Self Help

The Brook Health Centre

Swinneyford Road

Towcester NN12 6HD

Telephone: 01327 323900

While we’re always happy to discuss or review your concerns, many common conditions can be managed at home without recourse to a doctor or nurse. Here is some useful information about managing common problems yourself, and when we’d like you to call.

 

By far the best advice can be found on the following high quality and updated websites,

 

· NHS Direct Symptom Checker for assessing or confirming what you think the problem is,

· NHS Choices A-Z of Conditions or Treatments for detailed information about your or your child’s condition, including treatment and when to seek our advice.

· The Patient Information Leaflets on Patient.co.uk are also highly recommended.

 

The following is our self help sections from our Practice Leaflets.

 

Every Little Helps... Exercise for Everyone (February, 2011).

We spend a lot of time recommending exercise as a way of preventing many serious diseases as well as improving mental health. Ideally this should be three sessions per week of aerobic work – something to get you out of puff or a sweat on. But we’re also aware that many people don’t have the time or ability for this. The good news is that anything is better than nothing. Try a daily brisk walk around the block. Take the stairs instead of the lift. Walk to the shops instead of driving. Buy a pedometer and count your steps – ideally this should be 10,000 steps per day, but any regular increase in activity is good for anyone.

 

Hayfever self-help (May, 2011)

With the early summer, hayfever season is here for many of us. Your doctor, practice nurse or pharmacist will be happy to advise you about medication, pollen avoidance is a simple thing to try first.  When pollen counts are high, the main things is to stay indoors and keep doors and windows shut. This includes the car. Wrap-around sunglasses outside reduce pollen getting into your eyes. Avoid cutting grass. Pollen sticks to clothes so have a shower and change clothes when coming indoors.  At home, vacuum regularly and dust using a damp cloth to remove pollen indoors.

Antibioitcs (February 2012)

One of the commonest reasons people come to see us is with respiratory tract infections (cough, chestiness, sore throats etc), to see if they need an antibiotic. These infections can be caused by either viruses or bacteria. Antibiotics help bacterial infections, but have no benefit for viral infections such as colds or flu. In fact, there is more risk of harm than benefit to you from using an antibiotic unnecessarily (for example diarrhoea or rash). Our doctors and nurses assess your infection to decide if antibiotics are more likely to be of benefit to you or your child or not. For many patients antibiotics are of great benefit, and don’t be afraid to get your illness checked out with us, but please bear with us if we feel they won’t help in any particular case. You can read about when antibiotics may or may not help in a helpful leaflet from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence, NICE.