Oh dear Julia!!!

[alter ego]

I've got to admit that I've never bothered to give Ebay a try (as a seller) I find the process a little daunting, and I've donated many an expensive item to a charity when the item's been portable enough for me to take there under my own steam. I have also left very expensive stuff outside my house with a note to tell people to help themselves and that has included bulky and expensive exercise equipment. If it's been gathering dust and taking up precious space in my home for years and making me unhappy then sod it...get it gone. It would be nice to be able to recoup some of the money I've wasted on buying the item/s but that comes with its own hassle, so I console myself in the knowledge that a charity will benefit, or just someone else will be thrilled to find it and make good use of it. Quite possibly an ebayer could pick it up and make money themselves, however I'm better off not thinking about the money, just thinking about how much better life would be without it! Thankfully I've learned my lesson now and am extra cautious when I'm buying big and expensive items. If I'm in any doubt - I don't buy!

Our BHF and Air Ambulance will pick larger items up - or they did pre-Covid.

Yes I agree. I always thought that my diet was reasonably healthy until I had my cholesterol checked!
I bought a Collins Cholesterol Counter book and really studied labels.
Yes it can get boring but I have never had to take statins and I lost 3 stone.
I have gained a stone but can't really blame lockdown - I was just greedy.
My husband and I get up at 6am every morning and practice yoga and he is 76!
I have to be careful because I have dehydrated discs, arthritis in my spine, cervical spondylosis, hip problems and radicular nerve damage but I find that most moves can be easily modified to take this into account.
Interestingly my GP told me that the menopause increases cholesterol and so does hypothyroidism which I also have

Well done on taking your health into your own hands and getting a good outcome.

Mr. AE and his sister both have gall bladder attacks. He's avoiding them by eating sensibly and has lost weight. She's hugely overweight and has no intention of losing weight to help herself. Instead she 'borrowed' £7k from their parents and is now waiting for a private op.

Statins cause more problems and solve none. familial hypercholesterolemia cannot be diagnosed without a blood test which is never done as it is expensive. Any excuse to dish out these poison pills

I worked closely with GPs and consultants years ago. The perks they got for dishing out prescriptions of a certain brand were enormous. Reps would also take a lot more time with them than they ever had with their patients.

The whole system is broken.

This is going to be common practice now. I managed to get to see a nurse and I was given two items a mask and wipes. One to clean the seat in the reception area and one to clean the seat when I got to see the nurse. I have to say its put me off visiting.

Seriously? They're expecting ill patients to clean seats before using? No wonder it put you off. They're quiet enough between patients to do all that themselves. Not that I'd trust them...

 

[alter ego]

While I can fully appreciate a GP not wanting to give a F2F consulttion to someone with covid symptoms, there's no excuse for not seeing other patients. I happened to catch a bit of the Jeremy Vine Show this week and the GP panellist said that they can see patients if they deem it to be essential. Their arrogance in avoiding contact and issuing prescrptions over the phone is startling, when the chemist staff still have to hand them over the counter or deliver them to their homes in some cases.

That's all I've heard on This Morning, Lorraine (the very arrogant I-can't-help-sneering-at-fat-people Dr Hilary telling everyone at the start of the epidemic NOT to bother wearing masks but now says we must . If he'd been honest from the start and asked people to wear ANY kind of face-covering but not use PPE that medical staff needed I honestly believe there'd have been considerably fewer cases and deaths) etc., now all telling us that the GPs are open. Maybe if you're a TV personality they are but not for us common people they're not.

I ignored Hilary and wore a face covering from the start as it's a pretty good chance that any kind of respiratory disease is airborne spread and with asthma I wasn't taking any chance. Just as I'm ignoring him and his telly doc friends when they tell us the GPs are there for them. They're clearly not. There are an awful lot of people questioning exactly what the GPs are doing in many surgeries as they're not seeing patients. I actually have a telephone appointment booked with the nice newish GP next week. I will need a hands-on check (lump) so we'll see.

I've always thought that I eat healthily but have never considered whether I have enough magnesium in my diet, just looked at the foods that contain it & I don't eat ANY of them Braving torrential rain to go out to get hay so will call into eco/health shop & find a supplement, thanks alter

According to my dietician, most women are deficient in magnesium.

Mr. AE gives me a foot rub with magnesium body butter now and then and moans he gets a salty taste in his mouth while using it. I got this until I started taking supplements and using the butter but it's disappearing the more I'm getting. I don't get the taste with supplements but if you're interested to see if it affects you the same way, I'm using BetterYou magnesium body butter. I just wondered if the taste is noticeable with magnesium-deficient people or if it's just us!

Bless her Julia looked like an upturned Beetle on the Pilates machine!

Tea snort

 

[Dame Fondacox]

Oh don't get me started on Dr Hilary, the serial cheater who left his second wife, after she stood by him after his first affair, for a woman 17 years his junior. I avoid daytime ITV at all costs as I really don't like any of the presenters.

 

[alter ego]

My friend had to have mega doses to restore her vit D. 10k IUs per day to start with then dropped down to a more conventional level.


Given the turn in the conversation towards the GPs, I thought you were talking about putting your GP on eBay...and I thought, maybe a good idea!

I know it is lumping all GPs in together, and there are probably many who still see their patients. A number of us are considering moving practice, but "out of the frying pan, into the fire"; "better the devil you know"; and "be careful what you wish for" all spring to my mind...
I think those of us who are assertive can probably overcome the barriers GPs have now erected, except when we are I'll we are at out lowest ebb.
The ones I worry about are those who cannot advocate for themselves, or lack someone to ride into battle for them.
The GP service needs an overhaul before huge chunks of the population lose their one gateway into health services. This isn't about national policy, but about local providers' mindset.

I'm a pretty assertive (but always polite) person. Though my records say I'm a 'difficult patient' presumably because I'm assertive rather than polite.

But isn't this part of the problem? EVERYONE deserves respect but along the way, a lot of medical professionals seem to have decided that being given respect = being given godlike status. They need to understand that patients deserve respect, too.

Oh don't get me started on Dr Hilary, the serial cheater who left his second wife, after she stood by him after his first affair, for a woman 17 years his junior. I avoid daytime ITV at all costs as I really don't like any of the presenters.

The absolute joy I have in recording everything I watch and whizzing through the bits I don't have is unparalleled! I enjoy the medical-type segments but the stupid crap I have no time for. I dislike most of the presenters, some of them just manage to keep their TV persona in place but it slips occasionally and the real person shines through for a moment. Phil Schofield and Alison Hammond are the biggest offenders for believing their adoring press and thinking they can get away with the odd slip. They can't. It makes them seem more unpleasant.

 

[Lemonpop]

The staff AND their families - even those under 40 and with no underlying health conditions and even those who have already had Covid - at my surgery.

It's disgraceful.

 

[Brissles]

Oh don't get me started on Dr Hilary, the serial cheater who left his second wife, after she stood by him after his first affair, for a woman 17 years his junior. I avoid daytime ITV at all costs as I really don't like any of the presenters.

You beat me to it Dame ! At the time of the scandal he lived near a friend of mine in Kent, and it was quite the talk of the village, as I think the child mistress was the receptionist !

 

[Twilight]

Dr Hilary looked an idiot when caught not wearing his mask, in a pharmacy of all places, after flip flopping over the issue.

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

I may be doing them all a disservice but I’m afraid my first thought about all TV doctors (and any other professional supplementing their income at our expense) is “why the hell aren’t you seeing to your patients rather than being on Strictly/Lorraine/advert for whatever”. after all we the taxpayer have subsidised your training so stop feeding your ego and do what you were trained for . I felt this particularly during the past year when it was every hand to the pump.

 

[Dame Fondacox]

Dr Sarah Jarvis leaves the Jeremy Vine Show before the paper review so that she can go and see her patients. She's actually one of the most credible TV doctors I've seen in a long time and has to debate with some total idiots on the panel who think they know more about medical matters, and have a better understanding of scientific papers than a Cambridge and Oxford graduate who's worked as a GP for 30 years.

 

[ohnonotshoppingagain]

I may be doing them all a disservice but I’m afraid my first thought about all TV doctors (and any other professional supplementing their income at our expense) is “why the hell aren’t you seeing to your patients rather than being on Strictly/Lorraine/advert for whatever”. after all we the taxpayer have subsidised your training so stop feeding your ego and do what you were trained for . I felt this particularly during the past year when it was every hand to the pump.

Absolutely, I have been thinking the same thing, plus in normal times we are always being told how our very highly paid GPs are so busy, rushed off their feet yet have time to appear as TV doctors, Ellie Cannon is another, plus one more whose name escapes me.

 

[Deleted member 21102]

Who's doing the telling? Sorry, GPs have gone way, way down in my estimation since lockdown.

 

[Grizelda]

Exercise machines are great, but only if you use them, and in the majority, people don't use them. With the arms, it's loose skin that looks so awful, and Julia certainly has some of that.

 

[Grizelda]

Yes, I remember it being posted on here a few years ago.
It was the police mug shot when she was arrested for drink driving.
She looked dreadful.....as you would in such circumstances

I detest drink drivers

That's a shock. She comes off as such a goody goody.

 

[alter ego]

Absolutely, I have been thinking the same thing, plus in normal times we are always being told how our very highly paid GPs are so busy, rushed off their feet yet have time to appear as TV doctors, Ellie Cannon is another, plus one more whose name escapes me.

It's a lot easier to sit in front of a camera (and get paid extremely well) than it is to sit in front of a patient.

Either the training they're getting these days must be sub-standard or the trainees have unreasonable expectations. Both need to be remedied before we have no GPs left.

I read a poll last week stating that 48% of GPs are looking to retire soon due to burnout or poor pay. We didn't have that after the 1918 pandemic (my grandmother was a nurse and would often tell me the horrors of her training through that). Maybe they should get a job working elsewhere where conditions are difficult. Mr. AE worked in the steelworks for 12 hour shifts night and day in searing heat summer or winter, wearing heavy, hot protective kit. He managed that for 30-odd years on pay that was a quarter of a GPs. Or they could try their local supermarket where the pay is low and they get to see people F2F with no PPE.

They are so fortunate that they've been able to get a great education that leads to a bloody good job. Most - in our surgery at least - only work part of the week and NEVER a night shift. I notice the support staff at our surgery don't work part-time and have F2F contact with more people than the GPs.

Maybe I should sit in the corner, shut up and just remember the good old days with no expectations of them to live up to our old caring GPs and the work they did.

 

[Twilight]

It's a lot easier to sit in front of a camera (and get paid extremely well) than it is to sit in front of a patient.

Either the training they're getting these days must be sub-standard or the trainees have unreasonable expectations. Both need to be remedied before we have no GPs left.

I read a poll last week stating that 48% of GPs are looking to retire soon due to burnout or poor pay. We didn't have that after the 1918 pandemic (my grandmother was a nurse and would often tell me the horrors of her training through that). Maybe they should get a job working elsewhere where conditions are difficult. Mr. AE worked in the steelworks for 12 hour shifts night and day in searing heat summer or winter, wearing heavy, hot protective kit. He managed that for 30-odd years on pay that was a quarter of a GPs. Or they could try their local supermarket where the pay is low and they get to see people F2F with no PPE.

They are so fortunate that they've been able to get a great education that leads to a bloody good job. Most - in our surgery at least - only work part of the week and NEVER a night shift. I notice the support staff at our surgery don't work part-time and have F2F contact with more people than the GPs.

Maybe I should sit in the corner, shut up and just remember the good old days with no expectations of them to live up to our old caring GPs and the work they did.

What???

 

[candycane]

My dentist isn't seeing anyone for non urgent appointments, you can only see the hygienist and pay £60 for the pleasure, they told me its government ruling but I really don't believe them, they will see you if you are a private patient of course

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh. Don't get me started on pissing dentists. Mine will sell me a thousand things I don't need, but won't fix my broken teeth. He hasn't seen me for 18 months and my pain is "so what, can't fix it, take painkillers". No other dentist in my area will take me on - unless I go private (which I can't afford). I hope they all go bankrupt. Even the emergency dentist at the hospital won't see me, despite having been referred by my doctor (she's great and will see me). I didn't meet the emergency dentist criteria. Eh? I have pain, it's awful, I need help - nope, suffer you witch. I hate them all.

CC

 

[loveallthingsitalian]

Most dentists here have forced patients into private plans and I was just wondering if they were still collecting the monthly sub whilst not seeing anyone.

I was lucky my dentist took NHS patients when they first opened and have resisted any hints about payment plans since.

 

[Bea Frugal]

We’re paying a small fortune despite appointments being rarer than hens teeth. To add insult to injury, if you get an appointment you have to pay between £5-7 for their masks and plastic aprons. Pretty disgusting.

 

[Toril]

Most dentists here have forced patients into private plans and I was just wondering if they were still collecting the monthly sub whilst not seeing anyone.

I’m on a private dental plan and the monthly fee was taken out, even though we were in lockdown. I’ve been with that dentist for years and, although they used to be NHS, I stayed with them when it became a private practice because the dentists are all excellent there. Unfortunately, the plan only covers check ups and the hygienist, and so last week I paid £600 for a crown. I did tell him that it would be cheaper to take it out, but he said that they preferred not to do that if the tooth and root was healthy (albeit with some missing.)

They were seeing emergency patients during the lockdown, but thankfully I wasn’t one of them.

 

[Brissles]

Absolutely, I have been thinking the same thing, plus in normal times we are always being told how our very highly paid GPs are so busy, rushed off their feet yet have time to appear as TV doctors, Ellie Cannon is another, plus one more whose name escapes me.

So agree. Another one is Dr Michael Moseley who has made a career pontificating in the D/Mail on a regular basis as an exercise guru, and I've lost count of the calorie counted meals he has put his name to as a colour supplement. I did write and complain once, that at least one reader (me) was getting heartily sick of reading about him.