Rickets, Drug addiction recovery, Defibrillator support
Inside Health
BBC
4.4 • 575 Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2018
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rickets was eradicated from the UK after World War Two but "The English Disease", as rickets has long been known, is back. Two children have died of this completely preventable disease in the past two years. Dr Mark Porter talks to paediatrician Dr Benjamin Jacobs at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore about the importance of Vitamin D supplementation and calcium for proper bone growth. He meets Zana, whose toddler son was diagnosed with rickets six months ago and talks to Dr Priscilla Julies, paediatrician from the Royal Free Hospital in London about the forthcoming British Paediatric Surveillance Unit survey of the disease. Consultant Paediatric Endocrinologist Dr Wolfgang Hogler from Birmingham Children's Hospital tells Mark that the UK's record of vital Vitamin D supplementation is woeful compared to our European neighbours and warns that unless rickets is given a higher priority, more lives will be lost.
The number of drug related deaths has soared in recent years and this is against a background of growing concern about the misuse of prescription medicines - particularly morphine type painkillers - and the burgeoning popularity of novel psychoactive substances like spice and mamba. But this changing drugs scene has been accompanied by changing attitudes and approaches to what helps addicts recover. A new European survey - in England, Scotland, Belgium and the Netherlands - led by David Best, Professor of Criminology at Sheffield Hallam University aims to map what has helped people out of their drug addiction and he tells Mark this will better shape policy and services.
Advances in pacemaker technology mean that many people who are prone to life-threatening heart rhythm disturbances, will have, inside their chests, their own internal defibrillators, known as implantable cardioverter defibrillators, or ICDs. These tiny devices, not much bigger than a matchbox, sit in the upper chest and monitor the heart. When they detect a problem they automatically deliver a shock, direct to the organ. This is life-saving technology but arrhythmia specialist nurse, Sharlene Hogan from St Thomas' Hospital in London six years ago set up a support group for patients with ICDs, because she realised that there was enormous anxiety about when the device might fire. The group meets three to four times a year and Inside Health reports from their most recent get together.
Producer: Fiona Hill.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Greg Jenna and good news, Your Dead to Me is back for a new series. Here we go. Yes, we'll explore Emperor Nero's notorious reign with Professor Marybeard and Patton Oswald. I would not want my daughter having the remote control, not alone an empire. We'll dissect the decadent life of Philippe Duke-Dor-Leon with Tom Allen. I've often tried to pretend I'm an aristocrat and being very quickly knocked down. |
| 0:23.0 | And there'll be so much more with comedians like Olga Koch, Mike Mosniak and Rihalina. |
| 0:26.9 | I'm excited. |
| 0:27.6 | You're dead to me. |
| 0:28.5 | The comedy podcast that takes history seriously. |
| 0:30.9 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.3 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:37.2 | Hello. Today, Implantable defibrillators, the latest generation of smart pacemakers |
| 0:43.0 | that can shock your heart back into a normal rhythm. |
| 0:46.4 | But what's it like when they go off? |
| 0:48.3 | You get a terrific punch in the chest and then you get a sort of bright flash of yellow light in your eyes |
| 0:55.7 | and you wonder what earth's happened. But believe you me, you're very lucky that it doesn't happen. |
| 1:01.2 | And drug addiction. How do addicts recover from their habit? |
| 1:05.6 | What we know about who does make it particularly important are things about social networks |
| 1:10.7 | and the transitioning from excluded networks of fellow addicts and drinkers to pro-social networks |
| 1:17.1 | is a massive thing. Essentially, it's the contagion of hope that's at the absolute heart of the recovery process. |
| 1:24.6 | But before that, a blast from the past. Rickets, just the mention of the word, |
| 1:29.8 | conjures up images of Dickensian scenes of deprived children with bowed legs. However, despite |
| 1:35.7 | being eradicated after the Second World War, the English disease, as Ricketts has long been |
| 1:40.7 | known, is back. It affects growing children and results from vitamin D |
| 1:45.6 | and or calcium deficiency preventing proper bone growth. |
| 1:49.0 | But it's not just about the bones. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

