Just in case you were wondering what happened to me, another 6 days later and I am still coughing! The antibiotics have certainly taken the edge off the illness by putting a halt to the secondary bacterial infection that was starting, and took the pain away that was developing in my chest, but I was left I think with a lingering case of viral bronchitis that wasn't going anywhere fast.
Realising that modern medicine didn't have much to offer me I looked into some natural remedies and then went out and bough a big bag of licorice and a bottle of cinnamon leaf oil. Not sure how much effect the licorice has, but I have been surprised at the almost instant relief to my symptoms and also lift to my mood that I experienced from just a drop of cinnamon leaf oil (not to be placed on the skin or taken orally, but just inhaled, and not in large quantities either, just one drop seems very strong).
The day after (which was yesterday) I was feeling much better, but then in the afternoon and evening, and well into the night (2am) I did some more heavy duty coughing as whatever must have been lodged deep in my lungs from the now shifting illness started to make a move up.
Not nice to detail, but for medical purposes I will tell you that it was yellow and incredibly sticky stuff like I have never experienced before in my life. Even though I was feeling much better in myself, it was at times a little scary getting this stuff up as I started to wonder whether the sticky stuff might block my airway altogether, so did some steaming with Vicks in hot water and a towel over my head which I think helped, as did another drop of the cinnamon leaf oil.
Finally got to sleep at 2.30am, too exhausted (again) to cough any more. Hoping for further improvement in my condition today! (yes that doesn't sound like improvement, but all the while I have been feeling better in myself like the infection is diminishing).
The other symptom I forgot to mention was a white furry tongue with red spots - we've all had it. I was one of my first symptoms, nearly four weeks back now, and I noticed I still have it today. I think that when my tongue returns to normal I will know that I am finally better.
4 weeks ill with the swine flu: week 1 getting ill, week 2 definitely ill getting worse, week 3 getting better in the mornings then relapsing in the afternoons, week 4 fighting off the secondary bacterial infection and then starting to get better (I think/hope). Who said this thing would be gone in 7 to 10 days?
Let me make this clear, I am a fit and healthy women in mid 30s, my husband also (although not a woman!) suffering the same duration of illness, my father too, in his 60s, but also fit and healthy. My younger sister (in 20s) was also ill for weeks, but I think closer to 3 than 4 weeks. My son, aged 4 (also normally healthy), was ill a few days sooner than us, was more seriously ill at the beginning (very high temperature in particular) but seems to have recovered much quicker (although again this morning a touch warm and a little cough so I hope nothing is returning).
I can understand why pregnant women are at high risk since there is no way I could have managed the heavy duty coughing in my third trimester.
Lots of reports around that this is no more serious than seasonal flu. I have had seasonal few a couple of times. Seasonal flu made me feel awful, very achy, heavy head cold, extremely week, but at no time concerned that what I had could be life threatening. With this I didn't feel as achy or wiped out, but the cough is the worst I have experienced (bar the whooping cough I had as a young child that I still remember) and at times when I was fighting to get the stuff out of my airways I was truly scared as too how much worse things were going to get and very aware of my mortality.
When my mother started to develop symptoms a few days ago she took no messing around - knowing that it is only effective if taken in the first few days of symptoms she insisted that the doctor prescribe her Tamiflu since she had seen how much my father had suffered and she was not prepared to go through the same. Good for her I say! Not normally very assertive, she was well informed and took her health into her own hands - she had strong evidence to suggest that we had the swine flu, that she was developing it, and knew that the Tamiflu had to be prescribed straight away if it was to be of any effect, and had the courage to call her GP and argue her case. I think this was sensible. The rest of us did not ask for Tamiflu since we knew it was too late for us. My father was prescribed it even though he had been ill for 3 weeks, and confirmed that it had no effect on him whatsoever, but my mother is feeling her condition improve rather than deteriorate, thanks to her own swift action.
Now finding a 'flu buddy' who would be prepared to visit my mother for her id and prescription, and then travel to the Tamiflu distribution centre to wait with other 'swine flu buddies' (risking their own contamination) - that's a different story (a strategy that has obviously not been clearly thought through and I have to tell you does not work for even those people that have lots of friends in the community - so how it should work for someone that is more isolated I don't know).
Now if you want more information on swine flu, I have to tell you that you won't find a better source than the MedWorm swine flu updates (every hour, compiled from nearly 7,000 sources):
- Swine flu official news
- Swine flu in the medical blogs
- Swine flu discussions (join in by commenting on any of the swine flu articles in MedWorm)
If you have just stepped into my blog here, make sure to also read my posts on when I first realised I had swine flu and also about my swine flu recuperation.
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Swine Flu Recuperation
Today I feel better. Yesterday after posting that I was on the mend I then seemed to take a turn for the worse - my temperature started to rise again, I developed pain across one side of my chest, started to sweat a lot and sensed my cough was changing into something maybe worse. So after 10 days of fighting this thing and feeling completely exhausted, I accepted it was about time to start antibiotics since my infection was likely turning bacterial. I started to read about pneumonia and decided I didn't want to take the risk.
I then started to worry about my father who seemed worse than myself and not really getting better either. I called my mother and insisted that she call the doctor the next morning whether he agreed or not. My father, in the typical British manner, prefers to struggle on without medical intervention. We are all now so conditioned by GPs telling us that what we have is a virus and there is nothing they can do for us, that many are now scared of calling a doctor unnecessarily. Recognising when one has deteriorated enough to make that call is tricky. I believe that often when ill and gradually deteriorating you are not able to take the right decision yourself, and the call is often made far too late.
Now 24 hours and 4 doses of antibiotics later I can safely say I am now feeling better. For the first time in days I was able to lie down and have a nap without coughing almost continuously. And my father now has his antibiotics too so I can relax I think. Phew!
Let me tell you, swine flu is no 'walk in the park'. Of course one shouldn't panic, but at the same time it should be taken seriously. I am fit and healthy without any underlying conditions, but I have to tell you there were a few moments when I really struggled and started to wonder how much worse the cough was going to get. It must really be a concern for the many people that do have underlying conditions.
Here's my swine flu tip: If you start to feel a little tired and unwell, take time out then, sleep a lot, eat really well, get lots of fluids, take some vitamins. Do everything you can to get shut of it in its early days. I instead carried on about my business. Although I felt very tired I did nothing to get more rest and I think that is partly why it hit me so hard the following week. My daughter, when she felt tired, slept, and slept, and slept, and then she was fine. Maybe that helped her?
Isn't it nice when we feel illness on the retreat and normal health start to return? Isn't good health such a wonderful thing?
Yesterday I watched a lady on the TV who had been awaiting a lung transplant for the last 2 years. She had cystic fibrosis. Everyone at the hospital talked about how wonderful she was and what a positive outlook she had. But without a lung transplant soon she will not have much future.
I asked my husband about cystic fibrosis. He said to think of the annoying secretions that I had experienced on my lungs over the past few weeks, and to imagine experiencing that all my life. I can't.
I wondered whether with new lungs she would be cured, or whether she would always suffer from this terrible condition.
Here's the MedWorm section on cystic fibrosis and here's the one on swine flu. You can read what happened next in my swine flu story here or read more about when I first realised I had the swine flu in my previous post.
I then started to worry about my father who seemed worse than myself and not really getting better either. I called my mother and insisted that she call the doctor the next morning whether he agreed or not. My father, in the typical British manner, prefers to struggle on without medical intervention. We are all now so conditioned by GPs telling us that what we have is a virus and there is nothing they can do for us, that many are now scared of calling a doctor unnecessarily. Recognising when one has deteriorated enough to make that call is tricky. I believe that often when ill and gradually deteriorating you are not able to take the right decision yourself, and the call is often made far too late.
Now 24 hours and 4 doses of antibiotics later I can safely say I am now feeling better. For the first time in days I was able to lie down and have a nap without coughing almost continuously. And my father now has his antibiotics too so I can relax I think. Phew!
Let me tell you, swine flu is no 'walk in the park'. Of course one shouldn't panic, but at the same time it should be taken seriously. I am fit and healthy without any underlying conditions, but I have to tell you there were a few moments when I really struggled and started to wonder how much worse the cough was going to get. It must really be a concern for the many people that do have underlying conditions.
Here's my swine flu tip: If you start to feel a little tired and unwell, take time out then, sleep a lot, eat really well, get lots of fluids, take some vitamins. Do everything you can to get shut of it in its early days. I instead carried on about my business. Although I felt very tired I did nothing to get more rest and I think that is partly why it hit me so hard the following week. My daughter, when she felt tired, slept, and slept, and slept, and then she was fine. Maybe that helped her?
Isn't it nice when we feel illness on the retreat and normal health start to return? Isn't good health such a wonderful thing?
Yesterday I watched a lady on the TV who had been awaiting a lung transplant for the last 2 years. She had cystic fibrosis. Everyone at the hospital talked about how wonderful she was and what a positive outlook she had. But without a lung transplant soon she will not have much future.
I asked my husband about cystic fibrosis. He said to think of the annoying secretions that I had experienced on my lungs over the past few weeks, and to imagine experiencing that all my life. I can't.
I wondered whether with new lungs she would be cured, or whether she would always suffer from this terrible condition.
Here's the MedWorm section on cystic fibrosis and here's the one on swine flu. You can read what happened next in my swine flu story here or read more about when I first realised I had the swine flu in my previous post.
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
I've got the swine flu.... probably
GPs aren't testing for the swine flu in the UK anymore, and the WHO is about to advise that countries with widespread cases stop testing, since 95% or more cases of flu are now caused by H1N1, so there is no way to prove that I have the swine flu.
But I am sure that is what it is, as is my husband (who is a doctor). My sister's friend, who is Argentinian and was living in Spain flew to visit her and then got ill - next to follow was my sister, who was visited by parents just before she presented with symptoms. My parents then came to stop at our household for a few days, and then my sister also paid us a visit. Shortly after my sister getting ill, my mother started to feel like she was developing something (although she seemed to fight it off), and then myself, my husband, my son and my father (who does not live with us) all fell ill at the same time.
My none-scientific calculations, if our source of illness is correct, tell me that the incubation period is quite long, something closer to the early suggestions of around about 8 days between coming into contact with the virus and developing symptoms. Now my son's (4 year old) friends are also starting to develop suspect symptoms, and if they caught it from him then the 8 days would also fit. However, I read that recent reports suggest a shorter incubation period that could even be as short as 1 - 4 days. Personally I think that this may be due to the virus being so widespread at the moment - when you go down with the flu, maybe your friends are too, but doesn't mean that's who you caught it from - it could well be that you and your friends were in contact with someone else at the same time, who may have had the illness that you don't even know about. After all, who wants to advertise the fact that they think they may have the swine flu? I certainly didn't want to be the one that got my children's schools shut down! I am relieved now that our government are no long taking this cause of action, since the disruption to everyone when this happens is huge, and I figure everyone is going to come into contact with this now sooner or later.
So how we feel? Why are we convinced we got the swine flu? And what treatment did we receive?
I first started to feel a little 'odd' like I was going down with a strange cold that I thought was suspicious. Felt a little unlike other colds although I wasn't sure why. I was quite tired and I remember have absolutely no energy in my aerobics class and being very out of breath. I had a slight saw throat and developed a very 'sticky' cough that came on very quickly, which I found unusual since I am not prone to catch many coughs, and certainly not so quickly. I found it 'stickier' than anything I had experienced before, but I wasn't very unwell. A slight temperature. I had started taking Sambucol (black elderberry extract) which I had researched on Pubmed and seemed to be effective in boosting immunity against flu viruses. I then seemed to be getting better and shifting whatever it was, before it came back and hit me a second time. This time the cough was much worse. It is a deep chesty cough that seems to hit you in waves - sometimes you think it is getting better, and then all of a sudden you feel really bad - and then you pick up again. The cough goes on and on and keeps you up at night. Mine didn't have any yellow secretions, although my husband's did a little (so he took some antibiotics to fight any secondary bacterial infection). Sounds like we have TB. I've been coughing badly now for 9 days, but today I would say I am definitely feeling better and can say now I think is is subsiding. My sister tells me she was really ill but is now 100% better with no symptoms at all - which is reassuring.
I did not visit the doctor. I took lots of Sambucol, which I believe took the edge off things (I would always feel better a few hours after taking it) as well as chesty cough medicine containing Guaifenesin, which I could not have done without, as well as bronchial balsam mixture, and lots of Vicks almost permanently on my chest (which I think may have helped relax me slightly). I haven't taken any paracetamol, instead preferring to let myself run with a very slight temperature, since my own theory is that helps me fight the infection better. We have also been drinking lots of red berry juice - which tastes very good to me at the moment! Have been tired and worn out, which is no surprise due to the disrupted sleep and heavy duty coughing. Now I am quite pleased I have had this and am on the mend since I figure I can relax a little come the Winter without any major concerns for the flu. One thing I would say is that this flu has seemed different to any other. The main thing has been the cough. I have felt maybe a little achy at times, and have had a slight 'sniffle', but nothing like the aches and head colds of previous flu - but that may have been due to the Sambucol which I believe is effective in fighting such symptoms.
My 4 year old son was also hit by two waves - first off he got a high temperature round about 39 degrees (under the arm) that responded after a few hours to Calpol and Calprofen - followed by a sudden cold that seemed to be clearing after a few days - but then 4 to 5 days later had a sudden temperature that rose above 40 degrees - not sure exactly how hot, since after that we were so busy trying to get the temperature down we didn't have time to take it again (well maybe we were too scared to) until it had dropped a little. After that he developed the same cough as us. He has on the whole however slept better than us, after his initial temperature, his cough hasn't been quite as bad and I think been getting well quicker (at least I hope so, although it is obviously much more worrying seeing him ill than experiencing this ourselves).
We initially called NHS Direct regarding our son, who gave us general advice on treating the flu. Later in the night we called our out of hours doctor who told us to take him to our nearest treatment center - which was quite a drive actually to the hospital, so we didn't bother since his temperature was starting to come down. The next time his temperature flared up we took him to the GP the next day who thought it was probably a virus but saw that his throat was sore, so prescribed antibiotics as a precaution. Swine flu was not mentioned since there were not many known cases in the area at that time. However, just a few weeks later when my friend took her children to the doctor with the same symptoms they have said it is quite possibly swine flu, although they cannot confirm this. She was not offered Tamiflu, which I found was surprising since both her children are asthmatic, but told to go back if it got much worse.
Worth noting is that my mother felt she was going down with something, so on my recommendation took Sambucol and then felt fine, as did my 14 year old daughter (who we have been coughing all over the past few weeks, and after just a dry throat and slight temperature one night, and several doses of Samucol, has also stayed well).
So that's our 'probably swine flu' story, for those that are wondering whether they have it too and what the symptoms might be. Good luck with your dose! Read what happened next in my swine flu story here.
Don't forget to check out MedWorm for all the very latest swine flu news.
But I am sure that is what it is, as is my husband (who is a doctor). My sister's friend, who is Argentinian and was living in Spain flew to visit her and then got ill - next to follow was my sister, who was visited by parents just before she presented with symptoms. My parents then came to stop at our household for a few days, and then my sister also paid us a visit. Shortly after my sister getting ill, my mother started to feel like she was developing something (although she seemed to fight it off), and then myself, my husband, my son and my father (who does not live with us) all fell ill at the same time.
My none-scientific calculations, if our source of illness is correct, tell me that the incubation period is quite long, something closer to the early suggestions of around about 8 days between coming into contact with the virus and developing symptoms. Now my son's (4 year old) friends are also starting to develop suspect symptoms, and if they caught it from him then the 8 days would also fit. However, I read that recent reports suggest a shorter incubation period that could even be as short as 1 - 4 days. Personally I think that this may be due to the virus being so widespread at the moment - when you go down with the flu, maybe your friends are too, but doesn't mean that's who you caught it from - it could well be that you and your friends were in contact with someone else at the same time, who may have had the illness that you don't even know about. After all, who wants to advertise the fact that they think they may have the swine flu? I certainly didn't want to be the one that got my children's schools shut down! I am relieved now that our government are no long taking this cause of action, since the disruption to everyone when this happens is huge, and I figure everyone is going to come into contact with this now sooner or later.
So how we feel? Why are we convinced we got the swine flu? And what treatment did we receive?
I first started to feel a little 'odd' like I was going down with a strange cold that I thought was suspicious. Felt a little unlike other colds although I wasn't sure why. I was quite tired and I remember have absolutely no energy in my aerobics class and being very out of breath. I had a slight saw throat and developed a very 'sticky' cough that came on very quickly, which I found unusual since I am not prone to catch many coughs, and certainly not so quickly. I found it 'stickier' than anything I had experienced before, but I wasn't very unwell. A slight temperature. I had started taking Sambucol (black elderberry extract) which I had researched on Pubmed and seemed to be effective in boosting immunity against flu viruses. I then seemed to be getting better and shifting whatever it was, before it came back and hit me a second time. This time the cough was much worse. It is a deep chesty cough that seems to hit you in waves - sometimes you think it is getting better, and then all of a sudden you feel really bad - and then you pick up again. The cough goes on and on and keeps you up at night. Mine didn't have any yellow secretions, although my husband's did a little (so he took some antibiotics to fight any secondary bacterial infection). Sounds like we have TB. I've been coughing badly now for 9 days, but today I would say I am definitely feeling better and can say now I think is is subsiding. My sister tells me she was really ill but is now 100% better with no symptoms at all - which is reassuring.
I did not visit the doctor. I took lots of Sambucol, which I believe took the edge off things (I would always feel better a few hours after taking it) as well as chesty cough medicine containing Guaifenesin, which I could not have done without, as well as bronchial balsam mixture, and lots of Vicks almost permanently on my chest (which I think may have helped relax me slightly). I haven't taken any paracetamol, instead preferring to let myself run with a very slight temperature, since my own theory is that helps me fight the infection better. We have also been drinking lots of red berry juice - which tastes very good to me at the moment! Have been tired and worn out, which is no surprise due to the disrupted sleep and heavy duty coughing. Now I am quite pleased I have had this and am on the mend since I figure I can relax a little come the Winter without any major concerns for the flu. One thing I would say is that this flu has seemed different to any other. The main thing has been the cough. I have felt maybe a little achy at times, and have had a slight 'sniffle', but nothing like the aches and head colds of previous flu - but that may have been due to the Sambucol which I believe is effective in fighting such symptoms.
My 4 year old son was also hit by two waves - first off he got a high temperature round about 39 degrees (under the arm) that responded after a few hours to Calpol and Calprofen - followed by a sudden cold that seemed to be clearing after a few days - but then 4 to 5 days later had a sudden temperature that rose above 40 degrees - not sure exactly how hot, since after that we were so busy trying to get the temperature down we didn't have time to take it again (well maybe we were too scared to) until it had dropped a little. After that he developed the same cough as us. He has on the whole however slept better than us, after his initial temperature, his cough hasn't been quite as bad and I think been getting well quicker (at least I hope so, although it is obviously much more worrying seeing him ill than experiencing this ourselves).
We initially called NHS Direct regarding our son, who gave us general advice on treating the flu. Later in the night we called our out of hours doctor who told us to take him to our nearest treatment center - which was quite a drive actually to the hospital, so we didn't bother since his temperature was starting to come down. The next time his temperature flared up we took him to the GP the next day who thought it was probably a virus but saw that his throat was sore, so prescribed antibiotics as a precaution. Swine flu was not mentioned since there were not many known cases in the area at that time. However, just a few weeks later when my friend took her children to the doctor with the same symptoms they have said it is quite possibly swine flu, although they cannot confirm this. She was not offered Tamiflu, which I found was surprising since both her children are asthmatic, but told to go back if it got much worse.
Worth noting is that my mother felt she was going down with something, so on my recommendation took Sambucol and then felt fine, as did my 14 year old daughter (who we have been coughing all over the past few weeks, and after just a dry throat and slight temperature one night, and several doses of Samucol, has also stayed well).
So that's our 'probably swine flu' story, for those that are wondering whether they have it too and what the symptoms might be. Good luck with your dose! Read what happened next in my swine flu story here.
Don't forget to check out MedWorm for all the very latest swine flu news.
Friday, 12 June 2009
Learning in the Right Order
Everything is easy to learn when you learn it in the right order.
The is what I realised last night. I was about to jump into O'Reilly's DNS & BIND Cookbook, in preparation for a major MedWorm migration (yes a shiny new server is on its way that will resolve all or its performance issues!) when I read in the preface 'This book expressly doesn't concentrate on DNS theory. For that, I'd (not surprisingly) recommend DNS and BIND. Without an understanding of the theory behind DNS, you're like the Southeast Asian Scrabble players who memorize the spelling -- but not the meaning or pronunciation -- of tens of thousands of English words: all syntax, no semantics.'
Now usually I think I would just ignore such information and carry on regardless, but this time for some reason I realised the importance of really getting to grips with the theory behind DNS before I learnt the details of how to configure it. So I put down the book and instead got myself a copy of DNS and BIND. Glad I did, since I began to realise how simple DNS actually is if you learn it in the right order. Just a question of laying a few foundations and then putting the bricks one on top of the other. It is important to put those bricks in the right order though. Like the little toddler learning to build a pyramid style tower, when they have to place the largest bricks at the bottom and then choose the right brick to place next in order to reach the top.
A lot of people think I.T. is difficult, and that you have to be really clever to understand it. My self-belief that I could program came from reading the first few chapters of the basic manual as a child - I did nothing much with computing after that until I had reached adulthood, but I had the confidence to enroll on a softwear engineering course because I had written a little basic program adding a couple of numbers together when I was aged about 10; I knew that I understood the basic principal of programming and that the rest would just be adding pieces of that understanding together.
This is also why children start with the alphabet when they learn to read, why my first chemistry lesson started with the atom, and why my first biology lesson began with the cell (as far as I can recall).
Everything in I.T. is easy if you learn it in the right order. Next time I am reading something that seems difficult, it is just a question of identifying which area of knowledge I am missing and then going back and learning a few basics in that area, and then building on that basic information to find my way through to the destination - a bit of patience, starting at the beginning rather than jumping straight to the end. I can however 'fast-track' my way to the end, because I know where I want to go and can take a straight route there.
I was pleased with my moment of revelation and shared my new understanding with my husband, who just said 'Of course, it is the same with everything. Didn't you know that?', with the tone of voice that made me think that this is something everyone else already knew, and it was just me that was taking a long time to recognise this fact. Next time I am proof reading his medical publications, wondering where he gets his knowledge from, I'll just remind myself that he too just started at the beginning, and then carried on putting one brick on top of another, in the right order.
But just in case you hadn't realised this yet, thought I might share my moment revelation with you:
Everything is easy to learn when you learn it in the right order.
The is what I realised last night. I was about to jump into O'Reilly's DNS & BIND Cookbook, in preparation for a major MedWorm migration (yes a shiny new server is on its way that will resolve all or its performance issues!) when I read in the preface 'This book expressly doesn't concentrate on DNS theory. For that, I'd (not surprisingly) recommend DNS and BIND. Without an understanding of the theory behind DNS, you're like the Southeast Asian Scrabble players who memorize the spelling -- but not the meaning or pronunciation -- of tens of thousands of English words: all syntax, no semantics.'
Now usually I think I would just ignore such information and carry on regardless, but this time for some reason I realised the importance of really getting to grips with the theory behind DNS before I learnt the details of how to configure it. So I put down the book and instead got myself a copy of DNS and BIND. Glad I did, since I began to realise how simple DNS actually is if you learn it in the right order. Just a question of laying a few foundations and then putting the bricks one on top of the other. It is important to put those bricks in the right order though. Like the little toddler learning to build a pyramid style tower, when they have to place the largest bricks at the bottom and then choose the right brick to place next in order to reach the top.
A lot of people think I.T. is difficult, and that you have to be really clever to understand it. My self-belief that I could program came from reading the first few chapters of the basic manual as a child - I did nothing much with computing after that until I had reached adulthood, but I had the confidence to enroll on a softwear engineering course because I had written a little basic program adding a couple of numbers together when I was aged about 10; I knew that I understood the basic principal of programming and that the rest would just be adding pieces of that understanding together.
This is also why children start with the alphabet when they learn to read, why my first chemistry lesson started with the atom, and why my first biology lesson began with the cell (as far as I can recall).
Everything in I.T. is easy if you learn it in the right order. Next time I am reading something that seems difficult, it is just a question of identifying which area of knowledge I am missing and then going back and learning a few basics in that area, and then building on that basic information to find my way through to the destination - a bit of patience, starting at the beginning rather than jumping straight to the end. I can however 'fast-track' my way to the end, because I know where I want to go and can take a straight route there.
I was pleased with my moment of revelation and shared my new understanding with my husband, who just said 'Of course, it is the same with everything. Didn't you know that?', with the tone of voice that made me think that this is something everyone else already knew, and it was just me that was taking a long time to recognise this fact. Next time I am proof reading his medical publications, wondering where he gets his knowledge from, I'll just remind myself that he too just started at the beginning, and then carried on putting one brick on top of another, in the right order.
But just in case you hadn't realised this yet, thought I might share my moment revelation with you:
Everything is easy to learn when you learn it in the right order.
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Swine Flu - Better to live in the UK than the USA
Once again the NHS is proving its worth in the UK. Swine flu cases have now reached 122 here in the UK, but the rate at which it is spreading I find somewhat reassuring. I live in the South West where 3 cases evolved weeks ago. A family returning from a holiday in Mexico brought it back with them. The girl's school was shut and all her class mates given Tamiflu. I anticipated as a result that spread in the South West was inevitable, but weeks later still no further cases have been reported.
In the UK, I understand that people presenting with even mild symptoms of suspected swine flu are being tested and are prescribed with Tamiflu, and even close contacts who are not presenting with symptoms are offered Tamiflu as a precaution. Reason being, according to the NHS guidelines, 'Testing has shown that the swine flu can be treated with the antiviral medicines oseltamavir (brand name Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). However, the drugs must be administered at an early stage to be effective'.
If you develop flu like symptoms in the UK, the advice is not to visit your GP, but to call a help line, to avoid spreading the virus.
In the USA, however, the guidelines are completely different. The CDC says that treatment is available for those that are seriously ill (therefore no treatment is available for those who are not seriously ill?), even though it also goes on to admit that antiviral drugs work best if given within 2 days of becoming ill. The CDC advice if you develop the flu:
'It is expected that most people will recover without needing medical care.
If you have severe illness or you are at high risk for flu complications, contact your health care provider or seek medical care. Your health care provider will determine whether flu testing or treatment is needed. Be aware that if the flu becomes wide spread, there will be little need to continue testing people, so your health care provider may decide not to test for the flu virus.'
Wow, I would have to wait until I am seriously ill before seeking medical treatment in the USA? And even then no clear direction on how to get treatment, just that I should 'seek medical care' - so I guess I would turn up at the emergency room and contaminate everyone there right?
Of course I understand why this course of inaction - money. But surely the savings in not treating people early with antivirals are going to cost the economy a whole lot more in the long run?
So no surprise that further deaths are anticipated. Also inevitable that it is just a matter of time before the swine flu becomes widespread throughout the USA. Glad I don't live there. And I figure not a good idea to visit the USA either, at least not for the next 12 months!
The only useful tip I picked up from the CDC is that aspirin should not be given to children 18 or under with the swine flu, due to the increased risk in Reye's syndrome - something I knew nothing about (although I know in general is it not a good idea to give children aspirin).
Here's the MedWorm swine flu page with RSS feed, updated every hour, for all the very latest information from offical sources.
In the UK, I understand that people presenting with even mild symptoms of suspected swine flu are being tested and are prescribed with Tamiflu, and even close contacts who are not presenting with symptoms are offered Tamiflu as a precaution. Reason being, according to the NHS guidelines, 'Testing has shown that the swine flu can be treated with the antiviral medicines oseltamavir (brand name Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). However, the drugs must be administered at an early stage to be effective'.
If you develop flu like symptoms in the UK, the advice is not to visit your GP, but to call a help line, to avoid spreading the virus.
In the USA, however, the guidelines are completely different. The CDC says that treatment is available for those that are seriously ill (therefore no treatment is available for those who are not seriously ill?), even though it also goes on to admit that antiviral drugs work best if given within 2 days of becoming ill. The CDC advice if you develop the flu:
'It is expected that most people will recover without needing medical care.
If you have severe illness or you are at high risk for flu complications, contact your health care provider or seek medical care. Your health care provider will determine whether flu testing or treatment is needed. Be aware that if the flu becomes wide spread, there will be little need to continue testing people, so your health care provider may decide not to test for the flu virus.'
Wow, I would have to wait until I am seriously ill before seeking medical treatment in the USA? And even then no clear direction on how to get treatment, just that I should 'seek medical care' - so I guess I would turn up at the emergency room and contaminate everyone there right?
Of course I understand why this course of inaction - money. But surely the savings in not treating people early with antivirals are going to cost the economy a whole lot more in the long run?
So no surprise that further deaths are anticipated. Also inevitable that it is just a matter of time before the swine flu becomes widespread throughout the USA. Glad I don't live there. And I figure not a good idea to visit the USA either, at least not for the next 12 months!
The only useful tip I picked up from the CDC is that aspirin should not be given to children 18 or under with the swine flu, due to the increased risk in Reye's syndrome - something I knew nothing about (although I know in general is it not a good idea to give children aspirin).
Here's the MedWorm swine flu page with RSS feed, updated every hour, for all the very latest information from offical sources.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Innocent Man in Guantanamo
I'm currently reading Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo
, by Murat Kurnaz. I pick up random books to read from my local library, but almost always true stories, preferably autobiographies. Reason being I realised as a teenager that life was short, and interesting, and I had a lot to learn. Since time was limited, I had better learn about truth rather than spend my days dreaming about fiction - I had read plenty of fiction as a child; I then took the decision to try to spend every minute of my life as effectively as I could, learning from others who had succeeded in life as much as I could.
I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this book since I knew it would be pretty grim and depressing. But since the guy had come out the other end and had found the strength to write about his ordeal, I thought that I could probably learn something from him about endurance under difficult times.
As a young adult I once had a vivid dream about Hell. It was like I actually went there and had a look around. It made a lasting impression on me that I will never forget. I think up until then deep down I didn't really believe in Hell; I did believe in a loving and forgiving God and the concept of Hell seemed somewhat in contradiction to this understanding. However, my journey that night, and what I saw, although in a dream, was so vivid that I will always remember. Such images I could not have conjured up myself, having always avoided watching scary movies, the shock of this terrible vision altered my view on life. Now I know that Hell exists, and that it is of man's making. It is a product of the very opposite of love and compassion. It is the ultimate destination of selfishness, a place where a combination of self-indulgence and fear removes all feeling towards others; however, place into that terror just one person who puts another person's needs above their own, where compassion brings one to care for another, at the cost of pain and great danger to oneself, then those bonds of Hell are broken.
Reading this book, about this innocent man in Guantanamo (who I believe was just one of many innocent men), it suddenly dawned on me, 'this is it, this is what I saw, this place was Hell, Hell on Earth'. The constant abuse and torture, the inhumanity displayed by the soldiers towards the prisoners, day after day, year after year, is at times too much to comprehend. I can only read this book in small chunks, since it weighs too heavy on my heart. But I am glad I chose to read it and would recommend all people that believe in facing up to truth to have the courage to do the same. This is a story that needs telling to the World.
Let me tell you what I find the most appalling: the way in which so called 'doctors' were instrumental in the abuse. I have read how doctors were often brought in to determine whether an inmate could withstand any further torture; Murat was strung up in chains left hanging from his handcuffs for days on end; every so often a man with the label 'doctor' on his uniform would come in and check his pulse to see if he was still alive and to decide whether he could withstand any more - the answer for Murat was always that he could. Seems the doctor got it wrong with the man in the room next to him who appeared to be left hanging dead.
I read about a young man who had had his legs amputated due to frostbite, with just stubs left for fingers. He was thrown into one of Camp X-Ray's cages with wounds full of puss. His bandages were never changed, rather he was often beaten and was not even permitted to pull himself up on the cage to use the toilet bucket. A man with frostbite in one finger, the rest all ok, was told that they would amputate his finger; instead they took off all his fingers leaving just his thumbs. A man with toothache in one tooth was taken to a dentist, who took out all his teeth. Terrible fractures that were left to heal on their own. A blind man over 90 interrogated, beaten and tortured with the rest.
Murat says that he had many toothaches and health problems, but that he avoided seeing the doctor at all costs since he wanted to keep his teeth, fingers and legs.
I ask myself what these doctors are doing now. Have they maybe returned from service, maybe to practice medicine in a top medical hospital in America somewhere, maybe with some kind of honours? I think of the Nazis living undercover lives in society. Will these men one day have to face up to their participation in such crimes?
But even under inhumane circumstances, a compassionate spirit is shown impossible to break in some of these men. The guy with his legs and fingers removed never cried when he was beaten, but cried loudly when he saw other men being beaten. Murat writes that he was a really nice guy. Had been married shortly before being arrested. Enjoyed playing soccer, before he lost his legs. Murat later learnt that this man had survived his injuries, had gained weight and was trying to keep in shape, had even learned to do push ups. As of 2007 he was still being held captive at Guantanamo. His name is Abdul Rahman. I look forward to the day when all these men are released and they get their chance to tell their own stories to the World .
, by Murat Kurnaz. I pick up random books to read from my local library, but almost always true stories, preferably autobiographies. Reason being I realised as a teenager that life was short, and interesting, and I had a lot to learn. Since time was limited, I had better learn about truth rather than spend my days dreaming about fiction - I had read plenty of fiction as a child; I then took the decision to try to spend every minute of my life as effectively as I could, learning from others who had succeeded in life as much as I could.I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this book since I knew it would be pretty grim and depressing. But since the guy had come out the other end and had found the strength to write about his ordeal, I thought that I could probably learn something from him about endurance under difficult times.
As a young adult I once had a vivid dream about Hell. It was like I actually went there and had a look around. It made a lasting impression on me that I will never forget. I think up until then deep down I didn't really believe in Hell; I did believe in a loving and forgiving God and the concept of Hell seemed somewhat in contradiction to this understanding. However, my journey that night, and what I saw, although in a dream, was so vivid that I will always remember. Such images I could not have conjured up myself, having always avoided watching scary movies, the shock of this terrible vision altered my view on life. Now I know that Hell exists, and that it is of man's making. It is a product of the very opposite of love and compassion. It is the ultimate destination of selfishness, a place where a combination of self-indulgence and fear removes all feeling towards others; however, place into that terror just one person who puts another person's needs above their own, where compassion brings one to care for another, at the cost of pain and great danger to oneself, then those bonds of Hell are broken.
Reading this book, about this innocent man in Guantanamo (who I believe was just one of many innocent men), it suddenly dawned on me, 'this is it, this is what I saw, this place was Hell, Hell on Earth'. The constant abuse and torture, the inhumanity displayed by the soldiers towards the prisoners, day after day, year after year, is at times too much to comprehend. I can only read this book in small chunks, since it weighs too heavy on my heart. But I am glad I chose to read it and would recommend all people that believe in facing up to truth to have the courage to do the same. This is a story that needs telling to the World.
Let me tell you what I find the most appalling: the way in which so called 'doctors' were instrumental in the abuse. I have read how doctors were often brought in to determine whether an inmate could withstand any further torture; Murat was strung up in chains left hanging from his handcuffs for days on end; every so often a man with the label 'doctor' on his uniform would come in and check his pulse to see if he was still alive and to decide whether he could withstand any more - the answer for Murat was always that he could. Seems the doctor got it wrong with the man in the room next to him who appeared to be left hanging dead.
I read about a young man who had had his legs amputated due to frostbite, with just stubs left for fingers. He was thrown into one of Camp X-Ray's cages with wounds full of puss. His bandages were never changed, rather he was often beaten and was not even permitted to pull himself up on the cage to use the toilet bucket. A man with frostbite in one finger, the rest all ok, was told that they would amputate his finger; instead they took off all his fingers leaving just his thumbs. A man with toothache in one tooth was taken to a dentist, who took out all his teeth. Terrible fractures that were left to heal on their own. A blind man over 90 interrogated, beaten and tortured with the rest.
Murat says that he had many toothaches and health problems, but that he avoided seeing the doctor at all costs since he wanted to keep his teeth, fingers and legs.
I ask myself what these doctors are doing now. Have they maybe returned from service, maybe to practice medicine in a top medical hospital in America somewhere, maybe with some kind of honours? I think of the Nazis living undercover lives in society. Will these men one day have to face up to their participation in such crimes?
But even under inhumane circumstances, a compassionate spirit is shown impossible to break in some of these men. The guy with his legs and fingers removed never cried when he was beaten, but cried loudly when he saw other men being beaten. Murat writes that he was a really nice guy. Had been married shortly before being arrested. Enjoyed playing soccer, before he lost his legs. Murat later learnt that this man had survived his injuries, had gained weight and was trying to keep in shape, had even learned to do push ups. As of 2007 he was still being held captive at Guantanamo. His name is Abdul Rahman. I look forward to the day when all these men are released and they get their chance to tell their own stories to the World .
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Healthcare in Need of a Global Solution
I have this maybe childlike notion that the solutions to many of the World's problems will become apparent when pieces of knowledge from across the globe, from all walks of life, are pieced together. No more so than in the field of health care and medicine.
The Internet provides us, for the first time in history, the ability to start putting those pieces together. Making new connections, different people with different beliefs, but with shared purposes, uniting like never before behind common objectives. It is unity, the sharing of information and the willingness to work openly and together that will see major steps forward in science and medicine for the common good like never before.
To say that I am excited about the role MedWorm can play in this facilitation of shared knowledge and communication is an understatement.
This is my vision, this is my dream.
I am currently in the process of contacting medical and health charities to see if I can find some ways of working together with them, since we share the same social objectives: we both want to see improvements in communication, the raising of awareness and ultimately the advance of knowledge and improved treatments and cures for illnesses.
Here's my offer: any medical or health related charity can sponsor any of the topics on MedWorm for free for a two week period. They get their message and hyperlink under the title of every page on MedWorm within that topic area, and also at the bottom of every fifth item within their topic's associated RSS feed. At the end of the two week period, if they want to keep their message there they can, at a monthly price that they name. There's really no catch involved here. At this stage I'm not looking to raise lots of cash, rather just raise awareness for the site and also some token of financial support (I would even accept a cent, and that's the truth). I've lots more ideas of how MedWorm might be able to help them in the future, but this is just a start.
There is an issue however in that I am not at this time planning on splitting up the message targeting by country, so if you put your message on MedWorm, everyone gets to see it in all countries. Some charities might then decide that this is not something which they want, which I think is a shame. Surely any charity could benefit in some way from some global exposure and would be somewhat foolish to close off the outside world.
One charity that I spoke to was very small with only one full time employee. She was very excited to talk to me and wanted to know if I had come across any other such charities in other countries focusing on the same medical condition as they were, since their charity was the only one in the US, and she was keen to hear of any similar work being done in a different country. What a fantastically forward thinking lady - I am sure that her charity will make great advances with such an approach!
At the other end of the scale was a large US charity that was initially very enthusiastic about the offer, but then decided not to go ahead since I was 'based' in the UK, not in the US. I had made it clear that the majority of MedWorm's users are from the US, as is much of the data, and to be completely honest most of its supporters and probably future employees. In fact, even the MedWorm server is hosted in the US. So close is my involvement with the US market that I was at one time considering setting up MedWorm as a US entity without any UK presence at all! But it appears that the MedWorm traffic wasn't actually the issue - the problem appears not to be in relation to MedWorm's audience, but rather that MedWorm was 'based' in the UK.
This is a puzzle to me. I am therefore asking the question as to whether this was honestly the real issue, or whether this insular way of thinking is possibly a form of protectionism that has come about as a byproduct of the recession.
Whatever the case, I am genuinely saddened, since I think it only when such barriers come down that my vision of a healthy Utopia can ever give us real hope.
In the meantime, I'll approach instead the UK equivalent of the charity who I am sure will welcome some global exposure to their cause.
The Internet provides us, for the first time in history, the ability to start putting those pieces together. Making new connections, different people with different beliefs, but with shared purposes, uniting like never before behind common objectives. It is unity, the sharing of information and the willingness to work openly and together that will see major steps forward in science and medicine for the common good like never before.
To say that I am excited about the role MedWorm can play in this facilitation of shared knowledge and communication is an understatement.
This is my vision, this is my dream.
I am currently in the process of contacting medical and health charities to see if I can find some ways of working together with them, since we share the same social objectives: we both want to see improvements in communication, the raising of awareness and ultimately the advance of knowledge and improved treatments and cures for illnesses.
Here's my offer: any medical or health related charity can sponsor any of the topics on MedWorm for free for a two week period. They get their message and hyperlink under the title of every page on MedWorm within that topic area, and also at the bottom of every fifth item within their topic's associated RSS feed. At the end of the two week period, if they want to keep their message there they can, at a monthly price that they name. There's really no catch involved here. At this stage I'm not looking to raise lots of cash, rather just raise awareness for the site and also some token of financial support (I would even accept a cent, and that's the truth). I've lots more ideas of how MedWorm might be able to help them in the future, but this is just a start.
There is an issue however in that I am not at this time planning on splitting up the message targeting by country, so if you put your message on MedWorm, everyone gets to see it in all countries. Some charities might then decide that this is not something which they want, which I think is a shame. Surely any charity could benefit in some way from some global exposure and would be somewhat foolish to close off the outside world.
One charity that I spoke to was very small with only one full time employee. She was very excited to talk to me and wanted to know if I had come across any other such charities in other countries focusing on the same medical condition as they were, since their charity was the only one in the US, and she was keen to hear of any similar work being done in a different country. What a fantastically forward thinking lady - I am sure that her charity will make great advances with such an approach!
At the other end of the scale was a large US charity that was initially very enthusiastic about the offer, but then decided not to go ahead since I was 'based' in the UK, not in the US. I had made it clear that the majority of MedWorm's users are from the US, as is much of the data, and to be completely honest most of its supporters and probably future employees. In fact, even the MedWorm server is hosted in the US. So close is my involvement with the US market that I was at one time considering setting up MedWorm as a US entity without any UK presence at all! But it appears that the MedWorm traffic wasn't actually the issue - the problem appears not to be in relation to MedWorm's audience, but rather that MedWorm was 'based' in the UK.
This is a puzzle to me. I am therefore asking the question as to whether this was honestly the real issue, or whether this insular way of thinking is possibly a form of protectionism that has come about as a byproduct of the recession.
Whatever the case, I am genuinely saddened, since I think it only when such barriers come down that my vision of a healthy Utopia can ever give us real hope.
In the meantime, I'll approach instead the UK equivalent of the charity who I am sure will welcome some global exposure to their cause.
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