The health and fitness thread about random things

[Kim]

As were penicillin lozenges, over the counter without a prescription.  My mum once gave me a full tube of them and told me to eat as many as I liked. Sweet and lemony they were.

What is it with boomers and lozenges?

I once had an English teacher force-feed me one because I was having an asthma attack, thus confirming every prejudice I'd developed about language teachers' understanding of SCIENCE.

[T42]

As were penicillin lozenges, over the counter without a prescription.  My mum once gave me a full tube of them and told me to eat as many as I liked. Sweet and lemony they were.

What is it with boomers and lozenges?

I once had an English teacher force-feed me one because I was having an asthma attack, thus confirming every prejudice I'd developed about language teachers' understanding of SCIENCE.

Cheer up, he might have force-fed you Thomas Hardy.  And our physics master pronounced Poiseuille Pwaserel, showing that the converse is also true.

Anyway, MrsT & me had our flu shots this morning and nurse drew my blood for a couple of analyses I had outstanding.  Got the results by email this afternoon: all within normal bounds. 

[cycleman]

05.12 this morning and my compressed disc has gone into spasm again. I  can't move and the wife's sleeping through her phone. This could be interesting  :'(

[chrisbainbridge]

I have been on holiday with a rubbish mattress and 36 hours of low back pain. Thankfully it is easing now with diclofenac gel, tablets, paracetamol, massage and an ice pack.

[De Sisti]

Yesterday (Sat 18 Nov) I had another acupuncture injection session to reduce/ease/eradicate
the pain I am feeling in my obturator internus* area.

The pain is not as intense now, but I will probably have one more treatment, and continue with
the specific stretch I was given to do, and see how things progress.

*The pain is a result of the the radical prostatectomy operation I had in Sept 2022.

[cycleman]

Managed to survive till she who mustn't be obeyed arose. Now full of painkillers and bored stuck in here 

[T42]

Meanwhile, I have been troubled this last week or so by pain developing in both hips, not to mention big toes and thumb joints (not gout, according to analyses). It's worst when I get up and goes away gradually with movement.  A few days ago I looked up 'sitagliptin arthritis' and discovered a case where a bloke who'd been on the former developed the latter after 6 months. Uh-huh.  I'm on sitagliptin and PPI's so I did another search, for PPIs and arthritis, and came up with another gotcha.  It seems that sitagliptin and PPIs together might be an excellent recipe for joint misery, especially since 'severe joint pain' is listed in sitagliptin's possible side-effects.

Anyway, two days ago I cut the sitagliptin (I'm still on metformin so no fear diabetic comas) and halved the dose of PPIs (and after-lunch espressi), and the pain is receding.  I'll see my GP in a couple of weeks and negotiate a change of meds accordingly.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Saw the local GP yesterday.
So, he was perturbed by the lack of range of motion in my arm (can't even raise it to horizontal now).

It is definitely deteriorating.

He was surprised I hadn't had an xray; previous consult was over the phone and they just booked an ultrasound.

The bones feel to be in the right place to me, but given the original injury was from a blow, an xray seems sensible.

Then a referral to the hospital physio, who are more experienced with more major injuries.

[barakta]

Erk. Hope X-ray and or physios can help. Shoulders are notoriously tricky joints. I blame bad design.

[rafletcher]

Went to the dentist as one of my crowned molars has been a bit sore. Infection and bone loss all around the root, ”that’ll have to come out” says the dentist. Bugger.

[T42]

Been on the diabetic hyper/hypo roller-coaster since our 5k toddle this morning - reckon the cold burnt up available blood sugar and I over-compensated. Haven't felt right since.

[matthew]

Well, that will teach me for having a toffee, there goes a filling and guess what I am going to have to do in a hurry. 

[Regulator]

Woke up this morning and the eczema on my hands is infected.  That means another round of telephone consults with the GP to get some steroid+antibiotic cream.

[Paul]

It's not really horrible, but if you're a bit sensitive or, say, eating, you might just prefer a warning:

(click to show/hide)

Naval fungus! That's a new one to me. I'd been treating my sore, itchy belly button with hydrocortisone which calmed things down but didn't fix it. Turns out I needed an antifungal cream.

[rafletcher]

It's not really horrible, but if you're a bit sensitive or, say, eating, you might just prefer a warning:

(click to show/hide)

Naval fungus! That's a new one to me. I'd been treating my sore, itchy belly button with hydrocortisone which calmed things down but didn't fix it. Turns out I needed an antifungal cream.

I had something similar, but never identified despite swabs. My "inny" became a swollen and extremely sore and prominent "outy"  before equally mysteriously settling down, as a "flushy". Bodies eh?

[Regulator]

Woke up this morning and the eczema on my hands is infected.  That means another round of telephone consults with the GP to get some steroid+antibiotic cream.

No need for a telephone consult.  As this is a recurrent problem, I was told I could email the prescriptions team, asking for what I needed and they'd double-check with the GP it was OK to send out a prescription.  I sent the request from my NHS mail account and got a response about 15 minutes later.

[Paul]

It's not really horrible, but if you're a bit sensitive or, say, eating, you might just prefer a warning:

(click to show/hide)

Naval fungus! That's a new one to me. I'd been treating my sore, itchy belly button with hydrocortisone which calmed things down but didn't fix it. Turns out I needed an antifungal cream.

I had something similar, but never identified despite swabs. My "inny" became a swollen and extremely sore and prominent "outy"  before equally mysteriously settling down, as a "flushy". Bodies eh?

I suppose a "flushy" (an Action Man?) is better than a "shake-it-all-abouty" which is where I thought you were going 

[Beardy]

Day nine of anti-D meds reduction. I had the disassociation wobbles on days 3 to 5, but they went away mostly when I moved my dose time 3 to 4 hpurs earlier. The wobbles are back today. I’m supposed to reduce again on day 14 but because we (that is I) are driving to deepest Cornwall next week, Dr Beardy has suggested I postpone that reduction until we are home again. I think she’s right.

On the other hand, my mental state doesn’t seem to be changing in response to the reduction of mind altering drugs, but it might be a bit early for that yet.

[road-runner]

Does anyone recognise this problem? Mrs. road-runner is a piano teacher and in the winter she suffers from splits in the ends of her fingers and on her knuckles. She thinks she lacks vitamin D but taking vitamin D tablets does not resolve the issue.

[rafletcher]

It’s probably just the cold dry weather. Plenty of moisturiser it’s the key. We use either Norwegian hand cream or O’Keeffe’s.

ETA after reading Helly’s post below, neither of those are greasy except initially.

[T42]

I'd slap some collodion on those to keep the crud out first. Stings like a bastard but you grow to love it.

[hellymedic]

D gets similar.

Suggest gloves, moisturiser & possible judicious use of Vaseline.

I appreciate greasy fingertips are suboptimal in a pianist!

Also:
Reduce/limit the amount and frequency soap and detergents are used on the hands. 'Handwash' detergent like Carex is a pernicious degreaser and is very difficult to rinse off well enough to stop degreasing the skin. Bar soap will get inactivated by water of even minimal hardness but not truly soft water.
Rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse after washing.
Dry well with an absorbent towel. Blowers do not remove detergent remains.
Use hand cream or similar every time the hands are washed.
Keep the wind off the hands with gloves EVERY outing.

<Gratuitous sexism>
Now's the time to get your wife to make lots of buttery pastry with her bare hands.

Season's Greetings!

 

[chrisbainbridge]

As others have said, caused by cold dry conditions.  I am sure there is a proper dermatological term for it but who cares.

They are really painful as the depth of the wound takes ages to heal.

From practical personal and professional experience:

• buy some superglue and use that to seal the cut.  remember it needs to be dry at the edges but then needs some water to activate.  the gel version is best as it does not spread as much.
• Next, some thin cotton gloves or similar at night time with a good winter greasy hand cream to rehydrate the keratin.  In the morning it can be washed off.  This will probably improve the piano playing by restoring suppleness to the skin of the fingertips.

[tonyh]

And, fingerless gloves, as they can be worn nearly all the time, seem to have helped my fingers to stop splitting.

[Flite]

Husband and I get these frequently, not just in winter, due to getting hands cold and wet working outdoors.
As Helly says reduce use of handwash and dry carefully. Persist with the heavy duty moisturiser eg zerobase especially at night. Keep warm so the blood gets to extremities and keeps them healthy.
When the edges go hard and dry, they will not heal up - I  resort to trimming the hard bits off with scissors, but I probably should not recommend that! Then I completely cover them with small compeed blister plasters which keep the cuts from drying out and gives them a chance to heal. Husband uses tea tree cream and micropore, but that doesn't work for me.