Health bosses raise awareness of ovarian cancer symptoms

4:10pm Tuesday 6th March 2012 in News

MARCH is ovarian cancer awareness month and hospital chiefs are keen to raise awareness of the symptoms to ensure early detection and treatment.

According to statistics, 17 women in the town will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 but knowing the signs including persistent pelvic/stomach pain, increased stomach size, persistent bloating and having difficulty eating could help patients seek advice early.

Nigel Holland, gynaecological consultant at the trust, said: “If ovarian cancer is diagnosed at an early stage the outcome is good. “However, because some of the symptoms of ovarian cancer can be vague and similar to those of more common conditions, it can be difficult to diagnose.”

Women are also advised to tell their GP if there are two or more cases of ovarian or breast cancer in their close family.

Visit ovarian.org.uk.

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Basildon family: Our mission to raise awareness of cervical cancer

2:00pm Monday 15th August 2011

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WATCHING someone you love waste away from a killer disease is awful to endure.

But it’s something Alex Waters had to do.

Alex is still grieving for her step-daughter, who died of cervical cancer, aged just 24.

Adela Waters was a single mum, so her death, in June, also left two young children without a mother.

one of the hardest things for Alex, 42, to come to terms with is that Adela’s death could have been prevented if she had been diagnosed early enough.

now, Alex, from Basildon, is trying to achieve something positive from the tragedy.

she is working to raise awarness of cervical cancer and is encouraging all young women to get checked out if they feel things aren’t quite right.

she explained: “Adela knew something was wrong. she was bleeding really badly and kept going to the GP. But she just kept being told it was nothing to worry about.

“Eventually, in October last year, she was screened for cancer and told the news it was most likely terminal.

“It was too late by that time. Adela was only 24 with two children and her whole life ahead of her.”

Adela, from Surrey, began a course of chemo-therapy, determined to fight the cancer, but her frail body couldn’t take it and she died six months later.

Alex said: “I’m desperate to raise awareness to cervical cancer and how women need to be aware of the symptoms.

“Cases like Jade Goody have helped put cervival cancer in the spotlight, but more needs to be done.

“At the moment, women are screened from 25 onwards for cervical cancer. I would like to see this age bracket reduced or at least see more doctors sending younger patients for screening if they feel something is wrong – not just dismissing them.”

When big Brother celebrity Jade Goody died in March 2009 of cervical cancer she was 27, and like Adela, a mum of two.

Jade’s death helped make the world sit up and take notice that young women die of cancer too.

after her death, a record number of women asked for smear tests and a campaign began to persuade NHS health chiefs to introduce screening for women bet-ween the ages of 20 and 24.

however, experts say the cervix of women of that age is changing and there is a risk their cells may look abnormal when they are not, exposing them to the trauma of further tests and biopsies.

But Alex says women need to be listened to. she added: “After watching someone I loved so much die, I want to get across to women that if you think something is wrong, go to the GP and get it checked out.

“The earlier screening takes place, the more chance there is of saving a person. If we can save even one life through sharing Adela’s story, then her death has not been in vain.”

To show her commitment, Alex, a staff nurse at Brockfield House mental health hospital, in Runwell, will be having her hair shaved off for the charity Cancer Research, on August 26.

the fundraising evening, which will also be a celebration of Adela’s life, will take place at the former Runwell Hospital Social Club. Alex’s husband Carl, 46 – Adela’s father – will also be taking part, with a sponsored leg wax.

As well as getting sponsored to have her locks cut off, Alex’s long hair will be put to good use.

she said: “I heard about a charity called the little Princess Trust, which makes wigs for youngsters who lose their hair to chemotherapy, so they will be getting mine.”

Alex, who has seven children between her and Carl, added: “My dad has also recently been diagnosed with leukemia, but it looks as though he is beating it.

“I feel cancer has affected so many people I love and I need to do something to fight it.

“I would just urge women out there who may be having abnormal symptoms, to trust their instincts. It might save their life.”

To donate, visit donate inmemory.cancerresearch.org/ 0001633

I have to go and see my gp about the concerns my family and friends have for my health as she has recommended I write a list of all the anorexia symptoms I feel I am experiencing, both physical and emotional.Although I know what I am feeling obviously, I do not know whether all the symptoms are those of anorexia. Would anyone be able to help me out with what classic anorexia symptoms are (both physical and emotional.)

What I am experiencing:
dramatic weight loss in a short space of time (self induced)
obsessive exercise
obsessive toward calories and i mean OBSESSIVE.
tiredness
constipation
this month my period has arrived way too early and rather than actual period like substance it is more just like coloured water literally.
I bruise easily now.
My bones are protruding.
The thought of gaining weight terrifies me
I feel as though I cannot get away from these thoughts and constant obsessions.
I feel run down all the time.
I am either grumpy or tearful.
I fear going out with my friends for meals or to parties because of the calorie consumption involved.

Are these all anorexia nervosa symptoms? I have battled anorexia nervosa before although I was only very young at the time (as in 9/10 years of age). I have also battled bulimia nervosa and have been threatened with admission to an eating disorder clinic. I have lost 12 pounds in the space of nearly four weeks. I now weigh 116 and I want to get down to 100. I am 5ft 6".

Any more symptoms any one knows of will be helpful as my gp knows of my eating disorder history and is very tough on me about these things. Thank you x

Danox is right.Please go see someone.how old are you?you have a lot of stress in your life.?your experiencing grumpyness.-that could be bi polar.-mood changes.
do you cry alot.i do for no reason sometimes actually lately.
5'6 you should weigh 135-140lbs.and 116lbs now.i am 118lbs.but 5'3
yeah so please Eat food is good.i'm the opposite i have fear of people watching me eat to much!

All classic symptons but you are aware of it and should do something about it, go to see someone and just forget about what you will look like and forget the obsessions because what if it turns fatal? start eating more steadily and like i said go see someone

Former cancer patient to dress as Nora Batty for charity run

10:02am Wednesday 4th May 2011

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a FORMER cancer patient will be pulling on the famous wrinkly stockings and putting in curlers when he takes part in a men-only run through York this summer as Nora Batty.

David Cordukes, 62, was diagnosed with prostate cancer six years ago after visiting his GP suffering from what he believed was insomnia.

now the Huntington resident will be dressing as last Of The Summer Wine character Nora to take part in June’s men-only 5K run called RU taking The P2. last year the first event raised about £13,000 for research into cancer.

David said: “Last year there were 13 of us who took part in the race dressed as last Of The Summer Wine characters and we raised more than £1,900. This year, we decided we wanted to do the same again because not only was it a fun event, but it helps encourage men to set up and recognise cancer symptoms early, as so many blokes don’t.

“I know someone at work whose father has just been diagnosed with prostate cancer and there are three men down our street too. I just want to do my bit for local cancer research as not everyone is as lucky as me to be able to battle it.”

Mr Cordukes was diagnosed after his GP spotted he had a swollen prostate. Hospital tests later found the gland was cancerous, and he underwent an operation to remove it.

This year’s event takes place on Sunday, June 19, and will set off from Rowntree Park. The route will take runners over the Millennium Bridge and along the River Ouse to Museum Gardens, before heading back to Rowntree Park. Money raised will go to Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Entry forms can be obtained from up And Running in Fossgate, York St John University and Brian’s Hair Fashion in South Bank Avenue. For details, phone 01904 656427.

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Terrific pain, with nausea and sickness.

Pain in right upper quandrant that radiates to the back. Nausea and sickness, pain that feels like you could be having a heart attack, it's not it's something called biliary colic and it is horrendous.

There are lots of symptoms and some people get all of them others get some. I am two weeks post op having had my gallbladder removed and the relief is immense.

I don't wish symptomatic gallbladder disease on anyone and so if you do think you may have gallstones please go and see your Dr asap. I had gallstone induced pancreatitis in December that put me in hospital, I then had cholecystitis (gallbladder infection) in January and was in hospital for a further 8 days. I couldn't wait to get my gallbladder removed and would have the same operation 1000 times rather than go through the pain and suffering I did.

See your GP and go from there

Mine come with occasional heartburn, but most often it hits me when I'm laying down, out of the blue I start feeling real nauseated, it usually only lasts for a minute or two then it's gone. It's not so much painful as it is uncomfortable, the feeling of sickness, nausea, blah!

Every time you eat anything fatty you will get a severe pain in your back. you will probably feel sick as well. if you have these symptoms please consult your doctor asap.

Pain located in the upper right quadrant that is usually associated with right shoulder pain. It usually worsens following meals, especially those containing high amounts of fats (fried foods, cheeses etc.) Antacids usually do not lessen the pain. Nausea and vomiting are common

yes terrific pain in stomach and nausea

Ok I had gallstones and I had key holes surgery to remove the gallbladder.

The gallbladder is situated just below the liver on the right side of your body just under the ribs. the pain of gallbladder trouble comes on in spasms and is very severe and colicky because a stone oftens gets trapped in the bile duct. It becomes so severe you are double and bent over with pain. you will also be very sick and nauseated. my gallbladder was so full of stones it was ready to burst. you will also feel very tender and sore below your ribs.

I had my gallbladder out when I was 21 years old. Ugh, the attacks were horrible!!

I started noticing that whenever I ate something really greasy or spicy I would get this horrible pain under the right side of my ribcage. It didn't happen immediately, but about 2 to 12 hours later. It would last for a day, and nothing I did would make the pain lessen.

This happened the first time after I ate pizza when I was about 5 months pregnant. I got this pain, and it was so bad that I threw up. I didn't think anything about it at the time, thought the baby didn't like Pizza Hut.

The next time it happened, my son was about 18 months old. I had eaten a chicken burrito from Taco Bell. It was so bad this time (and I had just graduated from college in nursing) that I knew what it was and had my friend take me to the emergency room. I had pain under my rib cage across my entire belly, down the right side of my chest from my shoulder to the end of my rib cage, and down both sides of my back.

The doctor in the ER knew what I was having, and gave me pain medication. They did an ultrasound of my gallbladder, and, sure enough, there were the stones.

I had my gallbladder removed in 1995 and it's a wonderful life.

Gallbladder attacks can be in many varying degrees, don't think that you don't have them because you only have a little heartburn. keep track of what you ate before the attack. Write it down. Take it to the doctor with you and let them be the judge.

would crohn's cause her blood sugars to spike? she feels ill most of the time and is always complaining of her joints and muscles hurting and she has a constant stomach ache and heartburn quite frequently. she has been in the hospital 10 times this year alone.

Crohn's could cause these symptoms on the aches, stomach ache, and heartburn. Don't know about the link with blood sugar.

She will also have symptoms of needing to defecate often, and may possibly have darkened blood in feces.

I would suggest 2 courses of action:
-First, the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America has an excellent website (I don't know if it's CCFA.com or CCFA.org) that will give you excellent background and links.

-Secondly, just how much experience does the doctor have with treating Crohn's? if she/he is a GP, suggest a referral to a gastroenterologist who is a member of the CCFA (you can always ask the new doctor's office if the doctor is a CCFA member).

Crohn's does not usually cause issues with Sugar levels. Crohn's can usually be misdiagnosed as IBS, The main symptoms are severe weight loss, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, extreme flatulence, pains in the abdomen, occasionally heart burn,

When I say constipation and diarrhea, I mean the patient can suffer constipation for days which causes bloat, it is then followed by diarrhea with the desperate need to go which can include defecating ones self without intention. There are no links I have seen between D1 and crohn's. It is always a good idea if suffering these symptoms or have been diagnosed IBS to check for crohn's

World TB Day backed by hospital

8:00pm Wednesday 23rd March 2011

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YEOVIL District Hospital has been supporting World TB Day by raising awareness of the disease in the hospital reception area today.

Tuberculosis (TB) is often considered to be a Third World disease but in recent years the UK has seen cases rising to over 9000 per year, particularly in urban areas.

TB can affect absolutely anybody in our community and usually causes disease in the lungs but can affect other parts of the body. However, only disease in the lungs is infectious.

Senior respiratory nurse specialist, Kate Brookman, said: “Symptoms include a cough that lasts longer than three weeks, high temperature, sweats, unexplained weight loss and feeling constantly tired and ill.

“Anyone who has these symptoms should see their GP as soon as possible.

“We can cure most types of TB now, although treatment times are for up to a year.”

if you would like more information about TB please contact Kate on 01935-384574 or look at the TB Alert website tbalert.org – which can be accessed via the link on this page of our website.

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Dry skin can be
There are many many many signs and symptoms, the most common being a frequent need to urinate.
Its very simple to be checked for diabetes, just head to your local GP.
Best of luck x

no corse not! u could jus be dehydrated! before you goto sleep make sure u really put alot of cream or vaseline b4 u go bed for the lips to be smooth as as.s the next day x

no
its a symptom that u need to use vaseline dawwwwwwwwwwwg

I am a week past finishing my 12 days course of penicillin and I have major symptoms of pseudomembranous colitis. I read that penicillin can induce this during and after therapy. I'm wondering if it will subside my itself or if I need to do anything. I dont really want to go back to my GP and she is a dunderhead and only gave me penicillin because she didnt know what else to give.

When Andrew Frankish became slightly breathless carrying his bins out, his GP initially suggested it might just be a bug.

But after a month the 38-year-old still felt out of sorts and asked to be referred to a specialist. Andrew was astonished by what the expert told him — his lack of breath was due to a heart attack.

In fact he’d had not one, but two — with no obvious symptoms.

like most people, Andrew associated heart attacks with high drama — people suffering crushing pain and clutching their chest in agony while collapsing to the floor.

Shock: Andrew Frankish and wife Verona, who thought he was paranoid. He had two heart attacks – but with no obvious symptoms

In his surgeon’s opinion, however, he’d suffered what is known as a silent heart attack — where symptoms are vague or even non-existent.

This can be just as serious as a ‘classic’ heart attack — sometimes worse, as the damage can go undetected for many years, with worrying consequences.

There are around 124,000 heart attacks recorded in the UK each year — and experts believe thousands more go undetected.

‘It’s estimated that between 25 and 30 per cent of all heart attacks are silent,’ explains Dr ever Grech, a consultant cardiologist at the Northern General Hospital and BMI Thornbury Hospital in Sheffield.

‘with silent heart attacks, you don’t get the typical crushing chest pain. Some people may get vague symptoms such as feeling generally unwell for a few hours, accompanied by a bit of jaw ache as the pain can spread, or what they think is indigestion, but nothing like the classic symptoms.’

Yet despite the lack of symptoms the heart can still be damaged. any heart attack usually begins with a sudden blockage in one of the coronary arteries that supplies the heart muscle with blood, causing part of the muscle to die.

Once the heart is damaged and scarred from a heart attack, it can’t repair itself.

‘If any heart attack symptoms go unnoticed then it’s not unusual for someone to go on and suffer heart failure as a result,’ says Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation.

‘in fact, unrecognised heart attacks are often only picked up when the patient presents with symptoms of heart failure, such as breathlessness, and we track backwards to work out why.’

Andrew, from Nottinghamshire, is the managing director of a financial services company. He only realised something was wrong when everyday tasks suddenly became more arduous. 

‘I found myself short of breath when I took the bins out or carried the kids upstairs at night,’ he recalls.

‘I couldn’t understand it, as I play quite a lot of football and squash so have always considered myself to be quite fit and healthy. I’ve never smoked and I am by no means a heavy drinker.  

‘at first, I presumed because I was nearly 40 that everything was slowing down and it was going to be harder to keep in shape. But as the weeks went by, I felt increasingly out of sorts.’

Andrew’s GP suggested he might be suffering from a bug. But four weeks later, he felt no better. ‘It wasn’t anything that stopped me from working, but I just knew I didn’t feel right.’ 

Andrew only realised something was wrong when everyday tasks suddenly became more arduous

Because heart problems run in his family — his father survived a heart attack at 51 and two of his brothers have had heart issues — he asked to be referred to a specialist under his private medical care.

‘My wife Verona thought I was being paranoid and my GP was actually quite sarcastic, but I didn’t want to take any chances.’

It’s a decision that probably saved his life. Referred to a cardiologist in Sheffield in January last year, Andrew had an exercise electrocardiogram (ECG) test, where patients run on a treadmill to see how their heart copes.

‘after a few minutes I began to feel quite uncomfortable and breathless and had to stop much earlier than the average person my age — I was told I should be able to run for ten to 15 minutes. that really worried me.’

Andrew then had an angiogram — where a flexible tube is inserted to check for narrowed or blocked arteries. He was completely unprepared for the news that followed.

‘the doctor said that two out of the three major arteries in my heart were blocked. the third was also significantly narrowed.

‘I was told I’d almost certainly suffered two heart attacks. and I was heading for a third, and probably fatal, one. No one could say when I’d had the attacks, but it’s likely my arteries had been blocked for a few years.’

Despite his diagnosis, Andrew could not recall any previous occasion when he felt pain.

‘I can only think that one of the heart attacks might have happened when I was playing Wii (a computer game where players mimic real-life exercise) with the family and I thought I’d pulled a muscle in my chest from over-exertion.’

But why do some people like Andrew feel nothing when they suffer a heart attack?

Usually in a heart attack the body produces chemicals that then affect the nerves, causing symptoms such as chest pain.

In some cases the nerves aren’t stimulated, perhaps because fewer chemicals are released.

‘the problem with heart attacks is that when it comes to a patient noticing them there are various shades of grey,’ says Prof Weissberg.

‘I always ask my patients whose ECG shows they’ve had an unrecognised heart attack to really think back.

‘they can normally remember a time when they had an odd sensation but put it down to indigestion or the odd twinge.’

Occasionally, people don’t feel a heart attack because over time the heart has successfully managed to compensate for the lack of blood supply by using other coronary blood vessels.

This appears to be what happened in Andrew’s case.

‘Fortunately for him, the little capillaries around the blockage had created their own bypass around the artery. Effectively, the heart had done its own bypass,’ explains Dr Grech, who treated Andrew.

‘There are some patients, however, who have no idea they’ve suffered a heart attack until they present with symptoms such as lethargy and severe breathlessness — and we discover they are suffering heart failure following the undiagnosed heart attack.’

So who is most at risk? Diabetics, because high blood sugar levels can damage nerve endings so they are less likely to feel tell-tale chest pain, according to studies.

And Dr Grech says evidence suggests that women and those over 65 are also more at risk.

But while heart attacks are linked to heart disease, smoking and high cholesterol, for Andrew it was his genes that let him down.

‘Family history is a very important independent risk factor, regardless of how healthy you may think you are,’ explains Dr Grech.

‘Patients like Andrew who have a parent or other first-degree relatives with premature coronary disease (less than 55 years) will have to be extremely careful.’

Andrew also believes his weight didn’t help. at 6ft 3in and 17st, he needs to lose about 3st to be considered a healthy weight.

‘I know I am overweight, but I didn’t think I was heading for a coronary at 37,’ he says.

‘I’m sure there are lots of men like me who think they’re “not that bad” — hopefully my experience will make them think about their health.’

Fortunately — and unusually — Andrew has not suffered any severe long-term damage. He was lucky his blocked arteries could be opened up using stents (small metal tubes) rather than undergoing major heart surgery.

Like all patients with stents, he now takes blood-thinning drugs to prevent clots from forming around them. 

‘I feel great now,’ says Andrew. ‘I can run around the garden with my three-year-old son and six-year-old daughter and have a lot more energy. I feel very lucky that my problems were caught.’

For more information  go to bhf.org.uk

Although silent heart attacks  often have no symptoms, doctors have identified some signs that can be easily overlooked but could signal something is wrong.

• Unexplained breathlessness;

• Slight chest discomfort — the feeling of a pulled muscle;

• Generally feeling unwell or nauseous for a few hours;

• Indigestion.