I'm officially a fat B@st@rd - Time to celebrate!

My first Saturday list of the year was a list of my aspirations for 2025. Two of these concerned weight and fitness

6. Sort out my weight. Until now, all of the plans have been for music and business. Now we are on to personal goals and objectives. My weight is the biggest problem in my life right now. I weighed myself yesterday and following the Xmas and New Year excesses, I am 17 stone and 2 pounds. This is too heavy. I was also showing as pre-diabetic in a blood test in November. I rather stupidly decided to  put off the surgeries request to go to the diabetic clinic. In November I was actually 17st 13lbs. I started doing a 20+4 diet three days a week and it dropped a stone. Sadly Xmas derailed it, but I am back on track now. I will go in the second week of January and we'll see what happens then,. My target is 14st 7lbs in April. I believe this is achievable

7. Meet my gym targets. My weight has caused problems with my ankles and knees. I believe that if I can get down to 14st 7lbs, I'll be able to run again without pain. If this works, I might even start playing five a side football again. A pipedream maybe, but I am pretty convinced that I can at least get back to running. Last year, I set a gym target of doing more than 1,000km in the gym. I beat this by 80km, with a mixture of exercise bike and rowing. This was almost derailed when I damaged my shoulder in July last year, I couldn't row for nearly two months. This year my target is 1,500km. That will be 400km rowing, 1000km cycling and 100km running. The running will most likely start in April or May. I hope to start doing 5km  a week then.

So first the bad news. I think I'll miss my target of hitting 14st 7lbs in April. I've got down to 16st 2lbs so far. I've lost well over a stone and half, but by the end of April, if I maintain my current progress, I'll be around 15st 7lbs, so still a stone off. Losing a stone and a half is solid progress. Friday is the day I weigh myself. Yesterday, I hit a major milestone! I am now officially FAT! MY BMI has slid under obese!

This is great news. I was obese last week! Of course, in this day and age, the term is overweight. Doing the 20+4 diet is really horrible, but it does work. I did it for three days this week, which is the target and dropped nearly 1kg. A kilogram is 2.2lbs. I expect Easter to be a difficult week to keep up, but I think 15st 7 is achieveable. One thing I've learned is to set realistic goals. 

Which brings us on to the exercise goals. It is clear that I won't be running in April. This week, I had a setback on the exercise front. I hurt my knee and had to scale back the intensity of my workouts. I am actually smashing my targets, I am up to 581km, with 157km rowing and 431 on the bike. I am regularly rowing 10km a session. If I keep this up, I'll blow 1500km in September and do over 2,000km by year end. I am not sure that running as actually a reasonable or sensible aspiration, given the state of me knee and ankle, but I didn't actually think I'd be rowing 10km in under 48 minutes by now. 

So how am I feeling, other than delighted to be a reborn fat git? Well I think the fact that I can do a 10km row at moderate intensity and feel like still doing a bike ride after is great. I had a bug this week, so I have actually been feeling under the weather. Before it struck on Monday, was feeling pretty good.

One hidden benefit of the gym, is that I pass the time on the rowing machine memorising the songs of the False Dots. It is working really well. I've never been the main singer in the band until the post covid period. It took me a couple of years to properly mentally commit to the role. I've come to realise that being the singer in a band is a lot harder than I thought. I've also realised that most guitarists who sing in bands do a rotten job of it. They don't commit to singing. It was only when I started to enjoy singing that I realised that singing guitarists often hid behind the guitar, whilst dedicated vocalists lay themselves bear. I will explore this more, but what I will say is that spending time on the rower and practicing the lyrics has given me dedicated time to concentrate on my singing delivery.

People say to me "Don't you find it boring rowing for 50 minutes without a break". The answer is "No, it is perhaps the best time in the day, it lets me sort thngs out properly that I don't normally have the time or the commitment to do". Performing mental tasks whilst exercising is actually brilliant. Your blood is pumping hard, getting oxygen around the body. I think people who simply get engrossed in listening to a playlist or watching Catchphrase on the cycling machine are really missing something. 

You can see if it's worked at our next gig! 

DETAILS HERE >>>>>>>>

 

Health - A miracle cure for my knee and ankle pain for just £125.25

 Two years ago, I went to Crete for my nephew's wedding. A life changing incident happened. I was walking to the reception and I went over on my ankle. It was excruciatingly painful. I have done this before, but this time it didn't heal. I went to the hospital when I got back for an x-ray. This revealed nothing. I saw my physio, various exercises were given, ankle supports bought, but this did nothing more than mitigate the issue and reduce the pain. Last March, my physio told me to stop playing football until it cleared up, saying that the football was most likely irriating it. Despite not playing since, the pain continued. I walk around five miles a day. When I don't walk it doesn't hurt, but not exercising is not an option. My knees, ravaaged from 50 years of football have also been painful. I have to be honest and say I was starting to feel very down about the situation. When I try and walk, I walk like an old man, shuffling along slowly, dragging my feet.

I have to be honest, I was starting to despair. I have never been a sedentary person, but if it is painful to walk more than a few staeps, sooner or later it grinds you down. All this from what should have been a minor injury two years ago. A couple of weeks ago, I recalled that in around 2008, I was having problems with my knees. I went to see a physio called Ryan McDermott, who worked in the gym I used. Ryan was formerly the physio for Sale Rugby League club and Manchester City. I explained the issue and told him that I did not want to stop playing football. He analysed my gait and told me that the knee pain was due to the fact that the gait of my foot needed correction. He got me some shoe insoles and as if by magic, the knee problems disappeared. 

I wore insoles for about twelve years. The knees were fine. With lockdown etc, we stopped playing football and I forgot about the insoles. I had been getting custom made ones from Runners Needs, along with cushioned air soled running shoes. As my knees had once again become painful, I thought "maybe I should get some new trainers and insoles". I had arranged to meet a mate for beer and curry at the Barbican yesterday. There was a Runners Needs at Monument, so I thought I could nip in there first. I went in and to my horror, I was informed that they no longer make insoles, because it is " a medical issue". I found this to be completely bizarre. If you are selling running shoes, surely you should sell the insoles that make them as comfortable and stable as possible? The young lad serving was pleasant, it was not his fault. He informed me that there was a branch of hiking specialists Ellis Brigham at New Change shopping centre, next to St Pauls that still did insoles. I bought my new trainers and walked up. I was surprise, the new trainers were far more comfortable than the old pair. I realised that these were completely worn out and had been contributing to the problem. Although there was still pain, it was far less pronounced, as the new trainers had far more support.

I got to the shop and explained what I require. A helpful assistant went through the process of making the insoles. it took around 30 minutes in total. I was charged £55 that was a real bargain. I put the new insoles in and walked to the pub, around 0.5 km from the shop. I couldn't believe it. I had absolutely no ankle or knee pain at all. When I got to the pub, I told my friend and explained just how wonderful it was to be walking pain free and unimpeded. I had expected a marked improvement, what I got was a miracle cure. Much to my wife's irritation, I said that it might even mean I can play football again, something that she thinks is ridiculous.

I am quite frustrated with myself that I've had two years of pain, and for £125.50 there was a simple solution. I wonder how many of us are suffering, when such quick fixes are available. To celebrate, I am going to take the dog for a nice long walk around Darlands!

And to Foot Locker. I think you are doing a poor job for your customers. 

Wellbeing Wednesday #1 - Time for change has come!

 One of my 'secret new years resolutions' was to start this feature. However, I decided that I'd wait until I had my six month cancer consultation before I did. There were three reasons for this. The first, I am superstitious and I didn't want to tempt fate. The second is that if the results of my PSA test and consult were not good, I'd be in no real state to talk about wellbeing. The third and this may or may not surprise anyone who has read my blog and knows how opinionated I am, is that I wasn't really sure that I had anything sensible to say. My doubts were somewhat eased by discussions I had with friends recently. A couple said that reading my Cancer blog series had been really helpful.

So why now? Following my radical prostatectomy in August, it is likely ( I have just crossed my fingers and said an Our Father for good luck, being a very superstitious, if rather bad Roman Catholic, who doesn't want to tempt fate) that I've put my cancer struggles behind me. Although I will persist with my cancer blog, I hope that it will slowly wither, as it eventually becomes just an annual round up of the PSA test. But the journey has given me a hell of a lot. I don't know if I am alone in this, clearly I am (currently) a survivor and someone who has actually got more positives out of the brush with cancer than negatives. The mental health challenge, especially in the last year, have been immense, but the journey has made me finally address many things that have held me back as a person. I have no qualifications to speak about wellbeing, it is purely a personal viewpoint. I am sure some qualified people may find what I have to say wrong, possibly verging on irresponsible at times, but I believe that one of the biggest problems around the issue of wellbeing is that we are all horribly dishonest. 

So lets start with how this will work. I have set myself some goals for the year. I will track them here.

Exercise 

Last year, I had goals and these were derailed by my surgery and not being able to use the gym at all for three months. This year, my goals are as follows.

Cycling - Minimum 50km a month, Target for year 600km

Rowing - Minimum to June 10km a month,  July to December 40Km per month - Annual total 300km

Cross Trainer Jan - June. 1.5km per week 

Running July-December 15Km a week

My ankle is unable currently to support running, so I am building up with the cross trainer

My target is to clock 1,000km in the gym in total this year. I aim to go twice a week as a minimum.

I also aim to continue my 10k steps a day minimum walking.

I used to be able to row 10K in 37 minutes. It is my aim to get back to doing 10km in 42 minutes by December. This will need a lot of work and is dependent on not getting injuries. 

As its the last day of January, I have failed miserably to meet my target, but this is in part due to my ankle at the start of the month. I started on the 17th and have managed 4km rowing, 28km cycling and 1km on the cross trainer. I aim to catch up by December

Weight/BMI

At the start of the year, I was 111kg. This may be the heaviest I've ever been. This was a combination of overdoing the alcohol, comfort eating and Christmas. Then there is my BMI (click here to check your BMI) -  my consultant told me on Monday that as my BMI was registering as obese, I need to address this. He informed me that this is likely to hinder my recovery from prostate surgery in matters sexual. That is a good incentive

This was my BMI at the start of the month

I've been dieting all month and the weight is down to 107kg. Definite progress has been made. If I keep this up for February, I should be out of the obese range (just about)

So how have I been doing this? I did not drink at all for the first two weeks in January and I've set myself a target of drinking on a maximum of two days a week for the rest of the month. For the rest of the year, the target is to drink a maximum of three days a week. As for food, my target is to eat around 2,500 calories a day on non drinking days, whilst with exercise, burning a minimum of 3,400kCal per day. 

To facilitate this, I've been keeping a food diary. This tells me if I am meeting this. I largely am. Weekends/drink days need some work, but by choosing healthier options in restaurants etc, it does make a difference. I do not believe that living like a monk is balanced, so it is getting the balance right. Knowing you have to add snacks etc to the diary focusses the mind. Being honest with yourself is the key. 

I will track my BMI progress here. My target is to be BMI 27.3 by 1st June (weight 94kg). This puts me bang smack in the middle of the 'Overweight' category. Whenever I have reached this weight previously, I have had healthy body fat levels. I am a naturally thick set build and believe BMI is a bit of an imprecise tool. My intention will be do discuss this with my GP at the time, when I have a regular check up. 

Alcohol

This is my biggest challenge. I come from a family with a strong history of alcoholism on both sides. My wife has spent 30 years telling me I am in denial over my drinking. Adding drinks to my alcohol log is my way of trying to work out if I have a problem and how much of a problem it is. I do not believe I have a tendency to alcoholism. I don't miss it when I don't drink (except in the pub in company of drinkers). I don't drink on my own. Some of the Trolls who have tried to upset me have portrayed me as an alcoholic, drunkenly blogging at 3am in the morning with a G&T in my hand. This is total rubbish. The only time I've ever blogged after drinking, is when I've attended something such as a council meeting, then been to the pub with other bloggers etc after, and I wanted to get the blog done when I got home, as it was fresh in my mind. Generally they are written in the morning, sober.

I easily manage to stick to my days off rule, apart from on holidays and breaks, which I have always excluded from the rules. What I do, and recognise is a problem, is binge drink on the days I do drink. As most of my good friends also do this, it is a challenge to address. Following my prostatectomy, I've learned that too much volume of alcohol, especially beer, can lead to unfortunate accidents. This has made me moderate my binge drinking (as well as planning my route home carefully). 

I can honestly say that until I've a couple of months worth of data on my food log, I will not really be able to work out a strategy. Let say, this is not a challenge that over concerns me right now. 

Mental Health Wellbeing

So how do I feel? As I started to put this blog together, I realised that this was something that I don't track. When I was 24 I had a mini crisis, when my relationship with my then partner broke down and I had a serious health crisis (a stomach bleed that almost killed me and an infected polyp in my left ear that made me think I was going mad). I had counselling after. The counsellor suggested I keep a mood diary. As this was in a book, I was terrified that someone may find it, so I put symbols rather than categories. There were four. I marked these out of ten. These were 1 - Anxiety/stress level, 2 - Mood/Happiness level, 3 - Goal achievement level and 4 - Sexual interest/activity level. It might not surprise you that the higher 1 and lower 2 were, the lower 3 and 4 were. I also recorded why. My counsellor suggested setting daily goals (ten minutes guitar practice, go for a run/exercise for 30 mins, etc). I'd set one a day. That doesn't mean don't do other things. Sometimes they were boring that I didn't want to do, like doing a tax return. I also had to make a note as to why I'd not achieved them. Often the reason for failing was "Went to pub with mates and got pissed". For the six months I was having counselling, I'd review this on a fortnightly basis. At the end of 1985, I met my current wife and since then, mostly 1 and 2 have been low and the others far better. I thought I'd put it to bed, but I realise it would be useful to do this again. 

So I will be adding these back to the food log and setting a daily goal. Here is todays entry - As you can see it has only been partially filled and is more for an example if its something you feel may work for you

As I stated, this seems to work for me. It is my intention to post this blog regularly, usually on the last Wednesday of the month, charting progress and analysing any lessons learned. I see this as the logical successor, as mentioned above, to the cancer blog (assuming that behaves itself). 

I will discuss strategies that have worked for me and why I've fallen back where that happens. By posting this, I have put it out there, so I can't hide from it.

I finish by saying a few words of thanks. Firstly to Professor Christopher Eden, my prostate surgeon, who put me in a position to do this. To my mens health physio Mr Gerard Green, who helped me deal with the aftermath of my surgery. To Andrew, the nutrition expert at Vitality Health, who got me back on track with the food log and to Natalie at Vitality, who organised the seminar where I met Andrew. 

Then there is my missus, the ever lovely Clare, who makes it all possible, my kids Maddie, Lizzie and Matthew who give me a reason to do it. And finally to all my mates, who will do everything in their power to derail all of the good work, when we go for a drink, but without whom life would be so dull!

And I finish with a promise. On Saturday 3rd Feb, The False Dots, my band, will perform a gig to celebrate their 45th Birthday at The Dublin Castle. This will be a day when my food log will be very + on the calories side, as I have a few pints to celebrate (please come along). Right now, I look like a fat slob. My ambition is to, by the bands next birthday, have a 'beach ready physique', rather than a 'beached whale phsyique". I am keen to show this off. If I achieve it, I'll buy everyone who reminds me of this promise a drink of whatever they want! (I was going to promise to do a song in the Buff, but we want people to enjoy the evening). 

Squeezing every last drop of fun out of life

Dad - A wise voice

My Dad used to tell me a story, that was both funny and sad. His father was partial to a drink by all accounts (I never met my Grandfather, he died 20 years before I was born). My grandfather was a highly respected engineer in Australia, who had his own company involved in drilling for oil and water in the outback. He had one contract with a large, wealthy landowner. Every time they met, he'd lecture my grandfather on the dangers of boozing, how drinking shortened your life and the benefits of an absteemious life. My grandfather rather resented this unwanted advice. I asked my Dad what happened to the wealthy landowner. Apparently, the day after my Grandfather finished the project, he was bitten by a brownsnake and died. 

My father liked to impress on us all that the best laid plans of mice and men go wrong and a short enjoyable life is better than a long boring one. He died of a heart attack, brought on by decades of smoking 60 cigarettes a day, drinking every day and eating fatty foods. He was sixty nine years old. He seemed old to me then, when I was 24. Now I'm 61, it seems rather young. I sometimes wonder whether I'll make it. My wife constantly berates me, every time I eat a sausage or bacon butty, or open another bottle of wine, because I fancy 'one more drink'. She is convinced it is killing me and that I am on deaths door. Any evidence I produce that contradicts this is 'clearly wrong', such as my fitbit saying I have an excellent heart rate etc. When I needed a radical prostatectomy, it was proof that all of the wine, beer and sausages were lethal. 

It seems that there is no aspect of life that is not impacted by someone, somewhere telling you that what you are doing is killing you or that you are destroying the planet with your selfishness. I recently had a customer chatising me for keeping my non ULEZ compliant diesel Ford Galaxy. How could I be so selfish? Well the simple answer is I have a business to run, I simply can't afford £60K for a new van that is compliant and so I've kept the old banger and I pass on the additional ULEZ £12.50 delivery charges to customers. I was almost tempted to charge him for a sausage sandwich on the way to annoy him. Sure, I'd much rather have an E-Type Jag, that has a massive engine, emits pollution by the bucket load but is exempt from ULEZ as a classic car, but I can't fit a PA system in it. 

In truth, I spend my life at the moment in agony. My ankle is completely shot and my knees are almost gone. Not because of the sausages and the bacon, but because up until March, I played football regularly. I am a victim of doing far too much exercise over the years, I've worn everything out. I'll probably get dementia next (if I haven't already) from all the heading of balls that I did. I saw a personal trainer five years ago who advised me to "give up football and do gym work instead". The only problem is that I fin gym work to be akin to punishment. It is boring and dull. I have spent a lot of time in the gym, but only to make me fitter for football. 

I recall the dawn of this age. When AIDS and HIV struck, we were told that if you had unprotected sex with anyone, you were at risk. Plays were written about the demise of western civilisation on the back of AIDS and unprotected shagging. Somehow, the human race survived. A wise priest once advised me that everything was acceptable in moderation (well apart from shagging!) and not to feel guilty if you have a beer now and then or a sausage sandwich. I tend to agree.

You may wonder what prompted this rant? Well I heard something on the radio earlier where they said that drinking more than two pints is "dangerous binge drinking". I suspect the only reason that there is any truth in that is most blokes tell the doctor they have 'a couple of pints' when they have eight. 

I'm not advocating doing anything that is bad for anyone, but if you live a life devoid of fun, swathed in misery, I dount you'll live any longer. I see many of my more abstemious friends and some of them look twenty years beyond their age, riddled with worry lines. Yeah, of course I should be thinner, drink less etc, but all of the things I do that are bad for me, I thoroughly enjoy.

Vaping is creating a whole new generation of nicotine addicts

 Am I missing something? At the weekend I was at a music festival in Rochester and whereas 20 years ago, the air would have been thick with the smell of tobacco and slightly more exotic and illegal herbal cigarettes, it seemed not a minute went by without getting a whiff of some sort of fragrant odour from a vape. Vapes are marketed as a replacement for cigarettes, having zero tar an are meant to be less carcinogenic (I have not researched the science so I don't know). If they are successful in this, then one has to say they are a good thing, however they do not cure nicotine addictions, they simply replace cigarettes with another source of nicotine. I've never tried one, so I have no idea if you get the same nicotine hit, but again I have to assume you do. I have two issues with vaping. The first is that whilst the idea of replacing cigarettes with a less harmful source of nicotine is a good idea, what if it gets a whole new generation of kids addicted to nicotine? It seems to me likely that when kids see their mates vaping they think it's the trendy thing to do.

The second thing that bugs me is that they don't simply replace nicotine, they have all sorts of fancy flavours and exciting packaging. They are actively marketed in such a way as to make the product as desireable as possible. I really think that if the makers and sellers of vapes were doing it as part of a programme to wean the nation off tobacco, they would not have the flash packaging, succulent smells and trendy designs. 

Given that Vapes are basically a delivery system for an addictive substance that is not good for your health, I'd like to see the whole thing properly regulated. I'd like to see the packaging to reflect cigarette packaging and I'd like to see the tasty flavours banned. If people need vapes to get over a cigarette habit, they will happily puff away on something flavourless which looks like Grandads pipe or something equally unsexy. 

The truth is that purveyors of dodgy products always come up with arguments to help them flog their dodgy wares. It always seems to take decades before any sort of legislation is enacted to mitigate the harm, usually decades to late for many victims who've died or had their health ruined. You simply can't rely on the industry to regulate itself. The tobacco giants demostrated this. The bottom line is that anyone who vapes is addicted to nicotine and they have not broken the habit. As someone who has lived with cancer for 11 years, I know what it is like to have the sword of Damoclese hanging over you. Avoiding substances such as nicotine is a good way to lessen the chances of finding yourself in such a situation. 

The nightmare that is living with tinnitus

Pic courtesy of theconversation.com

 I don't think I've spoken about TINNITUS before, but realised I should after a brief chat with a friend who also suffers this morning. I've not seen him since before lockdown. Like me, he is a musician and like me he suffers from tinnitus. Last time I spoke, he was at his wits end. He confessed that he was verging on feeling suicidal as he couldn't sleep, couldn't concentrate and couldn't think. 

When he told me this I was horrified. I had another friend who had a nervous breakdown due to tinnitus. They only got any help when they told their GP that it was making them feel suicidal. The more I've talked with friends about the subject, the more common I've realised how common these feelings are. 

One thing that is good is that when friends have told their GP, they have been fast tracked and got some specialist help. For most people, there is not a cure, although often it is a symptom of other medical conditions that need treatment, such as high blood pressure. If you have tinnitus, I'd advise a check up.

So what is it like? For me I have a high pitched cyclical whining, that is especially pronounced in my left ear (I had an operation on that ear in 1988, which started it all). I also have some residual tinnitus in my right ear. Using equipment we have at the studio, I'd estimate that it adds about 70 decibels of noise. It is pretty constant, although I mostly notice it at night or on dog walks in the countryside. I live by the M1 motorway and I actually find the background noise helps me sleep and relax. 

During lockdown, when there was almost no traffic, I found it almost impossible to relax. I also find that when I'm on holiday in quiet places it can be really irritating. However, there is one thing that does mitigate it. That is drinking alcohol. For health reasons, I don't drink 3-4 days a week. If I have a moderate amount , say 2-4 pints/glasses of wine, I sleep far better. This presents a dilemma. If I am tired, then generally I can nod off, so after football etc, I generally sleep well. If I'm not tired and haven't had a drink, it can be very hard. 

There are things that can be done to help. The NHS website says 

Do

• try to relax – deep breathing or yoga may help

• try to find ways to improve your sleep, such as sticking to a bedtime routine or cutting down on caffeine

• try to avoid things that can make tinnitus worse, such as stress or loud background noises

• try self-help books or self-help techniques to help you cope better from the British Tinnitus Association (BTA)

• join a support group – talking to other people with tinnitus may help you cope

Don’t

• do not have total silence – listening to soft music or sounds (called sound therapy) may distract you from the tinnitus

• do not focus on it, as this can make it worse – hobbies and activities may take your mind off it

I have to confess, I don't think the NHS advice is entirely helpful in that it dismisses something that can make people feel suicidal and doesn't properly signpost this risk. There is better advise on the British Tinnitus Association website. 

If tinnitus is a problem for you, I'd suggest that it is worth keeping a tinnitus diary and noting what works and what doesn't. Some of the advice, such as playing soft music is all very well, but if you have a partner you share a room with, this is not always practical, unless you can sleep with headphones in (I can't, they irritate me and I'm not overly keen on soft, ambient music) . There are apps that help some people.

For me, the most effective strategies involve distraction. I find that if I read before bed and get engrossed, I'll often get tired and nod off. I also memories songs and play them in my head. There are times when none of this works. I discussed this with my former GP Dr Carswell in the early 1990's. His advice was to have get up and have a tot of scotch whisky. If it is really bad, this works, but I very rarely do this. 

Another thing I have is a series of visualisation exercises that I use. I find that visualising sounds is particularly effective. I combine these with relaxation and breathing exercises. I found that some relaxation exercises are counter productive, especially ones where you lie silently and 'empty your mind', that is a part of many Yoga classes. To me, I find it sounds like I am at Niagra Falls and it ruins the mood. A friend suggested I visited  Niagra Falls and used this as visualisation, which I did, but found it just made me aware of the Tinnitus. 

There are devices that produce white noise that is also meant to help, although I personally find it slightly irritating. The worst times are when I wake up at 4am, with a really loud ringing in my ears and my mind racing. This is the time when it is worst. When you don't want to get up, you can't sleep and you are tired but not tired enough. Often, my thoughts are so chaotic that I can't concentrate enough to get myself into a place where I can deal with it. I discussed this once with a former Yoga teacher. He asked why I was always so 'fidgety in the relaxation'. I explained. The next time, he brought some low ambient music for the relaxation and that helped. He also gave me a couple of exercises and suggested that I try them at home when it was bugging me. The most effective is one where you regulate your breathing, then shift your consciousness to other parts of your body, starting with your toes. You slowly move your toes, and then feel how your toes are feeling. You then move to the soles of your feet, gradually moving up the body, spending around 30 seconds in each part. This will work around 50% of the time. 

To sum up, if you suffer from tinnitus regularly and have not sought medical advice, I'd strongly advise that you do. If you have and it hasn't resolved anything, start trying to devise strategies that help. Don't expect them to work all of the time, but even if they improve things 25% of the time that is better, and I guarantee that if you keep refining what you do, it will improve over time. If it is causing you to feel depressed or suicidal, then tell your GP and you will be fast tracked to see specialists. Many people think "It's too trivial to raise" but if it is affecting your mental health, then it is very serious indeed. If you are using alcohol to cope, then this may cause harm so also mention this to your GP. Psychoactive drugs can also make the symptoms of tinnitus worse, as you sometimes draw some rather strange conclusions about what the noises is or is doing. Some people find that tinnitus is affected by electro magnetic fields, so it may be worth turning off all the plugs and leaving the mobile phone elsewhere in the house. 

I'd like to see the NHS take the subject far more seriously, although I realise that for them, it is not a priority. I'd be interested to hear of other people's experiences and strategies. 

Coping with chronic back pain

So how did my back pain journey start?  Back in 1988, I was run over by a driver who jumped the red lights at Burnt Oak Broadway. Anyone familiar with the junction, knows that there are three lanes on the Edgware Road, with the left one turning down the Watling. I was attempting to cross at 7.30am, to withdraw money from the ATM in the Nat West Bank on the corner of Stag Lane. There was a bus turning down the Watling in the left hand lane, and a green man saying safe to cross. I was in a hurry. As I got past the bus, I realised my mistake. A car was heading at speed, straight for me. As I recall, it was blue Ford Escort estate. They say that when you are about to die, time slows down and you get a moment of great clarity. I experienced this. Rather than being scared or frightened, I was actually quite pleased. I thought I'd be seeing my Dad soon, who had died the previous year. I also thought 'I never expected it to end like this'. Then I thought to myself, if I jump, maybe I might survive. So I jumped, the bonnet of the car smashed into my right thigh. My feet went through the car windscreen and I rolled over the roof, landing on the floor, breaking the little finger on my left hand. A group of horrified onlookers gathered. To their amazement, I jumped up and demanded that the bloke who had run me over, drive me immediately to casualty at Edgware General Hospital. He did this and was highly apologetic, explaining that he 'knew the sequence of the lights and didn't expect anyone to be crossing'.

I walked into casualty, head drenched in blood from cuts, to be greeted by a nurse telling me to sit down. I said 'I've just been run over, I am in total agony, I need some pain killers'. I then said I thought I was going to pass out. Immediately I was ushered through. By this time my thigh had swelled to twice its normal size, the pain was excruciating. I was given pethidine and sent for x-rays.

They X-Rayed my thigh, my head and my finger. The thighbone was fine, amazingly, although there was huge bruising. I couldn't walk, but they said  'you'll be fine in a month'. My head was also fine. The finger was broken in five places, but I was told that there isn't much to be done. As I was lying in bed, doped up to my eyeballs, being assessed by the doctors, the Police arrived. The driver had driven to Mill Hill Police station, admitted jumping the lights at 40mph and made a full statement. The Policeman asked if I wished to press charges. I said no, I was happy to be alive. The doctor queried the policeman. "Was he really doing 40mph?". The policeman said "that's what he told me and he had no reason to lie.". The doctor said "I've never seen anyone survive a crash at 40mph, let alone walkaway". This confirmed, in my doped up state, that I was blessed and lucky.

The timing was unfortunate, in extreme. The day before I'd left BT for a job at TSB in their IT department. I was due to start on Monday, ironically replacing a member of staff that had been run over. As I wasn't an employee, I would not be entitled to sick pay. At around 3pm, the doctor said I was OK to go home. I was issued with crutches and some codeine tablets. They said that there was nothing much to be done in hospital. My Brother came and drove me home. My then girlfriend (now wife) came down on the train from Manchester to look after me. Two weeks later, I struggled in to TSB at the Monument to start work, on crutches.

To be honest, I've not been the same since. At the time, I was in training to run a marathon. I could run 5km in around 17 minutes and played football twice a week. I found that when my leg could bear weight, I couldn't kick ball properly with my right foot and I couldn't run properly. An X-ray revealed my fibia had been broken. The pain in my thigh had masked this. As these recovered, I found I started getting lower back pain. The doctor explained that I'd taken a massive wallop and it was to be expected. It may take a year or two to subside, but stay active. I started doing Yoga, which seemed to help. After two years, the pain was no better, but I could cope. I saw Dominic Eglinton, the local Osteopath, who I found would alleviate the pain for a few days when it got bad. I saw the doctor several times. He'd say 'on a scale of 1-10' how bad would you say the pain is, with 1 being none and 10 being unbearable agony. Having experienced unbearable agony, I said 'It's 5 most of the time but 7 or 8 at its worst'. He asked 'How often is it that bad'. I'd say 'occasionally if something irritates it'.  So he'd say 'Take a paracetamol and keep moving'. I left it at that. One of the problems I have is that due to a stomach disorder, I can't take anti-inflammatory drugs such as neurofen, which is usually the recommended pain relief for such pain.

In 2005, I was with a group of disabled people as part of the charity volunteering I undertake. A teenager with Downs syndrome in our group, who had a death wish, decided to throw himself in a river. I had to Rugby tackle him and drag him back, from the rivers edge. I really hurt my back. Following this, the pain was almost constantly a seven. I went again to see the doctor, who referred me to a specialist. An MRI was done and this revealed that when I'd been run over, I had suffered a stress fracture of the back on the L2 vertebrae. Where the fracture had healed, this had formed a nob that was pressing in the nerve. This explained the pain, the pins and needles and the numbness. I asked the consultant what could be done. He explained ' There is an operation. It would mean 12 weeks in bed, a 5-20% chance of paralysis and probably a 60% chance of fixing the problem'.  I was horrified. I'm self employed and can't afford such a break. So I asked 'what are the alternatives?'. He was rather surprised. He told me that everyone who he'd seen previously with such a problem was begging for the surgery, as they couldn't cope with the pain. I explained that whilst it was bad, I could live with it. He said 'Try physiotherapy, that may help manage it'. I contacted a family friend, Jill Dean, who is an excellent physio based in Mill Hill, who set me up with One of the physios who worked for her, Julie Gear. Julie looked at the MRI and said "Yeah, I can do something with that'.

She proceeded to make me sit on my knees (what in yoga is the pose of the child) and massaged my lower back for 15 minutes. I found it to be excruciatingly painful.  When I got up, I literally couldn't believe it. The pain had gone completely. For the first time in nearly 20 years I had no pain at all. It was like taking the best drug ever invented. Julie asked me how I was. I was elated. Then she gave me the bad news. 'You will be a Ok for a few days, but the pain will come back'. She then explained that we'd work out a way t manage it. I had 22 sessions in total. Each time the pattern would be repeated. No pain for a few days, then it would gradually come back. But with exercise, weight loss and Yoga, it was back to a constant 5. It was manageable.

Julie gave me a series of exercises that would to some degree relieve it when it started to creep up again. But the holy grain was a pain free existence. Sadly, the excellent Yoga teacher I had moved back to New Zealand and the gym I used closed. Whilst keeping the weight off is the best way to keep the back pain at bay, alcohol allows me to sleep. This tends to put the weight on. This is one of the dilemmas I face on a daily basis. If I could keep my weight at or below 14 stone, then it would be almost fine. Sadly that proves an ever more elusive dream. Last year, during the council election campaign, it got really bad. The worst thing is standing up, still. Talking to people on doorsteps for hours on end really irritates the problem. I found it had got unmanageable. I was advised to try acupuncture and recommended a clinic in Northwood. This managed to get things in check, and all of the walking actually brought the weight down. I've also found that regular Thai massage helps. I have one every couple of weeks at Siam Sanctuary in Mill Hill.

As I write this, the pain is at a 6 today. I will shortly go and do some exercises that will bring it back down to a 5. My wife has repeatedly asked why I don't start Yoga, but to be honest I've not found a local class doing Ashtanga Yoga to my taste. The consultant back in 2005 advised that I'd probably be back in a couple of years for the operation, as it would only get worse. The strategies I've developed have kept that at bay. I would definitely have an operation if it was a 95% chance of success and two weeks in bed. The odds aren't good enough to warrant it as described in 2005.

So my advice to anyone with the same dilemma. Try physio, listen to what they say. try non invasive complementary medicines and if they work, add them to your toolbox. In some ways, I am glad that my pain relief options are limited. My wife feels that red wine is worse than pharmaceutical pain killers. I disagree, but I try and have three days a week off the wine/ beer. I believe most pain is holistically manageable and that the NHS could save a lot of money if they invested more in physiotherapy and rehabilitation. All of the treatments I've had have been privately provided as the NHS just doesn't do such things. If I'd had the operation in 2005 and I'd lost use of my legs, how much would that have cost the NHS? When I hear about NHS budgets, I always wonder how much we waste because the NHS is only really good at acute care?

I'd be interested to hear of your experiences and ways to cope.

The Thursday Recipe - Rog T's stir fry

For those of us who are concerned about our health, we should try and ensure that all vegetables are fresh and organic. To preserve the mineral and vitamin content, quick frying is the best way to preserve these. This recipe is one I cook all the time. This is the vegetarian version. For my children I will chop up a bit of into small strips and add with 2 mins to fry.

For those of us with cancer concerns, it is worth bearing in mind that tomatoes are better cooked to release the lycopicine's. Garlic should be chopped 10 mins before cooking to allow oxidisation. All are organic and in season vegetables. Remember to wash all vegetables prior to cooking

This feeds 2 people

Ingredients.

4 large tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
1/4 teaspoon of turmeric
1 red onion (medium size)
6 runner beans
4 medium size shitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 medium strength red chilli
1/2 of  a medium sized leek
2 tblspoons of Olive oil
Black Pepper to taste
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Preparation
1. Finely chop Garlic at least 10 mins before start.
2. Chop tomatoes into 1/8ths.
3. Slice Onion
4. Top and tail runner beans, cut into 1/3r'ds and then slice crossways into 1/3rds
5. Slice mushrooms into quarters
6. finely dice chilli
7. Chop leak into sections approx 5mil

Cooking
1. heat oil in frying pan to moderate heat
2. Add tomatoes
3. After 1 min add onions & leek
4. After 2 mins add beans , mushrooms
5. After 1min, stir and add garlic, chilli,  turmeric, pepper, soy sauce, and red wine vinegar, stirring in as you go
6. Heat for approx 2 mins. Beans should have slightly crunchy consistency.

Can be served with pasta or rice if preferred. If adding steak, add at step 5. Can also be made with chicken, but slice into small strips and cook for 3 mins before adding tomatoes.

Advertising and Alcohol

The BBC reports that the BMA want a ban on the advertising of booze. The reason? because apart from smoking it is the biggest cause of illness and early death. Oh, is it now? Well actually no it isn't. Alcohol doesn't lead you to an early grave or liver failure. This is a scientifically proven fact which the BMA choose to ignore. What leads to an early death & illness is EXCESSIVE drinking, which is a completely different thing. Are they going to ban adverts for cars because driving at excessive speed is the biggest cause of death in the 18-30 age group? The logic is the same. In both cases the behaviour which causes the illness is the problem.

So has advertising ever made me get hammered? Nope, I really don't need much encouragement. Has it made me decide which brand to get hammered on? Nope. Generally if I buy bottled beers for home, we get decent bottled beers, usually German. Why? because they are relatively pure. What would make me cut back on my drinking? Maybe death or serious illness. From this statement, you may get the impression that I'm a total drunk, but no, most of the time I'm pretty restrained. I don't drink lunchtimes as it stops me getting things done. We limit ourselves to a bottle at max a night and I don't drink 2-3 evenings. I do tend to overdo it on Fridays and Saturdays, in the company of friends.

The last medical check I had was pretty good in the liver/blood pressure etc department, although I could lose a couple of stone. There is a lot of talk about advertising of teen targetted alcopops. I don't believe that the advertising changes much, I think it's more to do with spare cash & boredom. If people only did things because of advertising, we wouldn't have millions of people in the country trying illegal drugs.

I suspect that the answer is to mix age groups and family units in pubs. A pub full of 18-25 year olds will be far more prone to wreckless drinking than one with a good mix of ages. The most damaging aspect of human behaviour is peer pressure, a few crusty old boozers in the corner, pouring scorn on drunken youngsters, soon alleviates any peer pressure to emulate them. In fact the worst alcoholic excessess are not in pubs at all, it is cheap supermarket booze on the streets, in homes and in public spaces.

Things like drinks advertising is chosen because it is an easy target. Heaven forbid that they actually try and address the social issues which are the fundamental problem. If you have supermarkets selling own brand, super strength lager for 50p a tin in one town, this will cause more drunk & disorderly behaviour than all of the Martini adverts ever. I guarantee that if a supermarket sells superlager for 50p, they don't need to tell the local wino community, word soon gets out.

Anyone who tells you different either knows nothing about booze culture or why people enjoy getting hammered.

The funniest headline of the week

I had to check this story

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8099987.stm

The Headline "Flu risk still low after death" - I suppose that once you are dead, there is no risk at all from flu?

On a serious note, one person has now died from flu in the UK. Very sad, but compare that to the number of elderly who die because of cold weather every year. How many headlines does that get? Thousands die every year and the problem is completely preventable.

Living with back pain

Nearly 5 million working days per year are lost because of back pain/injury. Many people are unable to work in the career of their choice due to this problem. I know all about this. I suffered a stress fracture in my L2 vertebrae in a car accident i 1988 and have had problems ever since. About 3 years ago, this problem got to the point where I had to do something. Occasional trips to the Osteopath brought temporary relief, but there was a definite deterioration. A trip to the specialist and an MRI scan brought bad news. It seems that I'd have to have an operation and be laid up for 3 months. Now being self employed, this was a problem. I said this to the specialist, who replied that most people who had this problem, as show by the MRI were begging him to do the op immediately. I said that it was bad, but not that bad. He recommended a course of physiotherapy to see if it could be relieved by this. His words were "It probably won't make much difference, but if you can manage, it may help for a while". Anyway, I duly booked in to see the physio, who felt that she could help. Amazingly enough, after a single session, I walked out without pain for the first time in years. She'd managed, by stretching & massage to relieve the pressure on the nerve. Although the effects were temporary, it was a fantastic experience to be pain free. Like taking the finest recreational drug. I felt a real high.

More physio and some advice from Julie, my physio. She said "Loose some weight and do more exercise". Now I'm 6'1" and at the time weighed 17 1/2 stone. Although I've always played 5 a side football once a week, I realised I'd got out of shape. I joined a gym and started a new regime. I now go 3/4 times a week and do one of the following - warm up - stretches and 200 ab crunches, followed by either - 10km row (approx 40 mins) or 2km row (7.45 mins) & 14Km cycle (25 mins). On a friday I do a yoga class. Since then my weight has dropped to 15 3/4 stone. My back is still occasionally painful, but is managable and I can relieve it with various stretches. Recently I had a problem with the upper back and went to see the Oesteopath (Dominic Eglinton - highly recommended).

After sorting out the upper back problem, he commented how much better the lower back seemed and how much more flexible the spine generally seemed. He asked what I'd been doing. His verdict? If all his customers did this he'd go out of business. I'm a bit unlucky as I can't take Ibuprofen which would relieve much of the problems I have. The specialist still thinks that at some point in the next 5-10 years, I'll be in begging for the operation. I intend to do my damnedest to prove him wrong.

Lets Do Drugs?

I was listening to the radio today and it appears that there is a recommendation that Ecstasy is downgraded from a class A drug to a class B drug. It appears the government has refused to listen to this advice. What are we to make of this? Well personally I don't really understand the difference between the classifications. Surely something is either illegal or it's not. If you were to ask the majority of parents if their child should go to prison for possessing a small amount of illegal substances, most would say no. If you asked them whether a dealer selling their child an illegal drug should go to prison, you would probably get a different answer. We all know that some drugs are illegal. The question we should be asking is what are we trying to achieve? Why are drugs illegal?

If I were to ask you why drugs are illegal, you'd probably say "To stop people taking them". The trouble is it doesn't. If we are inclined to take procure and take drugs, we will. The law doesn't change that, it just makes the trade uncontrollable. It also makes it extremely lucrative for criminals. Policy towards drug misuse needs a radical overhaul. Firstly we should decide exactly what we are trying to achieve. Secondly we should decide what is realistically achievable. Once we've figured that out, then we should design our rules and regulations.

So what are we trying to achieve? Well as I see it there are two major downsides to taking drugs. Firstly they can be detrimental to your health. Secondly they can seriously damage your financial situation. I've had close friends who've died through drug misuse and close friends who've lost their livelyhood/house/car etc through drug misuse, so I'm well aware of the downsides. Our aim should be to minimise the damage to individuals and the effect on society in general. What is realistically achievable? I don't believe we'll ever live in a drug free world. I think that realistically all we can do is the following :-

a) Remove the profit element of drug distribution for criminals
b) Minimise the health risks for drug users
c) Educate people as to the risks of drug use
d) Provide support mechanisms for drug addicts
e) Control the supply and quality of drugs
f) Ensure that drugs are as hard as possible to obtain by young people

Making drugs illegal achieves non of the above. Legalisation would by an extremely risky option, although I believe it would be preferable to the existing system, in as much as the criminal elements would be removed. I have been convinced by the arguments for controlled legalisation. I support a system whereby anyone over 18 could legally purchase drugs, providing they have registered as a drug user. This would enable users of addictive class A drugs (such as Heroin) to purchase the drugs in Boots. With chip & PIN technology the amounts could be monitored, reducing the possibilty of resale. Illegal sale would be monitored and enforced by customs and excise. Profits from sales would pay for the scheme. It would be possible to undercut the criminal elements controlling the trade and ensure proper quality control. The vast majority of profits for drug barons are made through hardened users and if this lucrative market was destroyed, then the risks would no longer be worthwhile.

A licensing scheme would also bring users within the system. Their health could be monitored and their quality of life improved. As with other medical conditions, those unable to work would receive the drugs on presciption (under supervision). I firmly believe that this will reduce crime.

As to education, I'd like every child to understand what taking up drug abuse as a hobby means. If you get really good at your hobby, you could lose your life, your home, your dignity. Over 90% of prostitutes are addicted to hard drugs and generally the hard drug usage came first.

Finally we need to decide what constitues an illegal drug. I'd abolish the class A/B/C system. It just confuses people. I'd say that we agree that Alcohol and Tobacco are legally accepted in the UK. These have downsides, but we tolerate these.

I'd say that any drug which causes less damage than these statistically should be legal. Any drug which causes more damage becomes illegal. If you want to take them, you register, pay a fee, get information about there effects, and if you still want to damage yourself, that's your choice as an adult. If you sell the drugs on, you go to prison. If you want to come off them, you enroll in a program and when you are clean you deregister. You'd divulge your usage on a CRB form, so if you want to become a bus driver, you have to clean your act up.

I know it's not a perfect solution, but it's not a perfect world. In my opinion only a pragmatic approach will work.