Hello and welcome to the Health Hits podcast.

Every year, GPs in the UK see hundreds of thousands of exhausted patients, and for some of them all that is needed is a simple daily vitamin D supplement.

We’ll work through what vitamin D is and where it comes from, what happens when we are low in it, as well as the latest evidence behind supplementation.

Hello and welcome to the Health Hits podcast.

In the last episode we covered chickenpox, that common viral infection, usually caught in childhood.

It can be pretty miserable but the real kicker is that it never really goes away, and comes back to life as a painful, burning, blistering rash.

The condition we’re talking about is shingles. We’ll go over what is actually happening and why, and what we can do when it does strike.

Hello and welcome to the Health Hits podcast.

This week we talk all about that miserable rite of passage that all children in the UK go through: Chickenpox.

We’ll talk about how it affects us and why, the latest controversial evidence about managing it, as well as the available but almost unused chickenpox (varicella) vaccine.

Hello and welcome to the Health Hits podcast.

As Spring and Summer approach the dreaded Hay Fever that affects so many of us raises its head. First described by John Bostock in 1819 we now understand that pollen drives is and there are so many effective treatments out there.

This episode explores how pollen affects the body and how antihistamine, eye drops, nasal steroid sprays and inhalers can minimise the symptoms.

We also discuss allergy in general and touch on the future of Hay Fever treatments.

Hello and welcome to the Health Hits podcast.

May 12th is International Nurses Day and so we celebrate the mother of modern nursing, who was born that day in 1820. Yes Florence Nightingale had a fascinating life: her care and compassion was combined with incredible observational skill and a solid understanding of statistics.

The impact she would later have was formed in the crucible of the Crimean War and her work in the hospitals there.

This week we are talking about alcohol or ethanol. What it is, where it comes from, and how we use and abuse it.

We cover how alcohol is broken down by the liver, and the effect it can have on the liver and the brain.

We’ll also discover the exciting possibility of a hangover free future, Alcosynth, and I’m going to drink something I probably shouldn’t.

Hello and welcome to the Health Hits podcast.

This episode is all about Plague. The bacterial infection that caused The Black Death across Medieval Europe, but that continues to cause outbreaks even today.

Yersinia Pestis is a terrifying bacteria. We discover what it is, why it spread so fast, and why it was so deadly.

And with the rise of antibiotic resistance, is there any risk of a future plague pandemic?

I’m your host Tom Fisher. I’m a doctor, a trainer, and when researching these podcasts I’m often a student too.

Today’s episode covers eczema or atopic dermatitis. Its common, so common, one in 20 people have it. Its rarely serious but often seriously annoying. We’ll discuss what’s actually happening under our skin, the history of the available treatments and the possible hope for the future.

Hello and welcome to the Health Hits podcast.

This time we are covering the mysterious but often deadly condition of sepsis.

Its not an infection as such, more the body’s response to serious infection and last year it led to 44,000 deaths in the UK alone.

We'll look at how the immune system normally responds to infection and what goes wrong in sepsis. As well as looking at what the early signs are so we can get help quickly, and what healthcare providers can do to try and treat it.

I'm your host Tom Fisher, I'm a medical doctor in the UK, and in these podcasts we take a journey through modern medical problems as well as exploring their roots in the past and the possible future they have in store for us.

Hello and welcome to the Health Hits podcast.

This time we'll be learning about hair, why we have it and why we lose it.

We'll look at the impact hair loss can have and also on the variety of treatments for balding.

Regaine, Propecia and Hair Transplant are all covered in detail.