It's so HARD to find a SOFT bed

It's so HARD to find a SOFT bed these days! - or a fairly soft bed, or a medium soft bed, or a slightly soft bed or anything even remotely approaching what could be described as a soft bed...)o: - Well that's what I've found anyway.

 

It used not to be difficult to find a soft bed. I had a pretty soft bed when I was a girl. And when, in my twenties, I went to stay at my cousin's for a week or two, I slept on a divinely soft bed. I floated on clouds...(o: - That was a feather bed.

 

But somewhere along the years, the belief that a bed 'should' be hard began to be taken up. We were told that firm, i.e. hard as a rock, beds were good for our backs. (Not my back, that's for sure.) These beds of uncomfort were sometimes referred to as 'orthopaedic' beds and were often 'endorsed by' medics well-rewarded for these cryptic endorsements.

 

For a brief period there was a resurgence of somewhat softer beds, among them latex foam mattresses and water beds. And divan beds could be bought with spring bases. - We Softies could rest more easily for a while. - But then it became the thing to have drawers under the mattress. - Goodbye, sprung bases! - And people found that water beds were not the panacea they had been led to believe. - And I harbour the ghost of a suspicion that the EU couldn't bear the thought of anyone sleeping comfortably in their beds and so brought out regulations that militated against softness in beds. - Maybe it was something to do with fire safety...(o: - Maybe we shouldn't be comfy in bed in case there's a fire and we just can't bear to flee to safety 'cos our beds are so lovely and comfy...(o:

 

These days, lying in their teeth, salespeople and their marketing brochures will extol the 'virtues' of memory foam beds. They will claim that memory foam beds are soft. Even as they speak and even as you read the brochures, the noses of the sales and marketing staff are, like Pinocchio's nose, growing because they are telling porkies. Any day now we will hear of a salesman whose nose has grown so large that the birds of the air are flying to nest in its branches...

 

Believe me; if you want a bed that is hard, a bed that is firm, a bed that resembles cast-iron, then a memory foam bed will be just perfect for you. - But if you want a soft bed, well, they don't make 'em any more...

'Afternoon Tea' doesn't HAVE to be a Carbfest.

 'Afternoon Tea' doesn't HAVE to be a Carbfest. - I was invited out for 'Afternoon Tea' one day last week by friends who know that because of iatrogenically-induced food sensitivities I have to be very careful what I eat. -  So K reassured me beforehand that she had looked on the internet for suggestions of 'paleo' snacks. Very thoughtful of her. - I'll bet you're wondering what was on the table and what I had to eat and drink? - Well what I ate consisted of delicious, dainty, crisp-sized omelettes (organic free range egg) onto which K spooned tiny helpings of chopped ripe avocado, and I also ate some Yeo Valley natural unsweetened full fat yoghurt. There were some tiny pieces of chopped apple too, but I didn't have those. And I drank tap water and 2 cups of tea. - A bit of an unusual afternoon tea, perhaps, but much healthier than salt-laden/carb-laden ham sandwiches and sweet scones spread with jam.

David L. Katz Recommends Eradicating 'Kid' Food

David L. Katz Recommends Eradicating 'Kid' Food and I must say I'm with him there. If you read his article, I reckon you'll agree with him too.

If you are pregnant or hoping to become pregnant, do be aware that taking anti-depressants may harm the unborn baby.

If you are pregnant or hoping to become pregnant, do be aware that taking anti-depressants may harm the unborn baby. Read this BBC News report. You may like to read further about anti-depressants on my webpage here, and some further advice for pregnant mothers here.

If your skin is red and you're not a tomato

If your skin is red and you're not a tomato or a beetroot, it's very likely that you are sensitive to salt. I say this because salt sensitivity tends to cause skin-thinning and swollen veins. Then because of the thin skin the veins are effectively nearer to the skin's surface, and their red/purple/blue colour makes the skin appear flushed. 

 

I suggest that you try cutting down on salt and salty food. If you take up my suggestion, your high colour will be reduced and you will feel ever so much better! You will lose some excess weight/fluid retention, lower your blood pressure, reduce your risk of stroke, heart attack, cancer and diabetes, increase your energy and pep up your mental alertness. - "Bring it on!" I hear you cry! - And here's an added inducement to desalinate your diet: read "The Fat Man with the Red Face."

The beautiful china side plate is trying to tempt me.

 It was a present long ago, the beautiful bone china plate. The pattern is called Haddon Hall and it is made by Minton. Could there be a prettier plate, a prettier pattern? - I doubt it.

 

I took it from the cupboard some weeks ago, thinking to have its beauty out and about and not hiding in a cupboard, thinking to sweeten the days with its flower heads and leaves and curly whirly stems and sober elegant green rim trapped in Merry-Go-Round under the smooth, tactile glaze. - But it is taking revenge for its long imprisonment.

 

Whenever it catches my eye it sends its message: "I suggest - nay - I demand a scone or two! Some jam, milady! Some clotted cream! A pretty butter knife! - A Haddon Hall plate needs to be fed and cosseted."

 

Poor plate! I am resisting your blandishments...

Are you troubled by Brain Fog? Too 'foggy' and tired really even to think what to do?

Are you troubled by Brain Fog? Wish you could counter it but don't know what to do? Too 'foggy' and tired really even to try to think about what to do? Well I offer some simple  suggestions.

First off I'd recommend cutting down on salt and salty food. People who try this are commonly amazed at how much better they feel, and how much brighter, happier and more energetic. Even in just a few days.

Secondly, cut down on sugar and sugary food, and on bread/biscuits/wheat. These are notorious for causing fluctuations in blood sugar levels, which can lead on type 2 diabetes, with its attendant health problems of overweight, tiredness, vision damage/possible blindness, cognitive decline, impaired mobility, depression and many more, including premature death.

Improve your nutrition. - You're tired and you can't think straight and that makes processed ready meals/convenience foods a big temptation. Try hard to overcome this temptation because this sort of food is usually high in salt and sugar, the baddies I have already indicted, and very low in nutrients that your brain and body need. They are nutrient-poor and baddie-rich. Instead of taste, they offer addictive saltiness and sweetness, with the added harm of artificial colours, artificial toxic garbage like MSG (monosodium glutamate), synthetic transfats to lengthen 'shelf life', etc. (Note: if an ingredient lengthens the shelf life of a food product, it's a pound to a penny that it shortens the longevity of the person who eats the product!)

Vitamins that are especially helpful for brain fog are Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D. - If you click on the Vitamin D label beneath this blogpost you can read some of my earlier blogposts that go into more detail about this very important vitamin. See also this related page with more info about Vitamin D and other essential nutrients.) Similarly you can read further about Vitamin B12 by clicking on its label beneath this post.

Avoid taking anti-depressants, the ultimate in pharmaceutical junk! Tricyclics and any other drugs that have anticholinergic properties cause memory loss, cognitive impairment/decline and can lead eventually to dementia. You've only got one brain and one body. Don't damage them with pharmaceutical junk.

As you gradually improve your health in the ways - or at least some of the ways - I have mentioned - you will hopefully soon have the energy to do a bit more and take a bit more exercise than you can manage at present. Exercise will in turn add to the virtuous circle and reduce your brain fog and ill-health even further.

And here's a more authoritative and much more detailed webpage about clearing brain fog for when you can cope with reading more demanding reading material than my little effort.

You are wondering whether you would lose weight if you cut down on or give up the amitriptyline you take?

You are wondering whether you would lose weight if you cut down on or give up the amitriptyline you take? - Well the answer is that if you have gained weight as a side-effect of taking amitriptyline, you will almost certainly lose weight when you cut it down or gradually give it up. - But depending on how long you have been taking it and how high the dose, you may not be able to lose all the weight gained. - On the other hand, if you seriously reduce your intake of salt and salty food, it is actually possible to return to your previous weight or even lower! - Read about how amitriptyline causes weight gain, and about how to lose weight by eating less salt/sodium.

You've not got a cold or any similar infection but you're troubled by frequent sneezing/mucus problems like post-nasal drip or a runny nose?

So - you've not got a cold or any similar infection but you're troubled by frequent sneezing/mucus problems like post-nasal drip or a runny nose? - Well these problems can be caused by sensitivity to salt (which can have resulted from taking prescribed meds), and if that is the case you may like to try cutting down on salt and salty food. The problems can also be caused by eating sugary food, so you could try eating less of that. Whether your problems are salty or sugary, cutting down on processed foods is likely to improve matters. And you will feel so much better!

More grist to my (salt) mill!

Yes! - More grist to my (salt) mill - my message about the many, many health benefits of eating less salt and salty food' - See this web article, published today: Is Salt Causing Inflammation and Autoimmune Disease?

If you are about to start taking amitriptyline then be prepared for weight gain, bloating, excessive thirst, painful breasts, swollen face, constipation, memory impairment and other problems.

If you are about to start taking amitriptyline then be prepared for weight gain, bloating, excessive thirst, painful breasts, swollen face, sodium retention, fluid retention, constipation, memory impairment and other problems. You can read here about the adverse effects of taking amitriptyline. The adverse effects are not temporary. You can mitigate the severity of these side-effects by seriously cutting down on salt and salty food.

HRT and water retention: my personal experience

You can read about my personal experience of HRT causing massive water retention and, consequently, morbid obesity, in my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection. Many other prescription drugs cause similar problems. - See amitriptyline and other antidepressants and prescribed steroids and other drugs. If you have these problems, you may like to consider cutting down on salt and salty food.

Have you found that saline drips make you thirsty and make your hands and feet swell?

Have you found that saline drips make you extremely thirsty and make your hands and feet swell? Then you've had the same experience that I've had. It may well mean that you too are sensitive to salt, and that you too would greatly benefit by restricting your intake of salt and salty food. And if you ever have to have a saline drip in the future, it could be a good idea for you and your medical team to consider using a drip that contains potassium as well as sodium, instead of the usual saline drip.

OFT alleges that GSK breached competition law to delay rivals' generic copies of Seroxat

The OFT alleges that GSK breached competition law to delay rivals' generic copies of Seroxat, one of its most profitable drugs. See BBC News report. "GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been accused of market "abuse" by the consumer watchdog, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The OFT alleges that the pharmaceutical giant paid rivals to delay the release their own versions of GSK's Seroxat treatment. Alpharma, Generics UK and Norton Healthcare all received money not to enter the market with their copies of Seroxat, it said."

 

We must not be surprised at GlaxoSmithKline being accused of nefarious activities. You can read here of several more breaches of the Law by GSK with regard to the antidepressant, Seroxat, and other pharmaceutical junk that GSK manufactures. Some further examples of its criminality can be found on this page.

Hands up! - Who thinks pain is caused by a shortage of aspirin in the body? - Or by lack of antidepressants?

Hands up! - Who thinks pain is caused by a shortage of aspirin in the body? - Or by lack of antidepressants? - Well I hope that none of you has your hand up. I hope that when you think about it you agree with me that pain is your body's signal to your brain that there is something wrong with your body. You know the sort of thing: you step on something sharp when you are walking around barefoot and you feel pain. If your body hadn't sent the message to your brain you might be unaware that there was something wrong and might continue walking with the wound exposed to possible infection. - And I hope you agree with me that the way to deal with the pain is to deal with what is causing the pain, i.e. move your foot away from the sharp stone, clean up the wound and apply a sticking plaster or bandage, perhaps, to keep it clean and prevent infection. You need to deal not with the pain, but with the cause of the pain. And the cause of pain is in your body, not in your mind.

Now if you happen to think that the way to deal with pain is to 'kill' it, with aspirin or another pain-killer, then I wonder if you are someone employed in the pharmaceutical industry perhaps? or a shareholder in a drug company? - Or one of their dupes? - And if you think that pain is caused by 'depression', are you a medical student or doctor who has been conditioned/brainwashed to believe such nonsense by attending lectures and seminars funded by drug manufacturers who need medics to prescribe drugs in order to swell their profits? - Or are you a dentist who believes that a woman who has agonising toothache is only 'claiming' to be in agony because that belief allows you, the dentist, a good way of covering up when you or your colleagues have failed by incompetence or negligence to diagnose an acute abscess and you lack the moral courage and honesty to admit your fault/mistake? And are you more afraid of criticism and humiliation than you are afraid of leaving a fellow human being in needless, prolonged agony which appropriate dental treatment would remedy or ameliorate...

Remember, pain is a signal from the body to the brain. A signal to you that there is something wrong with your body. It is one of your body's defence mechanisms. It is not a signal to someone other than you that you are 'depressed'. That does not make evolutionary sense. - It is a very foolish idea. Do not entertain it.

Is salt fattening? - Yes, salt is fattening for some people.

Is salt fattening? - Yes, it is fattening for some people. - Salt is fattening for people who suffer from excess fluid retention. You can read here about the groups of people who are vulnerable to salt, and whose health and weight would be improved if they were to cut down on salt and salty food. They would also feel much better in themselves.

World Down's Syndrome Day and Lucy Harris

World Down's Syndrome Day is observed on March 21st. This post is a few days past that date, but never mind. Lucy Harris is a five-year-old who was born with the condition, and her father Terry Harris is a photographer. The Harris family have compiled a photographic exhibition to mark World Down's Syndrome Day and it has opened in Peterborough. I invite you to watch the videoclip on this BBC news webpage and share it with your friends to help more people to understand Down's Syndrome better.

The simplest and safest way to reduce premenstrual tension/syndrome

The simplest and safest way to reduce premenstrual tension/syndrome is to to cut down on salt and salty food. I invite you to read this webpage.

You can easily and safely reduce fat retention without using drugs, without reducing fat intake and without using liposuction

You can easily and safely reduce fat retention without using drugs, without reducing fat intake and without using liposuction. Read here about simple dietary measures (NOT dieting!) you can take to reduce fat retention and excess weight.

Were your varicose veins caused by the drugs you were prescribed?

Were your varicose veins caused by the drugs you were prescribed? - Mine were. - You can read about my experience here, where you will also be able to read about how to reduce similar harm done to your veins and to other systems of your body.