medical things in the news ( or not as the case may be)

[Tortington]

three things

would love to hear opinions on the thing about chorine in the water at swimming pools bad for asthmatics ( ironic really as its a fab form or aerobic excersise for asthmatics like moi)

then theres the seroxin causing or contributing to the suicides of 6 people ( again irony abound!)

and i have been trying to find out about the male pill, have posted before about 18 months ago i think about this - but i did some research ysterday and all i want is a DATE IT WILL BE ON THE MARKET.

All i can find is the suggestion inarticles the latest of which was 2002, that it may be out in 2005.

any one with better research skills find a due market date>?

theres also suggestion of plugs to block sperm - but it was all medicallised and therefore not understandable to me!
i neeeeeeeed to know! my sons now 13 mucky mags abound - i want that damn pill!

waddya think guys

Well, it looks like a male pill is a long way off yet, I found a Dec 02 article about it here , which looks as if there's a lot more testing to be done. There's a news report about Chlorine & Asthma here , and there's an article about Seroxat and suicides here but you'll have to cut and paste it since Observer links don't work because of the commas: www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,963180,00.html

As for what I think, I'm not sure that the suicides are attributable to seroxat and I don't suppose anyone will know until the enquiry has been held (if indeed then). They could equally be due to drugs not working for the depression I suppose, instead of a side effect but who knows really atm? I do have a friend who stopped seroxat because of nasty side effects but my knowledge on the subject is limited. My view on the male pill is that while women take most of the responsibility for contraception, childbearing, childcare, children's upbringing etc. there's not an awful lot of incentive to produce a male pill. I just wonder whether it might have been around years ago if men got pregnant? No idea or opinion about chlorine and asthma though I'm afraid! There you go, the brief view on those stories according to me

WWW - I just saw that thing about Chlorine is swimming pools. I think it's all a load of rubbish though. They are really clutching at straws to find the reason why Asthma is increasing so much now.

Oooh, it's a good job you didn't see The Sun's reporting of the chlorine/swimming pool/asthma link!! They emphasised the aspect that it was urine in swimming pool water that combined with the chlorine to make a lung-damaging gas...

As for Seroxat/suicide, yesterday's Daily Mail had a feature article about a young girl who hanged herself after being on Prozac for a while. So you never can tell. I can't take ANY of the modern anti-D's because of horrendous side effects.

Yeah, the male pill seems to work but I think it will be hard to persuade men to take a hormone based treatment. There will be huge hurdles to jump in testing the product and getting licensing here and worldwide. Mind you the development of the CSA might be a powerful incentive... What do people do with their sons? I suppose just keep talking about sex and responsibility and contraception and condoms and emphasise that if they make a baby they have to pay for it for the next 20 years etc etc...

This chlorine thing doesn't seem to be entirely new. It doesn't seem to say it causes asthma so much, more that this particular gas can provoke attacks if the pool has too much chlorine or bad ventilation. If it means keeping chlorine levels down and providing better ventilation at pools, then that, IMO, is a very good thing. I still think the 'too clean' hypothesis seems the most likely, along with industrial pollution. Not enough good normal bacteria and too many chemicals.

I will probably get this totally wrong but my understanding of chlorine in pools is that enough chlorine has to added to kill off "free particles" that people bring in - sweat, make up etc, plus enough to kill off nasties that appear whilst the swimmer is in the pool - urine, vomit, poo (yes it does happen!), plus a bit to kill off anything that is brought in by mechanical aspects of the system - things that lurk in the pipes etc,
plus a bit extra for luck.
The more things there are to "activate" the chlorine the more gasses etc are produced, the more your eyes sting and the more you cant get rid of the chlorine smell until about 6 showers later. Of course you wouldn't get this problem if everyone showered before swimming!
This is why the pools are tested every couple of hours by a member of staff to record the chlorine and free chlorine (the bit for luck) levels and is also tested every few weeks by the enviroment agency (or someone similar).

I think that's essentially how it works but I did my diploma 6 years ago and even though my dh runs a lesiure centre I can't remember the exact workings, and to confuse things even more not all pools use chlorine as most people think of it - there are several variations e.g Ozone (not the stuff in the sky) is basically the same but doesn't stink so much and is much nicer to swim in - competitive swimmers will know what I mean.

The rumours about Asthma and chlorine are, at the moment, unfounded according to the local authority's latest info as sent to dh this morning but I find it interesting considering how many competitive swimmers have severe asthma in my area and how often I had to go in after people having attacks when I was a lifeguard!

oops - didn't mean to go on so much

It coudl be a bit of a chicken and egg situation. Swimming is the one sport that asthmatics can usually cope with when other physical games are impossible for them. So asthmatics tend to gravitate towards swimming pools in the first place. I've only read a little bit about the chlorine/asthma research but it seems to be pretty poorly done.

It would be so nice if more pools went over to ozone treatment to kill germs. it only slightly stings your eyes, it doesn't smell, and it doesn't give off the toxic gas, either. I heard it's more expensive... but personally, I'd pay more no problem.