November , 2012

As the season draws near and everyone begins wrapping up warm for the oncoming colder weather, we become increasingly aware of the chorus of coughs and sneezes which echo around every building we step inside and seemingly everyone we meet is battling some kinds of symptom. True, these things tend to spread like wildfire and you may well think you’ve caught the flu yourself, but how do you know, and what can you do to battle it if you have influenza?

Well whatever next, we read in the news today that researchers had achieved good results in the use of Botox for the treatment of hayfever.

Botox has historically been used for the treatment of wrinkles, and more recently used to reduce muscle spasms.

This week we noticed an article relating to Calvin Lock, who had taken Ibuprofen to treat a sore throat. It is thought that Calvin then went on to suffer from a severe allergic reaction, resulting in him being put on a life support machine.  Thankfully, Calvin is now on the road to recovery.

This is an extreme reaction, but many of us do not realise or consider potential side effects when taking over the counter medicine – perhaps this is because they are so readily available these days, from places like supermarkets, petrol stations and newsagents.