Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency and potentially fatal reaction which occurs after you’ve come into contact with something that you’re severely allergic to (an allergen). Symptoms can occur seconds to minutes after coming into contact with this allergen, and progress rapidly to breathing difficulties, circulation problems, or collapse so it’s essential to recognise the early signs and get help quickly. With prompt and effective treatment, the prognosis of anaphylaxis is good, and food allergy\-related deaths have much reduced with increased awareness in the last 20 years. However, 20 to 30 people a year die in the UK from anaphylaxis, and this is thought to be an underestimate.

Amoxicillin is a widely used antibiotic that treats bacterial infections ranging from sinusitis to urinary tract infections. While it’s generally well-tolerated and effective, interactions with other medications, supplements, and even certain foods can sometimes lead to unexpected effects. These interactions may reduce the effectiveness of the antibiotic, increase side effects, or influence how other medicines work in your body. Interactions occur when two or more medicines affect each other’s function. Amoxicillin has the potential to interact with various drugs, making it essential to inform your doctor and pharmacist about all the medications and supplements you use. This ensures they can assess whether amoxicillin is safe and appropriate for you. Below, we’ll outline the most important amoxicillin interactions and explain how they can be managed to keep your treatment both safe and effective.

Genetic conditions can be passed on from either the mother’s line or the father’s. We each inherit two chromosomes, from our mother and father, that determine our sex – women have XX chromosomes and men have XY. A female has two X’s, so if one has a genetic disease, she may not show the characteristics as she can rely on the healthy X chromosome. She can, however, pass the disease on to the next generation. She is known as a carrier. A male, on the other hand, only has one X chromosome – if this is faulty, he will display characteristics of certain syndromes or conditions. He is known as a sufferer. The two sex hormones are just one pair of 23 chromosome pairs. Genetic conditions can be inherited from any of these and may be unrelated as to whether it’s your mother or father who has a disease.

While this deadly virus lays siege to the world, four vaccines have been approved in the UK to combat it. But which is the safest and most protective; which is the best? Perhaps it’s best to debunk this from the start: there is no "best" vaccine. They’ve all been approved through a rigorous regulatory process after initial computer modelling, then laboratory tests and clinical trials, and now testing on millions in the real world. They have all performed to an exceptionally high standard. There are three vaccines currently being administered: Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna – all require two doses for maximum immunity. The Janssen vaccine by Johnson & Johnson has been approved by regulators but won’t be available until later in the year – this just requires one dose. The Janssen vaccine is a similar technology to the AstraZeneca vaccine, and the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are similar in both using mRNA technology. But it’s likely you have questions about each, and it can be hard to sift through all of the information coming at us. We'll help you make sense of what we know so far.

Working from home can have its benefits but many are finding they are spending more time sitting in the same position without the natural breaks of office life. It can put more strain on your body if you have a sub-optimal desk set-up or you're moving less in your day. Here we’ll run you through stretches to relieve tension that may have built up in your body through computer use or sitting, and you will feel amazing if you can keep this routine up.

With the pandemic resetting our working lives, more of us than ever are working from home. While we made to start with, thinking it might be temporary, we know that problems related to poor posture have crept in. With some form of working from home looking permanent, this may be the time to address your home set-up, to make sure you protect yourself from musculoskeletal injury. Here are our top tips to work comfortably whilst aiding good posture at home. If your employer has the resources, they may also provide equipment to facilitate the new way of working.

Living in the confines of one room while at halls of residence or a shared flat can feel a challenge when you first arrive. Your family home may have different areas to study, eat, sleep and chill out, you now need to create boundaries within a small space to keep yourself mentally well. Ensure you are also eating well at uni, as this can also cause further problems. We can talk you through how to get the most out of your desk set-up to stay focused and motivated, and how to shut everything away when downtime is needed – all within the same four walls.

Weight training is a form of exercise that is proven to help reduce stress and increase cardiovascular output. Weight training is a way to achieve different targets such as gaining muscle, increasing cardiovascular performance, and helping to lose weight. However, for someone new to the exercise, this can be a minefield.

Wegovy is a weight loss drug that can be used to treat people who are obese or are overweight with other medical conditions. In this article, we explain what Wegovy is, who it is suitable for, how it works and possible side effects.

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) or ‘vapes’ have become a popular substitute for smoking in recent years. They offer two ways to help stop smoking: they give you something to hold and draw on, imitate a cigarette, and they can provide nicotine as an alternative means of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). In the UK over 3 million people now use an e-cigarette every day. However, e-cigarettes are still relatively new and so there is no data available yet as to their long-term safety over 20 or 30 years of use. Research is ongoing to determine their safety, whether they are effective at stopping smoking, and to accurately quantify how much less harmful than tobacco cigarettes they are. While it’s too early to definitely define the long-term effects, regulated e-cigarettes are thought to cause significantly fewer risks to long-term health than smoking cigarettes. This is because it is not nicotine that causes the serious health problems linked to smoking, but the effects of inhaling tobacco smoke. There is no tobacco in an e-cigarette. They act as a useful stop-smoking aid, alongside guidance in how to change your patterns of behaviour with a view to cutting down and hopefully stopping for good.

Remembering to take medications can be challenging, especially when dealing with multiple medications and different dosing schedules. In this comprehensive article, we provide expert tips from our Healthwords pharmacists to help you improve medication adherence.

Threadworms are very common in children, but rare in adults. They are a parasite that passes from faeces to hands to mouth and is incredibly contagious. This infection causes intense itching around the bottom and sometimes the vagina, especially at night – the need to scratch may even disturb your child’s sleep. You might notice tiny white worms around your child’s anus when they are active at night, laying eggs, or mixed in their poo.