Ticks, removing ticks

Canoeing in Scotland

Ticks live in areas where deer are common, and amongst bracken.
They are tiny brown creatures that can move rapidly over the skin.

Try and wear light coloured clothing to help you see them.
Ask a close friend to check your skin if you have any doubts.
Carry fine pointed tweezers and avoid touching ticks with your hands. Wash your hands well afterwards if you have to remove them.
If you do find one biting you need to grasp the tick between the body and the skin and gently pull until the legs come out. Make
a note of the date you found it.
For more helpful information look at this website: http://www.oklahomapoison.org/general/tick.asp
If a rash appears between one and thirty days later you must see a doctor and tell them that you want to be tested for possible Lyme disease. I have treated several people who have had arthritis that affected them all over the body,
motor neurone disease (wasting of the muscles), and other nervous system disorders, and lung disease all of which we suspect came from tick bites.
I carry a plastic pot of alcohol gel to clean my hands after any risky contact, and after the toilet.

The midges can be fierce. The following ideas have all been tried: obviously insect repellent, rubbing mint, aloe vera sunscreen, Avon Cosmetics cream, lavender or tea tree (diluted not neat),
taking B complex vitamins and vitamin C. B vitamins make your sweat unpleasant to midges and vitamin C acts as an anti-histamine. Personally I take MSM as well.
Eating garlic helps you but not everyone else. Eating half a grapefruit a day and rubbing the inside of the skin (the pithy stuff) over your skin. It is quite good as it saves
you having to wash.

European Health Insurance Card

This card replaces the E 111 that we used to use for medical treatment abroad. You can apply on-line but you have to very careful which website you use. If you search for EHIC you will be directed to a government site that charges you nearly £10- for the priviledge of using it. I suggest that you use another site http://www.ehic.org/requirements.html. On this form you simply say that you are renewing an old or expired card. That is exactly what you are doing if you replace the E 111. There is no charge for the card using this site.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol

You have been your doctor. They say that your cholesterol is too high. You need to reduce it urgently. You are a little anxious to say the least. What do you do? 

Scaring people by telling them their cholesterol levels is a red herring. Cholesterol is something that can be measured and lowered through drugs called statins. That makes a fortune for pharmaceutical companies and the doctors and scientists who developed them. Statins might open up the arteries and reduce heart disease or stroke but by some other mechanism than simply reducing cholesterol. Before you consider statins try flushing your body of unwanted fats and changing your lifestyle to lower the stress on your body.

The real culprits are too much salt, processed food, food eaten in a hurry and not digested slowly, lack of exercise, too much processed sugar like refined fructose corn syrup or processed glucose, too much alcohol, too much stress in your life putting pressure on the systems in your body, smoking or recreational drugs, too many stimulants like drinks that fire you up then leave you exhausted and angry. (It is said that if an animal is tired it takes a rest, if a human being is tired they take a stimulant). Simply making sure that you give enough time to sleep will take some of the demands off your body.

If you want to take some practical steps to clean your body stop eating processed food. Change the fats you consume. Use Benecol, Pura, Flora or butter and reduce the amount. Eat plant fats in preference to animal fats. Cut all of the fat off meat. Eat outdoor reared chicken and pork instead of red meat. It is easier to remove the fat from chicken and pork than from beef. Squeeze fresh lemon juice onto lamb, it helps to digest it and the vitamin C releases the iron. Cut out bought pizza with plastic cheese on top and too much salt, cut out pies, salty processed foods and eat real food, prepare your own lunch at take it to work. Take a large spoonful of oatbran on your cereal. Take a large spoonful of wheatgerm a day as well. Try a teaspoon of linseed or linseed (flax) seed oil a day (don't soak it simply crunch it). Snack on plain cashews, almonds, pine nuts, unsalted pistachios, oatcakes, dried unsulphured apricots, organic carrots. Eat lots of green vegetables, watercress, broccoli, courgettes, lettuce, cabbage, colourful fruit like fresh mango, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, grapes, red grapefruit. Drink at the most one smoothie a day. Don't overdo the fruit. There is a lot of fructose that might upset your digestion.

What is the thinking behind this advice? Benecol and plant fats contain phystosterols. They help to flush out unwanted fats. Oatbran, oatcakes and linseed contains soluble fibre. It helps to clean the bile duct that leads from the gallbladder. Regularly take a spoon of lecithin (extracted from soya). Lecithin helps to dissolve cholesterol in the bile duct. Egg yolk also contains lecithin so eat up to six eggs a week. 

Other plant fats include low salt peanut butter, palm oil, avocados, dessicated coconut and coconut oil, almonds and almond oil, plain, unsalted cashews, extra virgin olive oil.

What is cholesterol and how does it act?

"Chole" means bile; "sterol" means solid; "-ol" comes from alcohol. So cholesterol is a waxy, bile alcohol. It is a repair substance that the body uses for plugging leaks in the plumbing. It insulates the faster conducting nerves. It helps your brain to make connections. It is used to make hormones to cope with stress and help sexual arousal. It was found when the arteries of dead people were examined. Other substances like calcium were there as well. When your body is under stress the blood vessels get inflamed and leak. Cholesterol is a waxy substance carried around in fatty / protein molecules. The fatty / proteins plug the leaks. Macrophages (lit. 'big eaters') come along and engulf the mixture turning it into plaque or hardening of the arteries. The macrophages drive the plug into the artery walls leaving porridge like plaque. Cholesterol is not the cause of plaque it is the consequence of inflammation. Inflammation is the body's attempt to repair damage. The answer is to tackle the causes of damage not cholesterol. The nations with the highest cholesterol (around 7.1) are the Austrians and the Swiss. The ethnic group with the lowest cholesterol (around 4.5) are the displaced aboriginal tribes in Australia. The group with the lowest rate of heart disease are guess who? The Austrians and the Swiss. Possibly because they have more cohesive social groups and live amongst beautiful mountains affects their stress levels. The group with the highest rate of heart disease are the Aboriginal Australians. Read the book "The Cholesterol Cure". In his book Dr ... puts the view that stress on whole groups in society leads to stress in their bodies. His view is that overwhelming stress is the major factor in heart disease. The original findings of substances in the blood vessels including cholesterol, was done on young men who had died in the Vietnamese war. You could not ask for a more stressful effect on the body than being in a war. 

Other causes of inflammation

The answer is not as simple as stress. South West Scotland had extremely high levels of heart disease. Displacement of whole communities was a factor when the tenements were cleared. However Scotland is also the home of deep fried everything from haggis to mars bars. In the Orkney Islands where we used to live, you could catch wonderful wild brown trout in the lochans. If you visited Balfour's restaurant in Evie you would find those beautiful trout, deep fried in batter. 

Hydrogenated or Altered Fats are another factor

Oils are liquid at a cool temperature; fats are solid, monounsaturated fats go waxy when cold.

Oils include sunflower, rape seed, soya, almond, flax seed. Fats include lard, most animal fats. Monounsaturated fats include duck or goose fat, olive oil, peanut butter, coconut, safflower.

Overheating oil alters it chemically into hydrogenated fat. You could call them altered fats. They are unusable by the body and block the action of helpful fats. They turn into flabby cells clogging up your blood vessels. In brief, your body does not need processed, hydrogenated fats. 

If you are going to fry food or roast potatoes it is healthier to use duck or goose fat, lard, coconut oil or butter. Lower the temperature if you fry with oil. For instance add a little water if you are cooking mushrooms, onions or garlic. It keeps the oil at boiling not frying temperature.

Your body needs cholesterol. If you don't eat it, your liver and other cells will make it, (unless you are on statins). Good sources are eggs, prawns and other shellfish. The older you are the more important cholesterol becomes. An older person, especially female, is more likely to die of liver disease, mental dysfunction or cancer if their cholesterol is too low. Don't worry about cholesterol. There are more important things in life to keep your attention.

Anaerobic Exercise

Your body has two ways of burning energy: aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic or with oxygen is much more efficient. Fast sprinting, cycling, paddling or rowing uses glycogen and creatine phosphate to burn anaerobically (anaerobic means without oxygen). Immediate fuel or glycogen is stored in your muscles and your liver. Anaerobic exercise is very inefficient but when uses wisely can increase muscle bulk and power. You might be doing it already but 30 second bursts at full power with recovery periods of 90 seconds will build muscle power. With conditioning you can increase your maximum bursts to 2 minutes with 6 minutes recovery. The recovery periods are essential; otherwise you will exhaust yourself by depleting your resources. The by-product is lactic acid that increases muscle acidity causing pain and stiffness.

Some athletes take creatine phosphate to increase power. Initially it increases water levels in muscles. A higher dose followed by a maintenance dose is recommended if you use it at all. Personally I use a mixture of L carnitine and alpha lipoic acid. Studies show that this combination maintains muscles rather than turning to fat when exercise levels are lower. Many injuries that I see come from ex-sports people who have let their muscles de-condition and turn to flab.

Aerobic conditioning or endurance sports increase the strength of your heart muscles in particular the left ventricle. That is the chamber that ejects the blood into the bloodstream. 

Carbohydrates are your main energy source. A habit for many athletes is to top up carbohydrates just before or during sports. There are drawbacks to this approach. By taking in high energy drinks you release insulin into your bloodstream. That diverts adrenaline from energy production. It also diverts water from muscles convincing your stomach that food has arrived. Sports drinks during hard exercise will dehydrate your muscles. It is better to drink water. Cola type drinks are too acidic possibly increasing muscle soreness. I knew of an Asian sportsman who developed the beginnings of diabetes because he was taking in sports drinks just before hockey matches. His doctor was wise enough to think through his diet and drinks, knowing that Asian people are more prone to diabetes.

The time to take on carbohydrate is straight after an event. Re-fueling with carbohydrates within an hour will replenish your muscle stores of glycogen ready for the next event. Caffeine helps absorption, a cup of tea or coffee with something sweet is ideal.

If you are going to take on carbohydrates you need to give your body time to absorb them. For instance a tin of Devon custard or Ambrosia creamed rice 90 minutes before a race would be a high energy source that your body could use. Stick to foods that you are familiar with or you will upset your digestion. 

David Perrott - Warwick, England, 1916 - 2008

David died peacefully this morning in Warwick hospital. He was 92 and full of years. Our final memory is of a man peacefully sleeping and slipping away. We need our beliefs in an afterlife at these times. Life seems such a short time in relation to eternity. All actions that are done with love have eternal value. David certainly loved. The minister from St Paul's in Warwick said that he always remembered him with a smile on his face. After his heart operation two years ago he was grateful for every day on this earth. They were all a bonus. We all have stories of him, his kindness and generosity, his willingness to hold possessions lightly, his interest in and recognition of everyone he met, his mischievous humour, his stubbornness that kept him alive. Even in hospital it was not possible to feed him or find a vein to replace the drip that had to be removed. Perhaps the medical books need to be revised. They say that a human being can survive for only three days without water. David survived 11 days without food and 7 days without water. When we returned to his flat my sister Liz offered me his pot of vitamins. I hunted through his cupboards and found calcium with vitamin D, garlic capsules, fish oils, Senior ABC vitamins, selenium, glucosamine, joint complex. No wonder he passed away so with grace and dignity. His body will decay very slowly in the mortuary.  Thanks Dad for being such a great example. You knew how to love life and when to let go. You gave everyone who wanted to say goodbye a chance to see you. We all loved you. One of my daughters said tonight that you were the greatest grandad she could have; you were the greatest dad too.

John Perrott

Understanding stroke

David Perrott - coming to terms with dying

The last two weeks my family have been coming to terms with my father dying. He is 92. His philosophy of life included maintaining his independence, keeping himself out of debt, accepting what happened to him in life; knowing that something good always comes out of something bad. He was wise in his advice. One of his grandchildren Zoe, asked his opinion about a boyfriend of hers. He was seventeen years older than Zoe. Dad said that when it came to long term relationships or marriage you had to think about the later part of life not just the early part when you are, "In love". Many men died sooner than women. If you choose someone much older the likelihood is that that you are choosing to spend much of your later life on your own; unless of course you are fortunate to meet another companion. You needed to share your values. Zoe asked her boyfriend what were his moral values. what mattered the most to him. He replied that being successful and having money were the most important. Those are not uncommon values. She simply did not share them, so they decided to split up. 

He had a couple of falls in the last two months. Old people do fall and stumble. In dad's case it was possibly a minor stroke. There are two kinds of stroke and ischaemic one and a haemorrhage. Ischaemic strokes suddenly cut the blood supply to part of the brain. They are caused by small blood clots. A haemorrhage is a bleed into the brain. Even aspirin or sodium diclofenac gave dad nose bleeds so he was more susceptible to bleeds. In hospital he was bright, cheerful and optimistic. A nurse said that she remembered him from two years ago when he had a heart operation. she said that he was a real gentleman. He had another fall the night before he was due to leave. This time a massive bleed pushed his brain over to the side. he completely lost consciousness for days. the pupils of his eyes were pinpricks. That was 8 days ago. It was almost impossible to find a vein to bring fluids into his body. On Christmas Eve I spoke to him as we did every day. I told him about one of his grandchildren going for ski lessons at Milton Keynes Xscape building. He opened one eye, looked at me and smiled a broad grin. Now you can see his eyes move if you gently lift his eyelids. Every day he is weaker and more dehydrated. His breathing is laboured. But there is nothing else much wrong with him. The hardest part is knowing what he wanted out of life and respecting those wishes. To him the ability to walk was an essential part of his independence. he kept his own flat, washed his own clothes, pulled his shoes on with a pair of pliers, did up his buttons and tie with a piece of wire, replaced light bulbs, made minor repairs and modifications to his flat. The great thing that we met was his kindness. He collected the papers for the flats in his block. He called in every day to see his friend Brenda. Her grip was weak and his was strong. He opened the car door. she drove the car. That got them to Probus, Masonic functions, the shops, Recorded music society, National Trust retirement fellowships and a few years ago; trips to National Trust properties. 

Now we are faced with Dad as he is; in his present condition. He has not eaten for 9 days. He has had no water intake for 5 days. It is not possible to insert a needle into his veins. They are too difficult to find. Yet he is still alive. During the war he commanded 450 men in the signals. They laid copper cabling from Calcutta to Rangoon fighting in the Burmese jungle under Japanese occupation. He is used to deprivation. The dilemma of dying is not how the person copes. It is how the relatives cope. We put on a brave face, a practical face, an emotional face, a nostalgic face but the people who express the pain and grief are those who are left behind. 

Dad learned the precious lesson of letting go when his wife Betty died. She tried to control his decisions in many ways. The relationship was closely interdependent. Even though she died of an "accidental aortic aneurysism" she knew roughly when she was going to die. She was so precise about it that she tied the house, cleared the loft and designated some of her possessions. She knew that she was not going to see in the millenium. Dad even found a note under the Christmas pudding with instructions on how to cook it. Soon after she died he cleared his own possessions, sold what he could and gave away the rest. He bought a McCarthy and Stone retirement flat in Warwick with no garden to maintain and moved in. His time of freedom to make choices had come so he made them. Picking up her social calendar he enlarged his own horizons. Off he went on coach trips around the country. He even went off to the British Virgin Islands to give away a young bride of much loved relatives. 

When we get married we exchange one kind of freedom for another. Before we had the choice of what to do at weekends, where to go on holiday, how to keep our house or flat, where to spend our money. Once we are married we enter a new kind of debt; the debt of loving and being loved in a possessive way. Before we could "go out with our friends" and come home not entirely sure how we got there. Now there is someone waiting, watching the clock, listening for the door to open. To the person who strives for "freedom" that kind of love seems to be a tie. Yet we enjoy the benefits of love when they are freely given. In dad's struggle to maintain his independence there is one thing that he could not take, the need for others to control him. He had faced in for his married life and he was not going to give in again. You could have called him stubborn, perhaps he was, but it was that very stubbornness that kept him alive.