Dr Le Fanu"s online well being clinic, Friday 9th May 2014

I am interested in your additional mention in the Everyday Telegraph March 17 2014 for the remedy of excess catarrh and would be grateful to have to have sight of your unique article on this topic.

I have an curiosity in this subject as I have suffered given that about final Might 2013, though initial signs and symptoms feasible began months ahead of this. I initially approached my doctor with the difficulty of constant excess mucus, soreness inside the nostril and a nasty taste in my mouth. I ultimately received by means of 4 diverse prescriptions of antibiotic lasting seven/10 days each and every. My medical professional also advised I must use a Fluticasone Propionate nasal spray .

Though the unpleasant taste disappeared the other symptoms of blocked/runny sore nose still existed. I then attended a regional ENT Out Individuals in late December 2013. A Fluticasone spray was prescribed with an antihistamine element included – Dymista. I experimented with this for a handful of weeks despite the fact that by that time I was discovering steroid sprays have been even now generating the issue worse such as spots of blood.. I was then provided Betamethasone drops which had the identical adverse troubles. I have been offered an assurance that the situation is benign by my doctor.

I have experimented with lengthy intervals without making use of any treatment but nevertheless the signs and symptoms exist though to a lesser extent.

I would pleased for any comments and a copy of your articles so I can at least increase the matter with my following ENT appointment in early May.

Yours sincerely

Dear Anon,

Thanks for your query and my sympathies that these distressing catarrhal symptoms have not responded to the various therapies your mention. Please discover connected a hyperlink to the pertinent articles or blog posts.

http://www.telegraph.co.united kingdom/well being/10699687/Physicians-Diary-Statins-and-their-side-results.html

http://www.telegraph.co.united kingdom/wellness/elderhealth/10642395/Statins-Is-the-public-starting up-to-question-mass-medicalisation.html

You will find a comprehensive review of the pertinent evidence by Googling ‘Civers, macrolide, rhinosinusitis’.

Dear Dr.Le Fanu,

I have been following the comments about placebos with excellent curiosity, and it has reminded me about a tale which my late Father used to tell.

He was a pharmacist at The London Hospital in the 1920′s.

He used to make up a prescription of coloured water, and his was often red.

When my Father went on vacation, an additional pharmacist produced up this specific prescription, but his was yellow.

When the patient next saw the consultant, the patient told the advisor in basic English, that the yellow medication was no very good. !!

Regards,

P.H

Dear P H,

Thanks for being in touch – intriguing that teaching hospitals (not just family members medical professionals!) also dispense these coloured water treatments. It will be intriguing to know whether or not your father’s (favored) red tonic also contained some extra fortifying elements (this kind of as strychnine).

MATT

Vertigo signs Monday 5th May

Dear Dr. Le Fanu

I may possibly be ready to help with the intermittent vertigo dilemma. About 14 yrs ago I started to go deaf in my right ear and sought healthcare help. The ENT consultant eliminated a polyp from the nose and checked for a neuroma with a MRI scan. Over the subsequent 12 months or so the deafness worsened. Then I had an appalling assault of vertigo which was diagnosed as BPV and offered Buccastem. Luckily functioning in the School of Health care Sciences at Oxford I had entry to all the lit. I asked for the BPV check and treatment that had become offered the end result was that the diagnosis was transformed to Menieres. The ENT consultant had a repeat MRI and diagnosed that the right ear was damaged both hearing and balance. He explained that the ear was sending rubbish info to the brain in contrast to the left ear. The baffled signals in the brain caused the vertigo. He had me tightroping the lines in the vinyl flooring everyday as often as attainable to educate the brain to use the grid data from my eyes and left ear. Also I discovered that Beta-Histine (SERC) was used in the USA for Menieres and it undoubtedly assisted me. At some point soon after one more two many years the right ear died and the brain only used good info and the vertigo stopped and I never ever had one more attack.

I have just lately attempted an very strong hearing support in my dead ear, so that I could hear typically. After a week or so I experienced signs and symptoms like people reported in your column. These I attributed to the brain now obtaining very good audio info from the appropriate ear but rubbish stability info. In the dark there are no visual balance signals to correct the rubbish. I stopped employing the hearing aid and the issues stopped.

I suspect that your Telegraph patient has mild BPV or Menieres and it is the lack of the visual balance signals in the dark that leads to the problem. As for time of yr it could be explained by it being lighter at night as we go into Spring/Summer and then when it goes darker on the Autumn the brain is deprived of the visual balance.

If its BPV its effortlessly treatable if its Menieres she has my sympathy.

I am now 76 and retired,

Dr. Alan T, MSc(Oxon) PhD. FRSC. FRGS

Dear Dr Alan T,

Thanks for getting in touch and your comprehensive account of how (and why) a hearing aid should have exacerbated your Menieres induced vertigo. I hope to mention this in the column.

Dear Dr Le Fanu,

I read with interest the comment on Electro-Sensitivity dated 2nd May, which I think was in response to my letter to you on the subject which appeared in your column dated 31st January.

While I am mindful that this issue is contentious, and that not all scientists and researchers agree that it brought on by means of a physiological response to prolonged publicity to a variety of types of man-manufactured electro-magnetic fields (EMFs), it does seem to be an concern which is now being treated with an escalating degree of seriousness by researchers in the area, if not yet by governments and by corporations who, one particular may possibly argue, have a vested curiosity in denying any website link between EMF exposure (particularly wireless) and detrimental well being results.

Leaving aside that debate, I would like to thank you for allowing this issue to be covered in your Overall health Clinic, and performing what I contemplate to be a crucial public support.

Regarding my very own condition, it out of the blue worsened dramatically one evening a number of weeks ago, to the stage that my signs and symptoms have now turn into so severe and incapacitating that I have been forced to leave my personal home. Readings on my EMF meter demonstrate that the ambient level of radiofrequency/microwave radiation in and close to my property has elevated substantially, and so far I have been fully unable to shield it out.

It seems most likely that this has coincided with the installation of sensible meters in one or more close by houses, and I believe that my own situation could represent a taste of what is to come, as the deployment of wise meters gathers pace, as vulnerable people – for what ever explanation – are the 1st to manifest the variety of symptoms which have now come to dominate my daily life entirely.

Type Regards,

Dear Anon,

Thanks for your further observations about electro-sensitivity. I confess to not realizing about these ‘smart meters’ that you mention – could you perhaps clarify?

Dear Dr James

Mrs F D from Leeds need to be struggling from Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo ….induced by loose crystals in her ear canals. I too suffered from this earlier on this yr. It can be purchased on by a modify of air pressure, so yes, there could be a cosmic connection! I wait to see what September brings.

Jane E

Dear Jane E,

Thanks for that fascinating – and plausible suggstion – however I wonder about the proof for this change in atmospheric stress at the time of the equinox.

Hello,

I am a 71 yr old female in very good well being and the only medication I consider is 75mg of thyroxine for underactive thyroid. I have been on the very same dose for 10years now and its doing work well. A buddy was suggested by her GP to consider the supplement ubiquinol . I would also like to start off taking this but I am not sure if it would interact with the thyroxine. I have asked in the overall health foods shops but noone seems to be ready to give me an answer.

It seems as well trivial to bother the DR with. I would be grateful if you could give me some suggestions on this.

Sort regards

Angie.

Dear Angie,

Thanks for your query. To my information there is no explanation why taking Ubiquinol would interfere with your Thyroxine medication.

PAUL GROVER

NOT a health care query!

I thought you’d like to know what my husband (who did have dementia) answered when asked the Prime Minister query one particular time (I knew he didn’t approve of the then incumbent). “So who is the Prime Minister, Stephen?” Extremely, Quite extended pause although he studied his clasped hands on the table. He looked up. “Does it matter?” The research medical doctor &amp I laughed like drains &amp he joined in, searching really pleased for having amused us.

When asked to speak about Alzheimer’s at a Civic Dinner lately, that was how I wound up &amp it was just as productive.

Yours sincerely

Dear Anon,

Thanks for being in touch. You could know that for a even though Margaret Thatcher’s potent personality invalidated the use of the query ‘Who is the Prime Minister?’ as a dementia screening check – as virtually everyone (no matter how demented) knew the solution!

Dear Dr James

I have been on Tramadol, Lansoprazol, Gabapentin, Amatriptalin and more not too long ago, Fentanyl patches for the past 5 many years, due to persistent neuro pain from spinal cord damage.

I am at present waiting for SCS implant but am anxious about long phrase side effects of these medication. Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards, Chris C

Dear Chris C,

Thanks for your query. I would not have thought the medication you are at present taking would necessarily have any long term adverse results.

Dear Dr Le Fanu

My stepmother is 89 years of age and, apart from the “typical” frailty associated with most people at this age, she is usually in great overall health. For some months, even so, she has complained of itching/burning mainly on her back which makes her uncomfortable and spoils relatively her high quality of lifestyle.

She has experimented with most lotions and takes one particular tablet of Fenoxfenadine per day. She requires a single day-to-day tablet of Losartan and a single of Felodipine each for blood pressure.

By way of background, she has in the previous suffered anxiety episodes which have been diagnosed as the consequence of urinary infections and these have been eliminated with long lasting antibiotics. I do not know if this has any bearing on the circumstance.

Do you have any ideas as to what other action we may well take to deal with the itching/burning?

Yours sincerely.

Dear Anon,

Thanks for your query on behalf of your mom. I presume this itching/burning is not related with a rash of any type which would depart two primary prospects. 1st this could be the (regrettably named) issue Senile Pruritus brought on by age connected dryness of the skin – for which the treatment is to get a bath less usually and use generous quantities of moisturising lotions. 2nd – as talked about last week – a localised location of itching on the back might be brought on by pressure on the spinal nerves, – otherwise identified as Notalgia Paresthetica. This may be ameliorated by a tiny dose of a drug such as Amitriptyline.

Daily my feet give me little difficulty, but at night hell. On appropriate foot the minor toe is often excruciatingly tender &amp ditto to touch. Plus the huge toe really tender to strain on the best of the nail – when I arise all is properly for the day – weird.

Jon C

Dear Jon C,

Thanks for becoming in touch with that account of that most unusual symptom. It is hard to know what may be the explanation and I will mention it in the column in the hope of clarification from others who may well be similarly afflicted.

ALAMY

Dear Dr Le Fanu,

The lady you talked about on the 28th with sore eyes soon after going out walking etc isn’t going to mention how old she is. Even so, for two years or more I have had related problems, worse in the wind or vivid light and ultimately my eye professional stated my tears weren’t viscous enough to stick to and coat my eyes and this was probably a hormonal deficiency. He prescribed Viscotears which worked properly. At the identical time I commenced taking 1.5 tablespoons of coconut oil a day as I’d been told I was borderline hypothyroid and coconut oil stimulates the thyroid. Inside in six weeks of taking the coconut oil, I realised I was no longer employing the eye drops. When I ran out of the oil, inside 2 – 3 days I had to use the drops once more until I got back on the coconut when I again no longer essential the drops.

I wrote to Dr Bruce Fife,the ‘coconut ‘doctor about this, and he explained he’d had several people report related reactions and he believed that as the coconut stimulated the thyroid ( I’d monitored my basal entire body temperature every day for twelve months plus and never got over 36.1. Following taking the coconut oil daily it by no means goes beneath 36.6 and is typically 36.seven/8 ) which controls hormones, and thus the tears grew to become a lot more viscous as a consequence and the difficulty disappears. I mention the age as I’m publish menopausal which could be a element as well.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs C. S

Dear Mrs S,

Thanks for your account of the wonders of coconut oil that I had not previously encountered. I appear forward to mentioning it in the column for the advantage of other people.

I also suffer in early spring from difficulty in reading soon after waking which clears as the day progresses.Rinsing the eyes with water also assists.

As a former sufferer from hay fever and itchy eyes induced by some tree pollens I suspect in my case it is a certain pollen which is the culprit as the dilemma does not persist during the spring months.

Regards

Shirley K

Dear Shirley K,

Thanks for currently being in touch and your intriguing observation that this early morning problems in reading might be a symptom of hay fever. I have not come across this ahead of.

Dear Dr Le Fanu,

The above lady with trouble in reading initial hour soon after studying, enhanced by eye bathing in warm water and sore eyes at the finish of the day, sounds with out a doubt as though she has mild dry eyes.

Efficient remedy-use The Eyebag(www.eyebags.com) with the advised eye massage upon arising,then studying is no problem and no sore eyes at the end of the day!

Kind regards

Dear Anon,

Thanks for drawing my interest to The Eyebag that I will mention in the column shortly.

Hi there –

I consider I go through anything numerous years ago about memory loss induced by statins. Could you please forward any analysis final results there have been on this issue.

A lot of thanks,

Noreen C

Dear Noreen C,

Thanks for your query. There is, as you will find, a prodigious amount of information on the internet about the part of statins in creating memory reduction. I would recommend ‘Lipitor, – Thief of Memory’ by Dr Duane Graveline.

Could the lady with sore eyes have blepharitis? My signs are the exact same as your correspondent, diagnosed by my optician after several months of comparable symptoms. I also have no difficulty with prolonged distance vision but have blurred near vision which improves for the duration of the day. Warm compresses and eyelid washes have enhanced the signs substantially.

Dear Anon,

Thanks for becoming in touch. Several readers have advised blepharitis – as a attainable diagnosis that I will mention in the column shortly.

Dear Dr Le Fanu

My 93-year old mother has been scanning your column for as extended as I can keep in mind – she loves it in spite of the reality that she will take no medication and apart from “wobbly knees” is in rude wellness.

Have you ever discussed achievable remedies for blepharitis? I have had it for seven years and six-month to month journeys to the eye clinic just end result in the normal suggestions to clean lids and lashes, use hot compresses to try out and dissolve oil blocking ducts, and I have had two small “bungs” put it to attempt and stop moisture draining away. I use eye drops hourly during the day and gel at night. No one has actually advised me what the lead to is.

Absolutely nothing genuinely looks to operate and some days the eyes are so sore I can barely go through, other days they just feel as if I have been in a chlorine pool all day. I enjoy this is this kind of a trivial complaint compared to sight-threatening ailments and there is not much related study going on, so I believed I may well appeal to your wealthy supply of readers’ experiences for something which operates for them.

Ideal wishes

Dear Anon,

Thanks for becoming in touch and I am of course delighted to hear that your mom appreciates the column so a lot. I have without a doubt written about blepharitis in the past which can be identified by googling Telegraph On the web and seeking ‘Le Fanu, blepharitis, doctors diary’. It is, as you mention, a aggravating issue to treat. A number of readers over the years have commented how it would seem to improve with a typical daily dose of vitamin C – as in a glass of orange juice.

Dear Dr.

You mention Sarsaparilla what are the health-related positive aspects ?

Regards

Dear Anon,

Thanks for your query. Sarsaparilla, it is claimed can assist alleviate psoriasis and ‘other skin conditions’. It may also have anti inflammatory and diuretic properties with anecdotal reviews of its benefits in treating rheumatoid arthritis and fluid retention.

Mrs PB from Suffolk

Dear James

My wife has the exact same symptoms. They are due to the ‘dry eye’ syndrome which was confirmed by an ophthalmologist who prescribed a lubricant gel (Viscotears Liquid Gel) and Hypromellose eye drops which have helped a wonderful deal.

Yours sincerely

Paul P-J,

Dear Mr P-J,

Thanks for becoming in touch. I will be mentioning this in the column for the 20th May.

Persistent catarrh

Hi Dr Le Fanu.

Lately you have talked about the over with reference to a 3 month course of an antibiotic whose name I have forgotten (starts with E). Does this give a prolonged phrase or long lasting relief from the issue? A couple of months in the past I had a persistent cough and chest infection for which my GP prescribed this antibiotic with what I felt were good outcomes. The program was not the three month one particular you mentioned and did not have a everlasting impact. This is a dilemma which I have had most of my daily life and it would be wonderful to have what is left cost-free of the situation as I am nearly a pensioner!

Dear Anon,

Thanks for your query. The antibiotic is Erythromycin. You can uncover out more about the evidence for its efficacy in treating the signs and symptoms you describe by Googling ‘Anders Cervin, macrolide and rhinosinusitis’.

Itchy Nose

Dear Sir

Some time ago in your column you described an itchy nose as becoming a symptom of anything else. I would be grateful if you could remind me of what that is.

Yours faithfully

John R

Dear John R,

Thanks for your query. I did describe some time ago the situation of a man with physical exercise induced itchiness of the nose – that turned out to be due to angina.

Dr Le Fanu"s online well being clinic, Friday 9th May 2014