Erectile dysfunction is when you are unable to get an erection or maintain an erection in order to have sex. It can sometimes be referred to as impotence or shortened to ED, and it is a very common symptom men can experience from time to time. In most cases, there is no serious underlying cause, and it may improve on its own, although it is important to know there is a treatment that can help. It is especially common in older men, with around 1 in 2 men over the age of 40 experiencing ED at some point. Some of the things that can contribute to erectile dysfunction include tiredness, stress, or excessive alcohol. The causes of longer-term erectile dysfunction can be split into 3 main types, which are psychological, physical health, and medication-induced. Psychological causes of erectile dysfunction include stress, performance anxiety (or any anxiety around having sex), relationship issues, or mental health conditions such as depression. With psychological causes, erectile dysfunction usually starts suddenly, not gradually, and it is best to treat the cause (e.g., the mood symptoms) rather than treating the symptom of erectile dysfunction. Treat the mood symptoms, and the erectile dysfunction will hopefully improve. Physical causes are usually the reason for ED in men over 40, with reduced blood flow to the penis being at the top of that list. The arteries in the penis become too narrow for enough blood flow to cause an erection. Men who smoke, have high blood pressure, or have high cholesterol levels are more at risk of developing this. With physical causes, erectile dysfunction tends to occur more gradually over time rather than suddenly. Chronic health conditions that affect nerves or blood flow, such as diabetes or multiple sclerosis, can also cause ED, as well as any damage to the penis or low testosterone levels, however these are less common. Some medications can cause or make erectile dysfunction worse. These include some of the medications used to treat depression, high blood pressure, and prostate problems. It is best to discuss this with your doctor if you think this might be the case. Don't stop taking the medication before speaking with your doctor.

Chantix was a product containing varenicline, a medicine to help you in the initial stages of quitting smoking. The manufacturer has fully discontinued the brand name Chantix due to unacceptable levels of nitrosamines. Generic versions are still available. Varenicline acts on the nicotine receptors in the brain but doesn't reward you with dopamine, the feel-good hormone that nicotine produces. It, therefore, blocks nicotine from having its effect, breaking that pleasure-reward association, while at the same reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms. This all works towards reducing the pleasurable effects of smoking and nicotine. This hopefully breaks the cycle to urge you to smoke again and avoids feelings of depression, irritability, and sleeplessness that can accompany nicotine cravings.

All women aged between 21 and 65 are recommended to get cervical screening in the US. Also called a smear test or pap test, it’s a test aiming to prevent cancer rather than a test for whether you have cancer. It checks for a certain virus that can disrupt the cells of the cervix (the opening to your womb from your vagina). If you have the virus, the cells of the cervix can then be checked for any changes that could, with time, lead to cervical cancer. Rescreening is recommended every 3 years. After the age of 65 you’ll only need screening if your last test was abnormal or if you’re in a higher risk group (HIV positive, weakened immune system, exposed to diethylstilbesterol \[DES\] before birth). Cervical cancer is not one of the most common cancers, but it is common in young women, usually affecting those in their early 30s. Once you have cervical cancer, treatment can be difficult and threaten your fertility and your overall health. But it's considered 99.8% preventable, so it's worth keeping up with your cervical screenings.

Flu is the common name for illness caused by the influenza virus. It brings on headache, muscle aches, sore throat, runny nose, and cough. It's much worse than the common cold, often requiring a few days in bed, struggling with fever, poor appetite, and feeling very tired and drained. It usually comes in the winter, it's highly contagious, and most people have experienced it at one time or another. If you're healthy, you have a miserable 2 to 7 days, then get better and back to normal life. The risk comes to those who are elderly or have ongoing medical conditions. It can also hard-hit those with suppressed immune systems from conditions or medication. It causes inflammation in the lungs and airways, leading to breathing problems, pneumonia, and even death. Antibiotics won't help as they don't work on viruses, only bacteria. Your immune system will fight it off, and you may need intravenous fluids and oxygen if you are admitted to the hospital.

It’s that time of year when we subject ourselves to an excess of food and drink and then painfully remember that our bodies still treat alcohol in exactly the same way as that day long ago when we first discovered how to make it. There are countless apocryphal remedies for treating a hangover, all of which forget the obvious - don’t drink too much in the first place! Assuming this advice is about to be forgotten, then the next thing to do is to eat before drinking. This slows the passage of alcohol into the bloodstream and explains why a couple of drinks on an empty stomach can leave you reeling. It will do nothing to ultimately affect the levels of alcohol in your bloodstream so the only thing that will sober you up - black coffee is a classic myth - is time. Although any alcohol will make you feel dreadful given enough of it, the usual suspects for really bad hangovers are brandy, cheap red wine and rum. These are low in absolute alcohol but high in products of fermentation - called congeners - which are broken down into chemicals that trigger hangover symptoms such as a headache. Other well-known symptoms include thirst, nausea and vomiting, sweating, shaking and high anxiety levels. Thirst is caused by alcohol being a diuretic and so if you drink a couple of glasses of red wine you will lose about twice that amount of water from the body over an hour or two. The irritant properties of alcohol on the stomach play a part here too, but the whole picture needs to be considered, not just the alcohol. Throw smoking, a lack of sleep, too much rich food and unexpected psychological events into the mix and you have a recipe for a serious hangover. Just as you lose water from your body when hung over, you also lose potassium and glucose (which is why you can feel so hungry despite not wanting to eat anything!). One of the easiest ways to rebalance this is to eat bananas, as these are rich in both potassium and magnesium, which help to regulate blood sugar levels. They are also rich in Vitamin C, which tends to be wiped out by having too much to drink. You can buy rehydration tablets that will help to restore your fluid levels and mineral balance in our shop. So, if you don’t want a hangover then go light on the drinks! This option is something that we control ourselves, but what about what we eat over the festive season? It may come as a surprise to learn that in the US we can eat several thousand calories on Christmas day, with the dinner itself having 1,000 calories in it (in case you’re wondering, it would take 10 hours of running to burn off those calories)! What most people certainly don’t realize however, amidst the annual calorie blow-out, is that there are hundreds of deaths a year from food poisoning, and that one in five of us will risk food poisoning by eating old turkey leftovers that have been around longer than the recommended limit of 2 days in the fridge. So, what can you do to prevent your risk of being hit by this over the festive season? Well, most food poisoning is caused by eating or drinking food which is contaminated. This contamination may be caused by bacteria, viruses, chemicals or toxins but most food poisoning is caused by bacteria such as Salmonella or Campylobacter. The foods most commonly involved with food poisoning are meat and poultry, shellfish, rice and dairy products, and most food poisoning is related to food prepared in the home. There is usually no way of telling whether food is contaminated as it usually looks, tastes and smells normal.

Food intolerance is when your body struggles to digest food or a component of food, and this causes uncomfortable or unpleasant physical symptoms. It is different from an allergy and is not life-threatening like an allergy can be. The most common culprits are dairy (lactose), wheat or gluten, and caffeine. The most common symptoms of food intolerance are stomach pain, bloating, excessive gas, and diarrhea. In some instances, food intolerances can lead to mild skin symptoms such as rashes or itching but these differ in severity from allergic reactions. Suppose you were to suffer symptoms of an allergic reaction, not an intolerance. In that case, there is the potential for something called anaphylaxis to develop, which is life-threatening and can develop quickly. The symptoms may include coughing, wheezing, or having noisy or fast breathing. You may see the face, lips, and tongue swelling, but the risk is if the throat swells, blocking the airways. Food intolerance symptoms are not very specific and commonly can be caused by other conditions such as stress, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and food allergies.

A food allergy occurs when the body's immune system mistakenly thinks proteins in food are a threat, and it launches an attack that we experience as unwanted symptoms. These vary depending on the food and the type of allergic response. Common foods that cause allergy include milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, gluten or wheat, shellfish, white fish, soy, sesame, and some fruit. Common allergic responses include gut problems, skin reactions, and hay fever-like symptoms. Severe reactions include symptoms related to breathing or swelling around the face or mouth, and these require immediate medical attention. If you suspect a food allergy for yourself or your child, you may wish to get tested. This can be done via your doctor, who usually refers you to an allergist. Let's take you through some of the tests and whether they are worthwhile or not. Unfortunately, any results require interpretation along with symptoms – they're not black and white, and you can't say if an allergy is definitely present or absent. Keeping a food diary can be useful alongside tests and noting any symptoms-related patterns.

Food allergies are on the rise and can cause a great deal of alarm, particularly to parents. How do you know if you or your child has an allergy? Let's take you through the most common food allergies and how you can spot the signs. An allergy to a particular component in food prompts the immune system to go into overdrive, causing symptoms in the gut, skin, and airways. Food allergies are common in young children, but most grow out of these as their immune system develops. Reactions vary from mild to severe. They may be as common as affecting one in 10 adults, and up to half of these were reported to have had a severe reaction, according to one study.

People with diabetes have high blood sugar (glucose) levels that can cause damage to their feet. High blood sugar levels can damage nerves in your feet (peripheral neuropathy), making them less able to feel pain, cold, and heat. As a result, foot problems can go unnoticed. Therefore, complications are more likely due to a lack of prompt treatment. High blood sugar levels can also damage blood vessels, leading to plaque forming inside them (peripheral arterial disease). These narrowed blood vessels reduce blood flow to your feet. A reduced blood supply to your feet means they can’t heal as well as usual. Therefore, effective foot care is essential in diabetes. Effective foot care is crucial in both type 1 and 2 diabetes. Foot problems include blisters, cuts, athlete’s foot, corns, calluses, dry skin, verrucas, in-grown toenails, and fungal nail infections. In extreme cases, the resulting complications can include bacterial infections, ulcers, gangrene, and even amputation.

As you get older it can become more difficult to care for your feet for a number of reasons. Firstly, you may have joint and dexterity issues in reaching your feet and using tools for maintenance and care, such as clipping toenails. Secondly, you may have medical conditions that put your feet at risk, such as a lack of feeling in the nerves in advanced diabetes, which might cause infection, or poor circulation putting you at risk of chilblains, eczema and ulcers. Components in skin that keep it stretchy, plump and well-nourished decline with age, which means you may be at higher risk of dry and cracked skin, or have skin that’s more likely to tear or ulcerate. We’ve put together a list of common foot problems for you to be aware of, but it may be worth investing in regular foot care, either with a podiatrist (sometimes also known as a chiropodist) or even at your local beauty salon, to keep your toes and feet in good condition.

Foreign body ingestion occurs with any object that is small enough to pass into the mouth and be swallowed. This happens more often in children but can also happen in adults, especially with food such as fish bones or medications. Most foreign bodies will pass on their own without any intervention. In children especially, some foreign bodies can be life-threatening if they obstruct the airways. In others, damage can occur to the windpipe and the digestive tract.

A fracture is a break or crack in one of the bones in the body. Fractures are most common with increasing age as the strength of our bones decreases and our risk of falls increases. The main symptoms of a fracture are pain, swelling, and deformity at the site of the fracture. There may be swelling and a different shape to the affected area, which will be painful to touch. Small breaks may cause minimal pain, but large breaks, such as hip or leg fractures, can cause severe pain and make you feel very unwell.