Laterlife Healthwise - 31          
Oct 2002

Fighting Flu

If you are over 65 and living in the UK, you should have received a notice inviting you to have a flu jab. If you haven't received the notice, check out the situation with the GP. In an average year, between 4000 and 5000 deaths occur through influenza, mainly in the older age group. It's a sad fact of life that age brings deterioration to the immune system. In the US, many doctors recommend that even at the age of 55 the risk is too great to ignore.
An annual flu jab provides about 80% protection against flu. If you are unlucky enough to get it despite the vaccine, the attack is usually much less severe. The virus mutates every year, so the annual top-up is necessary.  Those regularly vaccinated build up some resistance to new mutations. So hurry on down to the surgery, or rather give them a ring to make an appointment now.

Men and sex

Healthwise has reported in the past on new treatments for erectile dysfunction, nowadays generally referred to as ED, which somehow sounds much better.

Three recent trials with new treatments show encouraging results.  Tadalafil is taken by mouth and provides a period of 36 hours in which to choose the right time for sex.  Vardenafil is especially suitable for people with high blood pressure, diabetes and hyperlipidaemia, conditions which increase likelihood of ED. And Alprox-TD is a cream treatment for mild to severe ED, now undergoing studies in various countries. 

UK launch of tadalafil and vardenafil is planned for early 2003. Alprox-TD cream is to be submitted to the FDA in the US in 2003. Keep up to date on sexual and other problems related to men’s health by visiting www.malehealth.co.uk.

Five a day

There’s this little problem about those 5 fruit and veg portions we’re told to eat every day. Just what is a portion? The answer’s not that difficult actually: one apple, pear, banana, orange, half a grapefruit, couple of plums, small bowl of soft fruit, for instance. A glass of fruit juice counts as a serving, but remember you don’t get the health-giving fibre, so stick to one serving a day. Half a tablespoon of dried fruit counts too, but it doesn’t have vitamin C, so likewise.

Veg can be two tablespoons of peas, three of broccoli, a cereal bowl of salad, couple of medium tomatoes.  Curiously, the potato is not included, because of its high starch content, though new potatoes contain vitamin C.

A few things you might want to know about feet

It’s the shoes, of course, that make women suffer more foot problems than men. Stilettos worn when young leave their mark in laterlife with bunions, corns and callouses.

But age itself is not the problem.   Anyone can get heel cracks, blisters and bunions through ill-fitting shoes that put pressure in awkward places.  It’s true, however, that some people have more sensitive feet than others.

Long slender feet with long toes get more damage through badly fitting shoes than short, broad feet. The way we walk, our posture also affect feet.   In hot weather, some feet sweat more than others.

Preventative measures to keep feet sweet include daily wash, thorough drying, a moisturising cream. Remove hard skin with a pumice stone, trim nails regularly. See the range of Compeed plasters and creams available at chemists. (Or look on their website: www.compeed.com.

Sensitive feet would appreciate a browse through www.cosyfeet.com, a website that offers shoes in extra-wide fittings, with soft uppers, padded linings and a wide range of sizes.

Fast healing for cuts and grazes

1.      Stop the bleeding: apply cotton wool or gauze with firm pressure. If blood seeps through don’t remove the covering, but add more on top. Don’t keep checking the blood clot, give it time to seal itself.

2.      Clean the wound: a solution of salt dissolved in boiling water is fine, 2 teaspoons to a litre. Allow to cool before using and keep hands and dressings meticulously clean.

3.      See your doctor if a wound is deep or stays open, or is on a joint or area where healing may be difficult.  Stitches may be needed.

4.      Coping with stitches: you can wash the area after 2 -3 days. Remove dirt and any encrusted matter. Dry well.  A wound that shows a thin yellow fluid needs a covering. Ointments are better than creams or lotions to help reduce size of the scar.

5.      Reducing scar tissue:  silicone sheeting (from chemists) may help, once a cut is closed. Keeping a scar moist for a long period is essential.  Vitamin E oil  may help.

6.      Eat a balanced diet to aid healing. Plenty of protein in the form of meat, fish, eggs, cheese, beans, peas, lentils, plus vitamin supplements:  especially vitamins A, B, C and E, plus zinc.

Eat yourself slim

Based on the recipes and menus that will feature in Rosemary Conley's television series, of the same name, this book has suggestions for those who want to enjoy fine food and control their weight, or lose some weight at the same time.

The natural beauty & bath book

This book gives you 70 recipes for beauty and bath products that you can make yourself, using ingredients you will find at your local grocery and health food shops. Pamper yourself from head to toe with these natural formulas:

6 weeks to super health

Whether you are looking to lose weight, get healthy or get out of a rut, this eminently readable, well-designed, informative and authoritative guide is guaranteed to have a permanent effect on your lifestyle.

Tai Chi

This book explains: what Tai Chi is; how to use Tai Chi for health and healing; the best way to train in Tai Chi. This book is an ideal guide for anyone who wants to understand the fundamental ideas and practices of this ancient martial art.

Stop smoking

   
This new edition of the bestseller aims to help the reader use the "Easy way" method to eliminate the psychological reasons for smoking, handle withdrawal symptoms, avoid temptation situations, and stay a non-smoker! 

Maximise your memory

This work provides detailed instructions, illustrations and sample exercises that show the reader how to build a system of personalized frameworks for storing and recalling information on demand.  

Painful Progress

Patients may wait years for an accurate diagnosis or effective treatment for chronic pain. There are many different reasons for the source of consistent  pain, and indeed doctors break down pain into two broad categories. 

One is called ‘nociceptive  pain’, originating from tissue damage somewhere in or on the body. We can put a finger on the areas where the pain is felt, we can detect the cause, and often the pain will respond to standard analgesics or a cream or spray on the specific area. When we feel this kind of pain, the natural response is to avoid any movement that makes it worse and to treat the damaged area with very tender loving care.

The other category, ‘neuropathic pain’ is much trickier. Causes may be surgery, shingles, herpes, diabetes, even alcoholism. The pain is often difficult to locate, and may be out of all proportion to the original cause - pressure of clothing or bedlinen, for instance, might trigger unbearable pain on the skin. 

Traditional painkillers often have no effect on neuropathic pain, there’s no sign of injury, and yet the person experiences chronic and often intense discomfort. When this happens, it’s more than a GP can deal with, and a referral to a pain specialist is the best approach.

There are a number of organisations that can help too. Here’s the laterlife list:

THE CHRONIC PAIN DIRECTORY  

The Neuropathy Trust  

The Neuropathy Trust was established to provide support and information to people affected by Peripheral Neuropathy and Neuropathic Pain. The Trust encourages and participates in, national and international awareness, education, research and information exchange.  

Website: 
www.neurocentre.com

Telephone: 01270 611 828

Email: info@neuropathy-trust.org  

The Pain Society  

The Pain Society is the representative body for all professionals involved in the management and understanding of pain in the United Kingdom. The Society aims to achieve the highest possible standards in the management of pain, through education, training and research in all fields of pain and by facilitating the exchange of information and experience.

Website: 
www.britishpainsociety.org

Telephone: 020 7631 8870  

Visit our Product section too: Health and Beauty in laterlife where we have selected a small range of Health stores where you can buy products online. Between them they cover the spectrum of traditional and alternative health products and therapies that you might be interested in.

For more information on Health and Health related matters visit our Health section

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