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Gastric Banding Procedures – Are They Safe?
For people who are morbidly obese, and for whom conventional weight loss methods are no longer effective, weight loss surgery is something that might be considered. One of the most popular of these procedures is the gastric band, not to be confused with the gastric sleeve. There are many reasons as to why this one is so popular, not in the least because it carries very few risks and because insurance companies usually provide coverage for it. However, just because it carries few risks, doesn’t mean it carries no risks at all. It is important for you, if you are considering the procedure, to be aware of these risks so…
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Why we should all be taking Vitamin D supplements.
Do you take Vitamin D supplements? If you are, well done! If the answer is no, then maybe you should take a few minutes to re-evaluate this and add Vitamin D to your shopping list. Because if the latest findings from a government commissioned health report is to be believed, we all need a little dose of sunshine added to our lives and diets. (You can read about the report on the BBC website here.) We get our Vitamin D from sunshine and from good balanced diets that contain items like oily fish, eggs and red meat and liver. But these days, sunshine is in short supply, even in Summer…
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Quitting smoking – A personal story
As someone who has never smoked a single cigarette it is quite easy to stand in judgement, telling other people, from those who chain smoke, to those who just enjoy an occasional social drag, why it is that they should quit. But I feel that would be both sanctimonious and pious, and frankly, I am neither. I do however, have a personal story of someone who used vaping as a way to give up smoking after a 30 year addiction that had seen him smoke more than 30 a day, every single day, and that it the story of my husband Peter. I’m really proud of him,and believe that his…
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When a loved one has Dementia
One of the most heartbreaking things you can ever face in life is the reality of knowing a loved one had Dementia, and is no longer the person you know and love. Trying to cope with the fact, and choosing the right thing to do for both you, your wider family, and the person living with the dementia is difficult, with the care and safety of the sufferer being paramount, but trying to balance that with the feeling of guilt if you have to admit you can’t cope alone is hard and painful. I speak from experience. It is now 18 years since my grandmother died at the age of…
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Hospital Blunders – The Horrifying Truth
It has recently been revealed that at least 340 blunders are occurring on NHS maternity wards every day and over 300 ‘never events’ are happening yearly in UK hospitals. These hospital blunders and medical negligence cases have led to significant illness and injury and even loss of life. Pryers Solicitors have recently published their own infographic which details some of the horrifying cases of medical negligence that they have been involved in. It makes for harrowing, and shocking reading – you put your life in the hands of professionals and really don’t expect to be left in a state that is worse than when you entered hospital. But these cases…
