Michael FITZPATRICK
It is now four weeks since my minor stroke and I am delighted to feel much improved, thanks to the support of family and friends – and to my medical team, continuing to function efficiently despite the Covid-19 pandemic. I am also greatly appreciative of the local physiotherapy, occupational and speech and language therapy service. I am particularly grateful to Gemma and Sean of the Rotherham stroke team for their excellent Youtube video on mouth and tongue exercises, which I faithfully pursue daily.
Another less delightful aspect of my stroke experience is that I now have a bedside table heaving with packets and blister packs, spilling over with tablets for blood pressure, tablets to thin the blood, tablets to counter the dyspepsia these tablets might cause – and a whopping 80mg bullet of that pharmaceutical blockbuster, atorvastatin. After many years of inflicting such regimes on others, I have now myself become a victim of the postmodern condition of polypharmacy.
The official guidelines declare categorically that this regime is effective in reducing the risk of a recurrent stroke – and that these benefits outweigh any risk of adverse effects. A major study of 400,000 stroke patients over 10 years in Taiwan published last year concludes that statins both save lives and reduce health service costs. My Doctor’s Diary colleague, James Le Fanu, is sceptical. In his 2018 book, Too Many Pills: How Too Much Medicine Is Endangering Our Health and What We Can Do About It, James argues persuasively that the benefits of statins are exaggerated and the side-effects, including cognitive impairment as well as muscle aches and pains, underestimated.
I find that in the early evening I am often overcome by an intense feeling of fatigue. But I am uncertain whether to attribute this to my stroke (of which it is a recognised enduring feature), to the side effects of my numerous medications, or to watching the daily coronavirus news conferences on television.
Perhaps I will review my medications when the pandemic is finally over.
Rescue hits home
The story of William Callaghan, a 14-year-old autistic boy who disappeared on a mountain hike in Victoria, Australia, last week struck a chord in our family. Some years ago when our autistic son went missing while at a summer play scheme, the local police helicopter was scrambled to help the rescue services. Like William, our James is non-verbal and has no sense of danger – so it was a great relief when he was found a few hours later sheltering in a garden shed.
William, too, was rescued, by local volunteer Ben Gibbs, after two cold nights in the forest, barefoot, but unharmed. Like James and many autistic children, William is a fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, and Ben reassured him by talking about Diesel and Bertie. William’s mother’s tribute to the way the local community joined in the search reminded us of a time when we, too, had occasion to be grateful for the kindness of strangers.
Quack attack
I first came across the Guernseybased businessman David Noakes
A leg up: Physiotherapy is a way to help people recover from a stroke about 10 years ago when I was researching dubious “alternative” treatments for my book Defeating Autism. Noakes’s company Immuno Biotech promoted human blood products, such as stem cells and immunoglobulins, as miracle cures for a range of conditions including autism, HIV infection and cancer, earning £5.5million between 2011 and 2015. There was no evidence for the efficacy of these treatments, nor for their safety. In 2018 he was convicted for the manufacture and sale of an unlicensed blood product, GCMAF, and imprisoned for 15 months.
Last week, Andy Morling, of the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency, who has worked relentlessly on this case, announced the seizure from Noakes of assets worth £1.4million. These included an aircraft, a boat, an Aston Martin sports car and a Rolls-royce, as well as bank accounts. I hope other quacks who continue to exploit vulnerable families will face similar justice.
I’m not sure whether the intense fatigue is due to my stroke, or the daily Covid news conferences on TV