Palatine Group Practice
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Health Promotion
Select A Topic
- Aids
- Alcohol
- Back Pain
- Blood Pressure
- Burns and Scalds
- Children with a Temperature
- Colds and Runny Noses
- Coughs
- Cystitis
- Diarrhoea
- Diet
- Ear Ache
- Exercise
- Influenza (Flu)
- Insect Bites and Stings
- Smoking
- Smoking Cessation
- Sore Throat
- Sprains
Smoking
This is the single largest preventable cause
of ill health in this country. It is a major cause of heart
attacks, angina, chest disease and cancer. If you would like
advice and help on giving up please ask. Our Practice Nurses are
trained to help you quit successfully.
Action plan to help you stop smoking
Decide on a date to stop
Give up with your partner or friends for support
Tell everyone you are stopping, so they won’t tempt you
Nicotine withdrawal symptoms can be prevented with nicotine skin
patches or nicotine nasal spray, but you will need willpower!
Acupuncture and hypnosis can help some people
What you will gain from not smoking
You will immediately reduce your chances of
having a heart attack or lung cancer as smokers have a one in five
chance of dying of lung cancer, and lose an average of five years life
expectancy. You will lose your cough and you will smell fresher!
Blood Pressure
High blood pressure can, in the long term,
increase the risk of strokes and heart attacks. Reducing blood
pressure can reduce these risks. Treatment does not necessarily
involve the use of tablets. All adults are advised to have their
blood pressure checked annually. If you have not had yours
checked recently, please contact the Surgery and ask for an appointment
to have your blood pressure checked.
Smoking Cessation
Want to give up smoking? Why go it
alone? The Practice Nurses with special training in smoking
cessation can offer practical help and support to get you to your goal.
AIDS
The risk of AIDS and HIV is likely to continue to rise over the next few years. It cannot be cured, but it can be prevented. If you would like advice on safe sex or have worries about AIDS, please speak to one of the Doctors or one of the Practice Nurses to discuss the matter further.
Alcohol
Most people can drink a small amount of
alcohol, with no harmful effect, but it is important to know the
limits.
An accepted safe limit is 21 units a week
for men and 14 units for women, a unit being approximately a glass of
wine, half a pint of beer or a single measure of spirit. This
recommended maximum presumes that the consumption is spread throughout
the week and not consumed all at once in a ‘binge’.
A man’s liver can process only eight units
of alcohol within a 24 hour period and can take 72 hours to recover
fully. It is easy to damage this vital organ.
*Many accidents are caused by drinking.
A high proportion of pedestrians and drivers in road accidents are over
the limit.
This is very commonly caused by lifting or twisting awkwardly or bad posture. Be sensible and rest your spine for a few days. You may feel more comfortable in bed. Put a board under your mattress, especially if it is soft and the backache is worse in the mornings after lying resting. Paracetamol, Aspirin or Ibuprofen should be taken regularly to aid relief, unless you are allergic to any of these drugs. Sitting often aggravates the pain if you have no support for the small of the back. If after a week of adequate rest the symptoms persist, consult your Doctor.
Burns and Scalds
Cool the skin with large quantities of cold
water immediately until the pain eases. This may be 15 minutes.
Do not burst any blister. If the skin is broken
consult a Doctor or nurse
Colds and Runny Noses
Even in this day and age there is no magical
cure and antibiotics have no effect. If you have a headache and
fever take Aspirin or Paracetamol.
Cystitis
This is due to inflammation of the bladder
and causes pain on passing water and a need to go urgently and
frequently. Drink at least six pints of fluid a day, to include
cranberry juice. Preparations like Cymalon or Effercitrate from
the chemist make the urine less acid and ease the burning sensation on
passing urine. Take soluble Aspirin or Paracetamol for the pain.
If you develop backache, pains in your sides, or pass blood and
possibly have a fever, you must seek treatment from your Doctor.
Coughs
Usually caused by viral infections.
They can be eased by inhaling steam with Vick, Karvol or Olbas oil
added to very hot water (when giving steam to a child pour the hot
water into a sponge soaked with aromatic oil in a bowl to reduce
accidental spills).
A dry tickly cough may be helped by a cough
suppressant from the chemist. A cough that is wet with phlegm is
helped by a cough linctus like Veno’s, Owbridge’s, Gees or Benylin.
Sucking soothing lozenges may help with a simple homemade remedy
of honey, glycerine and the juice of a lemon in hot water helps.
If you bring up yellow or green phlegm, blood stained, have difficulty
breathing or pains in the chest, then seek medical advice.
Child With A Temperature
Many childhood infections are caused by
viruses and these do not respond to antibiotics. Bringing your
child’s temperature down will make him or her feel better:-
1.
Give a child under 12 Paracetamol (Calpol,
Disprol) or Ibuprofen (Nurofen for children) – avoid using Aspirin.
Give the appropriate dosage every four to six hours.
2.
Dress your child in cool, loose clothes.
Leave the child’s head uncovered. Cool down the room.
3.
Give plenty of cool drinks as fluid is lost with
a fever. Encourage to drink.
4.
Sponging your child down with tepid water on a
flannel, by sitting him or her in the bathroom or in the bath and
allowing the moisture to evaporate, will lower the temperature.
5.
A child with a fever is likely to be restless at
night. Offer cool drinks and sponge them down if they wake.
6.
Children will not be made worse by taking them in a
car to see the Doctor. Sometimes the fresh air makes them feel
better.
Diarrhoea
It is important for the stomach and bowel to
“rest” completely. No food should be given for 24 to 48 hours,
but take plenty of clear fluids flavoured with cordial; sip small
amounts regularly, i.e. every quarter of an hour. Thin soup,
defizzed cola or sachets of rehydration powder can be bought at the
chemist to make as a flavoured drink, e.g. Rehidra, Dioralyte,
Electrolade. A homemade remedy of a teaspoon of sugar and half a
teaspoon of salt to one pint of water flavoured with juice is just as
good. After 24 hours it should be settling; if not, consult your
Doctor.
Babies can become dehydrated more easily and
if symptoms persist for six to eight hours then contact the Doctor.
Ear Ache
This is often the aftermath of a cold with
catarrh behind the eardrum. Paracetamol or Junifen for the pain
and a decongestant linctus like Sudafed, plus nasal drops to unblock
the nose, is often all that is required.
Influenza
(Flu)
Influenza attacks are usually short lived.
Attacks are due to a virus and they cause marked sweating, headache,
aching in limbs, muscle pains, weakness and shivering, often with a dry
cough. Antibiotics will not help to treat influenza.
Go to bed and keep warm.
Take Paracetamol or Ibuprofen regularly as recommended by
the pharmacist or your Doctor.
Drink plenty of warm sweetened drinks (orange squash,
lemonade, blackcurrant cordial) four or five pints daily.
Stay mostly in bed until your temperature has been normal
for a day.
Do not start active work until your weakness,
dizziness and fatigue has disappeared.
Influenza is an infectious disease and contact
with other persons should be avoided – so stay away from work.
If the sputum that you cough is discoloured, then consult your
Doctor
Eat light and easily digested food (toast,
biscuits, steamed fish, tinned fruit, jellies, soups, etc).
Insect Bites And Stings
Antihistamine creams for occasional use and
antihistamine tablets can be obtained from the chemist without a
prescription and will usually relieve most symptoms. Initially
apply cold water or a lump of ice to the sting area.
NOTE: bee stings should be scraped away rather than plucked to avoid squeezing the contents of the bee sting sac into the skin.
Sore Throats
Almost all sore throats are caused by viral
infections and they will usually last four or five days. Gargling
with soluble Aspirin gives relief and you can then swallow the solution
if it does not upset your stomach. Should your tonsils have white
or pus spots on them, then you should see the Doctor to see if an
antibiotic is necessary.
"Sprains
Firstly apply a cold compress or an ice pack
(e.g. a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel) for 15 to 30 minutes
to reduce the swelling. Apply a firm supportive crepe bandage and
rest the joint. Using a painful joint will delay in the recovery
by leading to further swelling. Ibuprofen (Nurofen) is helpful to
ease the pain and swelling both as a local application of cream or gel,
and tablets can be obtained from your chemist.
REMEMBER
….If you keep active….
….Watch your weight….
….Don’t smoke….
….Drink in moderation….
….And don’t worry to
much….
Then you probably won’t
need us at all!
