DR ELLIE CANNON: May my daughter’s Vitamin D and iron deficiencies be inflicting tinnitus?

My daughter has been struggling tinnitus for a while, however the noises in her ears bought progressively worse after the delivery of her second youngster. She now usually wears headphones, utilizing music to drown out the sounds. She’s had MRI scans that come again regular however a latest blood check confirmed she had a deficiency in Vitamin D and iron. May this be associated?

Whereas MRI scans and blood exams are helpful for ruling out something critical, they will not normally provide a solution for tinnitus, a situation that causes sufferers to listen to a steady noise, normally a ringing sound. It is extremely uncommon {that a} tumour is the trigger, which an MRI would spot.

There is no strong proof linking low Vitamin D or iron to listening to issues. Nevertheless it’s quite common to be low in each vitamins – and dietary supplements will help. In any other case, tinnitus is usually linked to listening to loss which, research present, is turning into extra widespread in individuals youthful than 50 – doubtless the results of a lifetime of listening to loud music on headphones.

The situation could be extraordinarily distressing. If that is so, individuals must be referred to an ear, nostril and throat physician.

Many individuals with tinnitus discover they’re extra conscious of the noise of their ears when in a quiet place. Sound remedy, which includes devices and wearable units that emit fixed background noise, will help. Audiology departments in some hospitals provide these.

My daughter has been struggling tinnitus for a while, however the noises in her ears bought progressively worse after the delivery of her second youngster (inventory photograph)

You can too contact the British Tinnitus Affiliation for recommendation (tinnitus.org.uk).

Medical doctors can refer sufferers for cognitive behavioural remedy, both with a therapist or on-line. Personal clinics provide tinnitus retraining remedy, which helps to trick the mind into silencing the annoying noises by tuning them out. It is price asking your GP if that is accessible on the NHS in your space.

I undergo a spread of circumstances – continual migraines, neck ache and premenstrual dysphoric dysfunction. My signs are getting worse, however my GP says there’s nothing she will do. Is there something that may assist?

Many individuals dwell with a spread of various circumstances, which could be extraordinarily tough. It is particularly robust if a kind of issues is a ache dysfunction for which there aren’t an excessive amount of efficient therapies.

With premenstrual dysphoric dysfunction, a very extreme sort of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), sufferers expertise signs which might be far worse than typical PMS, together with agonising complications, muscle pains, melancholy and insomnia.

Sadly, there’s a lack of clear steering for GPs on easy methods to deal with the situation. Often, if remedy will not be working, docs provide antidepressants alongside referrals for each psychological remedy and to a specialist ladies’s well being clinic.

Sleeping effectively and common train is confirmed to ease the signs of a number of circumstances, however it may also be price making an attempt pure treatments similar to night primrose oil or magnesium.

There’s little proof to show that they work, however it might be helpful to provide them a go for a few months.

When the NHS cannot present solutions, sufferers usually flip to different drugs. This issues me as a result of such remedy could be spurious.

So my first message is to watch out – simply because a remedy is simple to entry and costly, it doesn’t suggest it’s any good.

Ask the GP a couple of referral to a ache clinic or a specialised PMS clinic, which sit inside hospitals’ gynaecology departments.

I’ve excessive ldl cholesterol – in the intervening time it’s 8.9. I take ezetimibe for it, however the drugs provides me horrible leg cramps at evening. I had the identical situation with statins. My pharmacist has steered injections of medication is likely to be a greater choice, however the physician stated he would not advocate this. What ought to I do?

When ldl cholesterol measures above 5, it’s thought-about excessive. So 8.9 is extremely excessive. In reality, it’s doubtless that sufferers with ldl cholesterol at this stage have an inherited sort of excessive ldl cholesterol – hypercholesterolaemia. This runs in households with a historical past of early coronary heart assaults.

Therapy is required to take away this threat. Medical doctors will even check youngsters as a result of the situation is so critical.

Sufferers with ldl cholesterol this excessive want to concentrate on different components that may trigger coronary heart illness, similar to hypertension, smoking and weight problems. However steps could be taken to cut back the impression of those dangers.

It’s completely reliable to ask a pharmacist for assist with a situation similar to this. On this case, the goal of the remedy could be to halve low-density lipoprotein ldl cholesterol (LDL) – often known as ‘unhealthy’ ldl cholesterol.

Medical doctors can prescribe statins or ezetimibe for this. If neither works, or brings with it unhealthy unwanted side effects, different choices might be prescribed in a hospital ldl cholesterol clinic. This would come with medicine similar to a fibrate or new varieties of injections.

Each ezetimibe and statins trigger fewer cramps than individuals suppose. It’s extra doubtless that there’s one other trigger.

Attempt to not assume a drug is inflicting a sure facet impact, as you possibly can find yourself limiting remedy choices unnecessarily.

What would you prefer to know in regards to the menopause?

A 3rd of the UK feminine inhabitants is both peri-menopausal or menopausal (inventory photograph)

Final week I requested you to inform me which areas of ladies’s well being you’ll need The Mail on Sunday to discover in an upcoming particular version, wherein we’ll enlist a panel of high consultants from a spread of specialisms to supply recommendation.

We have already had a flood of requests – and one of the fashionable is in regards to the menopause. It is not stunning, given {that a} third of the UK feminine inhabitants is both peri-menopausal or menopausal. There’s been a latest explosion in curiosity in menopausal well being, however I fear that the amount of knowledge – not all dependable – could be overwhelming.

So we would like you to inform us precisely what you need to know in regards to the menopause. Are you confused about which sort of HRT to take, or whether or not it is best to take it in any respect? Maybe you are fascinated with discovering out in case your well being troubles are hormone-related, or whether or not it might be one thing else.

No matter it’s, write and inform me on the electronic mail deal with right here: [email protected]

JVT will not be your vaccine villain

Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam was Dr Ellie Cannon’s favorite speaker in the course of the every day Covid press conferences

I used to be completely star-struck at an occasion final week once I noticed former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam.

JVT, as he grew to become identified, was all the time my favorite speaker in the course of the every day Covid press conferences – speaking advanced science to the general public in a manner that was easy and even entertaining.

We chatted away for some time, largely about soccer, however he additionally advised me one thing very upsetting. This sort, good man repeatedly receives nasty, abusive threats from anti-vaxxers who say he ‘pushed the vaccine’ on the nation. There’s been instances he is even needed to get the police concerned.

There’s quite a lot of anger about how the Authorities dealt with the pandemic, however attacking the scientists who led us out of it’s a whole misfire, to not point out merciless. We’ve lots to thank JVT for.