Month: April 2015

Healing Inflammatory Bowel Disease

By Stephen Gammack, Fitness Instructor, Somerset,UK.

Back in 2000 as a fairly healthy – or so I thought – 22 year old, I started to develop a problem. When I went to the toilet I would notice blood in my stool. I did what most adult males would do and I ignored it, hoping it would go away. Later that year it became more of an issue as it was affecting my ability to play football – now that was a real problem, so I went to the doctor.   I got tested and was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease – possibly Crohn’s Disease – at this stage in a mild form, but who knew how it might develop.

To deal with the symptoms I was put on medication, but in doing so I had a resolve, a determination within me. I accepted the need for the medication as this condition wasn’t going to clear on its own, but I also felt certain that I could regain my health in the long term through the choices I made, mainly with regards to changing my diet and managing my feelings of stress and anxiety. Continue reading “Healing Inflammatory Bowel Disease” →

Gallstones – more to it than the five F’s?

By Eunice Minford, MA FRCS Ed, Consultant General Surgeon, N.Ireland

Gallstones are quite common (25-40% of the population have them) and they can cause a variety of medical conditions. However, it is only the minority of patients (10-20%) with gallstones that develop symptoms requiring removal of the gallbladder – many people live with gallstones without even knowing they have them and without any symptoms. Some conditions caused by gallstones, like pancreatitis, can be quite serious and even life threatening. Much more commonly, patients present with pain in the right side or across the top of their abdomen, often associated with nausea and vomiting. Some people notice it is brought on by eating fatty foods in particular, as the gallbladder is involved in digestion of fat – it stores bile and contracts to release bile into the gut when we eat a fatty meal. The pain can occur when a gallstone gets lodged, preventing the passage of bile from the gallbladder into the bile duct and gut.

Being a surgeon myself, it was not difficult to self-diagnose gallstone disease when I first developed symptoms about 10 years ago. I had been out for a meal and had eaten too much, along with having a particularly rich chocolate dessert. It tasted yummy at the time, but several hours later when I was in agony my body was saying something else! I eased the pain and the nausea by making myself sick – off-loading what was clearly an over-loaded system.

Over the next couple of years I had intermittent attacks, often precipitated by eating something that was too fatty.

Continue reading “Gallstones – more to it than the five F’s?” →

Why are patients called patients?

by Dr Anne Malatt, Ophthalmologist, MBBS, MS, FRANZCO, FRACS, Australia

Why are patients called patients?

Most practitioners call their customers clients, but doctors call theirs patients.

Why is that?

Is it because they spend so much time waiting patiently for care – that waiting to see a doctor or waiting for a hospital procedure is an exercise in learning to be patient?

………… Continue reading “Why are patients called patients?” →

Vaccination – why do we react?

by Judith Andras, health practitioner and store manager, Germany. 

I have been vaccinated recently (for tetanus/diphtheria/polio/pertussis). And I would like to share here about adverse reactions, as there is so much discussion about this.

Initially I felt resistant to vaccination and I avoided the subject, see my previous blog about this: Vaccination – more than just self-protection.

I chose to vaccinate because I felt that it was the responsible decision to make, for the whole community.

After I had the injection, my arm was hurting and releasing a lot. What it felt like was something very old had been stored there and was now being released. Continue reading “Vaccination – why do we react?” →