Coping with the Psychological Effects of Illness: Strategies to manage anxiety and depression Fran Smith – counselling psychologist specialised in helping people adjust to living with health problems. London Carina Eriksen – counselling psychologist worked at Institute of psychiatry, London Prof Robert Bor – lead clinical psychologist in medical specialties at the Royal … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2016
Could too much TV kill you?
A Japanese study, just published in the journal 'Circulation', has shown that the risk of dying from pulmonary embolism increases with the more TV you watch. What kind of study was it? It was a 'prospective cohort' study which means following a group of people over many years to see what happens. This is considered superior (although it's much more expensive) to the commoner … [Read more...]
Reaching your diagnosis – heart valve conditions – aortic stenosis
In this Medical Monday series, we’re talking about how your doctor reaches a diagnosis of common conditions associated with coagulation. It may help if you first read the introduction, before reading about today's topic of heart valve conditions. Altogether we’re covering Introduction DVT, Deep Vein Thrombosis Post-thrombotic syndrome PE, Pulmonary Embolism … [Read more...]
Pharmacy Fashion – could you make this dress?
On our recent visit to Copenhagen for the European Haematology Association conference, I visited the Copenhagen medical museum. This was an amazing place, but what impacted me most of all was the dress that was displayed in the foyer. The dress is composed of 27,774 tablets and capsules, representing the pills a woman with metabolic syndrome might take over 10 … [Read more...]
Medical Journal – AF – How many pills?
Researchers looked at 18,201 people with atrial fibrillation, AF, and found the average number of drugs each person took was six, with 76.5% of people taking six or more drugs. Most of these drugs are not for their AF but for their other medical conditions. More than three quarters of patients with AF take six or more drugs. This is a worrying finding, as polypharmacy … [Read more...]
Medical Journal -Sexism in AF treatment?
A major problem for people with AF is that they are not put on anticoagulants when they should be. But the study we’re looking at today shows it is even worse for women: Women are 1.8 times as likely to be undertreated for AF as men. Where’s the study from? It's a recently published study (May 2016) from the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society by Mark … [Read more...]
ECG – What and Why?
Why would I have an ECG? An ECG is a fairly routine test so it may just be used to check you have no major heart issues. On the other hand it may be used to look for atrial fibrillation (AF) or a heart attack (blocked blood supply to some of your heart muscle). If you attend the hospital with chest pain of any sort, including a pulmonary embolism, you are likely to have an … [Read more...]
Reaching your diagnosis – Atrial fibrillation
In this Medical Monday series, we’re talking about how your doctor reaches a diagnosis of common conditions associated with coagulation. It may help if you first read the introduction, before reading about today's topic of Atrial Fibrillation. Altogether we’re covering Introduction DVT, Deep Vein Thrombosis Post-thrombotic syndrome PE, Pulmonary Embolism … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – Book Reviews – Clotting for Kids
If you want to explain blood clots to your kids or grandkids, we've found two helpful children's books. Curious Ross discovers How Blood Clots by Gill Stelzer - a research scientist with a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology as well as a BSc in Computer Science This is part of a series he's written called 'Educational science while you play' About the book … [Read more...]
5 reasons why it was a good hospital appointment
Our youngest two boys have kept us very busy with hospital appointments; Isaac has two sets of very fat medical notes, Noah has three and has had 81 hospital appointments in his time! So I guess you'd say we're quite experienced! Today's paediatric clinic with Isaac was one of the most straightforward and enjoyable. So, afterwards, I thought of five reasons for this, most of … [Read more...]
