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When smoke gets in your ears

Head Rambles Posted on by

The other night, I watched Panorama on BBC.

They did a programme from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool on what they called ‘preventable illnesses’.

It was pretty scary stuff.  We heard about thirteen year old girls regularly being carted in unconscious after drinking themselves into oblivion.  We saw a five year old slug who is so obese that his mother has to follow him around with a wheelchair as he is too fat to walk far.  We saw three year old kids on the operating table having all their rotten teeth removed.

The strange thing about the parents was that not one seemed to realise that she was in any way responsible.  The three year old with the rotten teeth “Just had to have her lollipops, starting with one first thing in the morning”.  The mother of a fourteen year old who drank a bottle of vodka a week just couldn’t connect this with the fact that she gave the son cash whenever he asked for it.  The mother of the slug insisted her son’s obesity was genetic, and had nothing to do with giving him dinner portions that would suit a Sumo Wrestler.

There was one group though where the parents weren’t to blame, yet they were the only ones that were actively and loudly blamed for their children’s malaise.  The were the Glue Ear crowd.

For those of you who aren’t doctor, Glue Ear is a condition of the middle ear which is temporary and not serious.  It causes some hearing impairment and usually clears without treatment.  What causes it?  Even the NHS doesn’t know.  I quote from another medical site I found –

The cause is probably due to the Eustachian tube not working properly. The balance of fluid and air in the middle ear may become altered if the Eustachian tube is narrow, blocked, or does not open properly. Air in the middle ear may gradually pass into the nearby cells if it is not replaced by air coming up the Eustachian tube. A vacuum may then develop in the middle ear. This may cause fluid to seep into the middle ear from the nearby cells.
Some children develop glue ear after a cough, cold, or ear infection when extra mucus is made. The mucus may build up in the middle ear and not drain well down the Eustachian tube. However, in many cases glue ear does not begin with an ear infection.

Now, the doctor who was featured treating these kids was fucking unbelievable.  She was convinced that every single case was caused by the parents smoking.  Do you see any mention of smoking in the extract above?  I don’t.  This cow however was the type of Nazi that would blame an ingrown toenail on smoking and she was determined to have her way.

She would examine the child’s ear.  First question to the parents?  “Do either of you smoke?”  If the answer was yes, she would sit back smugly and announce that this was the cause.  In a couple of cases the smokers insisted that they smoked outdoors.  “Oh!” says this fucking expert, “that doesn’t making any difference.  The fumes you carry in on your skin are just as dangerous as cigarette smoke and that’s what’s causing the Glue Ear”.  What a fucking twat!

At one stage, she turned to the camera.  “I always know when there is a smoker around the child, because I can see the yellowish tinge to the inside of the ear”.  What was so appalling was that this cow – a doctor – actually seemed to believe this tripe.  Any fucking dickhead can tell you that earwax has a natural yellowish tinge and has fuck all to do with cigarettes.

At the end of the programme, they did a revisit, to see how the children were coping.  I was interested in the Glue Ear parents.

One father had given up smoking ‘for the sake of his son’ and was having a miserable time.

Another father was happily puffing away on his fag as he was interviewed.  “No” says he. “Why should I give up?  Most of these doctors are just talking a load of bull about cigarettes.  Most of the stuff we hear about cigarettes is rubbish, and I don’t believe I’m harming my son.”

There’s hope for the world yet.

 

Comments

When smoke gets in your ears — 31 Comments

  1. The quack does have a tentitive point in that irritants can cause swelling of the eustachian tubes, which does unfortunately include fag smoke.  It also includes smog, carbon monoxide, air fresheners, pollen, dust, furniture mites, airborne household chemicals blah blah blah, they never mention the rest of these irritants though.

    They never connect the rise in frequency of conditions like these to the increase in improperly sanctioned chemicals introduced onto supermarket shelves in the name of household cleanliness… that twists my melon no end.

  2. Tentitive?  Extremely tenuous would be nearer the mark?  This ‘doctor’ seemed to think there was a 100% cause and effect though.  I couldn’t agree more about the chemicals.  How much shit are we breathing in every day from our clothes that have been ‘biologically’ washed or from our carpets that have been ‘chemically treated’?  As for the fucking detergents, sprays and other shite…  Give me strength!

  3. Ah Grandad! Wrong again! Didn’t you know that it’s a medical fact (and who would know better than these doctors) that the human body is designed to filter out the million chemical and other pollutants and to concentrate on tobacco related chemicals. First, second and third hand smoke are killers and other shite is good for your wellbeing.

  4. There’s a collection of muppets around that particular hospital (I’ve noticed them pulling shite statistics out of their arse concerning drinking as well).

    Wasn’t Aldey Hey the same hospital that was basically knicking kids body parts without informing the parents?

    Thought they’d changed the name of that hospital because of that scandal.

    Still- I imagine they are all very worried about the carbon in the atmosphere from the Icelandic volcano? Bet they’d look at you stupid if you asked them about that crap in the air.

  5. I wonder is it the bunker mentality among the professions these days that produces doctors who can’t bloody well see what our air quality is like and draw a line from that to fuel exhausts and industrial pollution.

    How the fuck they have the unmitigated gall to refer to themselves as scientists while looking at adults and kids who live in a metropolitan area and then deciding that of all the risk factors and all the crap in the air the most dangerous thing is this nonsensical ‘third hand smoke’.

    Everybody who goes outside and comes back into a house carries particles of industrial grime, carbon fuel particles and any other random crap you get in a city.

    ‘Third hand smoke’ wouldn’t even register in comparison to the other toxins in the air in every city on earth.

  6. King’s Bard – Certainly, to listen to them there is no such thing as ‘pollutant’ apart from tobacco smoke.  It is amazing how an obsession with one trivial aspect of life can become so all pervading.  I wonder if I set fire to that ‘doctor’ would she cause much pollution?  There again, she is probably so full of chemicals from crud that she has eaten that she wouldn’t burn?

    Con – Don’t you know by now that the volcano [and all the recent earthquakes] are caused by Global Warming?  Apparently because the surface of the Earth is so much warmer now [by a fraction of a degree] that the centre of the Earth [a couple of thousand degrees?] is overheating.

    As for a [presumably] qualifed doctor spouting shite about third hand smoke – it would be very funny if it weren’t so profoundly irritating.

  7. I don’t suppose it’ll be long before we smokers are being blamed for the Icelandic volcanic eruption too ..

  8. just so ye know, I currently have glue ear. my ears pop when I move my jaw, and I find I can’t hear some noises, and get easily irritated at others.
    I’m a non-smoker, my wife’s a non-smoker, no-one in the office smokes, and I don’t walk around the town much. I don’t think I’ve actually encountered cigarette smoke in even moderate quantity in the last few years.
    The doctors that say my glue ear, which only developed over the last few months, is definitely caused by smoking. Well, they can fuck off.

  9. Haddock – At least ASH can’t complain.  They are mentioned in every single headline.  🙂

    Kae – I hope you gave your doctor an earful?  😉  At least my local fella has more sense than that.  Or maybe he just knows better than to argue with me?

  10. Kae ..
    Sorry to learn of your aural problem, it must drive you mad ..
    Were I in the same boat, I think I’d be having a word in my Doctors “shell-like” ..
    “Twat”  springs to mind for starters .. 🙂

  11. lol! I think ye misread me. my doctors are on-the-ball. I’m on decongestants and nasal sprays to see if they do anything – not much, so far, but at least I can now handle simple noises such as speech – beforehand if someone spoke in a quiet environment, each new sentence would sound very loud compared to the silence. Now, I can hear more ambient noise so people speaking isn’t so “startling”.
    what I meant was that those doctors that suggest that glue ear (I did use the word “my” – my bad) is caused by smoking obviously have come to a conclusion without going through the usual gathering of evidence part.

  12. The interesting thing is there will now be a ‘spike’ in incidences of glue-ear because doctors are determined to call it down to ‘third hand smoke’.

    One of these days I’m going to lose my temper with these muppets and go around to the Royal College Physicians and grab one of them, stuff their face close to a car exhaust pipe and ask them to give me their scientific opinion whether it is in fact oxygen coming out of the pipe or not.

    Somewhere in Iceland there is a non-smoker peering through the carbon tinged air in that country and wagging its little finger at a smoker. Is it time for extreme violence yet?

  13. Kae – You have my sympathy.  I have had tinnitus for the last ten years so I know all about hearing problems.  I also had a bout during the winter where I almost completely lost my hearing.  It may have been glue ear but it cleared after a few weeks.  With regard to the doctors – I am very saddened that a supposedly scientific and pragmatic profession sould so easily be taken in by the propeganda.  Either that, or they are abusing their profession by furthering a personal agenda.

    Con – You will be pleased to hear that our ‘heath service’ has issued a public annpuncement to say that there is no danger to health whatsover from the ash.  I bet if it came from a cigarette, they would find it is loaded with toxins and carcenogens?

  16. God Almighty!!  That is disgusting!  That is filthy!  Those parents surely must be brought to court.

    Fancy allowing a 2 year old to just throw his butts on the ground.

    They should teach him to use an ashtray.

  18. Aw for fuck’s sake!!  More doom and gloom.  Never trust anything that starts with “Study warns of….”  It’s bound to be depressing.

    As for the video – how come the girld didn’t die instantly of a massive heart attack?  He was smoking right beside her?  According to all the ‘studies’ she should have shrivelled up on the spot.

  20. At least they are allowed smoke in designated places.  Here there is a ban in every establishment [except prisons], so even if I opened a club specially for smokers, I couldn’t smoke in it.

  22. I’ll have to take you on as my Stateside Correspondent!!

    I see they are doing the same there as they did here.  They know they can’t enforce the law, so they force the property owner to do it.  I don’t know how they are going to get around the problem when they eventually ban smoking in private homes!!

  23. Present and Accounted For,  Sir.

    I hope you’ve been taking a peek at the forum that I told you months ago.

    Scoop McGee

  24. You told me months ago?  For God’s sake – if you told me last week I’d have forgotten by now.  I am crap at forums, but remind me anyway?

  26. I am always serious [except when I’m not].

    I tried that link – Server not found.  Heh!  It’s a conspiracy.

  27. Hey!… Now are you serious about the link problem?

    If so, try geting to forum by way of the link at

    http://www.freewebs.com/ukconspiracy

    There isn’t much interaction there, but many good articles. I had even put up info about help for RLS and CFS, and vaccines. Remember that convo?

  28. No.  Not serious.  Just after I posted my last comment, I managed to get in.  The server must have sneezed?

  30. That place doesn’t look a bit like Ireland.  There are no mounds of litter lying around, and there is no mention of any half built housing estates in the most scenic spots?

    I never said you couldn’t write to me?  Please do.  You know the address?  grandad [AT] headrambles [DOT] com?  Make sure you use a valid return address though!  😉

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