Doctor's View on eCigs

Electronic cigarettes UK

What Dr Dennis Gage thinks about the health benefits of electronic cigarettes



So perhaps the time has come for you to switch to electronic cigarettes. They are far cheaper and will not cause all the ill health that tobacco does.

So for e cigs, cartomisers and electronic cigarette accessories in the UK visit http://www.morecig.com

Patient Story: Barbara Howard on Shoulder Surgery

Shoulder surgery used to be a real challenge. It is now much better.

What Are Electronic Cigarettes

Although they have been around for 2 or 3 years, it's only in the last few months that electronic cigarettes have become known to many people. On first reading the name does seem a bit illogical. 'Electronic? Really?  Sounds painful to be honest' is a not uncommon reaction.

So what are e-cigs, as they are also known? Well they are a replacement for the traditional tobacco based product. They are electronic because they run off a battery. They provide a dose of nicotine when 'smoked' without all the harmful carconigens in normal tobacco smoke.

Typically your e-cig comes with a mouth piece, battery and cartomiser. A cartomiser is a combination of a cartridge with fluid and a battery powered atomiser which turns the liquid into an inhalable vapour.

This short video explains it further


So it's thought to be far healthier to smoke the electronic version rather than tobacco. Fair enough. But the really good news for smokers is that the electronic version is far, far cheaper. So you can get all the enjoyment you want at a considerable discount. Shopping around it's not hard to find a great electronic cigarette deal.

At the moment the electric version is not covered by the anti-smoking laws. So you can 'light up' inside at work, pubs, cafes etc and avoid illegality. Even better if you are a reasonable person (as most of us are) the exhaled 'smoke' is basically just a harmless vapour with no smell. Ideal!

You can find more about electronic cigarettes at http://www.morecig.com. Visit today.

It's hayfever season

It is that time of year again. Yes hayfever season is here.  Warm weather and sunshine is fantastic but it does have a downside for some people.

Hayfever is am allergic rection to various grass and plant pollens. It typically causes runny noses, watery eyes, sneezing and a general degree of unpleasantness. Listen to this NHS consultant physician explain more.



There are various remedies to treat hayfever with anti-histamines being the stalwarts.

Best idea is to see your GP for advice

Medical Humour From Mock The Week

Laughter is the best medicine as the old saying goes. Here are those wags from mock the week with their suggestions for unlikely health questionnaire questions.



They definitely made me laugh with some of the great one-liners. If you've got any medical jokes you want to share please add them into the comments below.

Placebos Still Used In The UK

It seems the days of placebos being given by doctors are not behind us according to a study just published by the Universities of Oxford and Southampton. They did a survey of 800 doctors picked at random and discovered the vast majority had used placebos at least once.

It seems it is a grey area as the GMC has no position on it. In the survey around two thirds of doctors had no problem with the use of placebos and one third thought it unethical.

One of the commoner placebos used are antibiotics for a viral sore throat. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses but patients think they do and feel better.

The fact that placebos work shows how important the brain is in our health. When we think we are being treated and will improve, we do. Brain chemistry alters and releases various natural chemical including pain killers. 

Will You Be Asleep During Your Op?

Operations are a fact of life for many people and millions are performed each year with great success. The vast majority are done under a general anaesthetic i.e. totally unconscious.

The process should be straightforward. An injection sends you off to sleep, a gas keeps you asleep and you wake up at the end when the gas is turned off. Many operations need full muscle relaxtion so the surgeon can do a proper procedure. To achieve this muscle relaxants are given. They stop all the muscles from working.

Anaesthesia In Action

However if there is a problem with the gas that keeps you asleep there is a risk you may be awake, unable to move and feeling the whole operation.

A recent study found 150 patients in 2011 who reported being aware during their operation. Out of the millions of operations carried out it's a tiny number but should be totally preventable. The trouble is that the true number may be much higher as there have been few studies looking for awareness. Hopefully that will change.

IVF Until 42 On The NHS

Fertility problems affect thousands of couples. Often it is related to age. The unpalatable truth is that after 35 fertility drops off rapidly so help such as IVF is more likely to be needed.

Until now IVF was only available on the NHS until the woman was 39. Older than this and couples had to seek private treatment, which needless to say is very expensive.

About IVF

However the National Institute for Health and Clinical excellence has just issued guidelines increasing the upper age limit to 42. This gives hope to thousands currently not allowed NHS treatment.

Although of course they are only guidelines and there is no guarantee that health authorities will implement them nationwide.

Do Very Low Calorie Diets Work?

Obesity is a major problem and getting worse. Being so overweight has many health implications from the mild to potentially fatal.

When you are fat a lack of energy and increased tiredness are common. Everyday activities are harder. Sleep is poor often with snoring. More seriously problems such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease are commoner. They all shorten life so are best avoided.

Many struggle to lose weight and are attracted by very low calorie diets. These typically allow no more than 600 calories a day for weeeks and even months. But are they healthy?

A study at Newcastle put overweight patients on a very low calorie diet for 8 weeks. The results were impressive. Not only did they all lose plenty of weight, their health markedly improved.

Blood pressure levels dropped significantly and amazingly type 2 diabetes was not only far better controlled but medications were able to be reduced. It seemed the body reset itself and started to correct the insulin problems that cause type 2 diabetes.

So perhaps a short sharp low calorie diet followed by healthy eating at normal calorie levels will become the treatments of choice for obesity and its' complications.

Time To Run Marathon?

Many of us want to get fitter. One of the more tiring ways is to run a marathon.

Of course if you do it as part of an effort to raise money it is a bit easier. Along with the aches and pains you experience as the miles build up is the psychological warmth of knowing you are doing a good thing and helping others.

Paris marathon anyone?

If you are going to undertake the task then maybe it is better to do it somewhere with nice views as you go round. Paris is a beautiful city and they have a marathon usually a week or two after London.

With it being so difficult to gain entry to the London marathon a trip to Pris is a great back-up plan.

Does Being A Vegetarian Lower Your Heart Attack Risk?

For years vegetarians have claimed that their diet is much healthier and good for you. Now scientists at Oxford university have just published a study looking at the vegetarian diet.

After studying more than 40,000 peoples health records they concluded that the risk of heart disease is around 33% less in vegetarians compared to carnivores.

 Easy Falafel

They produced figures for the risk of death or serious heart problems of 6.8% for carnivores and 4.6% for the rest. These were reached after adjusting for all the other well known factors such as smoking, lack of exercise,alcohol, sex, age and social class.

The presumed reason for the difference is the lower obesity levels in vegetarians and beneficial effects on blood pressure and blood cholesterol of a vegetarian diet.

So perhaps we should all turn veggie!

Go faster With Beetroot

All sportsmen and women want that extra edge. Faster, stronger, fitter, winner! A few choose to go down the illegal route of drugs and doping. Now scientists have a better idea - beetroots.

Yes a small study in the UK found that having a glass of beetroot juice each day improved speed and time over a set distance on a static bike.

Making Beetroot Juice

They speculate that it is the nitrates present in beetroot that helps. Nitrates cause dilatation of blood vessels which increases blood flow to muscles, bringing more oxygen for better efforts.

It is early days and more studies will be needed but you can bet that if accurate there will be a boom in beetroot juice sales.

A Cure For Deafness

Thanks to our love of loud music many people are into hearing difficulties as they reach middle and early old age. In addition with repeated ear infections hearing can gradually decline. Up until now this has been thought to be permanent with treatment limited to various types of hearing aids. But nos scientists think they may have found a drug that could reverse deafness.

Some Loud Status Quo!

Harvard medical school are investigating a drug called LY411575. It tricks the inner ear into growing more hairs. Yes, you read that right. But how does more hairs help hearing?

Well sounds are transmitted in the inner ear and hairs play a vital part in the process. Loss of hairs results in loss of hearing.

Early work has regrown hairs in animals so now it needs to be looked at in humans, potentially helping millions of people to hear again.

How To Reduce Your Risk Of Cancer

Every year many hundreds of thousands of people are diagnosed with cancer causing huge stress and upset not just for them but also their family. Treatment is improving all the time and survival rates for many cancers are far better than previously.

But prevention is better than cure as the old saying goes. For many of the commoner cancers the biggest factor totally within your control is your weight. Yes being overweight or obese increases the risk of you developing many cancers quite markedly. getting your weight down to more normal levels is one of the quickest ways of getting healthier and living for longer.

Here is a video looking at the whole picture

A Brief Explanation Of Rheumatoid Arthritis

The two commonest types of arthritis are rheumatoid and osteo. They are very different in both the cause, treatment and outcome. This short video exlains rheumatoid arthritis.


Regardless of the type of arthritis you suffer from there are new treatments being investigated and in clinical trials so never give up hope.