WHAT ARE YOU DOING TODAY?
YOUR PICS OF SCOTLAND
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21443744
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21375092
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21281815
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21078297
Working After Cancer (Emma Leach)
A year ago I returned to work following treatment for cancer. I was now one of the 560,000 people in the British workforce living with cancer. You might think that work would be the last thing on my mind, but when your life has been shattered by a cancer diagnosis, stability in other aspects of life becomes paramount and work can play a pivotal role in shaping your routine, relationships and identity. The diagnosis was a shock; I was in my late thirties, I lived a healthy lifestyle. People respond to such news in different ways. I found myself heading into work to tell my line manager and a few close colleagues; talking to people was a step in helping the news to sink in. They were very supportive and I was told to take the time needed for whatever treatment would be required. I was absent from work for the ensuing eight months whilst I underwent further tests, surgery and chemotherapy. I lived a very different kind of life during this period, one dictated largely by chemotherapy cycles rather than a work schedule. All kinds of thoughts ran through my mind during these months: was I going to be able to continue working? Did I want to? If I did, would I be able to work in the way I had before or would I be somehow debilitated? What would be the perception of me in the workplace? I decided it was important to return to work: to do something constructive with my time, to contribute to something - after all, my mind and my skills hadn't been affected by the illness. The ongoing contact I had had with colleagues during the months away made the step of returning to work much easier. I came back into the work routine very gradually, progressing over the course of the year from two hours, two days a week, to almost full-time, and from a project-based role back to a more operational one. This slow and steady phased return has allowed my mind and my body to acclimatize at a realistic pace and being back as I am now in a more normal capacity helps me to feel that I am moving on with my life. I am defined not just by my cancer experience but return home at the end of a day having achieved something positive. I suspect that perceptions of the disease also play a role, and that some of this perception remains founded on an increasingly outmoded view of cancer. For while it remains a serious illness for which hard-hitting treatment remains imperative, it is also the case that the prospects for those with cancer continue to improve and survival rates continue to grow.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/emma-leach/working-after-cancer_b_2506391.html?utm_hp_ref=uk&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=b0d80
A year ago I returned to work following treatment for cancer. I was now one of the 560,000 people in the British workforce living with cancer. You might think that work would be the last thing on my mind, but when your life has been shattered by a cancer diagnosis, stability in other aspects of life becomes paramount and work can play a pivotal role in shaping your routine, relationships and identity. The diagnosis was a shock; I was in my late thirties, I lived a healthy lifestyle. People respond to such news in different ways. I found myself heading into work to tell my line manager and a few close colleagues; talking to people was a step in helping the news to sink in. They were very supportive and I was told to take the time needed for whatever treatment would be required. I was absent from work for the ensuing eight months whilst I underwent further tests, surgery and chemotherapy. I lived a very different kind of life during this period, one dictated largely by chemotherapy cycles rather than a work schedule. All kinds of thoughts ran through my mind during these months: was I going to be able to continue working? Did I want to? If I did, would I be able to work in the way I had before or would I be somehow debilitated? What would be the perception of me in the workplace? I decided it was important to return to work: to do something constructive with my time, to contribute to something - after all, my mind and my skills hadn't been affected by the illness. The ongoing contact I had had with colleagues during the months away made the step of returning to work much easier. I came back into the work routine very gradually, progressing over the course of the year from two hours, two days a week, to almost full-time, and from a project-based role back to a more operational one. This slow and steady phased return has allowed my mind and my body to acclimatize at a realistic pace and being back as I am now in a more normal capacity helps me to feel that I am moving on with my life. I am defined not just by my cancer experience but return home at the end of a day having achieved something positive. I suspect that perceptions of the disease also play a role, and that some of this perception remains founded on an increasingly outmoded view of cancer. For while it remains a serious illness for which hard-hitting treatment remains imperative, it is also the case that the prospects for those with cancer continue to improve and survival rates continue to grow.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/emma-leach/working-after-cancer_b_2506391.html?utm_hp_ref=uk&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=b0d80
http://www.cancerbeglammed.com/
GREAT NEWS FOR SKINNY GUYS
Research involving women in their fertile phase has revealed what women really want – and its good news for skinny guys. Heterosexual women in the fertile phases of their menstrual cycles were asked by researchers at the University of Pretoria to look at photographs of men of varying body-mass in their underwear and rate them for attractiveness. The really surprising finding was that, as one headline put it: "Ladies prefer thin over macho" thinness turns out to be a better indicator of sexual attractiveness. The study provides scientific underpinning for Mick Jagger’s century of sexual success. "You can never ever be too rich or too thin" and if thin is what women want then those who want them had better get used to supplying it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/30/research-women-thin-men
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/30/research-women-thin-men
The Slippery Stane - (The Big Slippy Stone at everybody's door)
H. Nimmo, 1835
Caa canny through this weary world
And pick your steps wi' care
And never dae your neebour wrang
But aye dae what is fair.
Men faa and never rise again
Wha never fell afore
There's aye a muckle slippery stane
At ilka body's door.
An' gin your neebour chance to fa'
Ye maunna let him lie
But gie a haun to help him up
As ye are passin' by.
Your neebour's case may be your ain
Though ye hae wealth in store
There's aye a muckle slippery stane
At ilka body's door.
There's slippery stanes where'er ye gang
By cottage, hut, or hall
An' ye maun pick your steps wi' care
Lest ower them ye may fall.
For emperors and kings hae faun
Forby there's many a score
There's aye a muckle slippery stane
At ilka body's door.
Woman reveals how seeing the funny side of depression helped her beat it
HELEN McNALLEN admits she saw the symptoms but had ignored them until she felt like she wanted to die but her book shows that humour can be the perfect coping mechanism.
IN the past, mental health issues saw people ostracised, discriminated against and even imprisoned. Even now they can cost relationships, work, education, hope and the chance to live an ordinary life that others take for granted. Despite campaigns to raise awareness and reduce stigma, many sufferers still feel they have to hide mental health issues, even though this can make their illness worse. Helen McNallen, 44, is a driving force in raising awareness. She has written a book, Depression Can Be Fun, its title inspired by elements of black comedy she experienced in her battle with the illness. Looking back, she knew something was wrong for a long time before finally admitting it to herself. She said: “On the face of it, there shouldn’t have been anything troubling me. I was 32, happily married and enjoying my job as a trader in the City but it was my husband who first noticed that things weren’t quite right. “I said I was fine and just busy, but things got worse and worse and I had a really strong sense of not being able to cope and of even wanting to die.” It took a year before her husband persuaded her to go for help. It was the fear of what colleagues might think that was stopping her acting. She said: “I isolated myself and kept friends and family at arms’length. I wouldn’t answer the phone or I’d leave messages when I knew people wouldn’t be in. “It was worse at work because I was scared if people knew I was suffering from depression they would judge me as weak and I would lose their respect and my job. I worked in a male-dominated environment and I couldn’t admit to not being able to cope.”Her GP diagnosed her with physical and mental exhaustion and signed her off work for two weeks, which made no difference. She went back and was signed off again, this time diagnosed as suffering from depression. Helen said: “I went into a clinic but asked my
doctor to sign me off with a virus, as I didn’t want my work to know. I went back to work, where I collapsed with a breakdown and ended up in the Priory. That was the start of a very long journey to recovery. It took six years and
four stays in hospital, including being sectioned. “The turnaround came when I woke up after a suicide attempt and found myself in a terrible hospital and I knew I had to get the right help. I changed my life completely and have written a book and a launched a website – www.depressioncanbefun.com – as well as doing work for the NHS, making people aware of mental health issues. “This condition cost me my marriage, the possibility of
having a family and nearly my life, but I’m grateful that I’m still here.”
Bob Bogle
The name of her book might seem ironic, but Bob Bogle, 43, can understand the startling title. He was diagnosed with hypomanic bipolar disorder and put on medication. He said:“Sometimes humour is the only way to cope. I first had depression in my teens, which culminated in a suicide attempt at 18. I then went on to have a successful career in academia and was always quite exuberant and outgoing, which people find difficult to equate with mental health issues. My father died and I had problems with redundancy and ended up seriously ill for a few years, until friends intervened and I went to my GP and was given a psychiatrist, community psychiatric nurse and two mental health professionals.” Six years on, Bob works for the Scottish Huntington’s Association in
Glasgow and describes himself as being in sustained recovery. He said: “It helps that young people are more open about mental health issues and given a broader education. “What helped me was talking to my daughter, who is 14 now. I was desperate for her to see me as just dad and I told her a long story about my brain needing
happy juice and she said,‘Dad, you can use the word depression. I’m 10 years of age’. If her generation are growing up accepting mental health issues then, hopefully, the rest of us will do the same.”
See
www.depressioncanbefun.com and www.seemescotland.org
Self-tracking: the people turning their bodies into medical labs
As well as helping to track finances and organise social lives, smartphones are encouraging some people to monitor their health and wellbeing. By recording and logging data about their lifestyles, these
'self-trackers' aim to better understand problems ranging from snoring to depression.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/24/self-tracking-health-wellbeing-smartphones?intcmp=239
Your health as you get older
Our society is living longer, and we need to keep ourselves in good health physically and mentally as we get older. We've information on why our bodies age, what happens when our immune system fails, and practical advice and support on issues that affect the elderly.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/support/elderly/
My bucket list: deciding what to do before I die
When Kate Granger was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she set about trying to live life to the full, recreating cherished romantic moments and childhood memories. In August 2011, aged just 29, I was diagnosed with a rare aggressive terminal form of sarcoma and spent five months undergoing palliative chemotherapy. Being a doctor myself, specializing in elderly medicine at a busy West Yorkshire hospital, I was fully aware my prognosis was dismal. We were looking at months if I was lucky. However, instead of being gloomy about the situation I have set about trying to live my life to the full. A huge chunk of this positive attitude came from writing my 'bucket list'. The Bucket List is a film starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman who both played terminally ill cancer patients. It's about how they achieved things they never thought possible in their dying days.
I began to compile my own bucket list in hospital soon after I was diagnosed last year. I wanted an attainable list of things that would bring my family and me some happiness, creating fond memories that have nothing to do with my illness. It would have been all too easy to be completely unrealistic and say that I wanted to fly off to faraway exotic climes or jump out of a plane, but I was always very clear that my list would be filled with
achievable activities. I decided that I would like to travel a little. I wanted to experience some proper luxury so I decided that I would like to travel a little. Trips to Edinburgh, London, Paris and Barcelona were booked, as well as breaks to the east coast, the Lake District and Anglesey. I wanted to experience some proper luxury so in Edinburgh we stayed at the Scotsman, a gorgeous boutique hotel I had always wanted to visit, and in London we stayed at the Savoy. My husband Chris and I felt completely out of place having afternoon tea at the Savoy
and had to try hard not to drop anything! We also had dinner at Claridge's, where I was invited into the kitchen to see behind the scenes.
Romance is a big part of the list. I'm lucky to have a very strong, happy marriage. Chris and I decided we would recreate our first ever date in Leeds. We also decided to get married again. I loved our original wedding day so much it seemed like a perfect idea to renew our wedding vows and to have a big party for all the people who
have supported us over recent months. This was an incredibly special and very emotional day, one I will never forget. It makes me smile just thinking about it. We're soon to revisit Bretton CountryPark, where Chris proposed to me on New Year's Eve 2002. Some list items were smaller and seemingly more inconsequential to other people. Reminiscence was a big part of this and I wanted to recreate some of my childhood memories: a visit to the zoo, a steam-train ride, a cricket match, a school reunion, eating fish and chips at the seaside, walking in the
countryside and cooking bacon on a camp stove in the moors.
I've never done anything really rebellious in my life and that had to change, so I decided I would get a tattoo; nothing garish, just something small and pretty. I wanted to pick up some new skills, so I decided to learn Italian and to try to perfect my pastry making – something that has always challenged me, despite being a reasonable cook. Poor Chris has ended up eating many of my disasters in the process but is always very complimentary! I also challenged myself to raise a substantial amount of money for a small local charity before I die. Some other things have made it on to the list quite by chance. The biggest of these is a flight in a glider, which fulfilled my desire to do something dare devilish. I'd never have contemplated doing this before illness, as I'm absolutely petrified of heights. However, the opportunity arose and I didn't really think twice. I was very apprehensive as I was strapped into my parachute and given the emergency briefing, but it was absolutely amazing and so peaceful soaring in the skies above North Yorkshire.
The bucket list has motivated us to spend our free time productively, and has given both myself and Chris a fantastically positive focus. I intend to keep making additions to the list as long as I am well enough to ensure I enjoy every last second of what remains of my life.
• If you want to read more about Kate's story,
her books The Other Side and The Bright Side can be ordered from her
website.
All proceeds from sales of the books are being donated to the Yorkshire Cancer Centre. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/24/bucket-list-what-to-do-before-i-die
Exercise Helps Cancer Patients, But Too Few Oncologists Suggest It
Numerous studies have shown the powerful effect that exercise can have on cancer care and recovery.
For patients who have gone through breast or colon cancer treatment,
regular exercise has been found to reduce recurrence of the disease by up to 50
percent. But many cancer patients are reluctant to exercise, and few discuss it
with their oncologists, according to a Mayo Clinic study published in the
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. "As doctors, we often tell
patients that exercise is important, but to this point, nobody had studied what
patients know about exercise, how they feel about it and what tends to get in
the way," says lead author Andrea Cheville, M.D. The study is part of a series
of investigations looking at exercise habits among cancer patients. Researchers
found that patients who exercised regularly before their diagnosis were more
likely to exercise than those who had not.
Many patients considered daily
activities, such as gardening, sufficient exercise. "There was a real sense of
'What I do every day, that's my exercise,'" says Dr. Cheville, noting that most
patients didn't realize daily activities tend to require minimal effort. "Most
were not aware that inactivity can contribute to weakening of the body and
greater vulnerability to problems, including symptoms of cancer." In addition,
researchers found that patients took exercise advice most seriously when it came
directly from their oncologists, but none of those studied had discussed it with
them. "Generally, patients are not being given concrete advice about exercise to
help them maintain functionality and to improve their outcomes," Exercise can
improve patients' mobility, enable them to enjoy activities and keep them from
becoming isolated in their homes. It can contribute to overall feelings of
strength and physical safety, ease cancer-related fatigue and improve
sleep. The researchers plan to investigate how to make the message about
exercise meaningful to patients to optimize symptom relief and enhance recovery.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/249636.php
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/fitness/active_fitness.shtml
The Truth About Exercise
Like many, Michael Mosley wants to get fitter and healthier but can't face hours on
the treadmill or trips to the gym. Help may be at hand. He uncovers the
surprising new research which suggests many of us could benefit from just three
minutes of high intensity exercise a week. He discovers the hidden power of
simple activities like walking and fidgeting, and finds out why some of us don't
respond to exercise at all. Using himself as a guinea pig, Michael uncovers the
surprising new research about exercise that has the power to make us all live
longer and healthier lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyQSzx0ofto&feature=related
NHS Scotland offers 'bad news' recordings to cancer patients
Doctors in Edinburgh are offering people a recording of what may be the worst time of their life - the hospital appointment at which they are told how serious their cancer is. It is part of a trial to help patients understand the complex information they are given at their consultation. "We know that in any given conversation you might remember 10% of the information," said consultant neurological surgeon, Alan McNeill, from Edinburgh's Western General Hospital. "Giving patients a CD recording of the consultation allows them to go home and listen again and again, as often as they need, until they've got all the information straight in their own minds."
Continue reading the main story
THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO CANCER PREVENTION
These experts spend their lives fighting cancer. They have heard every tip, sensible or not, for how to avoid it. They tell Oliver Laughland how their lifestyles have changed as a result.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/07/insiders-guide-to-cancer-prevention?CMP=twt_gu
A Day in the Life of an Oncologist
Following a busy morning, I grabbed a quick lunch and, as usual, ate quickly at my desk while completing transcriptions and catching up on e-mail before diving into the afternoon. My first patient of the afternoon was a 75 year-old gentleman with prostate cancer who has done very well on combined androgen blockade for many years.
http://cancergrace.org/coping-with-cancer/2011/03/27/day-in-cancer-clinic-pt-2/
LUNG CANCER SCREENING TRIAL FOR SCOTLAND
Ten thousand smokers in Scotland are to take part in a trial screening programme for lung cancer. The trial will involve people who have smoked at least 20 a day for more than 20 years, who are most at risk. They will have a simple blood test that detects cancer at its earliest stages of development. The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, Sir Harry Burns, said currently, most people were not diagnosed until the disease had reached an advanced stage. Half of the 10,000 people will get a blood test which can identify cancer up to five years before it would be detected in other ways, and the other half will not be screened.
Scotland has one of the highest rates of lung cancer in the world. The screening programme will begin before the end of the year and the first results are expected in 2014.
Continue reading the main story
Investigation into the UK's £5.5bn private healthcare market.
The thin edge of the wedge. Reveals the major flaw of Tory plans in their future NHS privitization plans.
Following a public consultation in January, the OFT said that it suspected competition in private healthcare was being restricted. Among the concerns raised by the OFT are a lack of information about the pricing and quality of services that would enable patients to compare healthcare providers, the small number of healthcare providers and insurers nationally, which limits choice and competition. Practices that make it harder for new competitors to break into the market, such as loyalty payments to consultants. "For too long, the cost of private healthcare has been rising to unsustainable levels, in large part because of a lack of competition and efficiency in the private hospital market and among consultants in private practice”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17611284
Danish Health Care Fast Track Program
Denmark's health care system is state run, meaning health care services are funded by taxes with no out-of-pocket costs to patients. Many similar health care systems in western counties are plagued by long waiting times for cancer surgery and radiation therapy, which can lead to significant tumour progression. A national fast track system reduced the waiting time between a patient's initial meeting with a health care provider and their first treatment by four weeks. In 2008, a new fast track program was implemented, where cancer patients and potential cancer patients were given the highest priority in the Danish health care system. Also, telephone hotlines, reserved slots in ENT and radiology, faster pathology reporting, and twice weekly multidisciplinary tumour boards and clinics were implemented and paper referrals eliminated to curb the increasing wait times.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240845.php
Air pollution in Britain: state-sanctioned mass poisoning
Despite the devastating costs in terms of lives and damage to the economy, UK governments have failed to tackle air pollution. Successive governments have found that the simplest way to end urban poverty is to encourage poor people to live near congested roads. Apart from war and fags, nothing is more certain to shorten human life than to make people breathe a daily dose of poisons, especially sooty particles known as PM10s and nitrogen oxides that largely come from traffic and factories. The minute particles of partially burned diesel fuel and tyres travel deep into lungs and the gases trigger respiratory diseases. If you already have heart disease or asthma, then just living near a main road can be a death sentence. In Britain, the environment audit committee has just produced a shocking report showing that 200,000 people can expect to have their lives shortened by as much as two years and everyone else have theirs curtailed by seven months for just breathing. In London alone, air pollution has been linked to nearly one in five deaths a year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/14/air-pollution-state-sanctioned-poisoning
Brain scans of happy people help explain their 'rose-tinted' outlook
The brains of people with a happy disposition seem to respond more strongly to positive things in their environment. The brains of happy people are tuned to notice and enjoy the positives in life that may pass others by, according to research that may explain why some folk seem to go about wearing rose-tinted spectacles. Brain scans of volunteers who scored high on a standard test for happiness showed activity in regions that reinforced their happy dispositions and set them up for a "cycle of positivity", scientists said. The positive outlook on life was not a reflection of naivety or ignorance of the world's threats and dangers, they said, but an enhanced response to positive events and the opportunities around them. Psychologists at Ohio State University uncovered the effect while scanning the brains of 38 volunteers as they looked at a series of pictures designed to evoke positive, negative or neutral feelings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/nov/16/brain-scans-happy-rose-tinted
The Patients Association
Launches its report “We’ve been listening, have you been learning?” which details sixteen accounts of poor hospital care heard by its Helpline in the last year. The report contains some shocking accounts of care received by patients in hospitals across the country, focusing on four key fundamentals of care-communication, access to pain relief, assistance with toileting and help with eating and drinking. The accounts show that patients continue to be failed in these key areas.
http://www.patients-association.com/Default.aspx?tabid=81&Id=23
One in seven nursing homes breaking the law on feeding patients
One in seven nursing homes is breaching the law by failing to ensure elderly residents have enough food and drink to prevent them becoming malnourished and dehydrated, inspectors have found.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8830003/One-in-seven-nursing-homes-breaking-the-law-on-feeding-patients.html
NHS wards ought to be family friendly
Spanish hospitals are full of patients' relatives, but in Britain, we see family care as ending at the door.
Three times in the last 12 years, I've seen what happens in Spanish hospitals when my grandchildren are born. What's that at the side near my daughter's bed? It's a bunk. Her husband isn't merely there for the birth; he's on the spot night and day, bringing this, fetching that, always on hand while she recovers. That's normal, totally expected. Active paternity service, not paternity leave. And now my Spanish grandson has broken his arm rather badly in two places. He's in pain. And, in quite another hospital, the bunk is there again. His mother spends two nights with him, comforting, reassuring, nipping out to buy food, a stabilising presence in an unsettling world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/02/nhs-family-friendly-wards
ASK AN EXPERT
by Dr West
When do we tend to see recurrences of lung cancer recur in patients who have had surgery? The answer is “Usually pretty early”. I tell my patients that the risk is “front-loaded”, meaning that, if they’re going to happen at all, we typically see recurrences occur in the first couple of years after curative therapy for lung cancer. That said, I haven’t seen a lot of data that actually illustrates the point, but there was a presentation at ASCO this past year that addressed how well recurrences/disease-free survival predict overall survival after surgery for resectable NSCLC. Not surprisingly, there was a very good correlation, though it wasn’t perfect, (patients can die from side effects of the treatment or from unrelated but competing medical problems).
http://blog.lungevity.org/category/ask-the-experts/
H. Nimmo, 1835
Caa canny through this weary world
And pick your steps wi' care
And never dae your neebour wrang
But aye dae what is fair.
Men faa and never rise again
Wha never fell afore
There's aye a muckle slippery stane
At ilka body's door.
An' gin your neebour chance to fa'
Ye maunna let him lie
But gie a haun to help him up
As ye are passin' by.
Your neebour's case may be your ain
Though ye hae wealth in store
There's aye a muckle slippery stane
At ilka body's door.
There's slippery stanes where'er ye gang
By cottage, hut, or hall
An' ye maun pick your steps wi' care
Lest ower them ye may fall.
For emperors and kings hae faun
Forby there's many a score
There's aye a muckle slippery stane
At ilka body's door.
Woman reveals how seeing the funny side of depression helped her beat it
HELEN McNALLEN admits she saw the symptoms but had ignored them until she felt like she wanted to die but her book shows that humour can be the perfect coping mechanism.
IN the past, mental health issues saw people ostracised, discriminated against and even imprisoned. Even now they can cost relationships, work, education, hope and the chance to live an ordinary life that others take for granted. Despite campaigns to raise awareness and reduce stigma, many sufferers still feel they have to hide mental health issues, even though this can make their illness worse. Helen McNallen, 44, is a driving force in raising awareness. She has written a book, Depression Can Be Fun, its title inspired by elements of black comedy she experienced in her battle with the illness. Looking back, she knew something was wrong for a long time before finally admitting it to herself. She said: “On the face of it, there shouldn’t have been anything troubling me. I was 32, happily married and enjoying my job as a trader in the City but it was my husband who first noticed that things weren’t quite right. “I said I was fine and just busy, but things got worse and worse and I had a really strong sense of not being able to cope and of even wanting to die.” It took a year before her husband persuaded her to go for help. It was the fear of what colleagues might think that was stopping her acting. She said: “I isolated myself and kept friends and family at arms’length. I wouldn’t answer the phone or I’d leave messages when I knew people wouldn’t be in. “It was worse at work because I was scared if people knew I was suffering from depression they would judge me as weak and I would lose their respect and my job. I worked in a male-dominated environment and I couldn’t admit to not being able to cope.”Her GP diagnosed her with physical and mental exhaustion and signed her off work for two weeks, which made no difference. She went back and was signed off again, this time diagnosed as suffering from depression. Helen said: “I went into a clinic but asked my
doctor to sign me off with a virus, as I didn’t want my work to know. I went back to work, where I collapsed with a breakdown and ended up in the Priory. That was the start of a very long journey to recovery. It took six years and
four stays in hospital, including being sectioned. “The turnaround came when I woke up after a suicide attempt and found myself in a terrible hospital and I knew I had to get the right help. I changed my life completely and have written a book and a launched a website – www.depressioncanbefun.com – as well as doing work for the NHS, making people aware of mental health issues. “This condition cost me my marriage, the possibility of
having a family and nearly my life, but I’m grateful that I’m still here.”
Bob Bogle
The name of her book might seem ironic, but Bob Bogle, 43, can understand the startling title. He was diagnosed with hypomanic bipolar disorder and put on medication. He said:“Sometimes humour is the only way to cope. I first had depression in my teens, which culminated in a suicide attempt at 18. I then went on to have a successful career in academia and was always quite exuberant and outgoing, which people find difficult to equate with mental health issues. My father died and I had problems with redundancy and ended up seriously ill for a few years, until friends intervened and I went to my GP and was given a psychiatrist, community psychiatric nurse and two mental health professionals.” Six years on, Bob works for the Scottish Huntington’s Association in
Glasgow and describes himself as being in sustained recovery. He said: “It helps that young people are more open about mental health issues and given a broader education. “What helped me was talking to my daughter, who is 14 now. I was desperate for her to see me as just dad and I told her a long story about my brain needing
happy juice and she said,‘Dad, you can use the word depression. I’m 10 years of age’. If her generation are growing up accepting mental health issues then, hopefully, the rest of us will do the same.”
See
www.depressioncanbefun.com and www.seemescotland.org
Self-tracking: the people turning their bodies into medical labs
As well as helping to track finances and organise social lives, smartphones are encouraging some people to monitor their health and wellbeing. By recording and logging data about their lifestyles, these
'self-trackers' aim to better understand problems ranging from snoring to depression.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/24/self-tracking-health-wellbeing-smartphones?intcmp=239
Your health as you get older
Our society is living longer, and we need to keep ourselves in good health physically and mentally as we get older. We've information on why our bodies age, what happens when our immune system fails, and practical advice and support on issues that affect the elderly.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/support/elderly/
My bucket list: deciding what to do before I die
When Kate Granger was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she set about trying to live life to the full, recreating cherished romantic moments and childhood memories. In August 2011, aged just 29, I was diagnosed with a rare aggressive terminal form of sarcoma and spent five months undergoing palliative chemotherapy. Being a doctor myself, specializing in elderly medicine at a busy West Yorkshire hospital, I was fully aware my prognosis was dismal. We were looking at months if I was lucky. However, instead of being gloomy about the situation I have set about trying to live my life to the full. A huge chunk of this positive attitude came from writing my 'bucket list'. The Bucket List is a film starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman who both played terminally ill cancer patients. It's about how they achieved things they never thought possible in their dying days.
I began to compile my own bucket list in hospital soon after I was diagnosed last year. I wanted an attainable list of things that would bring my family and me some happiness, creating fond memories that have nothing to do with my illness. It would have been all too easy to be completely unrealistic and say that I wanted to fly off to faraway exotic climes or jump out of a plane, but I was always very clear that my list would be filled with
achievable activities. I decided that I would like to travel a little. I wanted to experience some proper luxury so I decided that I would like to travel a little. Trips to Edinburgh, London, Paris and Barcelona were booked, as well as breaks to the east coast, the Lake District and Anglesey. I wanted to experience some proper luxury so in Edinburgh we stayed at the Scotsman, a gorgeous boutique hotel I had always wanted to visit, and in London we stayed at the Savoy. My husband Chris and I felt completely out of place having afternoon tea at the Savoy
and had to try hard not to drop anything! We also had dinner at Claridge's, where I was invited into the kitchen to see behind the scenes.
Romance is a big part of the list. I'm lucky to have a very strong, happy marriage. Chris and I decided we would recreate our first ever date in Leeds. We also decided to get married again. I loved our original wedding day so much it seemed like a perfect idea to renew our wedding vows and to have a big party for all the people who
have supported us over recent months. This was an incredibly special and very emotional day, one I will never forget. It makes me smile just thinking about it. We're soon to revisit Bretton CountryPark, where Chris proposed to me on New Year's Eve 2002. Some list items were smaller and seemingly more inconsequential to other people. Reminiscence was a big part of this and I wanted to recreate some of my childhood memories: a visit to the zoo, a steam-train ride, a cricket match, a school reunion, eating fish and chips at the seaside, walking in the
countryside and cooking bacon on a camp stove in the moors.
I've never done anything really rebellious in my life and that had to change, so I decided I would get a tattoo; nothing garish, just something small and pretty. I wanted to pick up some new skills, so I decided to learn Italian and to try to perfect my pastry making – something that has always challenged me, despite being a reasonable cook. Poor Chris has ended up eating many of my disasters in the process but is always very complimentary! I also challenged myself to raise a substantial amount of money for a small local charity before I die. Some other things have made it on to the list quite by chance. The biggest of these is a flight in a glider, which fulfilled my desire to do something dare devilish. I'd never have contemplated doing this before illness, as I'm absolutely petrified of heights. However, the opportunity arose and I didn't really think twice. I was very apprehensive as I was strapped into my parachute and given the emergency briefing, but it was absolutely amazing and so peaceful soaring in the skies above North Yorkshire.
The bucket list has motivated us to spend our free time productively, and has given both myself and Chris a fantastically positive focus. I intend to keep making additions to the list as long as I am well enough to ensure I enjoy every last second of what remains of my life.
• If you want to read more about Kate's story,
her books The Other Side and The Bright Side can be ordered from her
website.
All proceeds from sales of the books are being donated to the Yorkshire Cancer Centre. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/24/bucket-list-what-to-do-before-i-die
Exercise Helps Cancer Patients, But Too Few Oncologists Suggest It
Numerous studies have shown the powerful effect that exercise can have on cancer care and recovery.
For patients who have gone through breast or colon cancer treatment,
regular exercise has been found to reduce recurrence of the disease by up to 50
percent. But many cancer patients are reluctant to exercise, and few discuss it
with their oncologists, according to a Mayo Clinic study published in the
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. "As doctors, we often tell
patients that exercise is important, but to this point, nobody had studied what
patients know about exercise, how they feel about it and what tends to get in
the way," says lead author Andrea Cheville, M.D. The study is part of a series
of investigations looking at exercise habits among cancer patients. Researchers
found that patients who exercised regularly before their diagnosis were more
likely to exercise than those who had not.
Many patients considered daily
activities, such as gardening, sufficient exercise. "There was a real sense of
'What I do every day, that's my exercise,'" says Dr. Cheville, noting that most
patients didn't realize daily activities tend to require minimal effort. "Most
were not aware that inactivity can contribute to weakening of the body and
greater vulnerability to problems, including symptoms of cancer." In addition,
researchers found that patients took exercise advice most seriously when it came
directly from their oncologists, but none of those studied had discussed it with
them. "Generally, patients are not being given concrete advice about exercise to
help them maintain functionality and to improve their outcomes," Exercise can
improve patients' mobility, enable them to enjoy activities and keep them from
becoming isolated in their homes. It can contribute to overall feelings of
strength and physical safety, ease cancer-related fatigue and improve
sleep. The researchers plan to investigate how to make the message about
exercise meaningful to patients to optimize symptom relief and enhance recovery.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/249636.php
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/treatments/healthy_living/fitness/active_fitness.shtml
The Truth About Exercise
Like many, Michael Mosley wants to get fitter and healthier but can't face hours on
the treadmill or trips to the gym. Help may be at hand. He uncovers the
surprising new research which suggests many of us could benefit from just three
minutes of high intensity exercise a week. He discovers the hidden power of
simple activities like walking and fidgeting, and finds out why some of us don't
respond to exercise at all. Using himself as a guinea pig, Michael uncovers the
surprising new research about exercise that has the power to make us all live
longer and healthier lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyQSzx0ofto&feature=related
NHS Scotland offers 'bad news' recordings to cancer patients
Doctors in Edinburgh are offering people a recording of what may be the worst time of their life - the hospital appointment at which they are told how serious their cancer is. It is part of a trial to help patients understand the complex information they are given at their consultation. "We know that in any given conversation you might remember 10% of the information," said consultant neurological surgeon, Alan McNeill, from Edinburgh's Western General Hospital. "Giving patients a CD recording of the consultation allows them to go home and listen again and again, as often as they need, until they've got all the information straight in their own minds."
Continue reading the main story
THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO CANCER PREVENTION
These experts spend their lives fighting cancer. They have heard every tip, sensible or not, for how to avoid it. They tell Oliver Laughland how their lifestyles have changed as a result.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/07/insiders-guide-to-cancer-prevention?CMP=twt_gu
A Day in the Life of an Oncologist
Following a busy morning, I grabbed a quick lunch and, as usual, ate quickly at my desk while completing transcriptions and catching up on e-mail before diving into the afternoon. My first patient of the afternoon was a 75 year-old gentleman with prostate cancer who has done very well on combined androgen blockade for many years.
http://cancergrace.org/coping-with-cancer/2011/03/27/day-in-cancer-clinic-pt-2/
LUNG CANCER SCREENING TRIAL FOR SCOTLAND
Ten thousand smokers in Scotland are to take part in a trial screening programme for lung cancer. The trial will involve people who have smoked at least 20 a day for more than 20 years, who are most at risk. They will have a simple blood test that detects cancer at its earliest stages of development. The Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, Sir Harry Burns, said currently, most people were not diagnosed until the disease had reached an advanced stage. Half of the 10,000 people will get a blood test which can identify cancer up to five years before it would be detected in other ways, and the other half will not be screened.
Scotland has one of the highest rates of lung cancer in the world. The screening programme will begin before the end of the year and the first results are expected in 2014.
Continue reading the main story
Investigation into the UK's £5.5bn private healthcare market.
The thin edge of the wedge. Reveals the major flaw of Tory plans in their future NHS privitization plans.
Following a public consultation in January, the OFT said that it suspected competition in private healthcare was being restricted. Among the concerns raised by the OFT are a lack of information about the pricing and quality of services that would enable patients to compare healthcare providers, the small number of healthcare providers and insurers nationally, which limits choice and competition. Practices that make it harder for new competitors to break into the market, such as loyalty payments to consultants. "For too long, the cost of private healthcare has been rising to unsustainable levels, in large part because of a lack of competition and efficiency in the private hospital market and among consultants in private practice”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17611284
Danish Health Care Fast Track Program
Denmark's health care system is state run, meaning health care services are funded by taxes with no out-of-pocket costs to patients. Many similar health care systems in western counties are plagued by long waiting times for cancer surgery and radiation therapy, which can lead to significant tumour progression. A national fast track system reduced the waiting time between a patient's initial meeting with a health care provider and their first treatment by four weeks. In 2008, a new fast track program was implemented, where cancer patients and potential cancer patients were given the highest priority in the Danish health care system. Also, telephone hotlines, reserved slots in ENT and radiology, faster pathology reporting, and twice weekly multidisciplinary tumour boards and clinics were implemented and paper referrals eliminated to curb the increasing wait times.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240845.php
Air pollution in Britain: state-sanctioned mass poisoning
Despite the devastating costs in terms of lives and damage to the economy, UK governments have failed to tackle air pollution. Successive governments have found that the simplest way to end urban poverty is to encourage poor people to live near congested roads. Apart from war and fags, nothing is more certain to shorten human life than to make people breathe a daily dose of poisons, especially sooty particles known as PM10s and nitrogen oxides that largely come from traffic and factories. The minute particles of partially burned diesel fuel and tyres travel deep into lungs and the gases trigger respiratory diseases. If you already have heart disease or asthma, then just living near a main road can be a death sentence. In Britain, the environment audit committee has just produced a shocking report showing that 200,000 people can expect to have their lives shortened by as much as two years and everyone else have theirs curtailed by seven months for just breathing. In London alone, air pollution has been linked to nearly one in five deaths a year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/14/air-pollution-state-sanctioned-poisoning
Brain scans of happy people help explain their 'rose-tinted' outlook
The brains of people with a happy disposition seem to respond more strongly to positive things in their environment. The brains of happy people are tuned to notice and enjoy the positives in life that may pass others by, according to research that may explain why some folk seem to go about wearing rose-tinted spectacles. Brain scans of volunteers who scored high on a standard test for happiness showed activity in regions that reinforced their happy dispositions and set them up for a "cycle of positivity", scientists said. The positive outlook on life was not a reflection of naivety or ignorance of the world's threats and dangers, they said, but an enhanced response to positive events and the opportunities around them. Psychologists at Ohio State University uncovered the effect while scanning the brains of 38 volunteers as they looked at a series of pictures designed to evoke positive, negative or neutral feelings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/nov/16/brain-scans-happy-rose-tinted
The Patients Association
Launches its report “We’ve been listening, have you been learning?” which details sixteen accounts of poor hospital care heard by its Helpline in the last year. The report contains some shocking accounts of care received by patients in hospitals across the country, focusing on four key fundamentals of care-communication, access to pain relief, assistance with toileting and help with eating and drinking. The accounts show that patients continue to be failed in these key areas.
http://www.patients-association.com/Default.aspx?tabid=81&Id=23
One in seven nursing homes breaking the law on feeding patients
One in seven nursing homes is breaching the law by failing to ensure elderly residents have enough food and drink to prevent them becoming malnourished and dehydrated, inspectors have found.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8830003/One-in-seven-nursing-homes-breaking-the-law-on-feeding-patients.html
NHS wards ought to be family friendly
Spanish hospitals are full of patients' relatives, but in Britain, we see family care as ending at the door.
Three times in the last 12 years, I've seen what happens in Spanish hospitals when my grandchildren are born. What's that at the side near my daughter's bed? It's a bunk. Her husband isn't merely there for the birth; he's on the spot night and day, bringing this, fetching that, always on hand while she recovers. That's normal, totally expected. Active paternity service, not paternity leave. And now my Spanish grandson has broken his arm rather badly in two places. He's in pain. And, in quite another hospital, the bunk is there again. His mother spends two nights with him, comforting, reassuring, nipping out to buy food, a stabilising presence in an unsettling world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/02/nhs-family-friendly-wards
ASK AN EXPERT
by Dr West
When do we tend to see recurrences of lung cancer recur in patients who have had surgery? The answer is “Usually pretty early”. I tell my patients that the risk is “front-loaded”, meaning that, if they’re going to happen at all, we typically see recurrences occur in the first couple of years after curative therapy for lung cancer. That said, I haven’t seen a lot of data that actually illustrates the point, but there was a presentation at ASCO this past year that addressed how well recurrences/disease-free survival predict overall survival after surgery for resectable NSCLC. Not surprisingly, there was a very good correlation, though it wasn’t perfect, (patients can die from side effects of the treatment or from unrelated but competing medical problems).
http://blog.lungevity.org/category/ask-the-experts/