Self Care

Medical and Healthcare
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PreppingPingu
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Re: Self Care

Post by PreppingPingu »

Sorry to hear that mbbaltic.

Yes Self care is vitally important - from a mental health as well as physical health point of view. My asthma is definitely stress induced. I always think I cope well with all the crap that has been thrown my way over the last few years but then when you realise that your hair is being lost at an alarming rate and your asthma cough is in overdrive and you wake in in the night with a racing heart until you control your breathing and bring it back down, THEN you have to admit that maybe, just maybe, you need to pay a bit of attention to yourself! Us women have a tendency to put everything down to menopause! Its not always that. I have got on top of things now. But it is a valuable lesson. We won't cope with the slow crash that is seemingly happening right now if our mental and physical health isn't ok. To cope with anything in life, you need to take care of yourself. Especially when we often find ourselves caring for others, the question always falls back to "who cares for the carers?" The answer can often be "ourselves."

We do need to look after ourselves otherwise what use will we be to others and ourselves?
"Today is the tomorrow that you worrried about yesterday" - unknown
"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast" - Red Dwarf
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Arzosah
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Re: Self Care

Post by Arzosah »

PreppingPingu wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:30 pm We do need to look after ourselves otherwise what use will we be to others and ourselves?
So true - just like the classic advice from the airlines about putting your own oxygen mask on first, before you help anyone else, even children that you're responsible for.
Arzosah
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Re: Self Care

Post by Arzosah »

HONEY
I thought I'd have a looksee at honey for self care, as mbbaltic/Lil said about using it. Classic references only, as usual.

The main NHS website is disappointing in this respect: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/wean ... -children/
It's simply about not feeding babies any honey at all - it can lead to infant botulism, apparently, which of course is crucial to know about, just not about the wound information I was expecting.

There's a Patients Leaflet from Oxford NHS about medical honey https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/wp-cont ... eaflet.pdf
It includes what medical honey is and why table honey isn't as good.

The US National Library of Medicine has this article, but also a huge number of other articles on their site, linked on the right. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3941901/

WebMD has several pages on honey: this is the first, and on the 2nd is a list of conditions it can be used for https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingre ... -738/honey Looks very useful.

The DermNet website has been recommended to me by two NHS practitioners (I'm often checked for skin cancer, because there's so much in my family and my skin looks dodgy, all over me, tags, cysts, milia, rampant moles, you name it. I don't look like one of the witches from Macbeth, but still). They have a page on honey https://dermnetnz.org/topics/honey


This last one is a bit different, it's commercial, but at least the commercial side of things is about selling honey that he himself has produced https://www.organicbackyardbeekeeper.co ... -and-more/
I think the website owner is American in America - he talks about "local ordinances", which isn't a UK phrase, and he links to Amaz00n dot com, not the UK version. I don't know.


My own use of honey: hmm, mostly in my porridge! I use organic honey (for my own sake, and for the bees), though not manuka - I've found that labelling of manuka is not to be trusted, the quantities that are registered with the honey exporters association or whatever, and the amounts actually exported, they differ by several orders of magnitude.
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diamond lil
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Re: Self Care

Post by diamond lil »

I buy tubes of honey for topical use only, on amazon. Husband is famous in his huge FB group of heart bypass survivors for having the neatest scar of them all - it's invisible. And it was the honey that did it :mrgreen: I've used it all my life and it's faster than antibiotics.
Arzosah
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Re: Self Care

Post by Arzosah »

Continuing the honey theme, I found an article today in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... r-of-honey telling consumers to be wary of the very cheapest brands available. It implied there might be a problem with supermarket own branch organic honey too, though that's not stated anywhere (and that's what I buy, drat).
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Le Mouse
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Re: Self Care

Post by Le Mouse »

diamond lil wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 10:34 pm I buy tubes of honey for topical use only, on amazon. Husband is famous in his huge FB group of heart bypass survivors for having the neatest scar of them all - it's invisible. And it was the honey that did it :mrgreen: I've used it all my life and it's faster than antibiotics.
Forgive me if this is a daft question lil, but how do you use it and how do you avoid getting all sticky?
GillyBee
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Re: Self Care

Post by GillyBee »

I worked as a GP receptionist many years ago when my kids were small. One thing it did was to help us understand when to self care and when to head for a medic. Unfortunately health issues mean we have needed the services of the medics much more as we age.

My husband's rheumatoid consultant is impressed with his self care efforts. An exclusion diet found the trigger for his arthritis - and the diary convinced the consultant it wasnt a fad. The Tai Chi classes have kept him mobile and active for well over 5 years now, when the consultant was expecting him to be wheelchair bound within a year or two.

Can I recommend Tai Chi for anyone who is no longer able to handle "normal" exercise? Dr Paul Lam's Tai Chi for Health classess and videos are helpful even if mobility or standing is limited.

Tai Chi is NHS recommended for for falls prevention and does not need much physical ability to start. One very elderly lady in the Tai Chi class my husband attended, went from arriving by Dial a Ride to happily taking the bus. Her frequent falls vanished as the lessons helped with her balance.

Just make sure the instructor is accredited (e.g. by Tai Chi for Health) or has a very good reputation as anyone can call themselves an instructor for Tai Chi. Some do not teach the balance and posture exercises correctly that make all the difference.
Arzosah
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Re: Self Care

Post by Arzosah »

Two really good points there, GillyBee. This is the NHS page about how to keep an exclusion diet: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/food-intolerance/
Plus the one that belongs to WebMD https://www.webmd.com/allergies/allergi ... ation-diet

Paul Lam has a free tai chi lesson on you tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIOHGrYCEJ4 after that, its DVD or online. I've subscribed to his channel, he's got quite a few, thanks GillyBee. Going from needing Dial A Ride to being able to get the bus is a huge advance in mobility for the lady concerned.
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diamond lil
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Re: Self Care

Post by diamond lil »

Le Mouse wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:51 pm
Forgive me if this is a daft question lil, but how do you use it and how do you avoid getting all sticky?
[/quote]

This stuff Mouse, it is sticky so you apply it then cover with gauze then stick it on with sticking plaster:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Activon-Medica ... 182&sr=8-5
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Le Mouse
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Re: Self Care

Post by Le Mouse »

diamond lil wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:29 pm
Le Mouse wrote: Sun Nov 28, 2021 5:51 pm
Forgive me if this is a daft question lil, but how do you use it and how do you avoid getting all sticky?
This stuff Mouse, it is sticky so you apply it then cover with gauze then stick it on with sticking plaster:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Activon-Medica ... 182&sr=8-5
[/quote]
Ooh thank you lil! That makes sense now.