Health Heard

15/10/2024

"Unemployed could get weight loss jabs to return to work"

Let's unpack this a moment - and do a more thorough job of it from public health and social perspectives.

Losing weight is not a guarantee of being fit for work. It's overall health that matters, plus support to return to work.

Many people with obesity have unmet health needs driving that condition -esp inflammatory conditions.

Obesity drugs have risks for people with gastroparesis, and gut motility problems.

Existing research indicates that these conditions are chronically under-diagnosed, so more research and a national screening programme would be needed, in addition to medical supervision.

Yes, we need change, it's long overdue.

But ensuring better healthcare access and ensuring people have access to healthy food, could provide the same benefits for much less risk.

hashtag

The health secretary announces trials to explore the effect of weight loss drugs on worklessness.

25/08/2024

Concerns about physician associates are not just about protecting GP's jobs - this opinion piece is failing to understand that patients interests are at risk too.

Most of the concerns about physician associates are about making sure that they are working alongside GP's, not replacing GP care, and that people still have their right to see a GP protected.

All too often, the current process of deciding who gets to see a GP is not an extensive process - It's about treating what's visible, what's obvious and what people already know to raise concerns about. Look at the number of complaints that there are already about receptionists getting in the way of people getting the right appointments!

Being able to see a nurse, a physician associate or a pharmacist is really useful for a lot of everyday health conditions, but is certainly not going to help with providing long term medical care for everyone, especially people with a lot of health concerns who may struggle to explain them.

As anybody with hidden disabilities, chronic health issues and inflammatory conditions can tell you, these conditions just can't be managed in that way.

People need the consistency of going to see a GP, preferably the same GP so that there is continuity of care and observation can take place.

We need clinicians who work with people to make sure that they don't fall through the cracks if their conditions don't fit into the standard boxes too.

Without that, people's conditions will not be managed properly leading to increased poor outcomes, reduced quality of life and capacity and much greater costs to our health care systems.

We can't rely on individual people to report their health concerns effectively either - without specialist support, especially when people are ill and their health conditions have cognitive impacts

It would be great if physician associates were able to offer this support but so far we've seen no sign of it.

This does however leave the way clear for services like Health Heard - offering a health check-in that helps people make sure that they are giving as much information as possible in a way that doctors and physicians will find useful.

And helping people make sure that they get to see the right doctor or clinician at the right time.

Ever since interest rates soared to historic norms, many doctors have been struggling to afford the payments on their second yacht. With Rachel Reeves dishing out a 22 per cent pay rise to junior…

14/08/2024

This research is HIGHLY flawed - and so is the news coverage.

Autism is developmental condition that means that people are born wired differently. It is largely inherited, though it may not show up in every generation.

There are many health conditions that can make impairments more severe, so that autism becomes more obvious, and Post viral exposure is one of them.

So the risk is for harm from viral exposure, and NOT autism...

And we urgently need more research into those health conditions, and how people can better recover.

Study: Infants born with common virus at increased risk of autism spectrum disorders

11/08/2024

This link is a great example of NGO work, highlighting how important it is for us to have a responsible relationship with nature, and to thrive in our communities.

Not only can frankincense tapping provide income and protect the local environment, but frankincense is also a powerful anti-inflammatory that can be used alongside more conventional medicines.

At present, those selling supplements and essential oils have to be very careful about the claims for benefits for conditions - where they are allowed to say anything at all.

Because people have made claims in the past that have been untrue, or exaggerated, this is understandable, and in most cases helpful.

But for traditional medicines, we often have many many centuries of successful use, which it would be foolish to ignore! And there is emerging research demonstrating the value too.

"Clinical research indicates that frankincense, alone or in combination formulas, may be beneficial for gingivitis, asthma, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, collagenous colitis, Crohn’s disease, urinary tract infection, stress urinary incontinence, breast density, mastalgia, menorrhagia, osteoarthritis (OA), memory impairment, psoriasis, eczema, photoaging, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, and radiation-induced brain edema."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/frankincense.

We can also learn from responsible nutritionists and doctors, who have taken the time to learn from this, and from each other.

Either applied to the skin or taken as a supplement, frankincense is being reported to help with a wide range of inflammatory conditions. It has a wonderful, warm and soothing aroma too!

Yet because our bodies are not all the same, we each have to work out what works for us. For those of us who don't have access to knowledgeable doctors, we often have to do this for ourselves - which can be tricky to do if you're not used to it.

Health Heard can help you take a complete look at your health for yourself, so that you can see what's working for you and what isn't, and keep a record of it.

And with your consent we can share your sucesses with everyone.

This is how we move health forward, together.

10/08/2024

Representation matters. Thank you for being so open about your challenges Katie Ledecky

We're glad to see the Today Show raising awareness about thanks to Olympic medalist 🥇Katie Ledecky🥇 sharing her POTS story in her recent memoir. While the article notes that Katie was diagnosed fairly quickly and her POTS symptoms are under control with the treatment approaches she uses, the article also notes that POTS patients often experience long diagnostic delays and that these treatments don't work for everyone, citing Dysautonomia International's Big POTS Survey research study, as well as content from our Medical Advisory Board members at Johns Hopkins and University of Calgary.

This is exactly why Dysautonomia International has been funding millions of dollars in POTS research, to try to find more effective treatments for POTS, which is quite debilitating for most people living with it. 100% of donations to our POTS Research Fund go directly to innovative research grants. You can contribute at www.CurePOTS.org

Read the Today story here: https://www.today.com/health/disease/katie-ledecky-pots-rcna165216

If you want to learn more about POTS, check out these Dysautonomia International resources:

💙 What is POTS? 4 min animated video:
vimeo.com/187404694

💙 POTS Summary Page:
dysautonomiainternational.org/POTS

💙 POTS Treatment Essentials:
dysautonomiainternational.org/pdf/POTSTreatmentEssentials.pdf

💙 Quick Links to Patient Education Resources:
dysautonomiainternational.org/pdf/DIQuickLinks.pdf

09/08/2024

Applying to attend Web Summit as a startup this year.

Describing Health Heard in just seven words:

inclusive supportive healthcare making health data visible

Yip, that's us