May 15
Placing a wedge of rubber between the first and second toes may help but this needs a wide shoe to accommodate it. At operation, the bunion is removed, the bony overgrowths are shaved off and the joint is realigned. The toe becomes straight again and the joint is either fixed or floppy but this doesn’t [...] [...more]
Posted: under General health.
Tags: General health
Placing a wedge of rubber between the first and second toes may help but this needs a wide shoe to accommodate it.
At operation, the bunion is removed, the bony overgrowths are shaved off and the joint is realigned. The toe becomes straight again and the joint is either fixed or floppy but this doesn’t seem to interfere with function.
It takes some time before the foot is comfortable in a shoe but almost all who have the operation are pleased with the result.
Hammer toe is a condition which affects the second, third and fourth toes. It is usually due to overcrowding or to one of these toes, usually the second, being too long.
The toe becomes bent and the flexed joint sits up and, by rubbing against the shoe, develops a painful corn on the top. Operation to fillet the toe, taking out some bone, and shortening it so that it fits the shoe, gives a good result.
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May 15
Once the sample is collected, treatment can be started. Potassium citrate is used to render the urine alkaline. This can be given as Citralka, or as one of the newer tablets or powders that dissolve in water to form a pleasant fizzy drink. Like the old-fashioned barley water, these relieve the symptoms but do not [...] [...more]
Posted: under General health.
Tags: General health
Once the sample is collected, treatment can be started. Potassium citrate is used to render the urine alkaline. This can be given as Citralka, or as one of the newer tablets or powders that dissolve in water to form a pleasant fizzy drink. Like the old-fashioned barley water, these relieve the symptoms but do not cure the complaint.
Antibiotics are always necessary. The doctor will usually choose that which he thinks is the most suitable and await the results of the culture to see if he is right.
Antibiotics should always be taken for a full course of from five to seven days to deal with the bacteria completely. Patients should not stop the treatment just because they feel better. This applies to any infection when antibiotics are prescribed.
If the culture and sensitivity tests show that the bacteria causing the infection are insensitive to the antibiotic the doctor has chosen, it can be changed to a more appropriate one.
During pregnancy, the doctor must choose the antibiotic with care. Some antibiotics can affect the foetus and should be avoided.
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May 15
Unfortunately, dramatic and obvious improvements in treatment like these are rare. After the results in Hodgkin’s disease were published, the principle of using high dose combinations was applied to other types of cancer. A few types showed a similarly dramatic improvement in results but for many it was much less spectacular or nonexistent. For example, [...] [...more]
Posted: under Cancer.
Tags: Cancer
Unfortunately, dramatic and obvious improvements in treatment like these are rare. After the results in Hodgkin’s disease were published, the principle of using high dose combinations was applied to other types of cancer. A few types showed a similarly dramatic improvement in results but for many it was much less spectacular or nonexistent. For example, about one in three people with extensive breast cancer gain a remission with single chemotherapy drug treatment and their average length of life is about nine months. About two in three people get remissions with combination chemotherapy and their average length of life is about twenty-one months, none are completely cured. In cancer of the large bowel and most types of lung cancer, no combinations of drugs results in people living any longer, on average, than those who have no anti-cancer treatment at all. Combinations using the drug cis-platinum are far less effective against other types of cancer than they are against testicular cancer.
How have cancer specialists reacted to the fact that dramatic breakthroughs in treatment are rare and usually only apply to a few particular types of cancer? They have reacted by spending a lot of their own time and energy and a lot more of their patients much more precious time, energy, and comfort trying to prove very small differences between treatments. They look for differences that are ‘statistically significant’, that is, unlikely to be due to chance. ‘Statistically significant’ does not mean significant for people, as you will soon see.
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