A little learning……

…..is a dangerous thing. After just a few weeks in this job, I am rapidly discovering one of its major pitfalls – it can seriously damage your health.

I have never before been predisposed to hypochondria, but the helpful information provided by pharmaceutical companies in their press material and on their websites concerning the causes and symptoms of a range of ailments I never knew existed is making my imagination work overtime.

Is that abdominal ache just the consequence of last night's curry, or is it a sign of IBS or an unacknowledged symptom of ovarian cancer? Is the fact that I can't remember where I left my car keys a simple memory lapse or the early onset of Alzheimers? Is that fluttering in my chest caused by running up the stairs too fast, or is my heart about to give up on me?

Which is why I have a certain amount of sympathy with Americans who see Cipro as the only way of escaping death from Anthrax. It is no use telling them that the number of deaths so far can be counted on the fingers of one hand, or that the symptoms they are suffering are almost certainly caused by an entirely different and more common bacterium or virus, or that their risk of contracting a drug-resistant infection is considerably higher than the threat of anthrax.

If there was an unseen 'killer bug' out there and a life-saving antibiotic was available, wouldn't you want some in your cupboard, just in case?

Time was when the local GP enjoyed a status slightly above that of the local policeman and schoolmaster and just below that of God. If he said, 'drink plenty of fluids, take two aspirin every four hours and spend a few days in bed', you did precisely that.

But today's sophisticated consumer demands more. Unless he comes out of the surgery with a prescription of some kind, he feels he has been short-changed. With medical science making such rapid progress, he feels there ought to be a 'magic bullet' for every illness.

But although consumers are more health-conscious, few have made the changes to their lifestyle that they know will bring health benefits. They – or should that be 'we'? – continue to smoke, to drink too much, to eat too much fat and salt, and then when their bodies rebel, they expect the doctor to put right many years of damage in a few days.

And on that note, as we enter the festive season, my colleagues at Manufacturing Chemist and I would like to wish you a happy and peaceful holiday and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Let's eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet!