#Healthcare in London

[examineme01]

Understanding Hormone Imbalance: The Importance of Hormone Imbalance Blood Tests

Hormone imbalances can have a profound impact on your health and well-being, affecting everything from your mood and energy levels to your metabolism and fertility. These imbalances can be caused by a variety of factors, including stress, aging, certain medical conditions, and lifestyle choices. Identifying and addressing hormone imbalances is crucial for maintaining optimal health, and one of the key tools in this process is the hormone imbalance blood test.

The Significance of Hormone Imbalance Tests

Hormones are chemical messengers that play a crucial role in regulating various bodily functions. They help control processes such as metabolism, growth, immune function, and mood. When these hormones are not produced or balanced properly, it can lead to a wide range of health issues.

Hormone imbalances can manifest in different ways, depending on which hormones are affected. Common symptoms of hormone imbalances include:

Fatigue and low energy levels Weight gain or difficulty losing weight Mood swings and irritability Sleep disturbances Irregular periods and fertility issues Skin problems such as acne Hair loss Muscle and joint pain

If you are experiencing one or more of these symptoms, it may be an indication that you have a hormone imbalance. The next step is to identify the specific hormones that are out of balance through hormone imbalance tests.

Hormone Imbalance Blood Test: The Diagnostic Tool

Hormone imbalance blood tests, also known as hormone panels or hormone assays, are a critical diagnostic tool used by healthcare providers to determine the levels of various hormones in your blood. These tests are valuable in pinpointing the exact hormonal imbalances and helping healthcare professionals make informed treatment decisions.

Some of the commonly tested hormones include:

Thyroid hormones: T3 (triiodothyronine), T4 (thyroxine), and TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) levels are examined to assess thyroid function.

Sex hormones: Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone levels are measured to evaluate reproductive health and overall hormonal balance.

Adrenal hormones: Cortisol and DHEA-S levels are checked to assess the function of the adrenal glands and stress response.

Insulin and glucose levels: These are assessed to determine insulin resistance and blood sugar regulation.

Growth hormone: Examined to assess growth and development, as well as overall metabolic health.

Pituitary hormones: Such as growth hormone, luteinizing hormone (LH), and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which help regulate various bodily functions.

Hormone imbalance tests are typically performed in a clinical setting, and they involve a simple blood draw. The results provide insight into the specific hormones that may be causing your symptoms, allowing your healthcare provider to create a tailored treatment plan to restore balance.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

London Drugs in Western Canada began the gradual reopening of stores after six days of closures.

In an update Monday morning, the company said 40 stores were open and it is aiming to have all 79 stores open by the end of Tuesday. However, some pharmacy services won’t be available “due to connectivity issues.”

The closures were due to a cybersecurity “incident” that happened last Sunday.

A list of stores that are currently open is online. As of Monday, it included two in Calgary and two in Edmonton.

“We ask for patience as we work with each store to ensure it is operating fully to meet the needs of our customers,” said London Drugs staff in a release. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[head-post]

UK to ban disposable vapes from June to protect teens

The British government announced that the sale of disposable vape devices would be banned in England from June next year, according to Reuters.

The measure is linked to environmental damage and the growing use of e-cigarettes among children. Vaping has spread rapidly in Britain over the past decade, with nearly one in 10 people buying and using the products.

Despite claims that vapes are supposed to help people quit smoking, health authorities are concerned that their colourful designs and tasty flavours are designed to attract children to smoking.

One in five children aged 11-17 said they had tried vaping, according to a 2024 survey by health charity ASH.

The plan to ban disposable vapes was originally outlined by the previous Conservative government in January, alongside a measure to ban the purchase of cigarettes by those aged 15 and under.

The Labour government also plans to introduce a full smoking bill as part of what it calls “the biggest public health intervention in a generation” to protect young people from nicotine addiction. Minister for public health and prevention, Andrew Gwynne, stated:

Banning disposable vapes will not only protect the environment, but importantly reduce the appeal of vapes to children and keep them out of the hands of vulnerable young people.

According to government figures, nearly five million disposable vape devices were thrown on the ground or in general waste every week in 2023. They ended up in landfill or incinerated, posing a fire threat due to lithium-ion batteries.

Read more HERE

[tranarchristian]

Share and attend if possible!!

[totallyhussein-blog]

Be Inspired by A.J. Cronin

Archibald Joseph Cronin is best known as A. J. Cronin and was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known novel is The Citadel which was published in 1937 and is a story about a Scottish doctor who serves in a Welsh mining village before achieving success in London. The themes explored in The Citadel inspired the creation of Britain's National Health Service (NHS) after World War Two.

[dmumt]

deep cleaned my fridge + ordered a big grocery shop and voted today feeling so #adult

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Sorry, new to this blog but wondering why you were so traumatised by the pandemic?

I moved to the UK at the end of 2017. I had made friends, but not deep social networks. For me the trade-off was that I was more lonley, but I was meeting exciting new people, going to exciting new places, and doing exciting new things. One of the things I realised quite early in the pandemic - is that it was heightening whatever was most stressful about your situation. For parents (and many other people) it was never getting a break. For me it was the isolation.

I lived alone. Initially, I went 11 weeks without having a conversation with someone in person. Then I met with one friend once a week - I had a little walled area outside the back of my flat and we sat socially distanced every week. There was a two to three month period where I did a little more - met up with other friends in their gardens or mine, went to the pub outside and did some traveling for work. But it was a level of isolation that I would have found unimaginable.

My team didn't meet regularly - I think we met about every two months. I didn't quite realise how unusual that was. And I was mostly grateful that I didn't have to deal with Zoom and Teams (which I did and do really struggle with). But what it meant was that each day I had to get up, figure out what work I could do, push myself to do whatever I could to meet my basic needs (which were never going to be met under these circumstances). I was profoundly alone.

Home was New Zealand - with everything that implied. My friends and family were safe, and before too long sending me pictures of a completely normal life on. But I had a job - it was due to end in March 2021 and I wanted to know what was happening before I made plans. It wasn't until November that I realised that I might never know and so I booked a ticket - still hoping that by the time it came to leave, I'd know whether or not I was coming back for my job or moving home. I booked my ticket for mid-January - if I was leaving for good I'd need to pack up over the Christmas break, I might need to go into work to finish tasks that could only be done in person once it was open again in January, and then I figured I needed two weeks after that to make sure I was well.

I started to read the Facebook groups from other New Zealanders heading home - to figure out what was involved. To come into New Zealand you had to spend two weeks in a government run hotel room - Managed Isolation. I'd booked my spot at the same time as I'd booked my ticket home.

The trees turned to sticks (it was only my fourth European winter; the barrenness still surprised me) and it got darker and darker. I still met my friend every week - sometimes in the snow, but everything else that I might have been able to do stopped.

I had to sot out my flat - I had to act as if I was going to be leaving forever, so that I'd be ready if I was. It felt impossible - feeding myself working and going to a stupid walk for my stupid mental health was taking everything I had; going through everything I owned as well seemed impossible. But I couldn't get any help - not for the sorting that took place inside my house - I had to do that myself.

Then things got worse. At first all we knew that infection rates were going up and up and up - then they started talking about the alpha variant. The rules started changing - at first just the rules in the UK. That added stress - I had to take everything to the charity shop on Christmas eve, because I didn't know if they would reopen again. There was another level of calculations to everything I did. What needed to be done today, because it might be shut tomorrow. It began to snow. I had never driven in the snow.

I realised I probably wasn't going to know whether or not I was coming back when I left.

Then, on the 3rd of January, New Zealand announced that anyone who was traveling from the UK needed a negative PCR test 3 days before traveling. I was traveling on a Tuesday - I'd need to get the test on the Saturday. None of the places that offered guaranteed turn around were open on the Saturday. Boots said that 99% of its tests were back within 24 hours. What would I do if I was in the 1%?

By that time, all the places in Managed Isolation were booked up. If I missed my slot the next available places were in March. If I didn't have a negative test, if anything happened with my flight, I would be trapped - having thrown everything I had at trying to get out.

Then they started cancelling flights. There were three routes back to New Zealand at that point, via Singapore, via Dubai and via Doha. Singapore stopped allowing transit passengers from the UK. The week before I was due to leave, Emirates cancelled their flights to Australia - with 48 hours notice. I was so afraid that my flight would be cancelled and I'd miss my spot in managed isolation.

Hoping and trying to move for something better had turned a miserable, but bearable situation, into something that felt completely untenable.

I kept having to make calculations - if it snowed on the day that I needed to get my PCR test - which was riskier? Driving in the snow for the first time - or a 40 minute cab ride each way?

Each day seemed full of impossible things, but I had to do them. I wouldn't be able to sleep till 6am, and then I'd have an exhausted nap at 6pm. I would suddenly become very aware of my breath and unable to breathe automatically - I had to consciously take each breath.

I said goodbye to some people across a frozen parking lot. Most people I didn't say goodbye to at all.

I caught the plane. The workers at the hotel wrote a heart and 'welcome home' on the paper bag which held my first meal. I still have the bag.

My first experience when I came out of managed isolation was at Auckland airport - as I took my flight home. At hte food court, everyone was sitting and moving and interacting as if everything was normal. I felt like an alien who had gone through a worm hole to another civilisation. People were so close to each other. I cannot really put into words how unbelievably greatful I am that my friends and family were safe, that I was looked after in managed isolation, and that I got to return through the worm hole and begin to heal.

But it was only beginning. I still get flashbacks, particularly to those awful, desperate few weeks when it felt like I was crossing a rope bridge and each of the ropes were being cut one by one. I have had them from eating a churro, the government changing their policy in response to the delta variant, thinking about the existence of the audiobook of 'Venetia', watching the triathalon at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, listening to Grace Petrie's Northbound, hearing that someone wasn't able to get on a plane they really wanted to get on.

Right now I am in period where it feels like the emotions of that time are really close to the surface. I don't really know why. But I think the only thing to do is acknowledge that I went through something really awful and that it still hurts and feel the grief and pain when it comes - rather than push it away. I decided to answer this ask to see what writing some of it down felt like.

[eatsowhat]

London Book Fair 2023 | Eat to Prevent and Control Disease (https://mybook.to/ETPACD) by La Fonceur displayed at London Book Fair at Olympia London. Get your copy from your favourite online store.

Eat to Prevent and Control Disease: How Superfoods Can Help You Live Disease Free. (Also available in Hindi - https://mybook.to/etpacdhp)

[tomorrowusa]

Texas is not just banning abortions inside the state. Various Texas municipalities are trying to prevent residents from seeking reproductive healthcare outside Texas. Amarillo is the latest Texas city to consider this form of forced pregnancy.

A string of Texas localities have passed controversial ordinances banning so-called “abortion trafficking” – and another city may soon join their number. Over the last several weeks, the city of Amarillo, Texas, has becomeembroiled in a debate over whether to pass an ordinance to block people from using the city’s roads to transport pregnant people seeking abortions in other states. The city council met on Tuesday to debate the issue. As expected, it did not vote. This type of ordinance has sprung up as part of a new anti-abortion tactic to undermine people’s ability to flee states with abortion bans. Since the fall of Roe v Wade, abortion foes have scrambled to find a way to cut off what they see as “abortion trafficking”, even though many experts argue that the US constitution protects the right to interstate travel. Ahead of the meeting, the city council did not specify what the exact language of the ordinance under discussion would look like. After an opening prayer and an hour-long presentation by an anti-abortion doctor from Florida, the council discussed multiple possible anti-abortion ordinances, including an ordinance that would seemingly deal with “trafficking” as well as one that tackled abortion pills.

As you may have guessed, the mayor and all four members of the Amarillo City Council are conservative white males.

“Texas has the most restrictive and harmful abortion legislation in place, period. So we feel that municipalities taking an additional stand on it is redundant,” said Lindsay London, a local activist who works with the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance, ahead of the Tuesday meeting. “But it’s really scary. Our options are so limited.” Texas law currently bans almost all abortions. Amarillo lies at the north-western corner of Texas, so Texans fleeing the state for an abortion in nearby New Mexico, Colorado or Kansas may travel along its roads. [ ... ] London stressed that she is grateful that Amarillo’s leadership has met with members of the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance about their concerns over the proposed ordinance. But, she added: “It’s five white men who are staunchly anti-abortion in our leadership. It’s kind of grim.”

Amarillo, Texas is a preview of what you'll get if there's a Republican president and Republican Congress in addition to the Republican Supreme Court.

[medsbyus]

Boost Your Confidence in the Bed Long - Lasting Results

[examineme01]

Healthcare in London

Discover the ins and outs of healthcare in London with our comprehensive guide. Whether you're a resident seeking local healthcare options or a visitor in need of medical assistance during your stay, this resource is your go-to companion. Explore the city's top hospitals, clinics, and specialists, understand the National Health Service (NHS) system, and learn about insurance and healthcare access. Stay informed and make informed healthcare decisions in the bustling metropolis of London.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

In breaking down the province’s ongoing family doctor shortage, the Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) says more than 65,000 people in Middlesex-London are without a family doctor.

In a report released Friday, its data highlighted that the number of people without a family doctor grew from 57,092 in 2020 to 65,576 in 2022. The local data includes all people assigned to the Middlesex-London Ontario Health Team (OHT).

Dr. Eric Wong, a family doctor in London and an OCFP board member, said these numbers, along with similar ones seen across the province, are “very concerning.”

“I’ve been a family doctor here in London for 18 years, and every week, I get asked by someone who is looking for a family doctor,” he said. “The problem is compounding and getting worse.” [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[head-post]

Hackers publish NHS patients’ data after “demanding ransom”

The data from the ransomware virus attack allegedly hit the web weeks after a cyberattack halted operations and tests at major London hospitals, The Guardian reported.

The cyberattack targeted Synnovis, a private pathology firm that analyses blood tests for Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) and King’s College Trust, on June 3, forcing the capital’s hospitals to cancel nearly 1,600 operations and outpatient appointments.

On Friday, NHS England said that “it has learnt that last night a group of cyber criminals published data they claim belongs to Synnovis and was stolen in this attack. We realise how distressing this event can be for many people. We are taking it very seriously.”

In the attack, hackers from the criminal group Qilin infiltrated Synnovis’ IT system and locked the computer system, encrypting its files to extort fees to regain access. The trusts had contracts totalling just under £1.1bn with Synnovis to provide services vital to the smooth running of the NHS.

Qilin published 104 files, each containing 3.7GB of data, on the messaging platform. The message ended with an image of the Synnovis logo, a description of the company and a link to its website. The Guardian was unable to confirm the contents of the message, but the BBC reported on Friday that the data included patient names, dates of birth, NHS numbers and descriptions of blood tests, although it is not known whether test results were also leaked.

Vulnerability of the UK healthcare sector

NHS England said it is currently analysing the data with the National Cyber Security Centre and other partners to confirm whether the data was taken from Synnovis systems and what information it contained.

Typically, the release of stolen data by ransomware gangs indicates that Synnovis has not made payment – usually demanded in the cryptocurrency bitcoin – for decrypting its systems or deleting stolen files.

Don Smith, vice president of threat research at Secureworks, a cybersecurity firm, said the attack highlighted the vulnerability of the healthcare sector, as huge data sets make it a prime target. The Qilin attack follows the hacking of NHS Dumfries and Galloway health board, which resulted in the theft of patient data. He also added:

“It follows closely in the wake of attacks on the NHS in Dumfries and Galloway and underlines that this sector, which is incredibly rich in data, must be protected.”

Since the hack began, seven hospitals run by two NHS trusts have experienced major disruption, including the cancellation or postponement of planned operations. Between June 3 and 9, two major London trusts postponed 832 surgical procedures, including cancer and organ transplants.

The disruptions affected Guy’s, St Thomas’ and King’s College, as well as the Evelina children’s hospital, Royal Brompton, the Harefield specialist heart and lung hospitals and the Princess Royal hospital in Orpington.

Read more HERE

[totallyhussein-blog]

Combat Stress keep fighting for mental health care 104 years on

It's amazing to think, that 2023 marks 104 years since Combat Stress: The UK's Leading Charity for Veterans' Mental Health was founded, back on the 12th May, 1919.

Their original name was the Ex-Servicemen's Welfare Society and they opened their first "recuperative home" in 1920 on Putney Hill in South West London, for those suffering Shell-Shock from WW1.

For over a century, Combat Stress have helped former servicemen and women with mental health problems like post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression.

Before organizations like the NHS were even started, back in 1919, the pioneering founders of Combat Stress revolutionized Britain's approach to mental health care and changed public attitudes along the way.

The approach of those who started Combat Stress, laid solid foundations for the organization to provide treatment to veterans' across the UK. Their aim today, is to help veterans tackle their past, and face a much brighter future.

Combat Stress now have treatment hubs in Scotland, Northern Ireland, South, Central and the North West of England. They are also part of a much bigger family of military organizations, who provide specialized welfare and healthcare support to Britain's ex-forces community.

Combat Stress helped over 14,000 veterans in the last year alone, and you can find out more about combatstress.org.uk through their website, or you can join the conversation over at @CombatStress on Twitter and Facebook.

[matthewcahill]

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[harveycliniccare]

10 Home Remedies To Manage Sciatica + Prevention Tips

Sciatica is the pain that arises when the sciatic nerve experiences irritation. The pain usually occurs in the lower back and extends to the legs. Sciatic pain is debilitating and excruciating and throws your life out of gear. In this article, we have compiled a list of simple home remedies that can help you manage the symptoms of sciatica. Read on to know more.

What Triggers Sciatica?

Sciatic pain is associated with the nervous system. It is the result of excess pressure on the lumbar disc. Other contributing factors include inflammation or irritation of the sciatic nerve by an adjacent bone. Some underlying issues also cause sciatica. These include: …. Read More >>