May we start by looking at some of the topical health issues of the day, for example, the Prime Minister has recently called for the nation to focus on mental health after a review has revealed inadequate, underfunded care, leading to ‘thousands of tragic and unnecessary deaths’.
CS: I fully support this important focus on mental health. I need to start by saying I’ve suffered from severe depression myself a few times, so I’ve been there and it’s an absolutely horrendous condition to cope with. But the big thing with any mental disorders is the stigma. I’ve described the symptoms on This Morning and how I took the medication and how that got me right … so for anyone suffering depression, you take the antidepressants, they’re not addictive, and they will get you right. And a lot of viewers have come back to thank me (for admitting I have had the condition) and to say how helpful the treatment was—and there I am back on screen talking normally and fully recovered. But the stigma is horrendous—if you’ve got a broken leg people accept it but if it’s a mental condition then it has an awful negative affect on people’s minds about you. So this is an area that has to be brought into focus for the nation so that people accept it and accept the treatments that do work.
We see kids in school with mental problems that are not being identified and so teachers need to be instructed about the signs of depression. A child may be becoming withdrawn, for example, and even parents need to be made more aware of these signs of mental disorders. A new sense of awareness amongst parents and teachers is vital. And there needs to be greater awareness also amongst employers because at the moment if people are off work due to a mental problem, they can’t tell their employers because it becomes a huge black mark against you for the future. So this is a big problem to change people’s attitudes.
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Antibiotic resistance is another current concern for the medical profession, with MRSA being one of the most infamous antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Do you see the search for solutions as a major challenge for microbiologists and one they are unlikely to achieve?
CS: As far as resistance to antibiotics is concerned, the over-prescribing of these drugs has made things far, far worse. But this is always a dilemma for GPs, when mother comes in with little Jimmy who has a soar throat, do you give antibiotics or not? Antibiotics are only useful for bacterial infections, they are no use for viral infections—and most throat infections are caused by viruses. So when you say to a parent, I’m not giving you antibiotics because this is not a bacterial infection, they can walk out very dejected, feeling they’ve been short-changed. But I think GPs have to take a stronger position on this and they are doing so … it was only yesterday I read that the number of prescriptions for antibiotics issued by GPs is dropping. And it has to continue to decrease as there’s serious concern amongst microbiologists because we’re going to end up with bugs that are changing dramatically, mutating and becoming resistant—and there are only one or two antibiotics left that we’ve got in our armoury against these bugs. So it is a huge concern and GPs have to play a role in reducing prescriptions and patients will have to understand that they will not necessarily get an antibiotic as a treatment.
And the medication treatment for a viral infection is basically—nothing. Plenty of fluids, painkillers, bed rest, etc., and then let nature take its course.
For disappointed patients walking out of the surgery with no prescription, is there any room for placebos?
CS: You have to be careful there. I think in my next life as a doctor I would be a ‘placebologist’—a doctor who only prescribes placebos because, one, [laughing] you’ll never do any wrong, and two, placebos are dirt cheap, and you always get a placebo response but it’s not as affective as a true clinical response to a treatment! Also, to be serious, I think it would trouble your conscience to prescribe placebo and if something did go wrong you’d be in deep trouble, so it’s not an option.
In general terms, do you feel optimistic, or otherwise, about the progress being made towards cures for the big diseases of the day, such as cancer and dementia?
CS: With cancer, I’m very optimistic about a cure. Only last week there was some research published from two different countries where patients with a type of blood cancer or leukaemia that has a very, very low survival rate. The patients who were treated only had months to live, and 94 percent of the patients treated with this new treatment were then free of the disease. The treatment takes out the white cells, they are genetically modified and then returned to the patient’s body, then these modified cells seek out the cancer cells and destroy them, and these cells have a memory so they are able to protect the patient long term against the cancer returning. This has the scientific community very excited indeed.
With dementia there’s nothing powerful out there yet in terms of a cure, such as the cancer treatment just mentioned, although a huge amount of research is going on. It’s a growing problem because we’re living longer. When I was a young doctor, we didn’t see many cases of dementia, but today there are more people with the condition because we have this large elderly population, so when a break-through does come it will be very welcome indeed.
Moving on to a topic that’s been a growing concern for many years, type-2 diabetes is emerging as a new pandemic, and there are an estimated 250 million people worldwide with diabetes.
CS: Yes, and it’s going to get worse.
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Why do you say it’s going to get worse?
CS: We know there are at least a million people in the UK walking around with diabetes undiagnosed. Now this is the problem, with diabetes you don’t get any obvious symptoms until something goes wrong. People will say, flippantly, oh yes, it’s just sugar in the blood, as if it’s a minor condition. But let me just take you through the risks associated with diabetes, starting with the head:
• increased risk of stroke
• high risk of loosing your sight
• high risk of heart attacks
• high risk of kidney failure
• for men, risk of erectile disfunction
• legs—amputation through gangrene
Now all of these conditions are due to the arteries to those parts of the body becoming narrowed and furred up. And that’s what diabetes does, it affects the arteries that supply all your major organs.
I wonder if you would agree that our modern lifestyle—more sedentary than in the past, together with over-eating and resulting obesity problems—would you agree these are main causes of diabetes?
CS: Yes, well just look at the size of people out there. I despair of the obesity problem, I really do. When I go out I’m more and more aware of people being over weight. Well, why are the over weight? A sedentary lifestyle, not doing enough exercise, watching television, kids playing computer games. We even have schools selling off their playing fields for redevelopment, so the kids aren’t getting activity and sports at school.
And as for diet … Most people know they should be eating five portions of fruit and veg a day, but they’re not! You know the sugar debate that’s going on at the moment. I think that sugar tax should be slapped on, especially the fizzy drinks the kids are drinking. Bad diet and lack of exercise are both a huge problem.
On the topic of weight loss, you’ve had this remarkable example of the help you gave Charlie Walduck who lost a record-breaking 35 stone after his weight threatened his health. He now credits you as his mentor and lifesaver.
CS: His problem was that he was eating a lot of high-fat foods; he was so overweight he couldn’t walk far at all. I gave him two pieces of advice: look at the food you’re buying and don’t buy anything that contains more than 3 percent fats; secondly, I want you to walk. He lives in Manchester so I was able to visit him every day and take him walking. To begin with he couldn’t walk more than twenty yards. So we’d take short walks that were gradually increased day by day. Anyway, he ended up doing the London Marathon, and the Great North Run; half-marathons he’ll do willy-nilly! So, walking is the way to go. That’s what got Charlie into long-term weight loss.
Returning to diet, recently on This Morning, viewers were told—forget gluten-free, apparently if you want to shed the pounds. You should think about going dairy-free. Do you support this advice?
CS: No, I’m really not in favour of that advice. I’ve got celiac disease which means I have to have a gluten-free diet, that’s the reason to go gluten-free, because you’re ill if you don’t. For normal people to go gluten free is ridiculous and recent research shows there’s no benefit whatsoever to people who didn’t have celiac disease. Going gluten free or dairy free, it’s almost like a fashion statement and I don’t think anyone should do that unless they have tests that show they have an intolerance of gluten or lactose (which is the sugar in milk and dairy produce). You can do it, but to me you shouldn’t do these things unless there’s a reason for it.
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