Sufferers have reported that they feel themselves isolated and uncomfortable as people tend to avoid them, or if they do speak to them they skirt around the problem and seem reluctant to ask them how they are feeling. As one puts its “ if I had anything else wrong with me people would be full of concern, because I have a mental illness I am treated like a leper and people avoid eye contact and put their heads down when they pass me”.

This behaviour, according to research, is due to people being unsure as to whether the sufferer wants to talk about their illness, or they are worried about saying the wrong thing so they say nothing. It’s time that this was addressed and a new campaign and video sponsored by the COI aims to stop this practice, and presses the point in their short film about how much a mental health sufferer appreciates you asking them how they are.

The video shows a man in his workplace who sees one of his colleagues, Dave, who has been absent due to a mental illness. He debates whether to speak to him or not as he’s not sure how he will react.

He finally asks Dave how he is, and it then shows three scenarios; Dave first takes off his shoe and answers it like a phone, then he disappears in a cloud of dust then finally, which is the real one, he says he has good days and bad days and thanks him for asking.

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This was a seriously invasive treatment which no patients looked forward to and was especially painful. It also meant that treatment had to be done only one step at a time, with one foot being operated on first so the patient could at least walk on one leg securely while the other one healed. This of course meant that the patient had to return for similarly painful treatment on the other foot soon after.

Patients would normally undergo a general anaesthetic and inevitably scarring would occur. Another serious issue was that normal shoes would be unbearable in the first year after treatment owing to the significant pain that patients would experience.

It is inevitable then that the majority of the millions of patients in Britain who suffer from bunions each year choose not to undergo such a traumatic and long-winded treatment.

It is also interesting that more than 80% of the suffering are women. Many have the procedure carried out on one foot but choose not to have the other one treated because of the associated problems outlined above.

However if they are not medically treated, these growths can become exceedingly painful, even unsightly, and the condition may actually lead to some form of arthritis.

A new ground breaking treatment has since become available on the NHS. There is only a short recovery time necessary and no scars are left afterwards.

Care UK’s Orthopaedic Treatment Centre (NHS) in Sussex have developed a new keyhole surgery procedure. This technique uses minimally invasive therapy but still follows the necessary medical solutions of previous bunion removal therapy.

Dr Joel Vernois, said: “Bunions are most commonly hereditary. They are more common in females because female hormones act to soften foot tissue and high-heeled shoes can make an existing problem worse.”

“These new keyhole techniques are commonplace in surgery but haven’t been used to treat bunions in the past. This was largely because doctors thought that the bunions might return if it was used.

This treatment uses screws to fix the joint after surgery but it is done using many small incisions, which is much healthier for the foot,” added Dr Vernois. The new treatment means that there is less pain after the operation and swelling is greatly reduced, meaning patients can go back to their normal shoes very quickly.

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Some of these include, cancer of the breast and prostate, depression, osteoporosis, obesity and even diabetes. This article is going to look at some basic facts about vitamin D and its health benefits.

Firstly, if you want to generate vitamin D then it is important you are in direct sunlight. Being exposed to sunlight through glass does not allow your body to produce vitamin D. This means that if you are sitting in a conservatory or in your car you are not creating the vitamin D that you need.

There is very little alternative other than sunlight for generating vitamin D, there are milk products that have been fortified with the vitamin but you would have to drink an enormous amount of them to get your daily required dose.

People with darker skin require around 30 times more exposure to sun than lighter people to create the same amount of the vitamin. Many people suspect that the reason prostate cancer is more prevalent in black men is because they do not generate enough vitamin D. Also, the further away from the equator that you live the more sunlight you require; thus people in the UK and the US need much more exposure to snlight.

Unlike with some other vitamins, a deficiency cannot be cured immediately by taking high doses. Months of supplementation as well as exposure to sunlight are the only ways to make up for a lack of vitamin D. Eventually deficiencies will be overcome and the bones and nervous system will be strengthened.

There are certain medical conditions that prevent your body from circulating the vitamin to the extent that you need. Liver damage or kidney disease can be conditions that affect your body’s ability to circulate it.

While sunscreen is very important for preventing sunburn and skin cancer it does impede the body’s ability to generate vitamin D enormously. Even a low factor such as eight can prevent your body from creating 95% of the vitamin D it would make without sunscreen. Make sure that you do not go outside for more than 20 minutes without some protection.

Vitamin D essentially allows us to absorb calcium into our intestines, without it we cannot absorb calcium efficiently and this can have significant effects on body. Even if you take calcium supplements this will be of little effect as the body has no way to absorb the extra amounts of the nutrient.

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If these results stand up to the invariable scrutiny, these capsules will be unique as the first ever anti-wrinkle treatment that shows evidence of combatting wrinkles in the deeper layers of the skin. They won’t be the first to receive scientific backing however, as other skin creams have been proven in peer reviewed journals to help in reducing wrinkles.

New Scientist contacted independent researchers, who said that the preliminary findings were intriguing, and they also commended the team who are developing these capsules for conducting trials that were double blind, where they tested the capsules against a placebo, but neither the recipients nor the researchers knew who was receiving what.

They added, however, that they will remain skeptical until the results have been published in full by a peer reviewed journal, and they also acknowledged the fact that attempts to reverse the natural signs of aging doesn’t sit well with a lot of people.

The so called ‘gene food’ treatment is result of work done by a team led by John Casey at the Unilever labs in Sharnbrook, England. The multi natural company which produces cosmetics, household products and food, have commissioned four different research groups to test their capsules and 480 women in France, Germany and the UK, who had gone through the menopause, took part in the trials.

The New Scientist saw results that indicated that within 14 weeks, the crow’s feet wrinkles that appear at the corners of the eyes were, on average, 10% shallower for those who had taken the capsules, and in the best cases, they had been reduced by 30%. Those women who had been given the placebos showed no significant reduction in the depth of their wrinkles.

In a couple of the studies done in France, researchers took biopsies measuring 4mm in depth from 110 of the participating women both before and after the treatment and studied the collagen production, a key protein in the structural components of the skin.

Antibodies which stain skin tissues red where new collagen has been produced revealed that 1/5 of recipients, after the treatment, had a significant amount of fresh collagen in the dermis, the deepest layer of skin, as opposed to those who had taken the placebo capsules.

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The feet are also a good indicator of a more serious underlying condition and can be used in the diagnosis of some important medical conditions. This can include issues from diabetes to heart disorders. It is important therefore that people establish a foot care regime and choose what they wear on their feet carefully. Eating a healthy diet is also an important step in keeping your feet healthy.

A good way to avoid foot problems is to do some form of foot,care daily. This should involve cleaning the feet, then exfoliating them and finally applying moisturiser. Cleaning the feet should involve cleaning out the areas that are reachable behind the nail as well as cleaning between the toes. Fungi can grow in damp places, so make sure you always dry your feet off well or you may end up with a case of athletes foot.

A pumice stone will be an essential tool in the removal of hard areas on the skin and callouses. Be sure not to rub away too much and always apply a moisturiser afterwards. It would also be recommended that for extra soft feet you sleep in a pair of clean socks. A weekly routine including a pedicure is a good way to keep your feet wonderfully healthy – you can either do this yourself or pay for a treatment.

Women have many more foot problems than men because they do not wear shoes that are optimal for their feet. Instead, they will choose something that looks good, rather than something that is comfortable. Just remember that your feet are fragile and wearing the wrong sized shoes can even result in having to have corrective surgery.

It is not just the shoes that are important when deciding what to wear on your feet, selecting the right hosiery is important. Make sure that whatever you choose fits you completely and when worn with your shoes is comfortable.

There are problems with feet that are not caused by a lack of foot care or by wearing the wrong shoes. These are generally because you diet is lacking in the nutrients that feet need to be healthy. This type of foot problem will often present in you having very brittle nails or having very dry feet.

Luckily, some simple adjustments to one’s diet should alleviate these problems. For example, those who suffer from dry feet will probably be able to fix the problem by adding a little flaxseed oil to their diets – try two tablespoons daily. Other problems can be treated with the additional of vitamins C and E, among others.

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Not only is its milk being consumed by stars such as Madonna, but beauty product manufactures have been adding it to their topically applied products. Miranda Kerr has said that eating lots of coconut oil in her foods helped her lose weight after her pregnancy. Lena Korres, director of Korres, a beauty product company has said that, “Coconut oil has a fantastic moisturising ability and can nourish the skin.” The company uses coconut oil in its range of shower gels.

Coconut oil contains a great many nutrients that are beneficial to the body and it is also capable of removing impurities in the skin. Dr Nicolas Perricone is a dermatologist who has several celebrity clients is due to release a range of products later this year which use coconut oil. The line includes a moisturiser and a lip balm which will retail at Boots for £30 and £14 respectively.

Dr Perricone is not the only person who has recently announced a range of products using coconuts. Clinique has announced several products that contain coconut oil as well as coconut acid – which can be used as an effective pore cleanser. Clinique have said that coconut products provide long lasting moisture to skin.

People who intend to use coconut based products should be careful though as it is known that not all types of skin respond to coconut in a positive way. Some people have been known to have break outs of spots from using products with the ingredient. For most though, the products will provide naturally beneficial skin care. Experts have said that people who are sensitive to very rich skin care products should avoid those based on coconuts.

Coconut has been a popular component in Asian food for a very long time but those in the western world have generally avoided too much of it because of its very high fat levels. Zoe Harcombe, a nutritionist, has said, “Coconuts contain the most saturated fat of any food in the world. Don’t be too put off by this though as this kind of fat is the most stable and therefore is excellent for use in cooking.”

Coconut water is also causing a storm and the top drink is currently Vita Coco, which saw sales of its drink rise a massive 1200% last year. More coconut based drinks are coming to supermarkets and marketers are saying they are beneficial for their electrolyte content. Many experts disagree with this though.

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