Janet Tweedy wrote:

In article ,
Janet writes
The NHS dispensed over 900 million prescription units last year and there
are growing fears that patients do not adhere to their doctors
instructions when taking the medication.


Maybe there's a good reason then to find out why people don't and what
might be the best way to tackle the problem.
At the moment i have lost my voice, no big deal, no cold or anything
just a bit of a sore throat, glands a bit uncomfortable in neck but
Strepsils will do, yet the number of people who can't understand why I
haven't gone to the doctors is amazing!

My GP told me off yesterday. Apparently 3 weeks trying to ignore a cold
with at least a week of that in bed really does open you up to secondary
infections like bacterial bronchitis. I've been told to lay off on the
conservation work for a couple of weeks rather than knocking myself back
repeatedly. So my GP who lives a sedentary life in a nice warm office
in direct contact with sick people all day is immune while I; who cycle
150 miles per week and run 100 while working in fresh air; get laid low.

Kinda back on topic... The conservation work (volunteering) is a
wonderful thing to be doing for lots of reasons. I'm currently without a
garden or allotment so it gets me outdoors and working hard. I'm helping
to improve the wilder green spaces in and around Leicester for others.
I'm also learning a lot about our native plants courtesy of a very
knowledgeable volunteer leader. In the 8 months I've been doing it my
botanical knowledge has increased a hundred fold. Most of the work tends
to involve hacking stuff back to ensure access but I've spent many a
happy hour sitting in the rain with a loupe (small but relatively
powerful hand magnifier) pulling wild flowers to bits to document
precisely how many species are growing in a square metre (the only way
to tell some species apart). As a gardener it can be quite an eye
opener. We only have 3 patches of Japanese knotweed (injecting it with
glyphosate tends to make it go away) on our sites to deal with but the
Indian balsam is becoming a huge problem. The speed of the spread is
frightening.

Warwick