IN A slight departure from the norm, I’d like to take this opportunity to discuss two questions, sent in by the readership, that I feel are very pertinent to the moment. It is always a pleasure when persons take the effort to write in, and I hope that the answers provided are in some small way helpful.
THE thyroid gland is a well-known bodily organ, with a general awareness that an underactive thyroid is linked to weight gain, but a thyroid gland producing too much thyroid hormone can cause weight loss.
COUNTLESS myths abound about schizophrenia, and this, often coupled with negative reporting in the press has led to increased stigma and decreased understanding of what can be a treatable disease.
FIRST available in the US in 1960 and introduced to Britain the year after, the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) is undoubtedly on of the greatest breakthroughs in modern medicine.
MANY of us would agree that prevention is better than cure. However figures shows that less than half of those eligible for the NHS Health Check take up this offer.
A PINT isn’t a lot. In fact the amount of blood donated at each sitting is 470 millilitres per person, so not even a pint. Yet it could save up to three lives. NHS Blood and Transfusion is appealing for more black and ethnic minority donors. Yet this isn’t some form of racism, but a reflection of the fact that black donors are more likely than white donors to have blood with the rare Ro-subtype.
ALTHOUGH previously declared measles free by the World Health Organisation, the UK experienced an outbreak of the disease in 2018, with 913 confirmed cases, compared to 259 in 2017.
WE all know someone whose usual temperament could be described as angry. A study by the Mental Health Foundation showed that a third of those asked felt they had a close friend or family member who was angry most of the time.
