews 'to lay off hundreds' of staff
Bernard Matthews 'to lay off hundreds'
Extracts:
"David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, made no mention of the redundancies when he gave an update to MPs of developments since the outbreak at the plant in Holton earlier this month which led to a cull of nearly 160,000 birds.
Mr Miliband told the Commons: "The expert advice available to me is that there is a constant, low risk of bird flu to the UK and higher risk during migration season.
"There can be no guarantee against further outbreaks. In fact, the only guarantee is that there is a continual risk." "
"YouGov's BrandIndex, which monitors consumer attitudes to 1,100 brands every day, revealed Bernard Matthews was now the second least liked brand in Britain. Only McDonald's has a worse public image problem.
Britain's biggest poultry producer was hit by allegations of a cover-up following the outbreak, amid claims that it had not been clear with the public about the transportation of turkey meat to the plant from Hungary, which had suffered an earlier outbreak of the H5N1 virus.
The company admitted it had imported meat from a supplier just a few miles from where the lethal disease was found in farmed geese last month, but denied it had broken any laws."
Extracts:
"David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, made no mention of the redundancies when he gave an update to MPs of developments since the outbreak at the plant in Holton earlier this month which led to a cull of nearly 160,000 birds.
Mr Miliband told the Commons: "The expert advice available to me is that there is a constant, low risk of bird flu to the UK and higher risk during migration season.
"There can be no guarantee against further outbreaks. In fact, the only guarantee is that there is a continual risk." "
"YouGov's BrandIndex, which monitors consumer attitudes to 1,100 brands every day, revealed Bernard Matthews was now the second least liked brand in Britain. Only McDonald's has a worse public image problem.
Britain's biggest poultry producer was hit by allegations of a cover-up following the outbreak, amid claims that it had not been clear with the public about the transportation of turkey meat to the plant from Hungary, which had suffered an earlier outbreak of the H5N1 virus.
The company admitted it had imported meat from a supplier just a few miles from where the lethal disease was found in farmed geese last month, but denied it had broken any laws."
Exposure to low doses of tea tree oil causes pathogens like MRSA, E-coli and salmonella to become more resistant to antibiotics: University of Ulster
Scientists: Tea tree oil users risk superbug infections
Extract:
"Tea tree oil, commonly found in beauty and health products, could raise users' chances of contracting superbug infections, it has emerged.
Repeated exposure to low doses of the oil causes pathogens such as MRSA, Ecoli and salmonella to become more resistant to antibiotics, according to research from the University of Ulster."
Extract:
"Tea tree oil, commonly found in beauty and health products, could raise users' chances of contracting superbug infections, it has emerged.
Repeated exposure to low doses of the oil causes pathogens such as MRSA, Ecoli and salmonella to become more resistant to antibiotics, according to research from the University of Ulster."
Police to review case of fatal calcium dose given to baby, Abbie Hattam, daughter of Dawn and Jason Hattam, from Truro, Cornwall
Police to review case of fatal calcium dose given to baby
Extract:
"Police will re-examine the case of an under-pressure medic accused of giving a fatal dose of calcium to a baby girl, after an inquest jury decided she had been unlawfully killed.
Five-month-old twin Abbie Hattam died following heart surgery during which she was said to have been given 10 times the normal dose of calcium by Richard Downes, a medic at Bristol Children's hospital.
During the inquest it was claimed that Mr Downes' department was under-staffed and he argued with the surgeon before the operation because he wanted it cancelled. But Mr Downes refused to give evidence at the inquest, to the dismay of Abbie's parents, Dawn and Jason Hattam, from Truro, Cornwall."
It seems very wrong that this medic is allowed to refuse to give evidence, doesn't it? - Should it not be a condition of employment that health professionals give evidence, when required to, at an inquest into the death of a patient whose care was their responsibility?
Extract:
"Police will re-examine the case of an under-pressure medic accused of giving a fatal dose of calcium to a baby girl, after an inquest jury decided she had been unlawfully killed.
Five-month-old twin Abbie Hattam died following heart surgery during which she was said to have been given 10 times the normal dose of calcium by Richard Downes, a medic at Bristol Children's hospital.
During the inquest it was claimed that Mr Downes' department was under-staffed and he argued with the surgeon before the operation because he wanted it cancelled. But Mr Downes refused to give evidence at the inquest, to the dismay of Abbie's parents, Dawn and Jason Hattam, from Truro, Cornwall."
It seems very wrong that this medic is allowed to refuse to give evidence, doesn't it? - Should it not be a condition of employment that health professionals give evidence, when required to, at an inquest into the death of a patient whose care was their responsibility?
Britain's Department of Health 'not well managed'
Department of Health 'not well managed'
Extract:
"Most of the Department of Health’s senior civil servants do not believe the Department is well managed, according to figures uncovered by the Conservatives.
The official survey by the civil service showed that 84 per cent of the Department’s senior civil servants – more than five in six – did not believe that the Department was well managed, compared to 49 per cent for the civil service as a whole.
Nine in ten did not believe that poor performance was dealt with effectively in the Department of Health. "
Well I think I'd probably be first in any queue to criticise the Department of Health! - See my previous posts:
hospital kitchens
hospitals
UK has highest obesity rate in Europe
Department of Health Draft Paper
Prescribed Steroids
Past recommendations about daily intake of salt
and the medical negligence/ignorance, the political considerations and the vested interests that are responsible for Britain's obesity problem and all the suffering and ill-health it causes
Extract:
"Most of the Department of Health’s senior civil servants do not believe the Department is well managed, according to figures uncovered by the Conservatives.
The official survey by the civil service showed that 84 per cent of the Department’s senior civil servants – more than five in six – did not believe that the Department was well managed, compared to 49 per cent for the civil service as a whole.
Nine in ten did not believe that poor performance was dealt with effectively in the Department of Health. "
Well I think I'd probably be first in any queue to criticise the Department of Health! - See my previous posts:
hospital kitchens
hospitals
UK has highest obesity rate in Europe
Department of Health Draft Paper
Prescribed Steroids
Past recommendations about daily intake of salt
and the medical negligence/ignorance, the political considerations and the vested interests that are responsible for Britain's obesity problem and all the suffering and ill-health it causes
Sunday, 18 February 2007
Junk food companies will be banned from advertising in magazines aimed at the under-16s under new government rules to combat soaring childhood obesity
Junk food ads banned on children's net
Extract:
"Firms such as McDonald's and Pepsi will no longer be allowed to target children and young people by placing advertisements in their favourite magazines, on the internet, on billboards or at cinema screenings of films popular with under-16s."
When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.
Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many snacks and instant foods. Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages, burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which helps to displace sodium from the body.
See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html
Extract:
"Firms such as McDonald's and Pepsi will no longer be allowed to target children and young people by placing advertisements in their favourite magazines, on the internet, on billboards or at cinema screenings of films popular with under-16s."
When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.
Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many snacks and instant foods. Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages, burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which helps to displace sodium from the body.
See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html
Medical staff (doctors and nurses) in Turin hospital suspected of bribery and corruption in funeral parlour selection for corpses.
Turin hospital cash for corpses scam
Extract:
"As part of the scam, doctors and nurses allegedly allowed employees of the funeral parlours into the mortuary and gave them white coats, so they could break the news of a loved one's death to relatives and then suggest a burial company.
Police estimated that the corrupt employees were making more than €5,000 from the hospital's average of 10 deaths a week.
If they are convicted of bribery and corruption, the medical staff could face a minimum of five years in jail."
Extract:
"As part of the scam, doctors and nurses allegedly allowed employees of the funeral parlours into the mortuary and gave them white coats, so they could break the news of a loved one's death to relatives and then suggest a burial company.
Police estimated that the corrupt employees were making more than €5,000 from the hospital's average of 10 deaths a week.
If they are convicted of bribery and corruption, the medical staff could face a minimum of five years in jail."
Women who donate their eggs for fertility research are at risk from life-threatening side effects, University of Padua scientists warn in a new study.
Fertility research drugs put egg donors at risk
Extract:
"Women who donate their eggs for research are at risk from life-threatening side effects, scientists warn in a new study.
They say that the powerful drugs given to the volunteers to help increase the number of eggs they produce can cause paralysis, limb amputation and even death.
The warning comes days before the results of a review into a controversial decision to allow doctors to harvest eggs from healthy volunteers for research purposes.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is expected to endorse its policy, which provoked an outcry when it was announced last year. But the safety of egg donation is questioned by Italian experts.
In their study, 34 women suffered severe reactions to the hormone-stimulating drugs used. The researchers, at the University of Padua, found that most of those affected had previously enjoyed good health. An analysis of doctors' reports since the early 1990s revealed that 60 per cent of the accidents involved blood clots in the head and neck.
The study, in the journal Thrombosis and Thrombolysis, concludes that the number of side effects would rise as the number of assisted reproduction techniques increased and that doctors using the drugs need a better understanding of the potential risks."
Obesity is one factor that reduces fertility, and obesity is caused/initiated by fluid retention and salt sensitivity. A completely safe and very healthy way for women to increase their fertility, therefore, is to reduce their intake of salt/sodium.
Remember: Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - Since it is usually caused/initiated by salt sensitivity and fluid retention, and is best reduced by abandoning the calorie myth and concentrating on cutting down on salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Dieting is potentially harmful. Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
See also http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html
Extract:
"Women who donate their eggs for research are at risk from life-threatening side effects, scientists warn in a new study.
They say that the powerful drugs given to the volunteers to help increase the number of eggs they produce can cause paralysis, limb amputation and even death.
The warning comes days before the results of a review into a controversial decision to allow doctors to harvest eggs from healthy volunteers for research purposes.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is expected to endorse its policy, which provoked an outcry when it was announced last year. But the safety of egg donation is questioned by Italian experts.
In their study, 34 women suffered severe reactions to the hormone-stimulating drugs used. The researchers, at the University of Padua, found that most of those affected had previously enjoyed good health. An analysis of doctors' reports since the early 1990s revealed that 60 per cent of the accidents involved blood clots in the head and neck.
The study, in the journal Thrombosis and Thrombolysis, concludes that the number of side effects would rise as the number of assisted reproduction techniques increased and that doctors using the drugs need a better understanding of the potential risks."
Obesity is one factor that reduces fertility, and obesity is caused/initiated by fluid retention and salt sensitivity. A completely safe and very healthy way for women to increase their fertility, therefore, is to reduce their intake of salt/sodium.
Remember: Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - Since it is usually caused/initiated by salt sensitivity and fluid retention, and is best reduced by abandoning the calorie myth and concentrating on cutting down on salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Dieting is potentially harmful. Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
See also http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html
Saturday, 17 February 2007
Chemicals 'could be the cause of obesity' says Prof Frederick vom Saal, of Missouri-Columbia University, after experiments with mice and bisphenol-A
Chemicals 'could be the cause of obesity' says Prof Frederick vom Saal, of Missouri-Columbia University, after experiments with mice and bisphenol-A
Extract:
"He told the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco: "If you look at the increase in the incidence of obesity and the increase in man-made chemicals that have these kind of endocrine disrupting effects they absolutely parallel each other."
"At high doses, the chemical, used in CD cases, mobile phones, sunglasses and babies' bottles, can interfere with hormone balance. Campaigners have called for it to banned and linked it to several diseases, including breast cancer and diabetes."
The chemicals that are most likely to result in obesity are prednisolone and other medically prescribed steroids, HRT, amitriptyline and some other anti-depressants, and certain other drugs, often prescribed inappropriately and in high dose, often for too long a time, by physicians with inadequate knowledge of the potential adverse side-effects of the drugs. These doctors frequently fail to monitor the progress of these patients adequately or even at all! - And most crucially they fail to give the patient the VITALLY important information that these drugs tend to cause sodium and water retention leading to extreme salt sensitivity and morbid obesity, and so while taking the drugs no salt or salty food should be eaten.
Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - It is usually caused/initiated by salt sensitivity and fluid retention, and is best reduced by abandoning the calorie myth and concentrating on cutting down on salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Dieting is potentially harmful. Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extract:
"He told the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco: "If you look at the increase in the incidence of obesity and the increase in man-made chemicals that have these kind of endocrine disrupting effects they absolutely parallel each other."
"At high doses, the chemical, used in CD cases, mobile phones, sunglasses and babies' bottles, can interfere with hormone balance. Campaigners have called for it to banned and linked it to several diseases, including breast cancer and diabetes."
The chemicals that are most likely to result in obesity are prednisolone and other medically prescribed steroids, HRT, amitriptyline and some other anti-depressants, and certain other drugs, often prescribed inappropriately and in high dose, often for too long a time, by physicians with inadequate knowledge of the potential adverse side-effects of the drugs. These doctors frequently fail to monitor the progress of these patients adequately or even at all! - And most crucially they fail to give the patient the VITALLY important information that these drugs tend to cause sodium and water retention leading to extreme salt sensitivity and morbid obesity, and so while taking the drugs no salt or salty food should be eaten.
Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - It is usually caused/initiated by salt sensitivity and fluid retention, and is best reduced by abandoning the calorie myth and concentrating on cutting down on salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Dieting is potentially harmful. Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
There were lapses in hygiene at the Bernard Matthews Turkey Farm
There were lapses in hygiene at the Bernard Matthews Turkey Farm
Extract:
"Bernard Matthews was warned several times about hygiene lapses at its Suffolk turkey farm before the bird flu outbreak earlier this month, a Government report said yesterday.
Meat Hygiene Service inspectors recorded "a number of instances" where the company was given verbal advice about failure to comply with hygiene regulations."
Extract:
"Bernard Matthews was warned several times about hygiene lapses at its Suffolk turkey farm before the bird flu outbreak earlier this month, a Government report said yesterday.
Meat Hygiene Service inspectors recorded "a number of instances" where the company was given verbal advice about failure to comply with hygiene regulations."
Friday, 16 February 2007
The World Health Organisation, the drugs company and the $10,000 funding offer
The World Health Organisation, the drugs company and the $10,000 funding offer - Guardian article.
Extract:
"The World Health Organisation is facing allegations that it attempted to secure a $10,000 (£5,100) donation from a drugs company by asking a patients' group to act as a covert channel for the funds, in the light of documents published today. The alleged arrangement would have broken the WHO's own rules on accepting money from the pharmaceutical industry.
Emails between Benedetto Saraceno, the WHO's director of mental health and substance abuse, and the European Parkinson's Disease Association appear to suggest that the WHO was willing to take $10,000 from Britain's biggest drug company, GlaxoSmithKline, to help pay for the preparation of a report on neurological disorders, for which GSK makes drugs.
However, Dr Saraceno made it clear that the money must pass through the coffers of the EPDA first because of the rules on WHO accepting drug industry funding. "
Nothing surprises me about the World Health Organisation! - Apart from its name, that is! - See my previous post for further criticism of this very flawed organisation. - See also Sleaze in the Medical Profession - You wonder whether the medical profession cares more about the health of patients or about the health of the sleazy drug companies' profits. - Or maybe, like me, you don't wonder...)o:
Extract:
"The World Health Organisation is facing allegations that it attempted to secure a $10,000 (£5,100) donation from a drugs company by asking a patients' group to act as a covert channel for the funds, in the light of documents published today. The alleged arrangement would have broken the WHO's own rules on accepting money from the pharmaceutical industry.
Emails between Benedetto Saraceno, the WHO's director of mental health and substance abuse, and the European Parkinson's Disease Association appear to suggest that the WHO was willing to take $10,000 from Britain's biggest drug company, GlaxoSmithKline, to help pay for the preparation of a report on neurological disorders, for which GSK makes drugs.
However, Dr Saraceno made it clear that the money must pass through the coffers of the EPDA first because of the rules on WHO accepting drug industry funding. "
Nothing surprises me about the World Health Organisation! - Apart from its name, that is! - See my previous post for further criticism of this very flawed organisation. - See also Sleaze in the Medical Profession - You wonder whether the medical profession cares more about the health of patients or about the health of the sleazy drug companies' profits. - Or maybe, like me, you don't wonder...)o:
What causes obesity and overweight? - Here is the dangerous misinformation given by the World Health Organisation.
On page http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/ of the World Health Organisation's website you can read this:
"What causes obesity and overweight?
The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed on one hand, and calories expended on the other hand. Global increases in overweight and obesity are attributable to a number of factors including:
a global shift in diet towards increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat and sugars but low in vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients; and
a trend towards decreased physical activity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization."
This is not true! - It's incredible that the WHO can get away with this false assertion. - There is absolutely no evidence for their claim! - They have never even put their claim to the test! (Their one mention of salt - which contains no calories at all - on the webpage is only peripheral.)
See http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2006/11/do-you-believe-that-obesity-is-caused.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html
Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - It is usually caused/initiated by salt sensitivity and fluid retention, and is best reduced by abandoning the calorie myth and concentrating on cutting down on salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Dieting is potentially harmful. Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
"What causes obesity and overweight?
The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed on one hand, and calories expended on the other hand. Global increases in overweight and obesity are attributable to a number of factors including:
a global shift in diet towards increased intake of energy-dense foods that are high in fat and sugars but low in vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients; and
a trend towards decreased physical activity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization."
This is not true! - It's incredible that the WHO can get away with this false assertion. - There is absolutely no evidence for their claim! - They have never even put their claim to the test! (Their one mention of salt - which contains no calories at all - on the webpage is only peripheral.)
See http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2006/11/do-you-believe-that-obesity-is-caused.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html
Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - It is usually caused/initiated by salt sensitivity and fluid retention, and is best reduced by abandoning the calorie myth and concentrating on cutting down on salt/sodium intake and eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Dieting is potentially harmful. Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Writing in the BMJ, Roger England, chairman of the Grenada based Health Systems Workshop, says that HIV funding is being spent inefficiently.
HIV funding is being spent inefficiently claims Dr Roger England.
Extract:
"He claims that when measured by disability adjusted life years (DALYs) lost, HIV only contributes to five per cent of the burden of disease in low and middle income countries.
The charity chairman adds that although Aids causes 2.8 million deaths every year worldwide, this is still less than deaths attributable to diabetes.
He says that funding could be better spent on bed nets, immunisation programmes or family planning, claiming that HIV interventions are "not cost effective enough to justify this disproportionate spending"."
As I have written previously, if you have HIV+ status and are unable to obtain antiretroviral drugs, or would prefer not to take these drugs anyway, you may like to minimise your salt/sodium intake. - A 40 year old man who is HIV+, and whom I have been advising for many years, chose not to take these drugs although he had/has been offered them at no cost. Instead, he has optimised his diet and he takes vitamin and mineral supplements, and he has eliminated all avoidable salt/sodium from his food intake. - He has been HIV+ since the early or mid-80s and he is still alive...(o: - and still working (part time now) and still quite well most of the time. And of course since he doesn't take the drugs, he doesn't suffer from the adverse side-effects of the drugs...(o:
And read about a good way to reduce your risk of developing type 2 Diabetes here: http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2006/08/have-you-noticed-that-diabetes-is.html
Extract:
"He claims that when measured by disability adjusted life years (DALYs) lost, HIV only contributes to five per cent of the burden of disease in low and middle income countries.
The charity chairman adds that although Aids causes 2.8 million deaths every year worldwide, this is still less than deaths attributable to diabetes.
He says that funding could be better spent on bed nets, immunisation programmes or family planning, claiming that HIV interventions are "not cost effective enough to justify this disproportionate spending"."
As I have written previously, if you have HIV+ status and are unable to obtain antiretroviral drugs, or would prefer not to take these drugs anyway, you may like to minimise your salt/sodium intake. - A 40 year old man who is HIV+, and whom I have been advising for many years, chose not to take these drugs although he had/has been offered them at no cost. Instead, he has optimised his diet and he takes vitamin and mineral supplements, and he has eliminated all avoidable salt/sodium from his food intake. - He has been HIV+ since the early or mid-80s and he is still alive...(o: - and still working (part time now) and still quite well most of the time. And of course since he doesn't take the drugs, he doesn't suffer from the adverse side-effects of the drugs...(o:
And read about a good way to reduce your risk of developing type 2 Diabetes here: http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2006/08/have-you-noticed-that-diabetes-is.html
"Smoke detectives are taking over the streets" - Legislation seeks to protect non-smokers from the harm done by passive smoking.
Smoke detectives are taking over the streets
Extract:
"Thousands of council officers will be on the streets this summer, patrolling bars, restaurants and shops to police the smoking ban.
Smokers' campaigning groups said the scheme would be a "complete waste of public money". The British Beer and Pub Association said the plan was "heavy handed".
The new smoke-free rules come into force in England on July 1, when people will be banned from smoking in workplaces or enclosed public areas."
I spent my childhood coughing; both of my parents smoked. I developed bronchitis and pulmonary TB. Each time hospitalisation and the TB drugs produced some respite and remission, the cigarette smoke when I returned home caused the coughing to return, and the coughing in its turn disturbed the healing that had taken place and the TB became active again. - It isn't just early deaths from passive smoking that will be prevented by this legislation; it is a great deal of wholly needless suffering by children and others who are vulnerable to cigarette smoke...
Extract:
"Thousands of council officers will be on the streets this summer, patrolling bars, restaurants and shops to police the smoking ban.
Smokers' campaigning groups said the scheme would be a "complete waste of public money". The British Beer and Pub Association said the plan was "heavy handed".
The new smoke-free rules come into force in England on July 1, when people will be banned from smoking in workplaces or enclosed public areas."
I spent my childhood coughing; both of my parents smoked. I developed bronchitis and pulmonary TB. Each time hospitalisation and the TB drugs produced some respite and remission, the cigarette smoke when I returned home caused the coughing to return, and the coughing in its turn disturbed the healing that had taken place and the TB became active again. - It isn't just early deaths from passive smoking that will be prevented by this legislation; it is a great deal of wholly needless suffering by children and others who are vulnerable to cigarette smoke...
Much of the food industry's food labelling in Britain has been criticised as misleading by the National Heart Forum.
Much of the food industry's food labelling has been criticised as misleading by the National Heart Forum
Extracts:
"The NHF report criticised some food companies for misleading consumers in the way information under the industry-backed scheme was presented. It said the information was "too complex" and often confused people rather than helped them."
"Jane Landon, the deputy chief executive of the National Heart Forum, criticised the industry's scheme, warning many consumers were not aware that GDAs were a "limit, not a target". She said: "This report shows some manufacturers and retailers are failing their customers by using nutritional food labels which are overly complex.
"Some even appear to be manipulating the front-of-pack label to promote their products rather than to inform their customers.
"Without reading the small print on the back of the packet it is not clear that for fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt these figures represent limits rather than targets."
It's so weird. - The one piece of information that always seems to be present on packs is the information about calorie content. - Yet this is the ONLY piece of information that is completely irrelevant, since obesity is not caused by eating too many calories! - If the calorie information were to be abandoned, there would be more room for the much more important salt/sodium content to be prominently displayed.
People can read the truth in my blog. - See Do you believe that obesity is caused by over-eating - by consuming too many calories? - I invite you to consider the evidence and think again!
Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - It is caused/initiated by fluid retention. - Dieting is potentially harmful.
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extracts:
"The NHF report criticised some food companies for misleading consumers in the way information under the industry-backed scheme was presented. It said the information was "too complex" and often confused people rather than helped them."
"Jane Landon, the deputy chief executive of the National Heart Forum, criticised the industry's scheme, warning many consumers were not aware that GDAs were a "limit, not a target". She said: "This report shows some manufacturers and retailers are failing their customers by using nutritional food labels which are overly complex.
"Some even appear to be manipulating the front-of-pack label to promote their products rather than to inform their customers.
"Without reading the small print on the back of the packet it is not clear that for fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt these figures represent limits rather than targets."
It's so weird. - The one piece of information that always seems to be present on packs is the information about calorie content. - Yet this is the ONLY piece of information that is completely irrelevant, since obesity is not caused by eating too many calories! - If the calorie information were to be abandoned, there would be more room for the much more important salt/sodium content to be prominently displayed.
People can read the truth in my blog. - See Do you believe that obesity is caused by over-eating - by consuming too many calories? - I invite you to consider the evidence and think again!
Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - It is caused/initiated by fluid retention. - Dieting is potentially harmful.
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Thursday, 15 February 2007
No US antiretroviral monopoly - US authorities have not sought antiretroviral drugs market monopoly, says Mark Dybul, outgoing US Aids coordinator.
Dybul denies US antiretroviral monopoly
Extract:
"American authorities have not sought to monopolise the antiretroviral drugs market, the outgoing US global Aids coordinator Mark Dybul has stated.
He refuted claims that the US has monopolised the market to the point where the drugs have become too expensive for African countries to purchase for their Aids population.
Many have said that the US has blocked the production of generic antiretrovirals, resulting in the cost of the drugs staying high."
If you have HIV+ status and are unable to obtain antiretroviral drugs, or would prefer not to take these drugs anyway, you may like to minimise your salt/sodium intake. - A 40 year old man who is HIV+, and whom I have been advising for many years, chose not to take these drugs although as a British citizen he had/has been offered them on the NHS. Instead, he has optimised his diet and he takes vitamin and mineral supplements, and he has eliminated all avoidable salt/sodium from his food intake. - He has been HIV+ since the early or mid-80s and he is still alive...(o: - and still working (part time now) and still quite well most of the time. And of course since he doesn't take the drugs, he doesn't suffer from the adverse side-effects of the drugs...(o:
Extract:
"American authorities have not sought to monopolise the antiretroviral drugs market, the outgoing US global Aids coordinator Mark Dybul has stated.
He refuted claims that the US has monopolised the market to the point where the drugs have become too expensive for African countries to purchase for their Aids population.
Many have said that the US has blocked the production of generic antiretrovirals, resulting in the cost of the drugs staying high."
If you have HIV+ status and are unable to obtain antiretroviral drugs, or would prefer not to take these drugs anyway, you may like to minimise your salt/sodium intake. - A 40 year old man who is HIV+, and whom I have been advising for many years, chose not to take these drugs although as a British citizen he had/has been offered them on the NHS. Instead, he has optimised his diet and he takes vitamin and mineral supplements, and he has eliminated all avoidable salt/sodium from his food intake. - He has been HIV+ since the early or mid-80s and he is still alive...(o: - and still working (part time now) and still quite well most of the time. And of course since he doesn't take the drugs, he doesn't suffer from the adverse side-effects of the drugs...(o:
His friends who had HIV/Aids, and who took the antiretroviral drugs, have all died...)o: - He believes, and so do I, that optimal nutrition is far more useful than drugs in combating HIV, and that the antiretrovirals benefit the drug companies rather than the patients who take the drugs.
You can read further about this on Dr Rath's website: http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/
Breastfeeding can be good for heart
Breastfeeding can be good for heart
Extract:
"Breastfeeding may be good for the mother as well as her baby, research published yesterday suggests.
In a study of 96,648 nurses who gave birth between 1986 and 2002, those who had spent at least two years of their lives breastfeeding were 19 per cent less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who had not breastfed.
The difference was independent of any of the usual risk factors for heart disease, such as family history, diet or exercise levels."
Extract:
"Breastfeeding may be good for the mother as well as her baby, research published yesterday suggests.
In a study of 96,648 nurses who gave birth between 1986 and 2002, those who had spent at least two years of their lives breastfeeding were 19 per cent less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who had not breastfed.
The difference was independent of any of the usual risk factors for heart disease, such as family history, diet or exercise levels."
Wednesday, 14 February 2007
Britain has been ranked bottom out of 21 countries in a United Nations assessment of children's well-being. Scathing report by the UN children's fund.
British youngsters get worst deal, says UN
Extract:
"Britain has been ranked bottom out of 21 countries in a United Nations assessment of children's well-being.
The nation's high number of single parents and step-families has contributed to the ranking.
The scathing report by the UN children's fund, Unicef, says youngsters are better off overall in every other industrialised country, including less wealthy nations such as Poland and the Czech Republic.
It says there is statistical evidence to link growing up in single-parent families and step-families with a greater risk of dropping out of school, leaving home early, poorer health, low skills, and low pay."
"According to today's report, the UK lags in other areas too such as the number of children living in relative poverty, vaccination rates, and the time spent talking, or eating with a parent or parents.
It also has high rates of obesity, drunkenness, bullying, early sexual intercourse, cannabis-taking and teenage pregnancy."
Well the responsibility for the high rates of obesity lies firmly with doctors, politicians, the food industry, drug companies, etc. See my political webpage - If people were told the truth about obesity - namely that it is caused/initiated by fluid retention and not by overeating - this would reduce obesity greatly and improve children's health in many ways and also improve their happiness because they would not be bullied and insulted so much.
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extract:
"Britain has been ranked bottom out of 21 countries in a United Nations assessment of children's well-being.
The nation's high number of single parents and step-families has contributed to the ranking.
The scathing report by the UN children's fund, Unicef, says youngsters are better off overall in every other industrialised country, including less wealthy nations such as Poland and the Czech Republic.
It says there is statistical evidence to link growing up in single-parent families and step-families with a greater risk of dropping out of school, leaving home early, poorer health, low skills, and low pay."
"According to today's report, the UK lags in other areas too such as the number of children living in relative poverty, vaccination rates, and the time spent talking, or eating with a parent or parents.
It also has high rates of obesity, drunkenness, bullying, early sexual intercourse, cannabis-taking and teenage pregnancy."
Well the responsibility for the high rates of obesity lies firmly with doctors, politicians, the food industry, drug companies, etc. See my political webpage - If people were told the truth about obesity - namely that it is caused/initiated by fluid retention and not by overeating - this would reduce obesity greatly and improve children's health in many ways and also improve their happiness because they would not be bullied and insulted so much.
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
British doctors admit to ageism
British doctors admit to ageism
Extract:
"Doctors in Britain regularly discriminate against older patients by denying them tests and treatments they offer to younger people, research shows today.
GPs, heart specialists and doctors who care for the elderly were all found to be influenced by a patient's age when making their recommendations -and older doctors were more likely to discriminate than younger doctors.
Older patients are less likely to be referred to a cardiologist and given heart treatments than patients under 65.
The study in Quality and Safety in Health Care, a specialist publication from the British Medical Journal, found that half of doctors in each of the professional groups treated elderly patients differently. "
Extract:
"Doctors in Britain regularly discriminate against older patients by denying them tests and treatments they offer to younger people, research shows today.
GPs, heart specialists and doctors who care for the elderly were all found to be influenced by a patient's age when making their recommendations -and older doctors were more likely to discriminate than younger doctors.
Older patients are less likely to be referred to a cardiologist and given heart treatments than patients under 65.
The study in Quality and Safety in Health Care, a specialist publication from the British Medical Journal, found that half of doctors in each of the professional groups treated elderly patients differently. "
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Passive smoking 'increases heart risk by a third'
Passive smoking 'increases heart risk by a third'
Extract:
"Second hand smoke exposure can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 30 per cent, a British study has found.
Researchers from the University of Nottingham say that passive smokers have a disproportionately high likelihood of suffering from heart disease due to exposure at home or in the workplace. "
"A smoking ban in public places across the UK comes into force on July 1st 2007."
Eating less salt is also an excellent way to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.
Extract:
"Second hand smoke exposure can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 30 per cent, a British study has found.
Researchers from the University of Nottingham say that passive smokers have a disproportionately high likelihood of suffering from heart disease due to exposure at home or in the workplace. "
"A smoking ban in public places across the UK comes into force on July 1st 2007."
Eating less salt is also an excellent way to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.
Caffeinated beverages 'help protect the elderly': American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Caffeinated beverages 'help protect the elderly'
Extract:
"The risks of heart disease to the elderly may be diminished by caffeinated drinks, according to a recent study.
Those over 65 who consume four or more caffeinated drinks per day may reduce their risk of cardiac disease by up to 53 per cent, the study, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed.
However, those under the age of 65 or those with stage two hypertension do not benefit at all from caffeine, the study discovered."
These findings may prove to be true, I suppose, but overwhelmingly the best, most reliable measure that people of any age can take to reduce their risk of cardiac disease (and also hypertension) is to eat less salt/sodium. - See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk and the page http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extract:
"The risks of heart disease to the elderly may be diminished by caffeinated drinks, according to a recent study.
Those over 65 who consume four or more caffeinated drinks per day may reduce their risk of cardiac disease by up to 53 per cent, the study, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed.
However, those under the age of 65 or those with stage two hypertension do not benefit at all from caffeine, the study discovered."
These findings may prove to be true, I suppose, but overwhelmingly the best, most reliable measure that people of any age can take to reduce their risk of cardiac disease (and also hypertension) is to eat less salt/sodium. - See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk and the page http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Patricia Hewitt is accused of NHS trust cronyism
Hewitt is accused of NHS trust cronyism
Extracts:
"Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, faced accusations of cronyism last night as figures showed NHS trusts are being packed with Labour activists.
Seven out of 10 people appointed to the boards of hospital and primary care trusts who declared a political affiliation said they were Labour supporters. In contrast, only one in six were Tories and one in eight were Liberal Democrats, according to the independent NHS Appointments Commission.
The Tories said the figures exposed a continuing bias towards Labour supporters."
"Stephen O'Brien, the shadow health minister, said: "We need to take politics out of the NHS. Staff and patients deserve to know that decisions about access to care are driven by good intentions.""
Extracts:
"Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, faced accusations of cronyism last night as figures showed NHS trusts are being packed with Labour activists.
Seven out of 10 people appointed to the boards of hospital and primary care trusts who declared a political affiliation said they were Labour supporters. In contrast, only one in six were Tories and one in eight were Liberal Democrats, according to the independent NHS Appointments Commission.
The Tories said the figures exposed a continuing bias towards Labour supporters."
"Stephen O'Brien, the shadow health minister, said: "We need to take politics out of the NHS. Staff and patients deserve to know that decisions about access to care are driven by good intentions.""
Monday, 12 February 2007
'Biosecurity lapse' responsible for H5N1, admits David Miliband.
'Biosecurity lapse' responsible for H5N1
Extracts:
"A recent outbreak of the deadly strain of bird flu H5N1 was caused by poor biosecurity, the environment secretary has stated.
David Miliband said that it is likely that the outbreak is connected to a similar one in Hungary.
The deadly strain of the flu was found in a Bernard Mathews turkey farm in Suffolk, which then culled its entire population of the birds."
"The Food Standards Agency and the Health Protection Agency are currently working with Hungarian officials and with Bernard Mathews, Mr Miliband added."
Extracts:
"A recent outbreak of the deadly strain of bird flu H5N1 was caused by poor biosecurity, the environment secretary has stated.
David Miliband said that it is likely that the outbreak is connected to a similar one in Hungary.
The deadly strain of the flu was found in a Bernard Mathews turkey farm in Suffolk, which then culled its entire population of the birds."
"The Food Standards Agency and the Health Protection Agency are currently working with Hungarian officials and with Bernard Mathews, Mr Miliband added."
Elder abuse. - Failing British care homes are exploiting loophole - to be featured in a BBC Panorama documentary tonight.
Failing care homes are exploiting loophole
Extract:
"Failing care homes which have been ordered to shut down are able to defy the sector's watchdog by remaining in business following serious allegations of neglect.
In the wake of allegations of abuse, homes can exploit a loophole in the law, allowing them to continue to operate by entering a lengthy appeals process.
The latest concerns about standards of care for thousands of elderly residents come in advance of a BBC Panorama documentary which will broadcast allegations tonight of abuse and neglect at two homes in Yorkshire."
This is reminiscent of the tactics employed by medical negligence lawyers, who routinely delay the slow-grinding wheels of the Law in the hope of exhausting the stamina/strength and/or the funds of the patients, or the families of the patients, who have been harmed by the medical negligence. - These delaying tactics should not, of course, be allowed.
Extract:
"Failing care homes which have been ordered to shut down are able to defy the sector's watchdog by remaining in business following serious allegations of neglect.
In the wake of allegations of abuse, homes can exploit a loophole in the law, allowing them to continue to operate by entering a lengthy appeals process.
The latest concerns about standards of care for thousands of elderly residents come in advance of a BBC Panorama documentary which will broadcast allegations tonight of abuse and neglect at two homes in Yorkshire."
This is reminiscent of the tactics employed by medical negligence lawyers, who routinely delay the slow-grinding wheels of the Law in the hope of exhausting the stamina/strength and/or the funds of the patients, or the families of the patients, who have been harmed by the medical negligence. - These delaying tactics should not, of course, be allowed.
Sunday, 11 February 2007
Britain? UK? - Scandalous revelations about where our food comes from, what it contains and how safe it is. Bernard Matthews and the H5N1 virus?
Not made in Britain
Extracts:
"With suspicions that an outbreak of bird flu at Bernard Matthews's Suffolk farm is linked to an earlier instance of the deadly H5N1 virus among geese in Hungary, warning bells have begun ringing over the origins of the food we eat. The fact that a Hungarian slaughterhouse used by the Matthews company is less than 30 miles from the source of the outbreak in geese, and equally close to the abattoir where 13,000 of the birds were gassed last month, means it is now seen as a possible source of cross-contamination. While the company has repeatedly claimed that there is "no connection" between its Hungarian operation and bird flu in Suffolk, a link appears increasingly likely."
"The fact is that "food fraud" as it is known, is big business and stretches across a range of key products. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) believes that about 10 per cent of our weekly shopping may be "counterfeit". Many of the everyday goods that we buy - honey, orange juice, ham, butter and coffee - generate serious money for the food cheats. From printing misleading labels to diluting or modifying the food itself, it has become more commonplace than ever for suppliers to dupe consumers."
"Two months ago, an inspection by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) at one Worcestershire supermarket supplier raised suspicions that battery-farmed eggs were being packaged and labelled as the more expensive free-range option. With such a wide distribution network, these eggs could have found their way on to supermarket shelves all across the country."
"...a turkey can spend its entire life in another country and then be processed here and presented as British: that is clearly wrong, even if it isn't against the regulations. And it isn't just with poultry. In the pork industry there has been the problem of supermarkets bringing in legs of pork from Denmark, processing them here, and labelling them British."
"Almost all supermarket chicken ready meals use Thai chicken. For example, your local Morrisons supermarket's Chicken Tikka Masala, priced at £2.99, says "produced in the UK" on its label. Indeed it was, but the chicken comes from Thailand...Bulking up a chicken breast with water is, the [FSA]agency has discovered, an old supplier's trick. One of its recent surveys established that almost half the frozen chicken breasts examined had a meat content of between five and 26 per cent less than appeared on the packaging, and that some chicken breasts contained as much as 43 per cent added water."
Extracts:
"With suspicions that an outbreak of bird flu at Bernard Matthews's Suffolk farm is linked to an earlier instance of the deadly H5N1 virus among geese in Hungary, warning bells have begun ringing over the origins of the food we eat. The fact that a Hungarian slaughterhouse used by the Matthews company is less than 30 miles from the source of the outbreak in geese, and equally close to the abattoir where 13,000 of the birds were gassed last month, means it is now seen as a possible source of cross-contamination. While the company has repeatedly claimed that there is "no connection" between its Hungarian operation and bird flu in Suffolk, a link appears increasingly likely."
"The fact is that "food fraud" as it is known, is big business and stretches across a range of key products. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) believes that about 10 per cent of our weekly shopping may be "counterfeit". Many of the everyday goods that we buy - honey, orange juice, ham, butter and coffee - generate serious money for the food cheats. From printing misleading labels to diluting or modifying the food itself, it has become more commonplace than ever for suppliers to dupe consumers."
"Two months ago, an inspection by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) at one Worcestershire supermarket supplier raised suspicions that battery-farmed eggs were being packaged and labelled as the more expensive free-range option. With such a wide distribution network, these eggs could have found their way on to supermarket shelves all across the country."
"...a turkey can spend its entire life in another country and then be processed here and presented as British: that is clearly wrong, even if it isn't against the regulations. And it isn't just with poultry. In the pork industry there has been the problem of supermarkets bringing in legs of pork from Denmark, processing them here, and labelling them British."
"Almost all supermarket chicken ready meals use Thai chicken. For example, your local Morrisons supermarket's Chicken Tikka Masala, priced at £2.99, says "produced in the UK" on its label. Indeed it was, but the chicken comes from Thailand...Bulking up a chicken breast with water is, the [FSA]agency has discovered, an old supplier's trick. One of its recent surveys established that almost half the frozen chicken breasts examined had a meat content of between five and 26 per cent less than appeared on the packaging, and that some chicken breasts contained as much as 43 per cent added water."
Saturday, 10 February 2007
FACES - Short Story by Margaret Wilde
Faces
It was his face she would recall. His faces. Always.
She had opened the door to him that first time and her heart had lifted at what she saw: the smile, the slightly quizzical lifted eyebrow as he checked that this was the right place, the right person. They had talked for hours that had sped oh so swiftly.
The next face she remembered was his dejected look. She realised she had unintentionally caused it and swiftly remedied that and it never returned.
The first face – his kind, gentle, smiling face - was the most frequent one.
She was frightened when he became cross because his face changed utterly and he ended the conversation and went to his room. Later he drew himself to his full height and stood ramrod-straight so that she had to bend her head back to see the stern, unsmiling look as he made clear his feelings.
Another time his face crumpled up with tiredness and she wondered if he would start crying.
Yes, it was his face she would remember, rather than his final words. - “I am a cold person,” he said. “Don’t touch me! - You have driven me away.”
Margaret Wilde © 2007
It was his face she would recall. His faces. Always.
She had opened the door to him that first time and her heart had lifted at what she saw: the smile, the slightly quizzical lifted eyebrow as he checked that this was the right place, the right person. They had talked for hours that had sped oh so swiftly.
The next face she remembered was his dejected look. She realised she had unintentionally caused it and swiftly remedied that and it never returned.
The first face – his kind, gentle, smiling face - was the most frequent one.
She was frightened when he became cross because his face changed utterly and he ended the conversation and went to his room. Later he drew himself to his full height and stood ramrod-straight so that she had to bend her head back to see the stern, unsmiling look as he made clear his feelings.
Another time his face crumpled up with tiredness and she wondered if he would start crying.
Yes, it was his face she would remember, rather than his final words. - “I am a cold person,” he said. “Don’t touch me! - You have driven me away.”
Margaret Wilde © 2007
Proposed alcoholic drink label 'warning to pregnant mothers'
Drink label 'warning to pregnant mothers'
Extract
"Wine, beer and spirits should carry words and pictures to warn expectant mothers of the risk they run of damaging their unborn child even if they drink only occasionally, the National Organisation on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome said.
Campaigners said that drinking during pregnancy could leave children mentally impaired, cause serious physical disabilities and even heart problems.
Despite the risks, nearly two thirds of women (61 per cent) drink at some stage during their pregnancy, according to the charity.
It believes that there should be a "zero tolerance" approach towards drinking while pregnant because of the magnitude of the risks.
Its warning comes amid widespread concern about the growing culture of binge-drinking among many young women.
The organisation, which held its annual conference in London yesterday, said that drink labelling with warnings aimed at women was already available in America, France and Finland."
Pregnant mothers should also be advised to reduce their salt intake to a minimum, both for the sake of their own health and that of the baby. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html
Extract
"Wine, beer and spirits should carry words and pictures to warn expectant mothers of the risk they run of damaging their unborn child even if they drink only occasionally, the National Organisation on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome said.
Campaigners said that drinking during pregnancy could leave children mentally impaired, cause serious physical disabilities and even heart problems.
Despite the risks, nearly two thirds of women (61 per cent) drink at some stage during their pregnancy, according to the charity.
It believes that there should be a "zero tolerance" approach towards drinking while pregnant because of the magnitude of the risks.
Its warning comes amid widespread concern about the growing culture of binge-drinking among many young women.
The organisation, which held its annual conference in London yesterday, said that drink labelling with warnings aimed at women was already available in America, France and Finland."
Pregnant mothers should also be advised to reduce their salt intake to a minimum, both for the sake of their own health and that of the baby. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/pregnant_mothers.html
Friday, 9 February 2007
Bed closures healthy sign for NHS, says Hewitt. - You couldn't make it up, could you?...(o:
Bed closures healthy sign for NHS, says Hewitt
Extract:
"Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, was criticised yesterday for claiming bed closures were a sign of "success" as new figures showed NHS trusts will end the year more than £1 billion in the red.
The scale of the health service's financial crisis emerged as Miss Hewitt delivered a presentation to the Cabinet on NHS "reconfiguration" — plans which will lead to the closure of dozens of maternity units, casualty departments and community hospitals."
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extract:
"Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, was criticised yesterday for claiming bed closures were a sign of "success" as new figures showed NHS trusts will end the year more than £1 billion in the red.
The scale of the health service's financial crisis emerged as Miss Hewitt delivered a presentation to the Cabinet on NHS "reconfiguration" — plans which will lead to the closure of dozens of maternity units, casualty departments and community hospitals."
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Diet-mad Britain has become a nation of self-obsessed, yo-yo dieters who dream of transforming their lives in only seven days...
Diet-mad Britain has become a nation of self-obsessed, yo-yo dieters who dream of transforming their lives in only seven days
Extract:
"Britain has become a nation of self-obsessed, yo-yo dieters who dream of transforming their lives in only seven days with the help of a hypnotist, according to a survey of the reading public.
Public library statistics show that it has taken only 10 years for improving titles such as Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time to be overtaken by television spin-offs and diet compendiums.
Books such as You Are What You Eat, by Gillian McKeith, the strident TV nutritionist, and the hypnotist Paul McKenna's Change Your Life in Seven Days, now top the non-fiction list."
They should read the truth in my blog. - See Do you believe that obesity is caused by over-eating - by consuming too many calories? - I invite you to consider the evidence and think again!
Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - It is caused/initiated by fluid retention. - Dieting is potentially harmful.
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extract:
"Britain has become a nation of self-obsessed, yo-yo dieters who dream of transforming their lives in only seven days with the help of a hypnotist, according to a survey of the reading public.
Public library statistics show that it has taken only 10 years for improving titles such as Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time to be overtaken by television spin-offs and diet compendiums.
Books such as You Are What You Eat, by Gillian McKeith, the strident TV nutritionist, and the hypnotist Paul McKenna's Change Your Life in Seven Days, now top the non-fiction list."
They should read the truth in my blog. - See Do you believe that obesity is caused by over-eating - by consuming too many calories? - I invite you to consider the evidence and think again!
Obesity is not caused by eating too much. - It is caused/initiated by fluid retention. - Dieting is potentially harmful.
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Thursday, 8 February 2007
Sleep medication - zolpidem - linked to bizarre behaviour (New Scientist report) - further incidences of adverse effects from taking prescribed drugs.
Sleep medication linked to bizarre behaviour
Extract:
"New evidence has linked a commonly prescribed sleep medication with bizarre behaviours, including a case in which a woman painted her front door in her sleep.
UK and Australian health agencies have released information about 240 cases of odd occurrences, including sleepwalking, amnesia and hallucinations among people taking the drug zolpidem. "
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
Extract:
"New evidence has linked a commonly prescribed sleep medication with bizarre behaviours, including a case in which a woman painted her front door in her sleep.
UK and Australian health agencies have released information about 240 cases of odd occurrences, including sleepwalking, amnesia and hallucinations among people taking the drug zolpidem. "
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)
FOOTNOTES - Short Story by Margaret Wilde
FOOTNOTES
The driver parked a lorry on her foot. She hadn’t been standing long. She was just, you might say, collecting her thoughts, when the lorry was suddenly there, on her foot. Not the whole foot, let us say at once in the cause of exactitude, but a good deal of it, including all the toes.
She felt pain of course – my goodness yes – but the initial sensation was mixed with astonishment at the unexpectedness of what had happened and with the academic registering of the crunch, crunch of the bones under the weight and motion of the lorry.
Her mouth opened so wide in an involuntary eldritch scream that it felt as if the top of her head had blown off.
Perhaps the lorry driver was rather deaf, and maybe he suffered from visual impairment at times: at any rate he failed to notice her or her screams. He appeared to satisfy himself that the lorry was not an obstruction to other motorists, secured his vehicle and walked away, whistling, with his hands in his pockets.
Her screams were succeeded by tears. She had dropped her shopping bag and handbag and she desperately wanted to lie down as she felt so weak, partly with the pain, partly from the loss of blood and partly at the sight of her blood – running away down a convenient grating. But the very slightest movement increased the agonising discomfort. The problem was temporarily solved by her fainting. When she recovered consciousness she was lying down and felt no desire to get up.
She called for assistance.
“Sorry, dear. It’s nothing to do with me. I don’t live round ‘ere. I’ve only come on a cheap day return.”
A policeman arrived.
“No, Madam, I cannot move the lorry. I do not have the keys. I do not have the owner’s permission and I do not have a Heavy Goods Vehicle licence. Anyway it isn’t causing an obstruction or anything. You shouldn’t have allowed him to drive over your foot. I certainly wouldn’t allow anyone to park on my feet – they’re less important to a woman, of course.”
“He may be back soon. Probably just gone for his lunch. Have you got a library book with you? You could be reading it to pass the time while you’re waiting for him and it’ll take you mind off your foot.”
“Talk sense! I don’t want to take my mind off my foot. I want someone to take the lorry off my foot! Can’t you call the fire-brigade?”
“Oh I can’t call them, Madam. It isn’t a fire. And it might prevent them from dealing with a sudden emergency.”
“But this is an emergency!”
“Now let’s get this into proportion, Madam. It’s only a foot. It’s not like people possibly burning to death in a blazing building, is it? You must see that.”
“GET THE LORRY OFF MY FOOT!”
“Don’t you think you’re being melodramatic, Madam? You’re obsessed with lorries and feet, aren’t you? We did a bit of psychology on our course. I bet you’re a foot fetishist! Go on, admit it!”
“Imbecile! I never normally think of lorries or feet. I can’t think of anything else now that the one is parked on the other.”
He fetched a doctor.
“Give me morphine and get me to hospital, doctor!” Her voice was strident.
“Don’t try to tell me my job, young lady. I make my own diagnoses, thank you. You are clearly hysterical. Here’s a prescription for tranquillisers. Take three a day and you’ll soon see your problems in a different light.”
She died an hour later.
The police officer was reprimanded for his failure to secure an arrest – of the bleeding, that is.
Margaret Wilde © 1985
The driver parked a lorry on her foot. She hadn’t been standing long. She was just, you might say, collecting her thoughts, when the lorry was suddenly there, on her foot. Not the whole foot, let us say at once in the cause of exactitude, but a good deal of it, including all the toes.
She felt pain of course – my goodness yes – but the initial sensation was mixed with astonishment at the unexpectedness of what had happened and with the academic registering of the crunch, crunch of the bones under the weight and motion of the lorry.
Her mouth opened so wide in an involuntary eldritch scream that it felt as if the top of her head had blown off.
Perhaps the lorry driver was rather deaf, and maybe he suffered from visual impairment at times: at any rate he failed to notice her or her screams. He appeared to satisfy himself that the lorry was not an obstruction to other motorists, secured his vehicle and walked away, whistling, with his hands in his pockets.
Her screams were succeeded by tears. She had dropped her shopping bag and handbag and she desperately wanted to lie down as she felt so weak, partly with the pain, partly from the loss of blood and partly at the sight of her blood – running away down a convenient grating. But the very slightest movement increased the agonising discomfort. The problem was temporarily solved by her fainting. When she recovered consciousness she was lying down and felt no desire to get up.
She called for assistance.
“Sorry, dear. It’s nothing to do with me. I don’t live round ‘ere. I’ve only come on a cheap day return.”
A policeman arrived.
“No, Madam, I cannot move the lorry. I do not have the keys. I do not have the owner’s permission and I do not have a Heavy Goods Vehicle licence. Anyway it isn’t causing an obstruction or anything. You shouldn’t have allowed him to drive over your foot. I certainly wouldn’t allow anyone to park on my feet – they’re less important to a woman, of course.”
“He may be back soon. Probably just gone for his lunch. Have you got a library book with you? You could be reading it to pass the time while you’re waiting for him and it’ll take you mind off your foot.”
“Talk sense! I don’t want to take my mind off my foot. I want someone to take the lorry off my foot! Can’t you call the fire-brigade?”
“Oh I can’t call them, Madam. It isn’t a fire. And it might prevent them from dealing with a sudden emergency.”
“But this is an emergency!”
“Now let’s get this into proportion, Madam. It’s only a foot. It’s not like people possibly burning to death in a blazing building, is it? You must see that.”
“GET THE LORRY OFF MY FOOT!”
“Don’t you think you’re being melodramatic, Madam? You’re obsessed with lorries and feet, aren’t you? We did a bit of psychology on our course. I bet you’re a foot fetishist! Go on, admit it!”
“Imbecile! I never normally think of lorries or feet. I can’t think of anything else now that the one is parked on the other.”
He fetched a doctor.
“Give me morphine and get me to hospital, doctor!” Her voice was strident.
“Don’t try to tell me my job, young lady. I make my own diagnoses, thank you. You are clearly hysterical. Here’s a prescription for tranquillisers. Take three a day and you’ll soon see your problems in a different light.”
She died an hour later.
The police officer was reprimanded for his failure to secure an arrest – of the bleeding, that is.
Margaret Wilde © 1985
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