My only sister has cancer so I’m fighting it too

Shelley Silas (right) and her sister Leah. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian In 2007, my sister Leah was diagnosed with bowel cancer. She’s had major surgery twice, two courses of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, a temporary (now reversed) ileostomy and additional drug treatment. Three years on, she has an inoperable tumour in her liver and has just started a third course of chemotherapy. The cumulative side effects from the various cocktails of drugs have resulted in many other physical problems. An appeal to Hertfordshire... [Read More]

College of Medicine born from ashes of Prince Charles’s holistic health charity

Prescribing homeopathic pills and other complementary therapies on the NHS makes integrated health, supported by the Prince of Wales, controversial. Photograph: Alix/Phanie/Rex Features Senior figures at the Prince of Wales’s complementary health charity, which closed amid a criminal investigation this year, are opening a college to promote holistic medicine in the NHS. The College of Medicine aims to raise the acceptance of “an integrated approach to health” among doctors, politicians and the public by running... [Read More]

Roxy beach body workout: Get surf-fit on dry land Rosalind Ryan tries the Roxy beach body workout. Photograph: James McCauley/Virgin Active If, like me, your teenage TV diet heavily featured Home and Away, you probably longed for the... [Read More...] Opiate painkillers – the treatment that can kill in the wrong hands German locum Daniel Ubani killed 70-year-old David Gray in 2008 with an accidental overdose of diamorphine. Photograph: PA Powerful painkillers such as morphine, diamorphine, (a pharmaceutical... [Read More...] Links between health and farming have to be acted on before it’s too late Out to dry: beans shown here at Apasi trading centre, Katine, north-east Uganda, make up only two per cent of food we produce but are far healthier than micro-nutrient-poor crops such... [Read More...]

Smoking ban in cars carrying children backed by majority of public The overwhelming majority of the British public now support a ban on smoking in cars carrying children. Photograph: Burger/ Phanie / Rex Features Three-quarters of Britons want smoking... [Read More...] home acne control and treatment Unique treatment prevention of teen and adult acne scars blemishes zits control oily skin enlarged pores [Read More...] Unison goes to court to block planned NHS shake-up The Unison union will go to court to try to block the government’s proposed NHS reforms. Photograph: Cate Gillon/Getty Images The public sector union Unison today said it would... [Read More...]