Washington in Bloom's success 'helped cancer recovery'
"The team gets [you] through it... it was incredible," she said.
Ms Atkinson was only meant to lead the group for three months but has ended up in the role for seven years. On the mornings she had treatment she would still complete administration work for the group, or help to plant flowers in the afternoon. She said: "Going through the seasons, thinking you wouldn't see them coming up and you do, so it's just incredible."I was bald with the treatment, had my baker's cap on, but was treated no differently by everyone and I think that was important."
Her volunteers said "she likes to do a good job", despite being known in jest for "cracking the whip". Pauline Johnson, Washington Village in Bloom treasurer, said: "She came into the village and she would inspire us, you saw how well she coped and how she developed." The group has recently been judged for the Best Village in Northumbria awards, which covers communities from Berwick-upon-Tweed right down to North Yorkshire, with the results expected later this year.Ms Atkinson said everybody in the group had "our fingers crossed".
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The Sun
17 minutes ago
- The Sun
4 dishes insider says you mustn't order in any restaurant…including ‘bacteria breeding ground' you'll ‘feel hours later'
AN INSIDER has revealed the four dishes you should never order in any restaurant. So if you love going out for dinner with pals or have a date night coming up soon, you've come to the right place and will need to take notes. 6 6 A woman named Julia Besz has claimed that whilst enjoying a 'late-night cuppa' with her friend who owns a restaurant, he revealed the dishes you should 'never order anywhere.' Julia claimed that when she questioned the foodie about his claims, his responses 'knocked her sideways.' As a result, eager to share her insider friend's insight with others, Julia took to social media and acknowledged the dishes she will now be avoiding, leaving many open-mouthed. And according to the restaurant owner, these dishes should be avoided at 'any restaurant" - whether that's a chain or a posh place. Say goodbye to 'specials' First things first, according to this insider, 'specials that aren't tied to a clear seasonal ingredient' should be steered clear of. While the insider claimed that such dishes 'sound harmless', it turns out that this often means using ingredients that need to be used before they go out of date. Julia's insider friend explained: 'The sauce masks the age, the garnish distracts you - and by the time you've finished, you've basically paid top dollar for yesterday's leftovers.' Feeling fishy Secondly, if you don't want to spend hours on the loo after going out for a meal, you may want to avoid 'shellfish in places nowhere near the coast.' According to this insider, unless restaurants have daily deliveries and spotless storage, you're 'gambling with your gut' by ordering shellfish. For those looking to avoid a night hugging the loo, Julia's friend stressed: 'Most punters don't realise but the wrong handling turns a fancy seafood platter into a food poisoning time bomb.' Vietnamese restaurant in London shut down after 'DOG MEAT disguised as goat found in freezer by health inspectors' Not ice, ice, baby Not only can shellfish cause an upset stomach, but having ice in drinks can also cause issues - yes, you heard that correctly. Julia's restaurant owner bestie suddenly made summer cocktails feel much less Instagrammable, as he shared a warning over having ice in beverages. He stressed: 'If the ice machine isn't cleaned properly - and in busy spots, it often isn't - you're basically sipping on a chilled petri dish.' Load off the meat Last but not least, the restaurant owner revealed the 'shocker' that you will want to avoid when dining at buffets or all-you-can-eats. According to this source, chicken dishes in such locations are 'the perfect breeding ground for bacteria if temps aren't bang-on.' How to save money eating out THERE are a number of ways that you can save money when eating out. Here's how: Discount codes - Check sites like Sun Vouchers or VoucherCodes for any discount codes you can use to get money off your order. Tastecard - This is a members club where you pay to have access to discounts worth up to 50 per cent off at thousands of restaurants. It costs £4.99 a month or £34.99 for the year. Loyalty schemes - Some restaurants will reward you with discounts or a free meal if you register with their loyalty scheme, such as Nando's where you can collect a stamp with every visit. Some chains like Pizza Express will send you discounts for special occasions, such as your birthday, if you sign up to their newsletter. Voucher schemes - Look out for voucher schemes offered by third party firms, such as Meerkat Meals. If you compare and buy a product through then you'll be rewarded with access to the discount scheme. You'll get 2 for 1 meals at certain restaurants through Sunday to Thursday. Student discounts - If you're in full-time education or a member of the National Students Union then you may be able to get a discount of up to 15 per cent off the bill. It's always worth asking before you place your order. He warned that in such 'high-volume' restaurants, chefs often don't check temperatures like they should. As well as this, he claimed: 'You won't see it, but you'll feel it 12 hours later.' Foodies react Julia's TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @ has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly racked up 213,700 views and 467 likes. Many users agreed with Julia's insider friend and raced to the comments to share their thoughts. One person said: 'Never order off a specials board - it's simply the food that is going off that day and needs to be binned. They dress it up and mark up the price!!!' Whilst another added: 'Never order fish on a Monday, no deliveries in many places that day.' Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club 6 6 6
Daily Mail
17 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Blind 99-year-old who 'wanted to reach 100' died after being scalded by a cup of tea, inquest hears
A blind 99-year-old woman who 'wanted to reach 100' died after she was scalded by a cup of tea. Margaret Eluned Roberts suffered burns after the hot black tea spilled onto her at a nursing home on Anglesey. An inquest into her death today heard the burn contributed to Mrs Roberts catching a chest infection. But a senior coroner concluded that the death, about five weeks after the burn, was accidental. Kate Robertson, senior coroner for north west Wales, found she died from pneumonia and cellulitis secondary to a burn, with old age, asthma and ischaemic heart disease as contributory factors. Sarah Thomas, a healthcare assistant at Glan Rhos nursing home in Brynsiencyn, who handed Mrs Roberts the cup of black tea, said she knew she was registered blind. She gave it to her in a plastic, two-handled beaker on September 22 last year, saying she was 'very independent' and 'wanted to drink the cup of tea herself'. The healthcare assistant watched Mrs Roberts, sitting in a chair, sip it through a straw in the spout then moved away. Mrs Roberts then spilt the tea on herself at about 7pm, the inquest heard, but Ms Thomas said she didn't hear Mrs Roberts 'scream'. Jo Reavey, a nurse, said in a statement she heard 'Eluned shouting in an urgent tone'. She said she found her 'distraught with her arms raised' and the beaker 'upside down' with 'black tea on her trousers.' The wound started blistering and staff put cold towels on it, the inquest heard. In her statement Linda Pritchard, Mrs Roberts' daughter, said she received a phone call about the incident. She said she asked 'why did they give a blind lady hot black tea?'. An ambulance was called at 7.51pm and arrived at Glan Rhos nursing home at about 10pm. Mrs Roberts was taken to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor. The wound was initially eight per cent of her body weight but after reddening reduced it was classified as four per cent. This is less than the 10 per cent threshold required for admission to a burns unit. At Ysbyty Gwynedd the blisters were lanced and the wound dressed and she was discharged. Mrs Roberts was returned to Glan Rhos but developed chest problems. On October 7, her daughter, Mrs Pritchard asked for her to be readmitted to Ysbyty Gwynedd. Doctor Abdul Azu, a consultant physician, told the inquest her condition was not improving. She died there on October 28, about five weeks after the scalding. Questioned by Mrs Pritchard, Dr Azu said her mother developed a chest infection. He added: 'Without a doubt the burn has contributed to her (Mrs Roberts) catching the chest infection because she was not moving about. 'She was lying in bed. The scalding was a factor in her declining health,' he added. The coroner Mrs Robertson, said Mrs Roberts died on October 28 'as a result of the medical conditions which were precipitated by the burn injury sustained on her leg.' She said the spillage had been 'unintended and accidental' and gave the cause of death of Mrs Roberts, a former environmental protection poultry meat inspector, as an accident. Mrs Robertson told Mrs Pritchard: 'Mam wanted to reach 100-years-old. It would have been such a significant milestone for her and for you.' She passed on her sincere condolences adding: 'I hope there are fond memories you can rely upon when the time comes.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
‘I was on a cocktail of antidepressants and prescription drugs. It nearly cost me my sanity'
As a junior doctor in her mid-thirties, working an average of 80 hours a week while raising young children, Cathy Wield found herself both burnt out and attempting to deal with suppressed childhood trauma. 'As a child, my parents lived overseas, and I was sent away to boarding school from the age of nine,' recalls Wield, now 65. 'I hated it, and managed to bury the memories of what was a very difficult and traumatic time for me. But when my eldest child won a place at the Royal Ballet School, it meant she would be boarding. I was already exhausted and memories from my childhood started to surface.' Feeling she was in the midst of an emotional crisis, Wield booked a GP appointment. Little did she know that this would precipitate a cascade of dozens of prescription medicines for more than two decades, and as detailed in a memoir, Unshackled Mind, it would ultimately leave her with permanent thyroid and nerve damage. It began initially with a simple antidepressant. But this pill led to suicidal ideations – a known risk in some people who take SSRI medications – and following a spell in hospital, Wield found herself being prescribed dozens of drug cocktails at a time, from antidepressants to antipsychotics and sleeping pills. Her prescription records reveal that over a seven year period, she was prescribed 33 different psychiatric medications. In the throes of side effects which left her barely able to function, Wield was in no position to question the treatment she was getting. 'I was a zombie,' says Wield. 'The side effects were unbelievable. I lost my sexual function because of the drugs and just felt totally numb most of the time, but when I reported these symptoms, I was just told, 'Oh no, that's your depression.' I experienced weight gain, constipation, a condition called postural hypertension which means dizziness when getting out of a chair. I had several head injuries as a result of that. But no doctor at any stage during these years looked and said, 'The problem is the drugs.' It just never entered their heads.' Wield's case is a particularly acute example of the problems of polypharmacy, when people are prescribed more than five different medications at the same time. The issue has been highlighted through studies which have linked polypharmacy to a greater risk of hospitalisation, adverse drug reactions, falls, and reduced quality of life. In one paper, focusing on Liverpool University Hospital Foundation NHS Trust, adverse reactions to prescription medications were a cause of 16.5 per cent of all admissions, with researchers suggesting that the problem could be costing the NHS as much as £2 billion per year. 'We have seen a significant increase in the number of treatments prescribed over the previous two decades,' says Dula Alicehajic-Becic, a consultant NHS pharmacist. 'In England alone, more than one million people take 10 or more medications per day.' So why does this happen? The risks of taking too many pills Wield says that all the years of medication have left her with a permanently damaged thyroid due to treatment with lithium, a drug commonly prescribed for mood disorders, as well as small fibre neuropathy, chronic damage to the small nerve fibres which branch out from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. She says that it manifests as a painful, burning sensation in her feet. 'My feet burn if they're warmed,' she says. 'So through the hot summer I have to put them in bowls of cold water, and I have to use ice slippers during the night which I keep in a freezer near the bed.' According to NHS psychiatrist Dr Louise Bundock, who works at the UK's only drug deprescribing clinic, helping stop medications they no longer need, adverse effects relating to mental health medications that mimic psychiatric symptoms are often perceived as the patient's condition worsening, prompting the prescribing of yet more drugs. 'In the worst cases they end up on multiple medications with multiple new psychiatric diagnoses, sometimes being admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and significant effects on their ability to function in all areas of their life, losing jobs, losing relationships and unable to take part in life in the way they did previously,' says Bundock. 'Often the individual themselves believe that they have become very mentally unwell, sometimes for decades.' Polypharmacy has also been identified as a specific risk in older adults over the age of 65. While more than half of people in this age group have at least two medical conditions meaning medicines are necessary, too many pills can increase risk of dizziness, sudden drops in blood pressure when a person stands up, and confusion, which can all lead to falls and fractures. According to Deborah Gompertz, a GP and deputy honorary secretary of the British Geriatrics Society, the balance can be delicate as older people metabolise medications less well, as their kidneys and liver may be less adept at excreting them, meaning they can be more affected by certain drugs. 'We want to optimise the treatment of their long-term conditions, keeping them safe, and helping them to live independently in the community, while still minimising risk of falls, hospitalisation, and potentially death,' she says. How many prescription pills is too many? Researchers and clinicians are keen to emphasise that in many cases, a drug cocktail is both appropriate and necessary. For example, the recommended treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder is a 'triple therapy' of three inhaled medications. However, there are some classes of prescription pills which carry greater risks, such as sedatives and anticholinergic drugs, particularly when people are taking more than five medicines. Anticholinergics can be prescribed for everything from overactive bladder to managing symptoms of Parkinson's disease. 'The higher the anticholinergic burden, the more at risk you are from a fall or confusion,' says Gompertz. For people taking psychiatric medications, Bundock says it is also key to be aware that symptoms such as increased anxiety, worsening low mood, obsessive and compulsive behaviours, suicidal thoughts and even hallucinations can actually be side effects of mental health medications such as antidepressants or sleeping tablets. Why is overprescribing happening? The good news is that overprescribing has been recognised nationally as a problem, but the reasons for it are multi-faceted and complex. Alicehajic-Becic suggests that some clinicians may overestimate the benefits and underestimate the risks of certain medications, while the increasing prevalence of over 65s with multiple health conditions can make it difficult for doctors to strike the balance of trying to manage chronic illnesses while keeping medication load manageable. Gompertz points out that some patients question why a doctor is removing one of their medications or reluctant to prescribe them an additional pill, often assuming that it is due to cost saving rather than concerns of side effects. Alicehajic-Becic says that the issue can also occur because older people with more than one health condition can be seeing multiple consultants. 'Health records are also not uniformly shared, hence information pertinent to a new prescription may not be available in real time,' she says. 'Payments are also given to providers to achieve a certain target, such as cholesterol lowering, which incentivises prescribing.' However when it comes to mental health, Wield feels that doctors need to stop being so quick to medicalise what she describes as 'normal distress'. 'When I look back to that first time when I sought help from the GP, I just needed time to recuperate,' she says. 'I was overwhelmed, overtired and I just needed support, and I wanted to talk to somebody. If I'd had simple talking therapy, I think I would have been fine. Instead, it's cost the NHS a huge amount of money and resources, and personally impacted myself, my family, and my career.' What can you do? Gompertz says that anyone taking multiple medications should be having a structured medicine review at least every six to 12 months, but in some cases, for example medicines like blood thinners, a review should be carried out on a three monthly basis. 'It's something that adult children with an elderly parent can be aware of,' she says. 'If you notice that your mum and dad have got a build-up of their medication at home, it could be an idea to talk to whoever's prescribing those medications for your parents. And if the person themselves feels they're getting side effects or not tolerating them, it's important to have that conversation.' When it comes to psychiatric medications, Bundock advises people to be aware of the possible side effects listed in the accompanying leaflets in the medication box, provided by the drug company. For people who have been on a number of these drugs for a period of time, it is also important not to stop them too abruptly. 'The longer someone has been on a mental health medication, the more important it becomes for it to be stopped slowly,' she says. 'Because there is the possibility of injury to the nervous system from these medications being stopped too fast.' Wield has now been mostly medication-free since 2018. These days she only takes three pills – a hypertension drug, a hayfever tablet and thyroid hormone replacement drug called levothyroxine. But decades of inappropriate polypharmacy have had a lasting impact on her life. 'I'm very fortunate that my husband stuck with me, because it was very, very difficult for our children growing up to have their mother in that state. And with my career, I did manage to return to work and become a specialist in emergency medicine, but I was not able to complete my training and progress to become a consultant. So it's had a huge impact on us financially as well.' Despite her experience, Wield says she's not interested in blaming any individuals for what happened to her, but she is determined to keep raising awareness to try and drive greater systemic change. 'It's driven me to become an activist to try and stop this happening to anybody else,' she says. 'I really do think the prescribing system and doctor's training needs to be addressed so that this doesn't happen to other people.'
