The Parish Magazine May 2022

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32 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Parish</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> - <strong>May</strong> <strong>2022</strong> Please mention <strong>The</strong> <strong>Parish</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> when responding to advertisements For a helpful professional service FIELDSPHARMACY Wide range of health advice provided including private consultation area www.etsheppard.co.uk 01491 574 644 36 Reading Road, Henley-on-Thames RG9 1AG 1a LONGFIELD ROAD, TWYFORD RG10 9AN Telephone: 0118 934 1222 Fax: 0118 932 0372 Email: fields.pharmacy@gmail.com www.afjones.co.uk 0118 9573 537 33 Bedford Road, Reading, RG1 7EX Established in 1858 A.F. Jones Stonemasons Limited CHRIS the plumber I offer the same friendly, reliable service as always but in addition to general plumbing I now offer domestic and commercial gas work — boiler repairs, installations, fault finding, power flush. Repairs not covered by Homeserve? Speak to a tradesman, not a salesman! Emergency call out available Ask Chris Duvall for a FREE quote christheplumber75@gmail.com 0785 095 6354 3584769 57732 AF Jones <strong>Parish</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> Advert.indd 1 19/11/2014 10:43

HEALTH Dr Simon Ruffle writes . . . Atishoo! Bless you! Your chance of getting ill is least if you are born in the month of <strong>May</strong>1 (If you are born in New York) Commentary on the study suggests that the research needs to be widened. Diseases change throughout the year. <strong>The</strong>y are often environmentally driven with different parasites, viruses and bacteria enjoying different conditions. It is also driven by human behaviour. After a warm summer we all decide to hot house our children and cram ourselves into trains and tubes. Respiratory illness abound and stomach bugs have a feast. Washing hands, wearing masks and staggering your journeys or working from home have, unequivocally, shown to reduce transmission of pathogens.2 It needed a pandemic to show how irresponsible it is to go to work with illnesses. I know! It’s the economy, stupid.3 I wonder how many hours of lost work are created by ‘soldiering on’ and/or the need of proof of sickness driving people to seek NHS medical advice when not necessary. THE MOTHER OF INVENTION When the pandemic hit us, the rapidity of primary care service redesign to try to keep a service going, still affects our staffing numbers quite dramatically. My surgery very quickly, with our local Clinical Conditioning Group and other practices gained the ability to work remotely and online. In a moment of madness we also changed our whole system that was more conducive to working in tandem with other practices. ‘Teams/Zoom’ became the norm. We soon learnt of their frailties and the benefits which we will smooth out but it is early days. MOTHER NATURE FINDS A WAY Whatever we do, the planet and nature, finds its way to foil us. <strong>The</strong> disease that really kicks off at this time of year is absolutely necessary for life on earth but it makes one in four of us miserable to varying degrees — hay fever! We have no cure, we can only make some of the symptoms more tolerable: — sneezing and coughing — a runny or blocked nose — itchy throat, mouth, nose and ears — itchy, red or watery eyes — loss of smell — headache — earache —feeling tired — pain around your temples and forehead If you have asthma, you might also have a tight feeling in your chest; be short of breath, wheeze and cough TREATING HAY FEVER YOURSELF Hay fever will last for weeks or months, unlike a cold, which usually goes away after 1 - 2 weeks, and currently there is no cure and you cannot prevent it. But you can do things to ease your symptoms when the pollen count is high. — put Vaseline around your nostrils to trap pollen — wear wraparound sunglasses to keep pollen out of your eyes <strong>The</strong> <strong>Parish</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> - <strong>May</strong> <strong>2022</strong> 33 — shower and change your clothes after you have been outside to wash off pollen — stay indoors whenever possible — keep windows and doors shut as much as possible — vacuum regularly and dust with a damp cloth — buy a pollen filter for the air vents in your car and a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter — do not cut grass or walk on grass — do not spend too much time outside — do not keep fresh flowers in the house — do not smoke or be around smoke – it makes your symptoms worse — do not dry clothes outside – they can catch pollen — do not let pets into the house, if possible, as they can carry pollen indoors5 — Keep a link to the pollen forecast so you can plan your days.6 MEDICATIONS Simon Ruffle All commonly used medications for hay fever are available without prescription. You practice nurse or GP has little more to offer despite the NHS advice that your GP can prescribe steroid sprays, which are also available without prescription. During pregnancy some who suffer get better, others well, don’t ask! I have no idea who would be who! <strong>The</strong> normal therapies are safe in pregnancy, your pharmacist can advise. <strong>The</strong>re is a lot of talk about hay fever injections. Two different therapies are being confused. One is a long acting injection of a steroid into one of your big muscles. While effective these can open you up to infection, bone thinning, and a deficiency in your natural steroid production that can cause a problem with how you respond to illness; it can be fatal. <strong>The</strong> other is a repeated set of injections, known as immunotherapy which is becoming more available on the NHS but it is expensive in time commitment from patients and clinicians alike and referral is months. It is reserved for when other therapies have failed. Most failure of treatment is because we wait for symptoms to start. Once this has happened I’m afraid it is too late. <strong>The</strong> allergy response has started, the nerve endings and mucous membranes are already ‘primed to react.’ <strong>The</strong> best advice is to know when your own symptoms start in the year. Keep an eye on the pollen count and start eye drops, nasal spray and antihistamine before the symptoms are established. References: 1. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-your-birth-month-indicate-your-risk-of-disease/ 2. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(21)00003-0/fulltext 3. James Carville 1992 4. Plato (Republic circa 600 BCE) 5. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hay-fever/ 6. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/seasonal-advice/pollenforecast#?date=<strong>2022</strong>-04-03&region=se