Derriford

When I decided to opt for laser eye surgery three years ago, I knew I needed to research it well before choosing my clinic. There are hundreds of laser eye surgery clinics all over the country boasting a wide range of prices, and it’s best to know how much to spend to get what service.

I’ve always wanted laser eye surgery. Ever since I realised I couldn’t wear contacts (they irritated my eyes) I’ve had to wear glasses. No matter what style I go for – smart square ones, Harry Potter-style round ones or vintage ‘50s diamantes complete with little plastic wings (think Grease) – they’ve never suited me. They clash with my face shape, making me look boxy and highlighting my rather large nose. So after years of hating glasses but not being able to afford surgery, my bonus at work meant that I could finally get the treatment I’d so desperately longed for!

After a painless and relatively comfortable treatment in a middling priced surgery (I paid around £1500 for each eye) I was told to spend a night in a hotel wearing a mask. When I did accidentally peek at the light, my eyes stung! But after a night, I found that my eyes were more accustomed to the light, and more importantly, worked perfectly! I ran straight home and spent the whole day reading labels, magazines and TV text from varying distances, getting used to the concept of not having to wear glasses ever again!

However, this happiness didn’t last very long. Pretty soon my eyes began itching, suffering from dryness and sensitivity. A visit to my doctor confirmed that I had corneal ectasia, a building up of fluid behind the front lens in the eye due to the thinning of the cornea. I’m not usually squeamish but this news really did turn my stomach. My eyes risked serious damage, and I had to quickly schedule another surgery in order to undo the terrible work my original clinic had done.

The cost of this surgery didn’t come cheap. I had to fork out for it immediately, meaning my funds took a serious hit and I had to get a loan from my mother. So as soon as I recovered (and I did, thank goodness) I got in touch with a local lawyer and inquired about no win no fee medical negligence claims. Their ‘no win no fee’ policy meant I could afford to at least try and get some compensation for my botched surgery. After a speedy trial, my case won, meaning I could repay my mother and even fund taking some time off work to enjoy my new eyes!

So before you opt for laser eye surgery, make sure you do your research – make sure the person performing your surgery has a specialist qualification, not just a few days training! Get some quotes from people who have already had the surgery. Many may advocate it but there are some that wouldn’t, and it’s worth hearing why. Finally, make sure you know your legal standpoint on the matter. Claiming compensation for clinical negligence saved my eyesight, and my money situation!

I didn’t notice my symptoms until I realised they were stopping me from sleeping. I’d be lying in my bed only to realise that I couldn’t breathe, and that my chest felt like it had a tight band strapped across it. I realised this had been occurring most nights and once I was aware of it, I knew sleep wasn’t going to happen. After talking it over with my wife (who is a trained nurse) we narrowed the potential reasons down to 3 different causes: lung problems, asthma, or anxiety. Of course I booked an appointment with my doctor straight away but in the meantime I did a bit of research. All three problems caused tightness in the chest, and difficulty breathing.

Anxiety seemed pretty unlikely; after 45 years being a gas fitter for a large firm, I was now enjoying a comfortable retirement. My most stressful experiences were watching Match of the Day! My reasons for not being able to sleep were purely physical; there was nothing keeping me tossing and turning at night, no niggling worries distracting me from my everyday activities. So eventually I ruled out anxiety.

When I visited the doctor, I was sent for a CT scan which diagnosed me with pleural thickening. I didn’t even know I had a pleura but apparently I do, and my years of decorating different houses and buildings meant that tiny asbestos particles had sneaked past my lungs’ natural defences and had over the years damaged the lining of my lungs, resulting in a swelling and scarring that meant I had difficulty breathing. After a closer consultation, I was relieved to find that my disease was benign. I had to give up the smoking so as not to cause more damage to my lungs, and I regularly go for checkups with my doctor, but for no there’s no further danger. She recommended me this helpful website that explains everything I needed to know about my affliction: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/pleural/index.htm

Once I knew I was safe, all I felt was anger at my employers. I felt cheated by my irresponsible bosses who let me work in dangerous conditions for years without thinking to ensure the area was safe first, and I wanted some compensation! I managed to make a successful compensation claim that gave me some peace of mind and closure, and I used the money to re-insulate my house and get it checked out for asbestos!

The number of road accident casualties in Braintree, Essex, is not ideal. With 83-110 casualties a year, Braintree ranks in the middle – not as bad as busy city centres, but still terribly high. With the growth of congestion in many cities over the last decade, it’s important to remember road safety.

We all learned about it in school. For those of us growing up in the ‘90s  it was the animated hedgehogs and their memorable ‘STOP LOOK LISTEN’ campaign. In recent years, however, the widely publicised THINK campaign has taken a more sinister approach to things, targeting dangerous drivers by releasing an advert showing a man haunted by the image of a young hit and run victim. Or the grotesque but effective sequence that showed another young hit and run victim propped up against a tree, before slowly coming back to life in the middle of the road. The adverts, although unpleasant to watch, have had an impact on the attitudes of drivers. Their information, available on the DirectGov website, has really helped improve road safety for drivers (http://think.direct.gov.uk/index.html)

However, as a pedestrian living in Braintree, I wanted to think of ways to keep myself and my family safe without having to depend on drivers to be sensible. So I did a bit of research and found some good tips for staying safe:

Fluorescents: Before my daily school run, I put fluorescent jackets on the kids. It may seem a little paranoid, but we live near the centre of town and if they help my kids become even slightly more visible to a driver then it’s worth it. For my elder kids, who refuse to wear ‘uncool’ outfits, I stick fluorescent strips to the bottom of their backpacks or jackets. This is especially helpful for the winter months, when by the end of a school day it is already getting dark and visibility getting worse. And it’s not just me – the Telegraph’s Harry Wallop agrees with me! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/9581969/Fluorescent-clothing-were-all-starting-to-look-like-lemons.html

Phones and iPods: I know you may be in the middle of an important text, or desperately trying to skip a song on your iPod that irritates you beyond reason, but just wait until you’ve crossed the road! Remember that it’s much easier to see a car coming than it is for a driver to see a pedestrian, so you need to make sure that you’re taking the safety measures you need. Even if you’re hit at 30 mph, you could still sustain fatal injuries, so remember to keep your eyes on the road!

Raise awareness: You need to make sure that if there are dangerous drivers in your neighbourhood, they are reprimanded. Create a neighbourhood watch group if you don’t already have one – remember to take down the license plate numbers of any speeding cars in your area. If you’ve been the victim of a motorist’s unsafe driving, make sure they get prosecuted. Local personal injury lawyers Blackwater Law can help you through this process, and if you end up making money from it, perhaps use it to help the council create more road safety measures, such as traffic islands and speeds bumps.

Hopefully these tips will help you keep you and your family safe from road accidents. Remember, it’s worth taking these small precautions to make sure you don’t become another road accident statistic.

They say a puppy isn’t just for Christmas, it’s for life. While this is true, the first few months of a dog’s life can be the most influential. If you’re planning on getting a puppy this Christmas, remember that it is during this period and the following months that your puppy will be just that. Before long they’re a grown dog with their own personality, shaped by its earlier experiences. It’s up to you to make sure these experiences are enjoyable, educational and most importantly, that they help form the bond between you and your dog.

The most famous incidence of dog training is probably ‘classical conditioning’ developed by Ivan Pavlov, where a dog was given food after the ringing of a bell. When presented with food the dog would salivate. After becoming accustomed to this routine, the dog would salivate merely from the sound of the bell, which it had learned indicated the arrival of food. Not only was this an influential experiment concerning associative behaviour, it also showed the pliancy and obedience of a dog if given regular behavioural guidelines.

We’ve come a long way from Pavlov’s dog. There are now thousands of dog training courses available throughout the country, and there is now a lot of theory behind dogs – not just tricks to teach them, but a wide range of psychological theories to help us understand how our dogs develop.

When you get your puppy this Christmas, start by simply playing. There are many options for your dog, including some particularly effective dog training services in Croydon that emphasise the importance of play in order to establish a bond between you and your canine chum. Before you try and teach them anything, make sure they love, respect and most importantly trust you. Trying to force tricks or learning behaviour onto a dog that isn’t comfortable with you can cause a lot of unnecessary anxiety for both of you! By giving a few hours of your day to the puppy, you can ensure that a bond is formed quickly. That’s why the Christmas period and the couple of months after are really important for you and your pup – give them lots of cuddles, lots of playing and most importantly lots of your attention! By making this commitment in the early stages you’ll give your puppy a comfortable, safe home in which to start learning how to become a dog.

How Nicorette can help to Reduce your Smoking

While smoking can sure be a fun habit to keep up while you are young and rebellious, as you grow older, all the cigarette smoke starts to take its toll. Down the road, the possibility of developing some kind of tobacco-related illness, such as lung cancer, is more than real. Of course, if quitting smoking was so easy then there wouldn’t be many of us left. Not only does quitting smoking make you irritable, anxious and restless, but you have to constantly wrestle with nicotine cravings, an increased appetite, not to mention that you are going to have a very hard time concentrating on anything.

Quitting smoking cold turkey is out of the question for most people, and not without reason: the withdrawal symptoms mentioned above are more intense than ever and incredibly hard to cope with. Because of that it is important to try and reduce your smoking progressively… however, you will still be left with the problem of damaging your lungs when you are smoking. The solution to this problem, as was highlighted to me during a communication with the Nicorette team, is to find a substitute for nicotine, something which lets you appease your craving without damaging your health. As it happens, the people at Nicorette have been working tirelessly on making such a product, and their latest iteration in this field is QuickMist.

QuickMist is a spray to be used in your mouth whenever you feel the irresistible urge to smoke. It feeds nicotine to your system without requiring you to damage your lungs for it in any way. The mist in your mouth will get absorbed in a matter of seconds, and within a minute you will forget you ever wanted to smoke in the first place. It literally works in a span of sixty seconds, it appeases your craving and allows you calmly work on a way to stop smoking for good.