Cameras for the disabled…

From my search engine list:- “camera for the disabled”. Well, that one’s very simple – there’s no such thing.

What camera to choose depends on many factors, of which your particular disability is but one, though arguably the most important one. Still, if you’re thinking of buying a camera, you must be capable of using one, and the choice is huge.

Personally, I’d rule out compacts, they’re just too limited, no matter that some are insanely expensive – the Sigma DP2 costs more than some d-SLRs. My personal choice is a digital SLR, I have an Olympus E-500, with a Zuiko 70-300mm lens and the 17.5-45mm kit lens that came with the camera. The 70-300mm is

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Be careful with antibiotics – finish the course…

Another selection from my search engine list:-  “Can I take one day’s worth of antibiotics?” to which the only sensible answer is not if you have the brains god gave a gopher. I mean, why the hell would you?

One day’s worth of antibiotics will do absolutely nothing for you. It won’t even harm you, unfortunately (unless you’re allergic), as such idiocy surely deserves payback. The only exception to this

I’ve bought a lemon and I want my money back…

(With apologies to Meatloaf.)

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Note:- There is a response from Route2Mobility, Motability’s scooter and powerchair arm, and my reply, at the end of page 2. See also this post for details of how the range of powerchairs and scooters is established. It’s quite staggering, and entirely divorced from the real world.

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My Class 3 powerchair, a Pride Quantum 6000,

is proving to be something of a lemon. For example, despite it being a Class 3, outdoor, machine, it can’t be used outdoors in

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Christmas is coming, and coming, and coming…

I just love this – the Movement for the Containment of Christmas has vandalised three charity shops for selling Christmas cards in the middle of what, this year, passes for summer.

The Movement, which may well be just one guy, superglued the shops’ locks in protest. Now, I realise charity shops have to make money when they can but, really, isn’t selling Christmas cards in August just a tad absurd? Hell, when this was mentioned on the radio yesterday, a listener phoned in with a report of a pub that already had its Christmas decorations up – it’s insane.

When I was a kid

DHC Continus – a warning…

Partly as a result of being stuck by lightning, partly because of my ME/CFS, and also because of spreading osteo-arthritis, I am in often severe pain 24/7.

I have several pain meds, DHC Continus, of course, 30/500 Co-codamol, Naproxen, an anti-inflammatory, and Paracetamol, which I take in whatever combination seems most appropriate. Make that have been taking…

For the last couple of years I’ve been plagued by headaches and nausea which, this past week, became so severe I just couldn’t function. Monday was spectacularly bad – on a trip to the chemist I had to hang on to the counter for grim death, and it was a toss-up whether I

Pharmacists’ Dispensing Standards – how good are they?

The following is from the BBC News website:-

Pharmacists are calling for a change in the law, which criminalises them for dispensing the wrong drug.

In April, locum pharmacist Elizabeth Lee, was prosecuted under the 1968 Medicines Act for giving a patient beta-blockers instead of steroids.

The patient, Carmel Sheller, 72, from Windsor, later died in hospital.

The judge found Mrs Lee bore no “legal or factual” responsibility for Mrs Sheller’s death but passed a three-month suspended prison sentence. He said it was to “mark the gravity of the offence.”

Pharmacists are worried that this has set a precedent for prosecutions of even one-off minor errors.

So, quite naturally, pharmacists are worried. Yes, well so are the patients. And I, for one, don’t consider giving a patient an entirely different drug to be a minor error. It’s what’s technically known as a fuck-up.

I’ve been seriously ill all my life and, by the age of  7, I was taking ephedrine, in the form of a liquid, which was diluted with sweetened lemon juice. This was so dark as to be almost black. One day, my mother came back from the chemist with a bottle of

Shingles vaccine imminent…

GPs set for shingles immunisation programme in elderly patients, says the headline in the Search Medica newsletter

Government advisers have, apparently, recommended a herpes zoster vaccination programme for everyone aged 70 or over, and some other high-risk groups. There seems to be no indication when this will happen, so far, at least.

Experts say that vaccinating patients aged 70 or over would be cost-effective because of the severity and burden of the illness in old people. There is also the possibility of extending  the programme to over-65s in future.

The age 70 cut-off is intriguing. The

Questions about DLA and emphysema…

A question about claiming DLA, followed by one about DLA and emphysema/COPD.

From my search engine section comes this gem “What illness do you need to get DLA?” For me, that says, “What illness can I claim to have, to fiddle DLA?”. Maybe I’m just cynical (yep), and it’s just a badly phrased question, but surely anyone who actually was ill would be asking “Will

Spud-U-Don’t Like

I’ve complained about the quality of potatoes on sale before and, hey, here we go again. Seriously, there is something radically wrong.

Back in the spring I switched from my favourite Maris Piper spud, because many potatoes in the bags simply were not Maris Piper (wrong texture, wrong moisture content, wrong taste), to Vivaldi. The taste of these was excellent, as was the texture and, as I’d pensioned off my deep fryer, I wasn’t concerned about their chip-making ability.

Subsequent batches

Lockerbie and the US reaction…

It occurs to me that the US reaction to the release of the alleged Lockerbie bomber, on compassionate grounds, is massively out of touch with reality, not least because the US concept of justice and compassion is deeply flawed, as just two examples demonstrate.

In the United States, Lt. William Calley served three years house arrest for