COMING OUT! UNDERCOVER HOMEOPATH'S FIRST PATIENT

I am reminiscing, thinking about my first ever patient!  Do you remember yours? 

I don’t mean your child, your partner or the neighbour’s cat… although I’m sure those first healing experiences, perhaps while you were still at college, would bring you some fond memories too!

Most of us homeopaths, perhaps therapists in general, go through similar stages in the development of our healing careers:

First we try it on ourselves, then as we become a bit more confident we start to try it on our loved ones, then we spread out into the community and start to try to help those around us…

But then it comes the Day! 

Yes, I mean that day… when we are no longer supervised by a tutor at college, when we are on our own!  When someone we’ve never met before, comes through our door, steps in our life, looks at us as no one has ever looked before – and expects to be treated!  This is our real first patient: the one who can set the tone of our healing practice forever…

In my case, my first patient was a complete stranger, not a recommendation from a friend or a neighbour. 

Having completed my course in Homeopathy and Shamanic Healing, having sorted out my professional indemnity insurance, I felt no closer to become an established therapist!  I lacked the connections, I lacked the confidence, and I realised that I needed to gain more experience fast or I would become another casualty on the pile of discarded graduates who would never practice… it happens a lot! 

If some of you reading this are currently students: don’t despair, there is hope, but you must act fast! 

The longer you wait after you have completed your course to start practicing the less the chances you have of establishing yourself as a successful practitioner…

I decided to place an advert on Gumtree offering three free sessions of homeopathic treatment and the remedies! 

I explained that I was a homeopathy student, as although I had completed my course, I still saw myself as a student at this stage.   I had over fifty replies, and I agreed to see most of them.  All I asked was for a brief history of what they needed treated and the commitment to come to three consultations and to take the remedies. 

Most of the people who replied were of all ages, but female.  I had a few inquiries from males too, but most of them sounded either positively psycho types or they weren’t willing to travel for their appointments. 

So I was down to just one male patient who also happened to be the first one available for consultation on my list of new patients.  It was a case of dermographia, a skin condition similar to hives.

Having had a few strange inquiries from the other males, and realising that I was in a vulnerable position, being a female and having agreed to see a complete stranger at my home alone…

I was a little aphrensive! 

Asking a friend to be with me wasn’t an option, as I have strict guidelines about patient’s confidentiality.

So there I was : having gone through all my medical books and college notes on skin disorders, having checked my BNF for the side-effects of the antihistaminic drug he had been taking for seven years, having looked in the materia medica of all the possible remedies mentioned on the homeopathic repertory that could match his condition , having reviewed my case taking technique, and having made a list of all the questions I wanted to ask him…

I was feeling totally unprepared, vulnerable, and nervous about this first appointment!  

And I wondered if he would think me nosy for asking a long list of questions that to someone unfamiliar with homeopathy could seem completely irrelevant to the case…how do you help a complete stranger to be able to confide their most inner secrets to you? But without that, how are you ever going to be able to treat them?

Bang on time the bell rang! 

I answered the door, we shook hands.  I led this pleasantly smiling man in his mid-thirties into my consulting room, and as I signalled at a chair for him to sit, he said: “I’m gay.” I said: “Oh good… take a seat!” He looked positively astonished by the look of relief on my face...

…He apologised for not having told me before but he felt that he would rather come and tell me personally even if I decided not to treat him… I explained that I thought it was a good sign that he felt he could confide in me:

The trust of the patient and the unprejudiced attitude of the therapist are the basis for successful homeopathic treatment. 

I explained that I was absolutely fine and happy to treat him regardless of his sexual orientation. 

As we went through his case details, and through his life history, I realised why it was so important for him to tell me that he was gay – it had nothing to do with what needed to be treated, and yet it was such an important part of his life that it couldn’t and it shouldn’t have been omitted!  This man was an activist for Homosexual people’s rights!  His entire existence revolved around promoting equality and speaking out for people who felt discriminated against because of their sexual orientation…

He told me also about the family problems earlier in his life when as a teenager, he decided to come out: the fact that his dad refused to accept his sexuality had been very difficult for him at the time and had taken years to heal. 

He told me how he felt insecure and under threat in some countries he had visited.  He told how he felt for not being able to have a spontaneous gesture of affection towards the person he loved, like holding hands, in public…

You see, none of this had directly to do with dermographia… but have I not known this I would have missed out the core, the essence of this human being!

So here it is a big thank you to my lovely first patient! 

And here is also a thank you to all the patients who have subsequently come through my door, for teaching me about human kind and kindness…  

They have been brave enough to tell me their life stories, to show me their vulnerable side, and to be completely honest about themselves…not all of them have been as straightforward as my first patient, some of them don’t even know themselves that well until we start talking, but they all get there in their own time. 

Without you all I would have been a completely different person!   

By the Undercover Homeopath

Turning Magic into Science: Homeopathy leading the way

Dear ASA sorry but you really suck!

Not only you suck, you also suck up to… and it’s a pity because you were put in a position of trust to defend consumer’s rights and to point the finger at commercial wrong doing – but now… how can we still trust you when it is plain for who wants to see that have sold yourself to the Big Pharma and are being manipulated by a few Pharmapotheads who have an axe to grind with everything that is healing, natural, organic, non-toxic?

What kind of evidence based for complementary therapies do you want?  

To be honest with you, I couldn’t care less whether homeopathy and healing can be scientifically proven or not… but I know it matters to a lot of my colleagues who have put years of their life and all their resources into research in order to explain to some narrow minded, biased, pseudo-scientists how homeopathy works: their studies have been dismissed in favour of those that show scientific impotency to prove that homeopathy works!

It's about time we reverse the tables and start to demand scientific evidence that homeopathy doesn’t work!  

Don’t take me wrong…true science and scientific spirit - I really admire, but do not confuse it with a bunch of people who can use a few test tubes and take a few drugs themselves for true scientists! 

I see science as a child

A child who marvels us every time they learn how to do something knew.  But this “child” is still taking its first steps compared to how much there is that it cannot explain!  And just like a child should be guided and taken by the hand and shown the consequences of their own acts, so should science. 

Most crimes against nature and by extension against us humans have been perpetrated in the name of scientific development!  

It beggars believe how disconnected from nature some of these pseudoscience/ technocrats are!  Medicine and pharmacology are just two areas where this disconnection is evident, but there are many more areas. 

How can someone advocate that a medical treatment that will cause known horrendous side effects in some cases irreversible, claim that they own the truth about healing? 

It’s okay if there is no other choice, if there is a life threatening situation that requires immediate intervention – conventional medicine has saved many lives – never mind the toxicity… perhaps complementary medicine can later reverse some of the side-effects from the invasive but necessary medical treatment! 

But bullying people into using chemicals that take a toll on one’s quality of life in the long term as well as causing irreversible damage to the environment instead of nature friendly, immune system boosting medicine…?

What’s the excuse for their arrogance? 

Aren’t we all human, don’t the pharmapotheads have a body as well?  Are they so blinded by big pharma that they prefer to ruin their own bodies and those of the patients they are supposed to care for in favour of a few financial incentives?  Apparently yes…

And pseudo-scientific arrogance doesn’t stop here… it’s incredible how some seem to think of themselves as experts in all scientific branches!  Scientific development has caused a diversification and specialisation into many areas of research, however it is hilarious how many pharmapotheads think of themselves as some Leonard D’vinci – able to discuss and have an opinion about anything deemed scientific… I guess that’s a sure way to public discredit and ridicule.  

I see so much fanaticism and dogmatism about promoting big pharma in the Media that I’m starting to think that it is the new religion!

Isaac Newton – a true scientist, made one of the most brilliant discoveries and a tenet still held today by modern science by being hit on the head by a fallen apple… we can say that he was “nature inspired”  I wonder if a similar event could wake some of the pseudo-scientific technocrats today too…

Perhaps being hit on the head by a giant massive veg… or an enormous bottle of homeopathic pills…? 

Or being rounded up all together, having their daily drugs ration cut and taken to the wild for fresh air for a few days… I think that might encourage some respect for nature, some better understanding about their own bodies and some openness of mind! 

Although in some cases it seems to be in the best interest of public hygiene that some of these Pharmapotheads keep their minds well shut – judging by the stuff that comes out of their mouths…

True scientists are the ones who dare to ask questions, to challenge pre-establish rules, and to create new hypothesis… those who make “what if…” their motto. 

Those truly inspired minds are the ones who help to explain magic and to turn it into science! 

Without them we would still be living in caves… without central heating or smartphones!  Some of those true scientists had to defy the dogmatists of their time too – just like we have now, it’s just that dogmatists then went by a different name…they are called “the Church” – remember Galileo? 

Cheers to true Science!

By the Undercover Homeopath

Occupy: a movement that cannot be suppressed, the homeopathic view

Hi guys I’m back!  Sorry that you had to put up with my cousin Ben for the last two weeks, but all things considered I think he did rather well. The main thing is that he’s now safely back home, with his Irish harp - no more blogging for him - at least not on my site!

After spending two weeks touring around the French countryside, doing what I do best: mingling with fellow homeopaths and nature lovers, sampling good food and wine - all in moderation, I get back to England to find that our streets have been taken over by the people’s power! 

Being a homeopath I am sympathetic to the movement! In homeopathy we believe in expression not suppression! 

Just like disease cannot be suppressed and needs to be allowed to run its course in order to be healed, social problems cannot resolved by suppression.

If we want to heal social problems we have to be able to let people express them. Oppression only works temporarily taking the problems deeper underground until the next eruption! 

A totalitarian political system approach preventing people from demonstrating and protesting is the equivalent to conventional medicine approach to disease: you can temporarily suppress the problem only to see it bursting up stronger in another organ – and an added disease! In politics this erupting reaction to suppression is called “Revolt” in conventional medicine is called “sorry there nothing else I can do for you“.

In politics we need to build infrastructures to allow for a strong and healthy social fabric, in health we need to boost a patient’s immune system to allow them to fight disease! The more toxic we become, both psychologically and physically the less able we are to think for ourselves or to heal ourselves!

Analyzing the Occupy Wall Street protest and the way it has now spread to the rest of the world, I can sense its energy.  It corresponds to the energy of Helium and Hydrogen - together they form the first group of the periodic table. The first group of the periodic table pertains to the beginning of life - for the universe it is Big Bang, for us humans is the embryonic stage, it is a seed, an egg, an idea. 

It is an energy that simply exists without doing anything yet.  It relates the wholeness, and the first creative impulse. It carries a great desire for unity.  It is cosmic energy - the universe is made mostly of Hydrogen and Helium. Our Sun is composed of 99% of these two gases too. 

The Occupy protesters have claimed to be the 99%! 

In their quest for unity, they claim a majority of 99% against the 1% of greedy corporations. And just like the Sun rises into a new dawn marking the beginning of a new day so does the Occupy movement is rising into the beginning of a new order! 

What this new order will bring us only time will tell but it sure is uniting people with its call for the need to re-access social values - highlighting the social failure of an economic and political system based on greed that doesn’t take into account it’s people’s needs.  It’s calling for a new system where governments are no longer manipulated by the financial interests of a few large corporations. 

The  power of the Occupy movement lays in the fact that it doesn’t have a clear direction nor strategy: It’s able to mobilize us all into being free to take action against the current economic and political system - let’s just hope that it doesn’t get hijacked by opportunistic lesser causes.    

The OCCUPY Movement has quickly spilled from Wall Street and is alive and well in many cities around the world!  It is a peaceful protest - let’s hope it is allowed to remain peaceful and not forced to react to authoritarian forces attempting to suppress it… do not underestimate the power of this seemingly passive protest: it has the potential to become quite volatile and explosive if repressed - let’s not forget  how flammable and explosive Hydrogen is  - remember the Hydrogen bomb?

OWS is making ripples of change, one drop at the time.

And I dare say that if the Bible was written today God would say: “Go forth and #Occupy!”  It’s just that the traditional “Go forth and multiply” has created a population of seven billion and rising, and consuming the way we do, we are putting an enormous strain on nature’s resources. 

#Occupy could bring a much needed solution!

     

  

 

Homeopathy Celebrities on the couch - Giles Fraser, the salt of the earth

This week the Undercover Homeopath analyses Giles Fraser's psychological profile according to homeopathy principles, and prescribes a homeopathic remedy.


Giles Fraser, a man of the Church, is my choice as the Celebrity in need of attention this week, so he is my couch!

The cannon chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral has just resigned. 

Now, there are resignations and resignations. 

Often when we hear the word resignation we are compelled into thinking of someone corned into a tight spot when their improper behaviour has finally been found out, or someone with a large ego who is offended because they feel they have not been given the respect and recognition they deserve.

This is clearly not the case with Rev Giles Fraser.  He has resigned because he couldn’t conciliate his ideal of what the Church should be and what it really is in a particular incident of Occupy London movement.  As he puts it:  “(…) I feel that the church cannot answer a peaceful protest with violence”.  And then he becomes deeply moved, tears in his eyes when he mentions how he loved his work at St Paul’s.  He also mentions how he feels “terrified” about being out of work because he has a family to support, he has children… he also says that there is no question about his leaving the Church of England.

He comes across as a man of integrity

He puts his moral values before his own interests.  He cuts a figure of consistency as we have not often seen, either in the church or in politics.  And even when he talks about his concerns for his future, it is really the welfare of his dependants he is concerned about. 

Giles Fraser is a great example of a Natrum Muriaticum homeopathic constitution.  

This is a very well know homeopathic remedy in homeopathic circles. Some homeopaths even claim that the British as a population are of Nat Mur constitution. 

Although each individual will then have their own constitutional remedy type too depending on many factors, there is a general trend of stoicism when faced with personal difficulties, a refusal to indulge in self-pity, a desire to carry on their duties to society and to their families.  They can sometimes be perceived as cold due to their  “stiff upper lip” – they won’t cry when faced with extreme emotional hardship and yet can be moved to tears while watching a sad movie – they supress their own emotions but they allow themselves to be moved by other’s plight! 

Nat Mur is the remedy of the carers, the volunteers and the charity donors.  They are selfless, and they tend to support those weaker than themselves.  They are the people we refer to as “the salt of the Earth”, the “pillars of the community”.  And Giles Fraser has just joined the ranks!  As he says he didn’t set out to be a hero or a revolutionary.  He didn’t invite the protesters to camp at St Paul’s.  In fact he even asked them to move their tents back a little, to clear space for church goers and tourists to enter the Cathedral.  But he also asked the police to stand back and to not use violence in the church’s name for removing the protesters.  When asked if the protesters would be allowed to attend the service he said that everyone was welcome – isn’t that what the church is supposed to be about?

I’m not a religious person myself, but I can see that Giles Fraser with his spontaneous gesture of tolerance, inclusion and high values of social justice might have done more for the church’s public relations than any PR campaign could have done.  That’s what I call “Christ Consciousness” – something I definitely believe in!

Undercover Homeopath 

THE ROLE OF HOMEOPATHY IN CRICKET INJURIES' TREATMENT

Hi guys!  I hope your week has been better than mine! 

So far I have managed to upset the next door neighbours with my Irish harp playing: they say that it frightened their cat - it's been missing since last Thursday. I also got involved in a brawl over a game of darts at the pub, and have been feeling really sick since Saturday, throwing up at least twice a day – courtesy of the Nux vomica and Sulphur combination for detox that I’ve taken!   When I asked my cousin she said that I was doing really well, that I was detoxing!  I wonder if this is her way of punishing me for my last week’s comment about the rugby team…   

Okay I have to admit I was wrong about the

Rugby! The England team messed it up

completely for themselves, for their coach and

for their country. 

I thought that my cousin would be really pleased with my informative piece on that book - the BNF, but the next day I had her shouting on the phone… there is no pleasing some people! 

She says we should all be united against the NHS cuts, fighting for more services and choices to be available to the patients, and that I should've highlighted the benefits of offering homeopathy and other complementary therapies on the NHS, letting the patients make an informed decision about their treatment! And that I should not have exposed the way the NHS and the drugs industry connive against the patients best interests by plying them with unnecessary medication!

See what she is like?  A good looking lass but a fiery temper if you ask me… first tells me that I can write about whatever I like and when I do, she hits the roof! 

So I only got this week to redeem myself before she comes back from France… luckily yesterday I come across something interesting:

I found the Undercover Homeopath’s Cricket

Homeopathy Kit. 

That’s right, she used to go out with a cricket coach a few years ago and I remember her saying that she was treating the team for sport injuries.

As every Cricket fan knows Cricket injuries are quite frequent, so much so that both Australia and England have developed a program for prevention and management of those.

India’s legendary coach TA Sekhar has called for a similar program to be implemented by the Indian Cricket Board.  He is well aware of the stresses fast bowlers go through and has campaigned for the creation of a complete muscular-skeletal screening of every bowler playing for India as well as for the under 19yrs team.

I’m with him on that!  I think that a good Physiotherapy Sports program will need to be in place, I also think it should include a qualified Homeopath. I've heard my cousin say on several occasions that India has some of the best homeopaths in the world, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find one who is also a Cricket lover. 

Apparently homeopathy can do a lot for preventing and also for treating some of the most frequent Cricket injuries.

My cousin has used it quite successfully at small scale but the same principles could be applied by a major institution such as the Indian Cricket Board.    

Here are some of the most common injuries, their conventional treatment and what the Undercover Homeopath suggests:

Preventative Treatment:

Muscle-Skeletal strengthening:

A combination of Cal Phos and Calc Fluor 3X tissue salts to be taken alternated twice a week during rest periods and increased to alternated daily doses during play season.

Stiffness, tears and sprains prevention:

Rhus-Tox 30C one dose two hours before the match, this can be taken again at two hours interval particularly if weather is wet and cold.

Repetitive strain injury prevention:

For players who have had recurrent injuries in the past, Ruta 30C one dose ½ hr. before the match.

Muscle soreness after the match:

Arnica 30C up to three doses at two hour intervals if required.

Fast Bowlers

For preventing spinal injuries due to excessive stress of the Pars Interarticularis from the simultaneous backwards bending, rotation, and side bending of the trunk:

Sycamore Seed 1M one dose twelve hours before the match and another dose at the end of the match. 

INJURIES

Low Back Pain

Homeopathic Treatment:

A combination of Ruta, Rhus-Tox, and Hypericum 200C to increase mobility, reduce pain and repair damaged tissues.

If fracture is suspected: Arnica 200C to treat shock, reduce pain and bruising, and once conventional  medical examination and procedures have been observed you can also give Symphytum 30C regularly to help speed up bone healing.  Also Calc Phosphoricum and Calc Fluorica Tissue Salts protocol as mentioned on fracture prevention.

Hamstring Strain

Hamstring strain caused by sudden sprinting activities such as bowling, taking a quick single or fielding a ball- the hamstrings are stretched beyond their limits and the tearing of the muscle tissue occurs.  

Homeopathic treatment:

Ammonia Muriaticum 30C together with the conventional treatment for this which is the RICE protocol - rest, ice and compression and elevation. 

Side Strain

A Side Strain is a frequent injury in bowlers on the non-bowling arm side as a result of the contraction of the muscle on that side while the bowling arm is cocked for bowling. It is a tear of the Internal Oblique, the External Oblique, or the Transversalis fascia at the point where they attach to the four bottom ribs.

Homeopathic treatment:

Ruta 30C and Hypericum 30C three times a day.  An Ice Pack can also be applied for twenty minutes every two hours, and a Cohesive Compression Bandage should be applied to limit bleeding in the tissues.

Shoulder Pain

Shoulder pain is also common in cricket due to the repeated action of throwing and bowling, causing damage of the Rotator Cuff muscles: Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Subscapularis and Teres Minor, the small muscles around the shoulder joint.

Homeopathic treatment:

Ruta 200C and Calendula 200C three doses at a twenty minute interval initially, reduced to once a day for the following week.

That’s all from me guys!  This time I’m going to resist the temptation of barracking for England – I don’t want to get on the wrong foot with anyone else, especially with my lovely cousin –  I’m going to wish both India and England the best.  I’m just going to seat back and enjoy the matches… that is if I survive this “detox” program I got myself into!

Yours,

Cousin Ben

        

Cousin Ben reviews the BNF

Hello fellow Harp thumpers and Dart players! I’m Ben

cousin of the Undercover Homeopath, and I’m taking over this blog while she’s away at a homeopathic convention in the French countryside.

She's asked me to come over and mind her place in case any Romanian squatters decided to take over.

Why did she think it would be better to have me taking over her house than the Romanians it’s a mystery, considering she’s always moaning about me leaving the place in mess every time I stay over…anyway I’m not complaining, there’s plenty of food in the fridge, figs and plums in the garden and I’ve brought a good supply of whisky to last me for the 2/3 weeks she is planning to be away.

She said that I could also write a weekly post on her blog, to write about anything I liked just to keep her readers interested, and to be careful not to upset anyone. So that’s what I’ll be doing!

She also said no to worry about Twitter that she would take care of it, and that she would still be doing the #healingmondays , whatever that is…

and she also said that if Tracey Brown called about her next appointment, to tell her that it will have to be re-scheduled for the beginning of November.

So there we are…me, you, and an empty page in front of me…I've always wanted to have me own blog just don’t know how set up one. Since I can write about anything I’m going to dedicate this space to my two hobbies: Harp and Darts!

Over the next few weeks I intend to tell you all about the secrets of melodious Irish Harp tuning, and I’ll also be giving you updates to any Dart tournaments around the country.

This time my lovely cousin is touring around France with her fellow homeopaths, spotting and collecting herbs, and doing all sorts of homeopathy quizzes. I wouldn’t be surprised if the “Tour” also involved a lot of wine tasting from the local breweries…these guys are not against a good drop, especially if it’s organic!

Too bad that she’s left her hangover remedy kit behind. It’s a little box with two bottles of pills inside, one says Nux Vomica 30C on the label and the other Sulphur 30C .

It says:” take one pill of Nux Vomica before bedtime and one of Sulphur on waking. Repeat for a few days for a complete detox or take just once if you‘ve drunk too much and want to avoid a hangover“

…umm… I might try that later…I’ll let you know on my next post if that worked!

Now, last night I got here middle of the night. After spending almost 12 hours on the coach and falling asleep with me neck twisted, I got here worse for wear…knackered and with a stiff neck! Looked for something to take for the pain. Nothing! I mean, she has all sort of bottles of tinctures and pills and all of that - that’s very good of her, but I’m a simple country folk! I know nothing about that hairy fairy stuff she gets up to, all I wanted was a couple of Nurofen! Is that too much to ask?

Anyway went to bed with a whisky, but you know when you are in strange place and no matter how tired you are you just can’t get to sleep? And you know how some hotels will have a bible by the bed?

Well my cousin has the British National Formulary, that’s BNF for short.

Since I haven’t had time to write anything about my hobbies yet, I’m going to give you some excerpts from BNF on painkillers - enjoy folks, this is good quality scientifically proven information not the usual nonsensical quackery stuff no doubt my cousin has been feeding you with!

Okay…so let’s start with the painkillers that you can buy over the counter for mild or moderate pain: these are safe enough for you to buy without a prescription. For the heavier and more dangerous painkillers you will need to see your GP.

Paracetamol:


Side-effects: rare, but rashes, blood disorders (including thrombocytopenia, leucopenia, neutropenia) reported; hypotension, flushing, and tachycardia also reported on infusion; important: liver damage (and less frequently renal damage) following overdosage.

When they say rare, what exactly do they mean? Should I be worried that I might be one of the “rare” cases? Any of those blood diseases they’ve mentioned are very serious!

Ibuprofen:It is one of the NSAIDs - that’s Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
to you and me.

Side-effects: serious gastro-intestinal toxicity; the risk is higher in the elderly. Other side-effects include hypersensitivity reactions particularly rashes, angioedema, and bronchospasm, headache, dizziness, nervousness, depression, drowsiness, insomnia, vertigo, hearing disturbances such as tinnitus, photosensitivity, and haematuria. Blood disorders have also occurred. Fluid retention may occur (rarely precipitating congestive heart failure); blood pressure may be raised.

Renal failure may be provoked by NSAIDs, especially in patients with pre-existing renal impairment. Rarely, papillary necrosis or interstitial fibrosis associated with NSAIDs can lead to renal failure.

I don’t know about you but this “rarely” kidney failure…umm…I think I would like to pass on that!

Hepatic damage, alveolitis, pulmonary eosinophilia, pancreatitis, visual disturbances, Stevens-Johnson syndrome,

I didn’t have a clue who this Steven-Johnson was but I looked it up in a Medical Dictionary which my cousin also keeps by the bedside cabinet.

Gosh! This woman…if this is what she reads at bedtime I don’t want to know what she reads during the day!

Anyway…Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS) is a life-threatening skin condition, in which cell death causes the epidermis to separate from the dermis.
More symptoms: Induction of or exacerbation of colitis or Crohn’s disease has been reported. Aseptic meningitis has been reported rarely with NSAIDs—patients with connective-tissue disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus may be especially susceptible. 

All NSAID use can, to varying degrees, be associated with a small increased risk of thrombotic events (e.g. myocardial infarction and stroke) independent of baseline cardiovascular risk factors or duration of NSAID use.

If you ask me there is nothing small about a heart attack or a stroke! They may say the risk is small but if I would prefer if there was no risk at all!

Gastro-intestinal disturbances including discomfort, nausea, diarrhoea, and occasionally bleeding and ulceration occur. Systemic as well as local effects of NSAIDs contribute to gastro-intestinal damage; taking oral formulations with milk or food, or using enteric-coated formulations, or changing the route of administration may only partially reduce symptoms such as dyspepsia.

 This BNF is definitely good stuff! I advise you to buy this book as soon as you can. It’s written in a sober manner - a lot of good scientific, factual evidence, and no melodramas! Even when they telling you that you could easily die from taking your run of the mill over the counter painkiller, they still manage to sound very reassuring!



Oh! By the way I forgot to tell you: these side effects are if you are a healthy person.

If you have any thing like asthma, a heart condition, kidney problems; if you are elderly or pregnant; or taking any other medication, there are quite a lot more side-effects to look into!

I think I’ll stick to whisky, and wait until my cousin calls again to see what she recommends. And I won’t even tell you what I found out about Nurefen, so that you won’t lose your sleep too…

Night, Night, Sleep Tight!