Dr James Le Fanu: 1 November
Grumpiness is usually short-lived. We may feel irritable when tired or hungry but, following a good night’s sleep or a decent meal, the mood evaporates and we return to being our sunny, sociable selves. The main characteristics of grumpiness – being short-tempered, giving gruff, monosyllabic responses – are useful here in discouraging social interaction and signalling that one wants to be left in peace to recharge the batteries.
Thus it could be said, its purpose is to act as a subconscious defence mechanism against the intrusion of others, giving one time and space to look after one’s needs. Surveys have revealed a more generalised form of grumpiness that probably has similar roots.
It is a common lament that people can no longer just get on with their jobs but are compelled to fritter away their days in committee meetings, or form-filling to demonstrate that one has reached some target or other. The instinctive reaction to this feeling of precious time being wasted by others is becoming gru and irritable.
This might seem a bit far-fetched, but consider the experience of Irving Taylor, Professor of Surgery at London University’s College Hospital. Surgeons are by nature practical people, whose sense of fulfilment comes from doing something tangibly useful. Prof Taylor is presumably no exception but finds his time endlessly taken up with responding to the demands of an array of agencies, commissions and committees so numerous it would be hard to credit – were it not that he compiled a list of them published in the British Medical Journal.
There were 24 in all, starting with 10 concerning his hospital work, including a Clinical Governance Committee; a Continuing body; a Professional Advisory Panel, and a Clinical Audit Committee. His university teaching and research require him to deal with seven more, including an Internal Quality Assurance Committee; a Staff Review Development Committee; a Quality Assurance Agency, and a Research Governance Committee. And he must also have dealings with a further seven national organisations, including the National Clinical Assessment Authority; the National Care Standards Commission; the Commission for Health Improvement, and National Patients Safety Agency. Oh, the dreariness.
The names alone, with their aura of worthiness and censoriousness – Governance, Assessment and Development – are enough to fill one with dread. It may be that Prof Taylor has a sunny disposition and manages to stay cheerful despite it all. But the natural human response is an all too understandable sense of profound irritation.
This week’s medical query comes courtesy of a lady from Surrey who for the past 30 years has endured frequent bouts of agonising eye pain when she is asleep. ‘It feels as though acid has been poured into my eyes and is almost unendurable for half an hour before subsiding. There is a little swelling, but no redness.’ She has described the condition to countless doctors and opticians but is none the wiser as to its cause.
These pains are probably ‘neuropathic’, caused by abnormal discharge of the sensory nerves to the eye, similar to Trigeminal Neuralgia. Trying a course of the drug Tegretol might reduce the frequency and intensity of these episodes.
Email drjames@lady.co.uk
‘Normally my hair needs only a weekly wash,’ she writes. But when she switched to using a stronger shampoo ‘it became lank and greasy after a day. It took six months for my hair to get back to normal.’
Thus it could be said, its purpose is to act as a subconscious defence mechanism against the intrusion of others, giving one time and space to look after one’s needs. Surveys have revealed a more generalised form of grumpiness that probably has similar roots.
It is a common lament that people can no longer just get on with their jobs but are compelled to fritter away their days in committee meetings, or form-filling to demonstrate that one has reached some target or other. The instinctive reaction to this feeling of precious time being wasted by others is becoming gru and irritable.
This might seem a bit far-fetched, but consider the experience of Irving Taylor, Professor of Surgery at London University’s College Hospital. Surgeons are by nature practical people, whose sense of fulfilment comes from doing something tangibly useful. Prof Taylor is presumably no exception but finds his time endlessly taken up with responding to the demands of an array of agencies, commissions and committees so numerous it would be hard to credit – were it not that he compiled a list of them published in the British Medical Journal.
There were 24 in all, starting with 10 concerning his hospital work, including a Clinical Governance Committee; a Continuing body; a Professional Advisory Panel, and a Clinical Audit Committee. His university teaching and research require him to deal with seven more, including an Internal Quality Assurance Committee; a Staff Review Development Committee; a Quality Assurance Agency, and a Research Governance Committee. And he must also have dealings with a further seven national organisations, including the National Clinical Assessment Authority; the National Care Standards Commission; the Commission for Health Improvement, and National Patients Safety Agency. Oh, the dreariness.
The names alone, with their aura of worthiness and censoriousness – Governance, Assessment and Development – are enough to fill one with dread. It may be that Prof Taylor has a sunny disposition and manages to stay cheerful despite it all. But the natural human response is an all too understandable sense of profound irritation.
This week’s medical query comes courtesy of a lady from Surrey who for the past 30 years has endured frequent bouts of agonising eye pain when she is asleep. ‘It feels as though acid has been poured into my eyes and is almost unendurable for half an hour before subsiding. There is a little swelling, but no redness.’ She has described the condition to countless doctors and opticians but is none the wiser as to its cause.
These pains are probably ‘neuropathic’, caused by abnormal discharge of the sensory nerves to the eye, similar to Trigeminal Neuralgia. Trying a course of the drug Tegretol might reduce the frequency and intensity of these episodes.
Email drjames@lady.co.uk
ALL IN A LATHER
Your choice of shampoo may be more important than you think. Paradoxically, the scalp may respond to too-frequent shampooing (or too potent a shampoo) by over-producing sebum from the hair follicles, as a reader from Liverpool describes.‘Normally my hair needs only a weekly wash,’ she writes. But when she switched to using a stronger shampoo ‘it became lank and greasy after a day. It took six months for my hair to get back to normal.’