Children need to be in the right mental state to learn effectively | Tony Draper

There is a crisis in mental health for young people. Services are operating in silos and they are not working for over-tested, overstressed young people. Much emphasis has been placed on teenagers with low self-esteem, with behavioural and emotional issues and how we can support them.

At Water Hall primary school in Milton Keynes, we believe in the need to identify and address these issues early to be able to implement intervention strategies as soon as possible.

Taking action early enables vulnerable children to rebuild their self-esteem and take responsibility for their emotions, behaviour and learning. The outcome will be that they re-engage with education, perform well and are confident and happy young people.

Water Hall primary serves the Lakes Estate in Bletchley, a disadvantaged area where external issues regularly affect children’s mental and emotional wellbeing. The school has used the Kaleidoscope programme for eight years. The support system enables children to forget the things worrying them at home or elsewhere when they are in school.

Seven different stages make up a Kaleidoscope session: relax, visualise, express, move, build, explore and affirm. A designated room is used for sessions for either small groups or one-to-one sessions. Interventions last six to eight weeks.

The programme is used in all classes every day. Each morning starts with a session enabling children to be in the right frame of mind to learn. Lights are low, relaxing music is played and children are taught various calming techniques that they can use anywhere.

Kaleidoscope has had an amazing impact on the children’s emotional and mental wellbeing and their learning. Exclusions have fallen, attendance and behaviour has improved, children have taken responsibility for their learning and results have shot up. Kaleidoscope works, it gives children the tools to enable them to raise their self-esteem, with the accompanying improved outcomes for the school.

Our work proves that unless the child is in the right place emotionally and mentally, learning will not take place, however good the teaching and leadership in the school.

Tony Draper is headteacher of Water Hall primary, chief executive officer of Lakes Academies Trust, and the immediate past president of the school leaders’ union, the National Association of Head Teachers.

Children need to be in the right mental state to learn effectively | Tony Draper

Simon Stevens" NHS gamble is probably the right choice - but price could be high | Richard Vize

The NHS plan for the next two years represents a perceptible contraction of the health service’s offer to the public.

The proposals in Next steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View, published on Friday, are shaped by shortages of money and staff.

Simon Stevens, the NHS England chief executive, has burned through much of his political capital in disputing government claims about whether the NHS has been given all the money it asked for, so this was not an opportunity to push for further cash.

So in the face of the unrelenting pressure of the government’s austerity programme and barely controlled hospital debt, he is gambling that politicians and the public will stomach longer waits for routine surgery if the health service can deliver better performance on cancer treatment, A&E waits, mental health services and GP appointments.

In the wake of slipping cancer treatment times and the recent outcry over the death of a child waiting for urgent surgery, this is probably the right choice. But the price could be high.

Allowing elective surgery times to slide over many years was what led to hundreds of thousands of patients waiting months for operations by the time New Labour came to power in 1997, elected partly on its pledge to slash waiting lists. It would be a serious blow if the NHS returned to the days of people dying while waiting months for heart surgery, and many more forced to endure avoidable pain and disability.

Access to some of the latest approved drugs is also to be delayed – in breach of a commitment in the last Conservative manifesto to speed up access.

Stevens is anxious to reassure the public that performance will not slide back to that of the 1990s, but it is difficult to see how growing waiting times will be arrested and reversed in the coming years.

The plan makes some brave assumptions about the ability of the NHS to expand its workforce, including 4,000 more nurses through improving staff retention – turning round a recent trend – and up to 2,000 more nurses returning to practice.

There is yet another pledge to increase the number of GPs substantially, despite little discernible progress. However, concerns are growing that staff shortages will be exacerbated by EU staff heading back to the continent in the wake of the Brexit vote.

More promisingly, the plan may well mark the beginning of the end of the internal market. It names nine areas being considered as pioneering “accountable care systems”, with NHS organisations and local authorities working together as an integrated health system.

These areas will have considerably more control over how they deliver their healthcare, and will be effectively freed from the endless focus on contracts rather than patients imposed by the purchaser/provider split.

However, doing so will require ever greater legal contortions to simultaneously stay within the law while circumventing it. This is a necessary bodge, as it will be years before anyone attempts another NHS reform bill, but these workarounds cannot be sustained indefinitely.

Everyone will now be working in Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, and NHS England makes clear that anyone who fails in their duty to collaborate can expect to be handled roughly.

In the absence of more money, the alternative to Stevens’ plan would be a steady atrophying of performance across the entire health service. Instead, NHS England is pushing forward on the key priorities of emergency care, cancer treatment, mental health and primary care, and allowing routine surgery to pay the price.

But many of its promises look optimistic, and there is a danger that the slide in surgical performance will eventually reverse years of progress.

For the time being this can be portrayed as a tactical move, but with austerity set to last well into the next decade, there is a risk that the NHS will cease to be a comprehensive service.

Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to read more pieces like this. And follow us on Twitter (@GdnHealthcare) to keep up with the latest healthcare news and views.

Simon Stevens" NHS gamble is probably the right choice - but price could be high | Richard Vize

MPs win right to challenge Victorian law criminalising abortion

MPs have won the right to introduce a bill to parliament which would decriminalise abortion for the first time by repealing a law that dates back to Victorian times.

A ten-minute rule bill introduced by Diana Johnson, the Labour MP for Hull North, sought permission of the House to change two sections of a law passed in 1861, before women had the vote. It succeeded by 170 votes to 142, a margin of 32.

Johnson argued that the law was unfair and inappropriate in an age when women can and will access abortion pills by post because they want to be able to terminate their pregnancy in the privacy of their own home.

As the law stands, doing so is technically punishable by life imprisonment under sections 58 and 59 of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act – both for the woman and for anyone, including a doctor, who help her.

Abortion is legal in restricted circumstances, which were laid down in the 1967 Abortion Act introduced by the then Liberal MP David Steel to stop women dying in large numbers as a result of backstreet abortions.

The 1967 legislation allows a termination before 12 weeks with the approval of two doctors and in the interests of the woman’s health. In rare circumstances including foetal abnormality, later abortions are permitted.

Johnson said in the debate that abolishing criminality need not change the current restrictions, which can be enshrined in regulations.

The new bill, which will be brought forward by a cross-party group of MPs, will be the first opportunity to rework the law on abortion since the 1967 act was passed.

MPs win right to challenge Victorian law criminalising abortion

MPs win right to challenge Victorian law criminalising abortion

MPs have won the right to introduce a bill to parliament which would decriminalise abortion for the first time by repealing a law that dates back to Victorian times.

A ten-minute rule bill introduced by Diana Johnson, the Labour MP for Hull North, sought permission of the House to change two sections of a law passed in 1861, before women had the vote. It succeeded by 170 votes to 142, a margin of 32.

Johnson argued that the law was unfair and inappropriate in an age when women can and will access abortion pills by post because they want to be able to terminate their pregnancy in the privacy of their own home.

As the law stands, doing so is technically punishable by life imprisonment under sections 58 and 59 of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act – both for the woman and for anyone, including a doctor, who help her.

Abortion is legal in restricted circumstances, which were laid down in the 1967 Abortion Act introduced by the then Liberal MP David Steel to stop women dying in large numbers as a result of backstreet abortions.

The 1967 legislation allows a termination before 12 weeks with the approval of two doctors and in the interests of the woman’s health. In rare circumstances including foetal abnormality, later abortions are permitted.

Johnson said in the debate that abolishing criminality need not change the current restrictions, which can be enshrined in regulations.

The new bill, which will be brought forward by a cross-party group of MPs, will be the first opportunity to rework the law on abortion since the 1967 act was passed.

MPs win right to challenge Victorian law criminalising abortion

The real quest of cancer treatment: dispensing the right mix of hope and reality | Ranjana Srivastava

“I just need a letter to say I am fit to fly,” he says, my young patient who has gone from being a paragon of fitness to needing a walking stick in a space of only two years. Today, he is on an unscheduled visit, promising not to stay long, not that I mind. I’m fond of him and have grown to admire the way in which his family has coalesced at a difficult time. His wife left her job, his pregnant daughter has moved in to help, and his two sons are always around for appointments.

But fit to fly? I’m alarmed.

Fly to where? He is pale and gaunt, his eyes magnified on a cachectic face. But his spirit seems valiant as ever, which sends me scrambling to wonder when we had discussed this impending trip, how it slipped my mind, and most importantly, why I had not encouraged it well before these final days of his life.

A flight from Melbourne to Sydney perhaps. Easy and short. Or further maybe, to Alice Springs – difficult but not impossible. Several times I have stopped palliative chemotherapy to honour a patient’s wish to take a trip.

“Where are you flying?” I ask.

“Asia.” he says, and I do a double-take. “They have curative treatment there.”

I should have guessed.

“There is this famous hospital where they give special therapy to kill cancers that have stopped responding to chemo. They sound amazing.”

Every oncologist spends time drawing a distinction between useful adjunctive therapies including reflection, meditation and exercise and dangerous extreme alternatives like exclusion diets and vitamin overdoses, but judging by his tone I calculate that my time would be more wisely spent trying a different approach.

“I am worried about you deteriorating while overseas in a country that has poor hospitals and no palliative care services. I’d hate for you to be stuck”

“I’ve spoken to them, they can fix me,” he says.

“They can’t fix you,” I gently respond. “I know this is really difficult but stay here and let us help you. At least give it some thought.”

Brandishing a manila envelope, he says, “The flight is booked, we leave tomorrow.”

Many retorts, pleas, and memories of misadventure cross my mind, still I hold my tongue, understanding that the measure of grief and the promise of hope amount to much more than the weight of my frustration.

“Doctor,” says my patient. “You have nothing further to offer me, please don’t block my way.”

We arrive at the impasse we had to have.

“I won’t change your mind but I can’t declare you fit to fly,” I say.

At this, I think of the times I have been called to assist ill patients on long-haul flights. Many were emergencies but some not. An elderly lady had felt unwell throughout that day’s dialysis and subsequently suffered an arrest on the plane. “Who cleared her to travel?” I plaintively asked her husband as she drifted in and out of consciousness.

Her situation had stressed hundreds of passengers, distracted the pilot, and put a nurse and me in the impossible situation of resuscitating a patient with bare resources and deafening noise.

I regard my desperate patient with something of my own desperation as I ponder my duty of care. Is it to my patient, reliant on me for a final morsel of hope? Or to all the unseen travellers who may be inconvenienced if by chance he falls ill on the flight?

To temper my pessimism, I remind myself of the grateful patients who didn’t succumb to my dire predictions. The breathless Greek patient who had lived his entire life in Melbourne but who got hold of oxygen and begged to die on home soil. The grandmother who decided that the only way she could make amends to her estranged daughter was to embrace her grandchildren who lived in Egypt. The patient who braved a trip to India by ingesting extra morphine and whose wife wrote to say his final weeks with his whole family had been the most consoling.

This man’s reasons were different but who was I to be impatient around, and judgmental about, people whose decisions departed from mine? So with my patient watching I write the most honest letter I can. It states his wish to seek treatment in a foreign country, my opinion that patients like him can deteriorate unexpectedly, and my sincere hope that he remains safe. He deems the letter fair; his family is clearly displeased.

I feel rattled until I hear that the flight was uneventful. But then the heartache continues because the treatment centre “took one look at him and told him to turn around and go back home”. Which he manages to do before plunging into further decline and succumbing to his illness a short time later in a trajectory that had been predicted.

In the ensuing months the family resists all contact, perhaps feeling angry and let down by all the people who failed their loved one. Meanwhile, the team, too, lacks closure and feels inadequate at not being able to prevent preventable suffering at the end of life.

We muse that perhaps the hardship would have felt worse had they not pursued this last avenue of hope. And maybe the only thing left to give a vulnerable patient is the gift of autonomy. These and other thoughts swirl in my mind, no doubt to be tested in the case of another patient and another patient after that, with every outcome testing and unsettling in its own way.

So many advances in cancer, so many protocols, but still missing is the protocol that says, dispense just this much fact, mix just so much optimism, offer precisely this much warning, infuse just so much hope and things will turn out fine.

For doctors, it’s about how to stand up to – and stand by – our patients to give them the very best of medicine but shield them from the worst. For patients – when to question their own discussions and when to place their trust in ours.

On many days, this seems to be the impossible quest.

The real quest of cancer treatment: dispensing the right mix of hope and reality | Ranjana Srivastava

Abortion in Pakistan: struggling to support a woman"s right to choose

Sonia woke up in dingy room with searing pain in her stomach. All she remembered was being accompanied by her husband to a clinic for an ultrasound. She’d recently found out she was pregnant; her husband had often been abusive and didn’t react well to the news. Today was supposed to be different: he insisted on going to the clinic so he could see the scan and Sonia hoped that reflected a change of heart.

However, slowly Sonia realised she had been drugged and given an abortion without her consent at a private clinic. It took years for her to come to terms with the violence she suffered.

Islamic scholars permit an abortion within 120 days of pregnancy in Pakistan. But despite this framework for permitting abortions, health professionals are reluctant to carry out the procedure. Many women resort to ingesting drugs, using sharp objects, or physically abusing their body resulting in long-term health complications. In 2012, an estimated 623,000 Pakistani women were treated for complications resulting from induced abortions. In Sonia’s case, her ex-husband was able to pay an unqualified provider to conduct a procedure she hadn’t not consented to. Her story highlights the danger to women’s health when the only option for is an unhygienic facility clinic with untrained staff.

In such dangerous circumstances, who is filling the gap? Saba Ismail, co-founder of the Pakistani women’s group Aware Girls, launched an abortion hotline in June 2010.

Aware Girls has received US Aid funding in the past but now will have to depend on grants from European foundations after President Trump reinstated the global gag rule which prohibits US funding to NGOs which provide information about abortions.

“We have not heard any donor withdrawing our funding on this basis yet, but we will become automatically ineligible for US Aid and other state department grants on this basis, and that’s the challenge,” says Ismail. “We fear that Trump’s decision will affect Pakistan because any organisation, hospital or clinic working on abortion will not be able to get any US funding.”

A woman told us to stop talking about abortions or contraceptives and instead educate women on how to be better wives

Saba Ismail, co-founder of Aware Girls

US Aid spent $ 54.1m dollars funding family planning and reproductive health in Pakistan in 2015 and Marie Stopes International, the family planning NGO which receives funding from US Aid says that its work in Pakistan over the past decade has “averted 4.6 million unintended pregnancies, 1.9 million unsafe abortions and 6,000 maternal deaths”.

Aware Girls provides an anonymous toll-free service called “Saheli” (Urdu for “friend”) to educate on abortions and contraceptives: “When we first launched the helpline we were told that we were promoting murder; that abortion wasn’t about choice but about murder. This stigma and taboo is what bothered us the most.”

Over the course of six years Ismail and her colleagues have faced harsh criticism and threats. “In the beginning we started with 30 calls a month and now we average about 180 calls,” she says. “This is because we went into the communities and spoke to women about their health informing them about the helpline. At one of the events a woman approached me, identified herself as a representative of the Taliban, and told us to stop talking about abortions or contraceptives and instead educate women on how to be better wives to their husbands.” This didn’t stop her, although threats forced them to temporarily close down for six months in 2014.

Ismail’s helpline follows the World Health Organisation’s guidelines on safe methods of abortions that can be performed at home for women under nine weeks pregnant. Misoprostol, a drug used to induce abortions, is available over the counter in many countries including Pakistan because it is also used to prevent stomach ulcers. Ismail’s staff asks women to provide details about their health and verify the length of the pregnancy, and takes them through the process of abortion.

“People think that most women that call us are sex workers or unmarried women. While we do not judge and only ask reasons for abortion for our research purposes, I can tell you that the we get a large diversity of calls. From women aged 17 to 50, women that are married, who have recently given birth, who already have a lot of children and even women who have been raped by their own family members,” Ismail recalls the story of 21-year-old Sameena who was raped by her own cousin and was refused help at a hospital.

An extensive women’s health report conducted in 2012 found that of the 9 million pregnancies in 2012, 4.2 million were unintended; 54% of these unintended pregnancies resulted in induced abortions and 34% in unplanned births.

I attend to calls even when I am in a family gathering, in a funeral or anywhere, I never miss a single call

Tahira Khan, helpline counsellor

The vast majority of the helpline’s calls are about abortions, only 4% of the callers ask about contraceptives. Nonetheless, each caller receives information on the use of contraception. The contraceptive prevalence rate is low in Pakistan – out of a population of more than 190 million, only 35% of women aged 15–49 use it. The reasons for this range from lack of sex education and awareness, and the fact that contraception is still considered a taboo and, in some places, seen as a western concept. Last year, Pakistan banned advertising for contraceptives.

The counsellors on the helplines are young women with no medical background who are trained with the WHO’s clinical handbook [pdf] on safe abortions. Tahira Khan says the helpline has now become more than just a job: “This hotline is a part of my life now, I attend to calls even when I am in a family gathering, in a funeral or anywhere, I never miss a single call, I always call back. When I help women, I feel satisfaction and happiness. Before starting counselling, I thought I could never do it, but with the passage of time, I am now an expert.”

The hotline has received over 25,000 calls so far and this is increasing by the day. Ismail’s organisation can only help women who are under nine weeks pregnant, but in some cases they have to provide referrals for surgical abortions at selective clinics that conduct these procedures under hygienic and medically approved conditions.

Ismail is determined to continue her work but she knows she is treating a symptom rather than a root cause. “My fight is against the taboos that tell women that their bodies aren’t theirs,” she says. “Unless women are seen as human beings who have a choice and right to their own body nothing will change.”

Some names have been changed.

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Abortion in Pakistan: struggling to support a woman"s right to choose

Hitting the right note: the orchestra helping stroke survivors recover – video

Strokestra, a pioneering collaboration between the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Hull integrated community stroke service uses group music-making to drive recovery in stroke survivors. Patients try out instruments, listen to and play alongside world-class musicians. With funding from Hull Public Health, the pilot programme involved 50 patients and carers and ran from May to October 2015. This is their story

Hitting the right note: the orchestra helping stroke survivors recover – video

Amazing Immunity Building Juice You Have Got To Try Right Now

Amazing Immunity Building Juice You Have Got To Try Right Now

Sen. Richard Pan Declares California Has the Right to Raise Your Children

 California SB-18

The welfare of others is the same excuse that all tyrants give.  On Dec. 5, 2016, Sen. Richard Pan introduced SB-18, a Children’s Bill of Rights.  SB-18 is the sequel to SB-277, California’s mandatory vaccine law.  Both SB-18 and SB-277 were authored by the notorious Sen. Richard Pan.  If it becomes law, SB-18 will dramatically affect parental rights.

My office now litigates to halt SB-277.  Remarkably, the judge ruled against us based only on unsubstantiated “hearsay” documents from CDC.  These CDC documents were authored by nameless, faceless bureaucrats – who were free from the laws of perjury – and whose dubious scientific theories were never tested under cross-examination.  Nevertheless, the judge blindly accepted these CDC documents along with all the bogus assertions therein.  (Our case is now on appeal; for more info, visit RevoltRevokeRestore.com.)

If it becomes law, SB-18 will allow the state to legally kidnap your children.  Parents will be vulnerable to losing physical and legal custody of their children based on the same fairytale CDC publications that were presented in our SB-277 litigation.  The Healthcare Holocaust that began with SB-277 will continue in earnest under SB-18.

Analysis of SB-18

SB-18 would apply to all California children, including homeschoolers.  SB-18 declares seven childhood rights, below set forth, to be implemented by 2022.

(1) “The right to parents, guardians, or caregivers who act in their best interest.”

To act in a child’s “best interests” refers to parents who vaccinate their children in strict adherence to all CDC vaccination schedules.

(2) “The right to form healthy attachments with adults responsible for their care and well-being.”

The term “healthy attachments with adults” refers to the children’s attachments to CPS case workers – who will be responsible for raising California’s children under SB-218.

(3) “The right to live in a safe and healthy environment.”

The term “safe and healthy environment” refers to households in which all residents are fully vaccinated in accordance with CDC schedules.

(4) “The right to social and emotional well-being.”

The term “emotional well-being” refers to mandatory psychotropic drugs – e.g., Prozac, Ritalin, Zoloft, Zyprexa, Xanax, Abilify, etc. – for all children K through 12.

(5) “The right to opportunities to attain optimal cognitive, physical, and social development.”

The term “cognitive, physical, and social development” refers to autism-related therapies, which will be necessary for the 1-out-of-6 children projected to have autism by 2022.

(6) “The right to appropriate, quality education and life skills leading to self-sufficiency in adulthood.”

The term “appropriate, quality education” refers to Common Core.

(7) “The right to appropriate, quality health care.”

The right to “quality health care” expands the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) by requiring parents to purchase supplemental healthcare coverage for their children.

Legal Advice – Resist Now!

Tell everybody you know – resist medical tyranny now!  Just say “NO” to forcible penetration of your children’s bodies!  If enough people stop vaccinating, then we can crash the system financially.  Hit ‘em in the pocketbook!  Go convert a pro-vaxxer today!  Remember, it’s totally possible to convert pro-vaxxers; by contrast, they never convert us!

If you call yourself a vaccine truth warrior, then take to the streets!  Go stand out in front of CVS or Rite-Aid and hold-up a big cardboard sign that reads “Vaccines Kill Babies!” or “Abolish All Vaccines Now!”  C’mon!—pretend the custody of your children depends on it!!

~~T. Matthew Phillips, Esq. (Dec. 16, 2016)

[For more info, please visit:  RevoltRevokeRestore.com]

 

Sen. Richard Pan Declares California Has the Right to Raise Your Children

Bridging the divide: how can the NHS get collaboration right?

In a time of austerity and strained budgets, it has never been more essential for the NHS to get partnerships and collaboration right. Every day, clinical teams save lives – and if the NHS is to survive and thrive, it must draw on this collective strength. Yet collaboration can be patchy among the higher echelons of the NHS, with many potential partners complaining of the health service’s seeming inability to work effectively and courteously with others.

Would the NHS be in a different place if health leaders had, over the past 20 years, facilitated collaboration in the same way they had done for competition? That was one of the questions from the floor at a seminar hosted by the Guardian and supported by business solutions and technology company Brother.

In front of an audience of invited healthcare professionals, an expert panel, chaired by the Guardian’s public services editor David Brindle, discussed and debated the gaps in healthcare provision in the UK, as well as if – and how – they could be solved by more effective partnerships. Could the health, social care and voluntary sectors work more closely together, how might this be achieved and what would it mean for patients?

Fragmentation means duplication and duplication costs money; we can’t afford that

David Hare

“We too often dish out lazy cliches about different sectors and different parts of the system, whether it be the private sector describing the public sector as inefficient or the public sector [describing the private sector] as ethically questionable,” said David Hare, chief executive of NHS Partners Network, which represents independent sector providers of NHS clinical services. “For the patients, some of those divides are false. Even within the NHS we’ve had divides between primary care and secondary care, physical health and mental health. The future has to look at how to integrate and bring all that together for the service user. If you have that fragmentation, you have an element of duplication; duplication costs money and we can’t afford that in the current climate. We have to work our way through this.”

Integration, or joined-up working, has long been the buzzword of choice among professionals in both health and social care. But years of talking have brought few benefits for the social care and voluntary sectors, which continue to be the “poor relations” of the NHS, according to Grainne Siggins, policy lead at the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) and director of adult social services for the London borough of Newham. “There are different cultures across health and care and we shouldn’t underestimate the impact of that in terms of trying to work collaboratively and as partners across a whole system,” she said. Asked if the picture was improving, she replied that it wasn’t, adding: “You’ve only got to look at the approach to sustainability and transformation plans [five-year plans for the future of health and care services in local areas] to see that equality wasn’t important in that partnership.”

There are chinks of light in the gloom, however – areas where improved collaboration is beginning to happen. Take Manchester, where powers and responsibilities for health and social care, among others, have been devolved from national government. John Patterson, a GP and clinical director of of Hope Citadel Healthcare, says people now understand that wellbeing is about a range of factors, including health, housing, friends and diet and that healthcare and social care must reflect that. “A housing officer with 30 years of experience can’t be replaced by an app,” he said. “We need to find out how to get that experience and compassion into the health system. How do we get the experience of a community matron into the social care system? The thing I love most about Manchester is that here we’re trying to do that with and through people.”

Another positive associated with “Devo Manc”, he added, is that people are brave enough to try new things. “We were one of the first organisations in the country to get double-badged workers. We had a care navigator that had a council badge and an NHS badge – somebody who would walk between worlds, find the sickest people and help them the most.”

It’s not so much an austerity issue as about doing the right thing for people

Anu Singh

Anu Singh, director of patient and public participation at NHS England, pointed out that the challenge she faces is that people see partnerships as an accounting trick or something that is about saving money. Instead, she said, people needed to realise that traditional models of healthcare hadn’t worked and hadn’t met the needs in the community. “We’re trying to work differently with localities because we know that if we don’t get housing right – if we don’t have people helping with social isolation – this will add to the pressure on care and things will continue to spiral out of control,” she said. “It’s not so much an austerity issue as about doing the right thing for people.”

She recalled how one GP had told her that when a patient came to him in the past with mental health problems, they would prescribe prozac; now, they can help that patient get a job. She believes this example highlights how the NHS can work differently and more effectively. “As always with health, you have innovators and policy people trying to pull strings in different directions,” she said. “People know we’ve not quite got it right so far – I don’t think all the parts have come together before – but the time is now.”

This was a point that Dr Mahiben Maruthappu, a London-based doctor and social entrepreneur, agreed with. He said that the challenges were social, demographic and economic – and that the frontline and national decision-making bodies were not aligned. “I think the vision in the Five Year Forward View still stands – we need a radical upgrade in prevention, better integration of services, and to overcome fractures between primary and secondary services.”

He also explained how technology could save cash while enforcing a better quality of service by being “an enabler” of healthcare that can support doctors, nurses and patients. “We always ask how the health and care system can be more sustainable – if we allow patients to identify and manage their conditions better, that’s going to relieve a tremendous amount of pressure.”

The panellists agreed that the patient or service user must be at the centre of all decisions and Singh admitted that patients could get “pushed around clinical pathways” in the current system. “If the health service is going to be more sustainable, we need to shift that paradigm,” she said.

A question from an audience member about whether there was too much focus on external partnerships and not enough on bringing a “highly disillusioned” workforce into decisions then prompted the panel to discuss healthcare staff.

Singh said she learned the difference between how those on the frontline and policymakers think when she was trying to introduce a scheme to help clinicians empower patients: “What seemed obvious to the policymakers seemed alien to a lot of the clinicians we were talking to.” Talking initially to those involved in care, to see if they had a solution, is key, she said.

Maruthappu, a doctor himself, pointed out that clinicians work in partnership every day – in multidisciplinary teams made up of doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and more. He suggested that the model be amplified and replicated higher up.

Siggins, meanwhile, highlighted the importance of getting clinicians involved in social care. Now that local authorities have taken over responsibility for commissioning a range of public health services, GPs need to be involved in conversations, she said: “It’s our job to support GPs so we can support people coming into the system.”

All panellists recognised that the current work climate is a difficult one for everyone – but will this strain drive people working in the health, social and voluntary sectors apart? Hare acknowledged the danger, but pointed out that this has only made collaboration more necessary. “We’ve got no alternative. We’re going to have to do things differently. There isn’t going to be a magic pot of money.”

Maruthappu agreed: “Healthcare is a team sport and we need to embrace that far better than we do at the moment.”

At the table

• David Brindle (chair), public services editor, the Guardian
  


• Dr Mahiben Maruthappu, co-founder, NHS Innovation Accelerator
  


• Anu Singh, director of patient and public voice and insight, NHS England
  


• David Hare, chief executive, NHS Partners Network
  


• Grainne Siggins, policy lead, Adass, and director of adult social services, London borough of Newham
  


• Dr John Patterson, co-founder, Focused Care scheme
  

Bridging the divide: how can the NHS get collaboration right?

The emotional life of men: "you"ll be right" isn"t enough anymore | Louis Hanson

I love my father. He’s kind and caring.

He grew up in a rural family of boys. He learnt from his father, who in turn learnt from his father, that expressing emotion didn’t coincide with his maleness. Not only was vulnerability not a choice, it just wasn’t an option. Things were left unsaid. The masculine ego left seemingly fortifiable. They were a generation of men strong and powerful but emotionally detached.

When I was 18, I started to feel tired. It was this unending languor, clouding my emotions, hiding my motivation and affecting my concentration. I felt permanently drunk. At the same time, I started to become uneasy; butterflies in my stomach and panic became the norm.

“You’re in the middle of a major depressive episode,” my psychologist told me during my first appointment. Here, I cried for the first time. At 18, I realised that I had perfected the art of hiding, concealing, and building the perfect facade. As a male, I felt, vulnerability wasn’t an option for me.

“You need to learn how to talk to your parents,” she said. I didn’t know how to do that. At this point, I recognised that I had never properly learnt how to access my sadness, let alone to verbalise this to my family.

It was awkward to tell my father that I wasn’t okay. At first, he struggled to access his own emotions with me. It took a lot of learning, from both sides, to communicate with one another as we’d both been groomed not to speak. When I needed him, though, he was there for me.

A close friend of mine recently told me that he had been feeling sad. We were in my car; I had started taking anti-depressants at this point. “One could say it was depression,” he half-smiled, still unable to confirm it for himself. He seemed tense. He told me that he’d gone through bursts of sadness for years, even though he had no reason to feel this way. It was true; he was well liked, had a large network of friends, had done very well in school and had a promising career. From the outside, his life seemed perfect. Sometimes, though, a reason doesn’t need to exist. Together, in that car, we were silent wanderers, guided by our unknown concerns.

Initially, he told me, he could only talk about the black cloud when he was drunk and refused to think about it when he was sober. He thought the black cloud would pass. He was too embarrassed to talk about his sadness. He never dared to tell his family; it made him feel uncomfortable. Besides, he had a carefree reputation to uphold; to him, weakness was prey.

He told his mates down at the pub after our encounter in the car, about his bursts of sadness. His mates paused. They were visibly awkward. “Oh, that’s weird,” said one of them, before they pushed the conversation aside. This bruised my friend’s confidence. His sadness was merely swept under the rug from then on, and this made him more confused.

It’s not necessarily his friends’ fault, though. We have taught, and are continuing to teach, young boys in Australia that emotion is not okay. We are teaching young boys that intimacy between one another should be feared. They are taught that this would make them seem gay. Subsequently, to combat this inherent homophobia, the thought of two males in a close friendship must be humoured and justified within society in order for masculinity to be maintained. In a society where women value the bonds between each other, why doesn’t the same apply for men?

This mentality ultimately extends into adulthood, perpetuating a culture in which manliness does not seem to correlate with the sharing of emotion. At this point, it is important to note that suicide is roughly three times higher in Australian males than females. Why is it that we wait to speak about a man’s depression until it is too late? Reaching out and valuing our male friendships shouldn’t need to be accompanied by a joke. Alas, we have truly grown up into a society in which males fear sharing emotion with one another.

So, for the boys who are afraid to embrace emotion and for the boys who feel with no tears, let’s rid the fear of talking. For the men who feel silenced and for those who have already succumbed to their black cloud, let’s discuss the importance of emotion. For my friend shunned by fear and for my own 18 year-old self, let’s talk about mental health and anti-depressants. Let’s just talk. To speak of pain is to overcome struggle, and to advocate the truths of those still ostracised by the screaming mask. It’s this open and honest dialogue that is helping so many. It’s helping me.

As someone who takes anti-depressants, I’ve come to realise the importance of emotional vulnerability within such a hyper-masculine culture that prides itself on strength and invincibility. Let’s ask boys and men alike how they are feeling, behind the performance. There is strength in susceptibility, too.

“You’ll be right” isn’t enough anymore. No one deserves a black cloud.

The emotional life of men: "you"ll be right" isn"t enough anymore | Louis Hanson

Partially sighted people do need help, but only the right kind of help | Letters

Thank you for publishing the excellent piece by Annalisa D’Innella (How I see it, G2, 14 November). Like Annalisa, I have retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and last year decided to ask for mobility training to retain some independence. I benefited from the teaching of a superb and extremely patient rehabilitation officer, Pat, who was responsible for a boost to my confidence and morale.

I am fortunate: I have a very supportive husband and family, kind and understanding friends. I live in Leeds, where the city council strives to protect services, despite severe cuts in central government funding. Disability discrimination legislation, now subsumed in the Equality Act 2010, has given us an entitlement to equal treatment in many areas of public life. Despite this, my enquiry about the possible provision of a large-print copy of the lunch menu in a well-known restaurant was greeted with barely concealed amusement. I appreciate the kindness of strangers: the many people who stand aside for me, the supermarket checkout operators who scan our goods efficiently at the pace at which we pack, the patience of bus drivers.

I agree with Annalisa’s opinion that we need to work on awareness raising among the general public, such as the current RNIB campaign. Well-intentioned people are sometimes anxious to help without keeping to the golden rule of asking if help is required – taking hold of my arm in an attempt to guide me, whether or not I have shown any hesitation. On one occasion a man approached my husband and me when we stopped at the top of a flight of stairs so I could assess it, locate a handrail etc. He instructed me to “Give him the stick”, presumably regarding it as unnecessary clutter!

For 40 years the charity now known as RP Fighting Blindness has raised funds and commissioned research projects; ophthalmologists are involved in the search for treatment and hopefully eventually a cure will be found for RP. I am optimistic about the future!
Sheila Lawless
Leeds

Partially sighted people do need help, but only the right kind of help | Letters

Are you treating a hematoma the right way?

Can you recognize a hematoma in your body? Do you know how to use home remedies to treat a hematoma correctly? Learn more about definition, symptoms, causes, complications and home remedies in this article.

What is a hematoma?

A hematoma is a formation of collected blood out of blood vessel which appears when the wall of a blood vessel, vein or capillary has been injured. There are variety of position that may have a hematoma such as subdural hematoma, intracranial epidural hematoma, spinal epidural hematoma, ear or aural hematoma, subungual hematoma (under the nail) and more.

How can I know a hematoma?

Signs and symptoms of a hematoma are various that base on position and type of the hematoma. In general, some common symptoms consist of headache, pain, weakness, discoloration, loss of bowel control if it is an epidural hematoma, swelling and redness. If you have a subdural hematoma, your symptoms are probably weakness on one side, easy to falling, confusion, seizures. What’s more, if your affected position is too large that can appear a necrosis.

Why I get a hematoma?

There are many reasons that lead to a hematoma. Trauma is the popular cause of a hematoma. When your tissue is affected by an injury the blood vessel is damaged and blood might clot. Therefore it will form a hematoma. On the other hand, due to surgical intervention, dental procedures and injection of medications blood vessels are damaged and appear hematoma around the site of procedure. However, a hematoma happens spontaneously without cause or specific trauma.

Beside, there are many medications which perhaps prolong healing process. They are aspirin, vitamin E, ibuprofen, Motrin, Aleve, Plavix. Therefore, you should ask your doctor carefully before you take these medications.

Otherwise, pelvic bone fractures and menstruation can cause a hematoma.

What are complications of a hematoma?

The most common complication for all type of hematoma is infection due to poor blood supply. Moreover, the affected area is too large and severe in the legs you might be easy to get an amputation if no blood flow return.

How to treat a hematoma

Treatment of a hematoma belongs to the position, symptoms and status of the hematoma. For a mild hematoma you can use some home remedies such as:

– Rest: Get an immobilization to avoid further injury which affect to the hematoma.

– Ice: ice packs are the best way to reduce pain and swelling for acute injuries. Wrap ice packs into a clean towel then put on the hematoma for 20 minutes each time, repeat 4 to 8 times a day to get effective.

– Elevate: put your legs above your heart level to prevent blood flow to that site and help ease the hematoma’s dimensions.

– Lavender oil: Add a few drop of lavender oil into a cold water bowel then stir it. Apply on the hematoma area by a clean towel with that mixture. Lavender oil has multiple functions with our body such as reduce inflammation, soothe pain, prevent skin irritation. Know more about lavender oil here: Lavender Oil – The Oil of Health Benefits

– A warm compress: The appropriate temperature for warm compress is 37 to 40 degree Celsius. This is good for recovery because it helps dilate the blood vessels to increase the circulation. However, you might consider that this do not use for treat a hematoma in the early onset.

– Turmeric powder: this is common herbal which be used in almost Asia countries. Potentially, turmeric powder helps reduce inflammation and infection. You can take a pinch of turmeric powder and dissolve in a glass of warm milk and drink once per day. You are actually happy after using this solution. Read more health benefits of turmeric here: 10 Benefits of Turmeric that You Might Not Know About

These are some home remedies to treat a hematoma at home. If you applied for a few days it could not reduced then you should seek a medical attention.

Resources:

https://authorityremedies.com

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8138636

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26770417

More by Jenny Heth:

Are you treating a hematoma the right way?

The Tories lurch left and right without a clue where they really stand | Gaby Hinsliff

If Ed Balls didn’t have the medium of dance through which to express his feelings, he might be forgiven for wanting to punch a wall right now. So perhaps we can expect a more than usually vigorous turn from the former shadow chancellor on this week’s Strictly Come Dancing. Imagine the frustration of losing a seat last May, only for some of your political thinking to live on, also in May. Theresa May, that is.

This has been a depressing, frightening week in UK politics; a time when genuinely ugly things have been said, then half-unsaid, but not forgotten. But it’s the worst possible time for progressives to abandon hope. May has not lurched right, or left, or towards the centre ground. She’s done all three.

She’s moved left into the kind of borrow-and-build, state-led economic strategy that Balls would recognise, and into an anti-fat cat rhetoric Ed Miliband absolutely did recognise, judging by his single sardonic tweet in response to hints of a clampdown on energy prices: “Marxist, anti-business interventionism imho [in my humble opinion]”.

But she’s also moved sharply rightwards on immigration, something Labour agonised over in the last parliament but couldn’t bring itself to do, even though it was clearly what many working-class voters wanted.

And all the time she’s talking of what she calls the “new centre ground”, although centre of gravity is perhaps closer to the mark; not some balanced ideological midpoint between left and right, but the great confusing expanse of political territory where those labels stop making sense, because public opinion seems to be left-ish on some things (believing big business must be screwing them over) but right-ish on social issues. And if that looks confusing and contradictory from the outside, imagine how it feels on the inside.

This week has revealed a government still interestingly unsure of its ground

May was right to point out this week how many politicians and journalists were wrong about Brexit. But her attack on the dreaded leftie liberal elite disguises the fact that they certainly weren’t alone in getting it wrong. Plenty of outers didn’t see victory coming either, judging by private conversations in the run-up to the referendum, and nor did many of May’s current cabinet.

Not long ago the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was earnestly telling us how Brexit would hurt the NHS, and Amber Rudd was socking it to leavers in the TV debate. What a difference a referendum makes. This week Hunt, an instinctive internationalist whose wife is Chinese, was trumpeting plans to train more British-born doctors instead of importing them – prompting a furious row over whether foreign doctors are being tacitly encouraged to leave.

Rudd, a socially liberal ex-journalist, meanwhile suggested companies be forced to publish data about how many foreign staff they employ. In a country happily relaxed about immigration, that might have sounded more pointless than sinister. In the current climate, she was accused of being one step away from handing out yellow stars.

And yes, it’s scary stuff. But it also falls apart surprisingly quickly when prodded, and therein lies the ray of hope: this isn’t a cabinet of racists. It’s a cabinet peppered with people terrified of being exposed as closet liberal elitists, clumsily second-guessing what people they’d once have regarded as racists think, only without the instinctive feel that true believers often have for when they’re going too far. Push back hard enough, and they give surprisingly fast.

Within hours, May was clarifying that she didn’t actually want to send any foreign-born doctors back, while Rudd was on radio explaining that her plan wasn’t necessarily going to happen – and the odds, given the instant backlash from business, are certainly against it. (When ministers asked firms to publish minimal and anonymised data about male and female salaries as part of its equality strategy, the furious complaints about red tape and unfair bad publicity nearly killed the plan. If they’re that afraid of a little light feminist critique, imagine how chief executives feel about ending up on some far-right hit list of supposedly “unpatriotic” businesses reliant on Romanians.)

If Rudd wants to see how divisive this idea might prove in the workplace, meanwhile, she could simply look down the cabinet table. Boris Johnson was born in New York, lived there until he was five, and until last year held dual American and British passports. Should May have hired a homegrown foreign secretary? Or should we be embarrassed to live in the sort of country where anyone would raise that question?

The damage is done now, of course. Some people will have heard the dog whistle all right, but missed the dogs being called off later. Sadly, those who have felt unwelcome here since June may simply feel more so. But the whole episode reveals a government still interestingly unsure of its ground, precisely because much of this isn’t naturally its ground; it’s still feeling its way in circumstances most ministers didn’t anticipate.

That means it can be shamed, it can be reasoned with, and now its defences have been tested properly its weak spots are more obvious – as are the places where arrows ping helplessly off its armour. And Labour ought to know, because it’s been there.

There was more than a whiff of Blue Labour – the economically leftwing, socially rightwing, heavily nostalgic movement that was fashionable for a while under Ed Miliband – about May’s agenda this week, and that provides some interesting clues as to where it might get unstuck. Team Miliband liked Blue Labour’s ideas on economic justice but balked at their awkward, uncomfortable messages on immigration (with the arguable exception of Balls, who was raising concerns over freedom of movement back in 2010).

Judging by the wild applause for every mention of Brexit in Birmingham, and the silence when May promised to protect workers’ rights, Red Toryism has a similar problem in reverse. But if the 2015 election result is anything to go by, cherrypicking the easy bits and ignoring the harder ones doesn’t work; like trying to dance a waltz without a partner, people can see something’s missing.

Trying to keep both ideologically warring halves of the package together, however, is like trying to waltz with someone who’s trying to make you dance the Charleston. Blue Labour excelled at capturing what angry voters thought, but could never quite turn it into coherent policy. Judging by last week, the Red Tories are about to find out how that feels.

The Tories lurch left and right without a clue where they really stand | Gaby Hinsliff

Top 8 Bad Habits That Damage Your Hair You Should Avoid Right Now

Both men and women love to have shiny, strong and healthy hair that helps reflect one’s personality. People have looked for centuries for ways to maintain their hair healthily. Many people have naturally luxurious locks whereas a few people complain of hair troubles such as hair loss, brittle, and dull hair, as well as lifeless hair. Basically, health problems and genetics have a huge impact on your hair’s health. Apart from that, there are many habits you are doing daily that can damage your hair. To know what they are, continue reading my article. Let’s check out!

1. Have A Poor Diet

Your diet not only has a direct impact on the skin health but also on the hair health. To keep healthy, hair requires various minerals, vitamins, and proteins. Therefore, it is important to take a healthy diet to keep healthy hair. According to a study published in 2002 in Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, it has a relation between hair loss and nutritional factors. The study indicates the role of protein, essential amino acids, serum zinc and iron for hair growth. Thus, it is vital to add protein, iron, and vitamin E –rich foods to your daily diet to have healthy hair. In addition, you need to include some types of food containing trace minerals such as copper and zinc.  Keep in mind to avoid following a severely restrictive fad or crash diet, because it can cause nutrient deficiencies that can lead to thinning, hair loss, and brittle and dull hair.

2. Avoid Stress

Stress is also one of the top bad habits that can damage your hair. Stress affects both one’s physical and mental health. It can even lead to hair loss. According to a study published in 2007 in the American Academy of Dermatology, stress can lead to dermatologic problems, such as brittle nails, acne, or even hair loss. During stress, the effect of neuropeptides, neurohormones, and neurotransmitters may influence the hair follicles’ cyclic activity significantly. Therefore, to prevent hair loss and combat stress, it’s advisable to do a few simple stress-buster exercises, practice deep breathing, and meditate.

3. Wash Too Much

Over washing is also one of the top bad habits that can damage your hair.  If you use too much shampooing on the hair, it can remove the natural moisture from the hair and dry it out, leading to breakage. It is advised to wash your hair thrice a week. Wash your hair every 2 days if you are sweating or using many products. Remember to use the proper shampoo for your hair texture and type as well when washing because this will help add body, moisture, and beauty to the hair. Besides, people often mishandle the wet hair. After you wash, the protective cuticle is raised slightly, leaving your strands more vulnerable to breakage and fragile. Thus, you must stay away from aggressive towel drying.

4. Take Hot Showers

Another bad habit that can damage your hair is taking hot showers. Everyone should take a shower daily to keep good hygiene. But taking long, hot showers can cause huge damage to the hair because the heat can strip away the natural oil (serum) of your hair, leaving the hair become brittle and dry. This can make the hair more likely to falling out and breakage as well. To enjoy healthy hair, you need to take a shower with lukewarm water for 10 minutes, twice or thrice a week only. Then, you use cold water to lock in moisture for a final rinse because this will make the hair appear healthy and shiny. After showering, with the help of a soft towel, pat dry your skin and avoid rubbing the hair rigorously. Finally, let the hair dry on its own and don’t use a blow dryer.

5. Infuse Hair With Chemical Products

Nowadays, many people depend on commercial shampoos, serums, gels as well as other hair styling products to keep their hair healthy. But many products with harmful chemicals can cause great damage to the hair and are not good for your hair. For example, hair dye has chemicals like ammonia and hydrogen peroxide, which can cause hair loss and thinning hair. Shampoos contain DHT (dihydrotestosterone) is another harmful chemical that can cause hair loss. Hair relaxers have sodium hydroxide, which can cause a scalp infection and weaken the hair at the same time. In fact, avoid applying harsh chemical-based products on your hair. Instead, you should use herbal products and natural homemade hair dyes and hair masks. They are not only inexpensive but also safe for your hair care.

6. Tight Hairstyles

Tight hairstyles can cause hair breakage and hair loss because they put excessive tension on your hair follicles and weaken the roots. Wearing extensions and weaves also have the same effect. Director of Cosmetic and Clinical Research in Dermatology at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NY City, Dr. Joshua Zeichner describes that traction for a long time may cause inflammation at your hair roots and cause hair loss as well. It is advisable to follow a looser hairstyle, which is healthy and comfortable for your hair.

7. Lack Of Sleep

When you have a good night’s sleep, it will leave your mind fresh after getting up. An enough sleep is also necessary to keep your scalp and hair healthy. Otherwise, lack of sleep results in unhealthy damaged hair leading to hair loss. Also, this helps keep you stress-free, which in turn helps keep your hair healthy.

8. Swim In Chlorinated Water

A great activity to help you stay healthy and fit is swimming. It isn’t good for the hair if you swim in a chlorinated pool. In pools, there are more than one hundred chemical byproducts using chlorine as a disinfectant. The byproducts aren’t good for your health and hair as well. In fact, the buildup of chlorine in the hair can cause it to become fragile and frizzy. Chlorine can also fade away the natural oil covering hair shafts, which lead to loss of flexibility and shine, and making the hair more prone to breakage. Thus, to enjoy healthy hair, you should avoid this bad habit.

In fact, keep yourself a little careful and enjoy beautiful hair.

Guest Post by Hang Pham

Author Bio:

This guest post is by Hang Pham, a blogger with over 10 years of experience on searching the best natural home remedies for problems related to health and beauty.

Top 8 Bad Habits That Damage Your Hair You Should Avoid Right Now

7 Things You Can Do Right Now To Help Your Depression

Depression affects an estimated 350 million people globally.  For some, depression is a fleeting condition, and for others, it is a constant battle.  Depression can be “mild” or it can be so severe that the sufferer becomes suicidal.  Even mild depression can greatly diminish a person’s quality of life.  Not only that, but depression can interfere with a person’s ability to do everyday tasks, such as go to work, take a shower or care for their family.

There are ways to fight depression, but it isn’t easy.  In some cases, treatment centers for depression are necessary.  Here are seven suggestions that can help you get out of the downward spiral:

1.   Talk To Someone

Sounds simple, but most people with depression have a tendency to keep their problem to themselves.  It’s important to discuss how you feel with people you trust, and also with your doctor.  Your doctor can give you additional suggestions for dealing with depression. It shouldn’t necessarily be the first course of action unless the individual is suicidal or so depressed they can’t function.

2.  Start Exercising

Yes, this isn’t easy to do when fatigue and a lack of motivation are in the way.  Exercise is one of the most powerful antidotes for depression, though.  It can begin helping you feel lighter, more energetic and more positive right away.  It will take some determination to make it a habit, but you can start right now by getting up, stretching a little and taking a brisk walk around the block.  Yes, you may feel like going back to bed, but you did it.  Do it every day.  Incorporate some strength training, cardiovascular or yoga into the mix for even better results.

3.  Find A Support Group

Again, this requires getting out of the comfort zone a bit, but depression is a lonely place to be.  It can really feel as though you are the only person in the world suffering, but it isn’t true.  By interacting with others who have the same problem you do, you will feel better and not so isolated.

4.  Eat Healthier Foods

The foods you eat do impact your mood.  Too much sugar and caffeine may give you a quick boost, but it will be followed by a crash that can leave you feeling even worse.  Avoid sugary foods.  Stock up on foods high in protein, and lots of veggies.

5.   Inpatient Depression Treatment Centers

If depression is severe and won’t respond to other treatments, treatment centers for depression may be the answer.  You don’t have to just live with depression.  It can be a debilitating illness that keeps you from living your life.  Treatment for depression can help, and can provide the relief you need to get back to living.

5.  Write It Down

 Start keeping a journal.  You don’t have to write a novel, just jot down your thoughts.  Other options are list journals and art journals.  Writing is therapeutic, and can improve mood when done on a regular basis.

These are just a few ways to help fight depression.  Get plenty of support and take care of yourself.

Resources :

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/

7 Things You Can Do Right Now To Help Your Depression

3 supplements to give right away for a concussion

Three supplements to give right away if your child sustains a head injury or concussion

Both of my sons have played competitive and contact sports for many years.  They also have sustained more head injuries and concussions than I would like.

Over the course of time and as a nutritionist I learned that there is more you can do than just rest and avoid TV and video games (although those steps are very important too!).

My son was recently in a roll over car accident and thankfully all three in the vehicle were wearing seat belts. He said that if they weren’t they most likely would have been ejected.

But it got me thinking of what I would do right away if he did sustain a head injury.

I am currently putting together an herbal/nutritional first aid kit for both of my sons (yes, they are thrilled…sarcasm) and it will include the ingredients I have listed here in their first aid kits.

With kids back in school it also means kids are back into their sport activities so I hope you find this helpful should the need arise.  It may be a good idea to keep these items on hand.

This is by no means meant to replace medical care after a head trauma but rather in addition to.  Always discuss these options with your doctor, especially if on medications.

But here are some supplements that can provide the tools to allow the brain to begin to heal.  These are not “cures” but rather they are used to optimize brain health for healing.

Here is a good starting place if your child sustains a concussion, even a mild one.

Homeopathic Arnica Montana: While traditional medicine is very skeptical in regards to homeopathic remedies, this is one that I keep in my son’s sport bags and is the first thing I reach for when a head injury occurs.  There are other homeopathic remedies for head injury side effects but this should be in your first aid kit to reduce swelling and inflammation due to the trauma.  Use it as soon as you can but it can also be used for head injuries that have occurred even months prior.

When using homeopathic remedies, it is best to consult with a specialist who is trained to work with them.

Otherwise, to keep on hand for these emergencies, I purchase Boiron brand Arnica Montana 200 ck. You can usually find this at Whole Foods or your local health food store.  Dose out 5 pellets every 15 minutes if you can but neither water nor food should not be consumed 15 minutes prior nor 15 minutes after so you may have to dose out more than every 15 minutes in those first few hours. Ideally just get as many doses in as you can. Do not touch the pellets-just pour them from the vial cap into your mouth.  Let them dissolve under the tongue.  After the first 24 hours you can start to space the doses out and give the pellets 3 to 5 times daily for the first week.

While others continue to be skeptical, I have seen great results with homeopathic remedies so I do use them in certain instances.

Curcumin (from Turmeric): This compound has been shown to have neuro-protective properties and has been shown to be beneficial in rehabilitation from brain injuries.  Giving Curcumin can result in a significant reduction in neuro-inflammation.

For a brand I like Terry Naturally Curamed 750 mg. capsules and I would give one to two three times per day for the first several days following the trauma.  There are other reputable brands out there but I have seen positive results with this product in my clients and so I stick with what has been effective.

High dose fish oil: Studies show that animal’s receiving fish oil after a head injury for 30 days had a greater than 98% reduction in brain damage compared with the animals that did not receive supplementation.

For a head injury I would give an immediate high dose of fish oil that contains 1 gram.   There are many contaminated fish oil products to be wary of. Also avoid farmed salmon and only consume wild caught Alaskan salmon for your fish oil dose or consume sardines (I like Wild Planet brand)

Start with a high dose for the first 1-2 weeks and then reduce the dose. Depending on the research the range can be from 4 grams of combined EPA/DHA to 10 grams.  Take 3 grams three times per day for the first week. I know that is a lot of fish oil but this is short term only.

For the second week reduce that to 3 grams two times per day. After week two it depends on how you are feeling as to whether you should continue on the high dose or reduce the maintenance dose.  Once you are feeling better, reduce the dose to 3 grams every day.

Always take your fish oil with a meal that contains fat.  If you are eating a low fat diet you will have difficulty reaping the benefits from the fish oil.

There are many more supplements that I would suggest for a head injury but this is a good place to start within the first few hours after the impact.

In addition to that, the diet should be clean, meaning free of sugar and processed foods.  Provide plenty of healthy fats such as avocado and it’s oil, quality EVOO, raw nuts and seeds, organic protein sources and plenty of organic leafy greens, vegetables and fruits.  This is not the time for sugar, candy, soda, fast food and frozen meals.  These are inflammatory foods. Avoid any foods with toxins for now so if you can buy all organic during this time that is the best choice.  Otherwise, choose your organic foods following the clean 15/dirty dozen guide provided by www.ewg.org.  The goal is to reduce brain inflammation and provide optimum conditions for healing.

While some are able to return back to their normal routine within weeks, others may have long lasting side effects from their concussion such as ADD symptoms, fatigue, confusion, forgetfulness, anxiety, depression and more. If you or your child needs more nutritional support during the healing process, please contact me or your holistic health professional.

Sources

Chapman, E., Weintraub, R., Milburn, M. et. al. Homeopathic Treatment of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury:

A randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled trial.  Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 14, 6,

Dec. 1999, 521-542.

Ji, S. (10/1/14) How Whole Turmeric Heals the Damaged brain.  http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/how-whole-turmeric-heals-damaged-brain-1

Mercola, J. (2/9/14) Fish Oil Cited in Dramatic Healing After Severe Brain Trauma.  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archives/2014/02/09/fish-oil-brain-health.aspx

Wu, A., Ying, Z., Gomez-Pinilla, F. Dietary Curcumin counteracts the outcome of traumatic brain injury on oxidative stress, synaptic plasticity and cognition.  Exp. Neurol, 2006  Feb., 197(2):309-17  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16364299

www.brainhealtheducation.org

Karen Brennan, MSW, CNC, Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition (candidate), author of the E book Tru Foods Depression Free Nutrition Guide; How Food Supplements and herbs can be used to lift your mood and owner of Tru Foods Nutrition Services, LLC believes in food first when addressing the root causes to your health conditions.  For more information, visit her website at www.trufoodsnutrition.com

The information provided is meant for educational purposes only. As a nutrition professional, Karen Brennan does not treat, cure nor diagnose.

3 supplements to give right away for a concussion

"Feed a cold, starve a fever" could be right, scientists find

The traditional advice to “feed a cold and starve a fever” might have an element of truth, say scientists.

Research shows that the old adage appears to be based on sound science when a fever is caused by bacterial infection.

Scientists put the folk wisdom to the test using laboratory mice with bacterial and viral infections. They found that mice with flu – like the common cold, caused by a virus – were helped to recover and survive when they were fed. In contrast, feeding animals infected by bacteria only hastened their death.

The lead researcher Prof Ruslan Medzhitov, of the Yale School of Medicine in the US, said: “We were surprised at how profound the effects of feeding were, both positive and negative.

“Anorexia – not eating – is a common behaviour during sickness that is seen in people and all kinds of animals. Our findings show that it has a strong protective effect with certain infections, but not with others.”

In the first of a series of experiments, mice were infected with listeria bacteria, a common cause of food poisoning. The animals stopped eating naturally, and eventually recovered. However, when they were made to eat, they died.

Sugary food was the culprit, the researchers discovered – the mice survived when they were fed protein and fats but no glucose.

A similar study of mice infected with the flu virus showed an opposite effect. In this case, the mice lived when they were force-fed glucose, but died when they were denied food.

Giving the animals a drug called 2-DG, which prevents glucose metabolism, saved the listeria-infected mice but proved fatal to those with flu.

Further research indicated that the different outcomes related to an interplay between metabolism and the immune system.

“Almost everything we know about infection is based on immune response studies and looking at how the immune system eliminates pathogens (harmful agents),” said Medzhitov. “But that’s not the only way we defend ourselves. There are also cases where we change and adapt so that microbes don’t cause harm.

“Our study manipulated the ability of these mice to tolerate and survive infection without doing anything that had an effect on the pathogens themselves.”

His team is now looking at how changes in sleep behaviour during illness influence the way the immune system fights infection.

The researchers also want to investigate why people sometimes display food cravings when they are sick.

The findings, published in the journal Cell, have implications for the design of clinical trials evaluating the benefits of nutrition to patients with sepsis, say the scientists.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by a response to infection that damages the body’s tissues and organs.

Medzhitov said: “Sepsis is a critical problem in hospital ICUs [intensive care units] that defies most modern medical approaches. A number of studies have looked at nutrition in patients with sepsis, and the results have been mixed. But these studies didn’t segregate patients based on whether their sepsis was bacterial or viral.

“The implication is that patients should be stratified by the cause of their sepsis, and trials should be designed based on that.”

"Feed a cold, starve a fever" could be right, scientists find

Increase Your Mood Right Now: Effortless Methods to Cease Sugar Cravings

Have you ever wondered if sugar could have an result on your mood?

I noticed that most members of my family would grow to be irritable, emotional, anxious, frustrated, and cranky when we hadn’t eaten. It also appeared we would have much more Include symptoms with a significantly less than perfect consideration span. Could a drop in blood sugar be to blame?  When I asked my children’s pediatrician if my sons continual need to consume his anxious and cranky disposition could be connected to sugar consumption she mentioned, “It’s normal for kids to need to have to consume every single number of hours,” or “every child reacts negatively to sugar.” So, I in no way believed something else. Retrospectively, it appeared sugar was obtaining a profound impact on him and on all of us.

Sugar inflames the physique suppresses the immune method and prospects to a lot of autoimmune ailments.  Sugar also causes hormone imbalances, interferes with the absorption of essential vitamins and minerals and spikes triglycerides, which can cause cravings for much more food.  It can also influence insulin production, and result in  issues, hyperactivity, enhanced brain fog, and fatigue, and affect cognitive perform. It also causes chromium deficiency (which leads to hypoglycemia).

For my son, hypoglycemia  was surely causing some of his mood symptoms.  Hypoglycemia is a condition that occurs when a person’s blood sugar (glucose) is too low which comes soon after an preliminary spike.   Some of the other symptoms of hypoglycemia consist of: headaches, aggression, blurred vision, anti-social behavior, sugar addiction, faintness and depression.

I later identified that these of us with allergic reactions, such as foods allergic reactions, food intolerance’s/sensitivities, can be closely connected to hypoglycemia due intestinal inflammation and the effect they can have on blood sugar (ie, from adrenaline surges after consuming) and vitamin and mineral amounts. Get magnesium for instance, one particular of the most crucial minerals for a healthful brain and stable mood. “We have also considerably sugar in our diet plan today, and it takes 29 molecules of magnesium to digest 1 molecule of sugar, this sugar overload eventually prospects to a magnesium deficiency.”  Hyla Cass, M.D., explains in her guide, Supplement Your Prescription: What Your Physician Does not Know about Nutrition, that many anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs could also deplete magnesium and calcium in the entire body, doing work towards natural healing.

I also discovered that medication used to deal with mood issues and psychostimulants like Ritalin could not only lead to seizures, tics, hallucinations, headaches, insomnia, development concerns, decreased appetite, addiction, malnutrition, heart valve weakness, kidney and liver problems, they can also trigger blood sugar destabilization, and/or significant fatigue.

It all began to make sense. So what can we do to quit people cravings for sugar?

1. Deal with possible Food Sensitivities. These meals intolerances could be causing inflammation and possessing a direct influence on your blood sugar amounts.


2. Cook Nutrient Rich Food items. Growing essential nutrient intake supports a healthful brain. Consuming total meals and keeping away from refined carbohydrates processed meals can considerably increase your mood and cease people violent mood swings.


3. Eat Protein. Everyone talks about how we need much more dopamine and serotonin, which typically translates into a lot more medicine. Even so, if we appear at the physiology behind how neurotransmitters are manufactured in the 1st area, most of them rely on an adequate intake of protein. As a result, it’s essential that we consume an adequate provide of protein everyday. Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, which assists signal to the brain that you are complete and helps to quit cravings.


4. Snack smarter. Head to the cabinet or fridge for treats manufactured with genuine fruit, pure honey, actual maple syrup or blackstrap molasses.  They not only ward against sugar spikes, but are total of healthy nutrients the brain wants. Or, grab a handful of nuts or seeds as an alternative.


5. Get Sleep.  Research displays that rest affects the component of your brain that controls willpower. “Not sufficient shut-eye tends to make you more impulsive and can fuel addiction,” So if you’re short on rest, you will very likely uncover it more difficult to resist temptation.


6. Eat Fermented meals and get Probiotics. Meals like sauerkraut and pickles include many normal probiotics which assist increase the mood. Bacteria and yeasts feed on sugars. If your balance of bad bacteria is large relative to excellent bacteria, your sugar cravings will be truly extreme. And eating too considerably sugar feeds people poor bacteria, so it will get to be a downward cycle. Plenty of individuals have found that when they consume fermented food items and/or take a top quality non-dairy probiotic their sugar cravings go away.  In addition, research suggests that younger grownups who consume much more fermented meals have fewer social anxiousness signs. “Probiotics in the fermented food items are favorably altering the setting in the gut, and changes in the gut in turn influence circumstances this kind of as social nervousness.


7. Drink Water. You might sometimes think that your entire body is asking for sugar, when in fact it is dehydrated and actually craving water.


8. Enhance Healthful Excess fat Intake. Meals substantial in Omega-3 fatty acids such as fish, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts and avocados nourish the brain and support beat cravings.


9. Have loads of Greens &amp Sea Greens. Consuming foods wealthy in minerals not only boosts brain electrical power, but can lessen your craving for sugar. Minerals are “energy nutrients” and with no ample mineral shops – our entire body seeks other sources. Eating foods larger in zinc, magnesium and chromium like green beans, broccoli, nuts, seeds and mushrooms can assist to battle hypoglycemia and end these cravings.


10. Consume meals that Stabilize Blood Sugar Naturally.  Out-of-management sugar levels can be reined in and regulated with the correct foods. So make positive to consume plenty of cinnamon, chia seeds, turmeric and ginger, fennel seeds, apple cider vinegar and cherries.

To understand much more about alleviating depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder Add/ADHD, mood-swings, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and autism without the side-results of medication, please discover me at  www.healingwithouthurting.com or download my award winning guide Healing with out Hurting (2014).

Increase Your Mood Right Now: Effortless Methods to Cease Sugar Cravings

Lymphatic Drainage: How To Detoxify Lymph Nodes? Right here Are 7 Simple Approaches!

The lymphatic program, or lymph method as it is also called, is a method created up of glands, lymph nodes, the spleen, thymus gland and tonsils. Lymphatic program is essential for each tissue fix and controlling irritation in most organs of the human entire body. The improper drainage of the lymphatic method, outcomes in an impaired immune system, or even tumors in the lymph nodes.

Detoxing your entire body is straightforward as lengthy as you know ways to tap into your lymphatic technique. A healthier glow comes from the within out. Even the fluid in the eyes is lymphatic fluid. The cleaner your are inside, the brighter and clearer your eyes will be.

7 Natural Approaches To Aid Detox Your Lymphatic Technique

Avoid soda

Trash the color-laden sports activities-drink, and drop the sugary fruit “juices” that are more sugar than fruit. These sugar, shade, and preservative-laden beverages add to the currently overloaded perform your lymph program should take care of.

Drink Water

Your body demands water to keep hydrated to preserve your lymph fluid flowing properly. A good rule of thumb is to drink six to eight glasses of filtered or purified water a day and ditch sodas, sport drinks, and commercially offered sugar-laden fruit juices.

Herbal Teas

Certain herbs this kind of as astragalus, echinacea, goldenseal, pokeroot, or wild indigo root have the confirmed capacity to support cleanse the lymphatic method and can be drunk routinely to aid with the detox procedure.

Stay away from Nylon &amp Polyester Clothes

Opt for all organic fibers that let the skin to breathe, such as cotton, hemp, wool, or silk.

Castor Oil

just apply a castor oil pack to the lower abdomen. Get a cotton cloth folded in many layers and cold-pressed oil castor oil. Saturate the cloth in oil and apply it to the skin. You can depart it on overnight. The castor oil pack will boost circulation of lymphatic fluids, decrease inflammation and improve your digestive method.

Breathe Deeply

Breathe not only into your chest, but down into your stomach. It will assist you continue to be much more in a yogi-like standing, calmer and less reactive, and deeper breathing will also aid your lymph fluids stay moving.

Nuts and Seeds

Eat raw, unsalted nuts and seeds to energy up your lymph with ample fatty acids. They contain: walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, macadamias, Brazil nuts, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds.

Extra sources:

alldeepmassage.com

lahealthyliving.com

shop.wellnesscenter.net

bodyenlightenment.me

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Lymphatic Drainage: How To Detoxify Lymph Nodes? Right here Are 7 Simple Approaches!