The Peckham Project: The link between Health and Happiness, Happiness and Health.

In the early, dark days of my recovery I felt unwell all the time. A multitude of prescription drugs for pain relief and swelling combined with the trauma my body had been through meant I was alternately sick, feeling sick, tired or sleeping. I couldn't move very well and at one point I couldn't move my arm or leg at all due to the skin grafts. Removing a top layer of skin is extremely painful and despite being extensively bandaged, I took months to heal. My health was compromised and so was my happiness.

It was with interest that I heard about the Peckham Health and Happiness Project that began in the 1930s and went through to the 1940s. To me, it is obvious that if you are happier you feel (and possibly are) healthier. Equally, if you are healthy and fit, you are likely to feel happier. This duo are interchangeable and very important. As the old adage goes, you don't have anything without your health.

Although I still feel unwell if I overdo it, I don't feel ill ALL the time anymore. At the moment, I appreciate this everyday. It's still a novelty. Imagine the worst hangover you've ever had. Perhaps on a New Year's Day, too much champagne has left you hugging the toilet or curled up in bed with fuzzy vision and a banging headache. Think how well you felt when these symptoms were alleviated and you could suddenly move freely, desired food and felt motivated to leave the house. That's what it feels like to someone recovering, except the 'hangover' lasted much, much longer!

To me it's common sense that these are concepts are linked yet too often the focus is on 'fixing' people instead of preventing the problems occurring in the first place. The Peckham Project focused on increasing the health of families in South-East London with the aim to improve their long term health and therefore their happiness.

Dr George Scott Williamson (1885-1953) and Dr Innes Hope Pearse (1890-1979) were the two Doctor's behind the project. They adapted a small house to have a kitchen, playroom, clubroom, bathroom, and consulting and changing rooms. They had great facilities for the time, including play areas, a theatre, cafeteria, gymnasium and one of the largest swimming pools in London. According to historyandpolicy.org they explained 'that the centre was not for treatment but for the promotion of health: to detect the onset of disease and advise how to obtain any necessary treatment.'

People were given regular health checks. They did pay a small stipend to attend as the Doctors felt this would place more of a value on the centre. It was enjoyed as a community area with it's focus on a healthy, social, life. Eventually it was closed down; the NHS became established and because the Project focused more on health than illness and required a small membership to be paid, it was deemed no longer appropriate.

Studies show we are found to be healthier when living a social life with friends and family and we benefit from an active lifestyle. The Peckham Project did have a positive effect on the local community because of these reasons. It would be a great idea to have more of these centres today as there is far too much focus on 'fixing' (such as a gastric band) rather than prevention (healthy eating and fitness from a young age.) Obviously, we sometimes need to be fixed, (myself included, post-burn!) but prevention is better than cure.

We deserve to be happy and healthy but we have to help ourselves too. Everyone should have the opportunity to thrive and although we may suffer from ill health beyond our control, keeping as fit and healthy as possible is important. It's a shame that there aren't more movements like this to promote health and happiness from a young age.

Read more : historyandpolicy.org

BBC 'The Happiness Formula'

My life is back! (And I'm back to work...!)

Current Facebook Status, ‘my life is back.’

All of a sudden the elements of my life appear to be coming together in a way they haven’t yet. It’s a bit like I’ve found the annoying corner pieces of the puzzle are suddenly fitting and making a pretty picture.

I’ve been quiet on the blog front as I’ve been moving into new a flat with my boyfriend. As much as I love our parents, there is something quite wonderful about having your own space again and getting settled. I’ve been nesting away with great enthusiasm, matching dining chairs with rugs with throws….

And on Monday life really began again…..I started my staggered return to work. Remember the feeling of returning to school after the 6 weeks holiday? You know you’re going to see all your friends and hear all the gossip. You know hard work is going follow but secretly, you don’t mind. Your brain was beginning to stagnate. That was how I felt on Monday.

When returning to work there are several important things to think about.

1) My lesson went well and I ended it feeling on a bit of an adrenalin high. Realistically, I should have gone home. It was my first lesson and the most I’ve had to do in, oh, about 7 months. But I didn’t go home. Instead I stayed and marked all the books. By the time this was done, I could barely lift my arms and I still had to drive the 30 minutes home. And I had a lesson in the morning….One of the most important things to do is stop before you are tired. For some personality types this is hard to do. I do everything hard and fast, until I can do no more. Pain is gain. Tiredness is for wimps…I was truly shattered once I got in and I drove home like I was in a dream world. I laid on the sofa and then I went to bed! Note to self – quit while you’re ahead.

2) People are going to be pleased to see you and they are probably going to ask you questions. You should prepare some stock answers. People broach the subject differently; a few just ask me how I’m feeling. Some make vague gestures across their upper body and ask if it’s ‘going alright?’ Others might actually pick up my wrist and point at some scarring and say, ‘it’s looking so much better than when I last saw it. The colour’s really changed!’ As I work at an all-boys school, I was expecting an interrogation. (‘Did it hurt? Was it like, an immense explosion Miss?) Someone had obviously warned them against questions and the most I had was a wide-eyed gaze at my lower arm as I walked past. They quickly realised they shouldn’t be staring and then forced their eyes away although it obviously pained them not to look. I was actually touched by the boys’ sensitivity towards me. The bottom line is to be prepared to react to people’s reactions in a way you want to react. Don’t let them take you by surprise and do your best not to be offended. 99.9% of people mean the best.


3) There is something very exhausting about being around a lot of people. I’ve been at home for a long time now and any social interactions usually fall into designated timeframes. I’m not around people indefinitely and if I do get tired, I could just leave and go home to my sanctuary of silence. At work, this is not an option. You can’t turn down the surround-sound of chatter. Even if it’s not you talking, concentrating on the conversation around you can be tiring. Having a quiet space you can steal away too could be useful.

4) My workspace never used to bother me. I’ve never had back problems or neck problems and the type of chair, desk or the height of my whiteboard has never even entered the field of my observation. Yet all of a sudden, I’m a walking problem-spotter. Luckily for me, Occupational Health has already made recommendations that will really improve my ability to do my job successfully. My computer has been moved so it’s more convenient and I have a desk with a special curved edge to rest my gammy arm on. It’s definitely meeting with your Occupational Health representative before heading back into the onslaught.

5) Deciding the hours you are going to work is also of huge importance. Be realistic, otherwise you could overdo it and find you are struggling to cope. It’s much better to under-estimate then over-estimate yourself. If you under-estimate your ability, you can just increase the hours or responsibilities. If you have to decrease them, you will feel like a failure. My School have been very good about my hours and I am on an unusually staggered timetable that may cover the entire academic year. Most businesses only provide a staggered return of 6 weeks though. Think about what that means realistically, in 6 weeks you would need to be running at full capacity. If that’s not possible at this point in your recovery you either negotiate a gentler return….or stay off sick. Health comes first. We, of all people, know this best.


6) Remember you are still recovering and be kind to yourself. Returning to work is does not mean you are fully recovered; it is part of the recovery process.

Even if going back to work is the scariest thing in the world for you (and let’s face it, it’s easy to demonise it from the sofa) it’s less scary than never going back to work at all.

Psychotherapy...a Dangerous Method?

There are many third parties who specialise in getting people back to work. I’m currently working with a company called Corpore who are organising my rehabilitation and now a company called Validium who are providing my Psychotherapy.

If you recall, I dislike Psychologists. I dislike talking about what happened to me and I HATE discussing my feelings. I was like this before my accident and that part of my personality hasn’t changed. Writing things down is something I find very easy (I’ve kept a diary since I was 5) and perhaps that’s why I don’t feel the need to verbalise everything. It's a part of my personality that lots of people don’t understand; I’ve been called cold, hard and unfeeling in the past and been encouraged to surrender control in order to become a better person. This is me though, I’m a person who likes to be in charge and that makes me who I am. As one friend describes me, I'm the personification of the iron fist in the velvet glove...and I don't mind that at all.

The difficulty has been finding a therapy and a type of therapist who suits me and can work alongside my strong views on this subject. After all, I know it has been proven that people in therapy feel much better and have more successful recoveries overall. I don’t want to discount therapy as I want to help myself as much as possible.

Last week I went along to a Gestalt Centre to meet the Therapist I’ve been assigned, someone who has done a lot of work in Psychological Trauma. He also works with prison inmates, so he’s pretty hardcore I imagine. The type of therapy he works with comes under the branch of ‘humanistic therapy.’ This means they believe humans are inherently good. Gestalt Therapy treats counselling as a dialogue, rather than the injured being expected to come up with all the answers about themselves and their feelings. It concentrates on the experimental approach, involving action. This means they encourage you look at the blocks you are experiencing and come up with ways of combating them. Then you do just that….go away and put the ideas into action.

Gestalt is very focused on the present moment. Instead of looking over your shoulder into the hellish experience you’ve had, you look around you at what is happening now. It aims to create an awareness of your feelings so that you can change them and change your response. It sounds to me like they aim to give you control back……brilliant!

It also links closely to mindfulness which I’ve always been really interested in. We spend most of our day to day life ignoring how we feel and being prey to our moods. A lot of this is because we are surrounded and distracted by so much stimuli all the time, we rarely sit back and notice our physiological and mental being. Being mindful helps you be aware of what is happening to your ‘self’ and how your ‘self’ is reacting whether that be positive or negative. Once you know yourself better, you can work with yourself to get the best out of your life.

It’s with high hopes that I approach this type of therapy and I’m thinking of doing some more research into mindfulness while I’m at it. If anyone has had any experiences with Gestalt Therapy or other types of counselling, please speak up!

Sorry for my silence....

...my new flat is still internetless! I will be snaffling free wi-fi at a coffee shop later today and will post about the exciting things finally happening!!!

Winter Sun Protection

REMEMBER!

Even in the Winter, burned skin is sensitive and can hyper-pigment in the sun. Wear sun-screen or a SPF enriched face cream as part of your daily routine!

ReCell - a new 'scar-spray' treatment from Avita Medical

Luckily for me, my Mum was tuned into BBC1's 'Inside Out' East this week and came across a fantastic new treatment for scars that I'm very excited about!

The treatment works by harvesting a tiny patch of skin from your body. The area selected will have a similar colour and texture to the area you are trying to fix. The piece of skin is put in a little machine that whizzes it round and pulls all your cells off the skin. While this is being done, laser dermabrasion is used on your scarring to flatten it. The skin cells from the 'whizzed up' harvested skin are collected and suspended in a clear fluid. This fluid is sprayed onto the dermabraded area of your scarring and then it's all covered up. In 7 days, your skin cells will have begun to grow your own skin, right over the scarred area. Once the skin has settled (and I know from experience I'm in the early days, this can take 2 years) you could have your normal pigmentation and texture back in your scarred area. In effect you have used 'spray on skin' to grow your own skin back. The skin will even have melolin in it, so it will no longer be as sun-sensitive as normal scarring and will have 'normal' pigmentation.

According to Avita Medical: 'Tissue collection, cell segregation and preparation of the cell suspension takes approximately 20-30 minutes in total during which time the treatment area is prepared. Once processed, the cell suspension is available for immediate use and can cover a treatment area up to 80 times the area of the donor biopsy.'

It can also be used to help donor sites heal after a skin graft. This would be a great use of the procedure. My donor site didn't heal well at all and took several weeks of agony before it finally decided to grow new skin. The skin is still very discoloured due to the slow healing. A treatment like this may have helped avoid such a horrible situation.

The makers of the treatment have also used it on smaller burns when they are new, to help them heal.

It sounds too good to be true!!! It's worth watching it on Inside Out, as you can see the treatment in action.
INSIDE OUT EAST - VIDEO LINK - click here

I'm very excited by this procedure as it means that after my (long and dreary) 2 year wait, if I'm not happy with my 'natural' results, I might be able to improve them. At this point, if someone told me what I have now is what I will be left with, I would freak out. I am planning to heal well but sometimes, the body has other ideas! It's nice to know there are treatments like this coming out.



If anyone knows more about this treatment or has had it themselves, please could you send me an email or drop a comment in the box below? It would be great to hear some first hand experiences. Thanks!

AVITA MEDICAL









WARNING: There are a few pictures on the Medical Site that might turn your stomach if you are, like me, sensitive to burn pictures.

Acupuncture

Yesterday I had Acupuncture in the 'four gates points,' that is, between my thumb and forefinger and between my big toe and next toe on both the right and left side.

The 'four gates' are said to be good pressure points to relieve stress and anxiety. Although I don't feel unusually stressed or anxious, I'm sporting a blistery rash that came up on my face last week (burned side) and my Physio said this could be a sign my body is under tension.

Acupuncture works in a similar vein to Reflexology by helping clear the channels of energy in the body by the insertion of tiny needles into certain 'pressure points.' The energy is believed to flow along 12 main meridians, or channels. These are symmetrical on each side of the body, each pair being related to a specific organ. Although it's not known how it actually works, Scientific experiments have shown that it can help alleviate pain in some sufferers and is a relaxing procedure. There are suggestions that it works through a placebo effect. If this is indeed the case, I'm not sure it really matters. Surely the fact that it has some positive benefits should be the focus.

The experience was indeed quite relaxing; this could be because the lights were low and I was covered in a warm blanket, lying down. The needles were initially quite sharp once inserted; I have quite bony feet! Once they were in, I couldn't feel them at all. Usually people feel a dull, not unpleasant ache where the needles are but I couldn't feel a thing!

After the treatment I did feel tired. I also felt very warm which is unusual for me as I am one of the cold-blooded variety. I was so warm my injuries were tinged very pink! (This went down overnight.) Apparently Acupuncture is very good for your circulation so this would make sense. I slept very well. It was definitely a pleasant response rather than unpleasant and I did feel very relaxed. A placebo response? Who cares!

AND RELAX....!



The Acupuncture Society

British Acupuncture Council

British Medical Acupuncture Society

Essex Physiotherapy Clinic

Apt quotes from my current read, 'Dreamcatcher' by Stephen King

'We don't know the days that will change our lives. Probably just as well.'





'So often, Jonesy thought, there was no one to blame when the dust cleared. And even if there was, what good did it do? You still had to live with what was left and console yourself with the fact that, as people told him every day (until they forgot the whole thing, that was,) it could have been worse.'




'These days the guys on radio and TV made four inches of fresh powder sound like the next Ice Age.'

Private health care; to pay or not to pay?

The NHS are there to save lives. They provide a service that, in an emergency, excel. Think about it. Something happens and an ambulance arrives and takes you to hospital. You are treated by professionals, kept warm and dry and fed. Although you pay for this in your taxes, it is effectively free of charge. No one asks for your credit card before they put you on the stretcher. "Sirens on? That's an extra £20...."

The NHS have many failings; you only have to open the nearest newspaper to name a few. Yet, in an emergency situation they do their job well. Their job is to save lives and act quickly. In my experience, they achieved this. However, after I was out of harm's way I found the aftercare somewhat lacking. I was no longer 'ill.' The skin on my grafts had taken and no open wounds were present. I was no longer at risk of infection, loss of limb and so on. I suddenly found myself sliding down the priority list.

It was time to turn my attentions to that parallel Universe, Private Healthcare.

At first I wanted to exhaust all other avenues and save myself money but it became apparent that to get more attention, I would have to pay for it. The vivid red patches around my graft still glare at me every time I peel off my compression vest, lurking under the blurry headings of rash slash scars slash 'unfortunate reaction.' I needed to get more clarity than the NHS had offered over the last 5 months.

It's difficult to know how to find someone. You can:

1) Ask another health professional to recommend someone to you e.g. a Physiotherapist. Medicine is often a small world like any specified sector and people know each other.

2) Ask your Doctor for a referral - be aware you could be referred to anyone the Doctor chooses.

3) Ask your Doctor for a referral to someone specific that you have researched on the internet or got a recommendation for.

4) Call a local Private hospital and ask for a list of their consultants.

I'm pleased I've begun the foray into Private Healthcare as already avenues have opened up for treatment. The Dermatologist I have seen said they definitely need to look into this rash/scarring/reaction. She has given me some steroid cream to try to control the inflammation and is considering a punch biopsy to see what is happening to my skin. The issue with a punch biopsy (where they literally hole-punch out a small piece of the area) is that as I am experiencing unusual reactions, it could possibly cause something unwanted to happen. This is under consideration and when I return in 4 weeks hopefully the Dermatologist will have a little more idea of what we should do.

I will also be referred to their Burns Consultant to discuss my options in the future, should I not be pleased with the healed result. So far, the NHS have refused to discuss this with me. They say it's too early to talk about but I suspect it is because I will not be offered cosmetic intervention on the NHS; my final condition will be more aesthetic than life-threatening.

Paying for your healthcare really does have it's benefits. I am very lucky that I am able to do this but I am also aware that lots of people in my situation wouldn't have this option. It still remains to be seen whether or not being in these professionals care makes any difference to my overall recovery. Yet the NHS's action was to write me off with extra 'scars' at a glance whereas the Private Dermatologist wants to look in to it, find an explanation and perhaps a treatment. I know who I agree with...it's just a shame you have to pay to be heard.

Let me tell you a secret... 'The Secret' By Rhonda Byrne

When you're feeling things are a struggle, it's worth considering a motivational book. Sometimes you can feel quite alone with your situation and the written word of someone else can be comforting. It can remind you that there's a light at the end of the tunnel and encourage you to see things in a different way.

I recently read'The Secret' by Rhondra Byrne. It remained a best-seller for a number of weeks despite some criticism. It mostly delves into The Law of Attraction and delivers it in a tantalising, sensationalist way that must have sent millions into a frenzy of excitement. "You mean all I have to do is think about what I want and it'll happen?" (Cue rubbing together of hands with eyes squeezed shut and a whirl of thoughts of a red Ferrari, a Caribbean beach and a playboy mansion.) Like anything that promises grandeur, some readers have taken the book to cult-like extremes. Yet it's still worth taking in as a critical reader.

The Law of Attraction basically suggests that 'like attracts like.' For example, if you think positive thoughts, more positive thoughts will follow. Along with positive thoughts, come positive events and vice versa. Byrne states that if you want something you should use the process of visualisation to imagine yourself with that which you want, followed by gratitude once you have received it. There are undercurrents of the Bible here, Byrne tells the reader to 'Ask, Believe, and Receive.' According to Wikipedia, this is based on a quote from Matthew, 21:22 in the Bible: "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

Now, on a logical level, 'The Secret' sounds like madness. Believing that natural frequencies in the Universe affect everything we do depending on our degree of positivity is akin to papering our walls with tin foil and sitting in the corner. Yet, there is definitely something more to positive thinking and visualisation. Positive people heal better. People who are optimistic are more likely to be successful in their lives. People who believe they are lucky, are lucky.

I do agree that positive thinking and visualisation are worth practising and it's got me wondering about events in my own life...

...I wanted to be a teacher. I thought and thought about being a teacher and I spent time imagining (visualising) what this would be like. Thinking about it so much meant I began to research it and then applied for a post on a training course. I thought positively about it as I felt this was what I was meant to do. Other people's opinions reinforced this notion. By the time I came to the interview I was ready to go, acting like the teacher I wanted to be. So although I didn't spontaneously wake up as a teacher after thinking positively about being one (which is what 'The Secret' implies) my thinking process did lead to me pursuing this career and successfully gaining a sought-after post within a matter of weeks. On the outside world this looked like luck. My friends joked that I had a Fairy Godmother. Actually, underneath this process there was a lot of legwork on my part. I had the idea between my teeth and I wasn't going to let it go. Positive thinking had lead me to be successful but only by giving me perseverance and confidence, not by attracting a mystical frequency from the Universe.

Now I believe I'm a lucky person and I do think there was a degree of luck running alongside the hard work of becoming a teacher. Believing in luck means I think good things will spontaneously happen to me simply because the stars are aligned. In my life, I have been lucky most of the time. I recently saw a Channel 4 programme called 'The Experiments' in which Derren Brown looked at perceptions of luck and the way people's thinking affects them. He investigated why some people attracted luck and others misfortune. Derren Brown identified a man who thought he was unlucky. Brown then set up a series of opportunities for this man including leaving money on the floor in his path and a winning lottery ticket. As this man didn't think he was lucky, he missed all the opportunities, even when they were right in front of him. You can watch this episode here - Derren Brown, The Secret of Luck, Episode 4 I interpret this to mean that if you think you're lucky, you will be lucky because you are expecting to be.

But as mentioned before, it's not all down to luck either. It's hard work and perseverance. Another experiment that comes to mind involves sprinters and visualisation. It is very common for athletes to use this technique to perform at their best. When hooking people up to monitors and asking them to visualise something, their brain fires in the same regions that would if they were really doing it. Linking to this, I came across an interesting story in my Psychology A-Level about a man called Roger Bannister. Once, it was thought no human could run faster than the World Record that had been set and that no one would achieve a 4 minute mile. For years, no one broke that record because it was held as gospel that humans were physically limited in speed. Because it was deemed impossible, it was impossible. One day a man came along who thought he could break that record. He visualised breaking it and was convinced he would be the one to do it. And so he did. Everyone was amazed because scientifically, it was thought no one could do it! BBC coverage 6 May 1954



One of 'The Secret's' points I don't agree with and in fact, am a little offended by is that because we are able to attract good things to us by thinking good thoughts, we equally attract bad things to us through bad thoughts. This culminates by Byrne saying that we attract everything that happens to us, including accidents and illness. I really don't think this is the case. I didn't have an accident because I thought negatively that day, that week or that month. I had an accident because sometimes things do 'just happen.' When they have happened, THEN you look for the positive and take from it to make you a better person.

Despite this criticism, I think 'The Secret' is an important book to read because it shows the power of thought. The body and mind are closely connected and can affect each other. When recovering, medical services often look independently at the body and forget the strength of mind over matter. As individuals, it is up to us to educate ourselves in positive thinking and use it to overcome the challenges we face.


The Secret

http://iambrony.com/ - thanks