BBC2 wants me to grow my own drugs! UPDATE!

I have an update to the post that has brought much traffic to my blog in the recent weeks that you can find here!

I received the hops and lavender pillow that I ordered from eBay in the mail yesterday and was quite curious as to how it would work on me. I paid a total of £7 for the pillow and the shipping which seemed worth it to me considering that it was ready-made to use as opposed to trying to source hops and lavender and a small pillow to put in.

Once I opened the small package the scent of lavender was immediate to myself and anyone who walked into the room even though the pillow was still sealed in a small plastic covering.

When I was contemplating going to lay down I busted it open and kept it in front of me to see what the effects would be and I can say after maybe 5 minutes I started yawning... Frequently. I would yawn maybe every 30 to 45 seconds in fact. Then after another 10 minutes my eyes were very heavy and I had to fight to keep them open.

But then after a few more minutes the yawning and heavy eyes was not so constant. I now felt mildly tired and stayed awake for maybe another hour or laying down on my living room carpet. I then decided to go lay down in bed and brought the small pillow upstairs with me wondering how long I would lay in bed as at this point it was perhaps 90 to 120 minutes before I would normally fall asleep.

I estimate I was sleeping within 10 to 15 minutes of having the black bag underneath my chin as I lay on my side. Tonight I will try using the pillow only when I lay down in bed and not before and post write here on this post how that worked out.

Here is a photo of the pillow next to my passport so you can have a proper perspective regarding how actual size of it.

BBC2 wants me to grow my own drugs!

Last night I caught a show on BBC2 starring an ethnobotanist named James Wong entitled "Grow Your Own Drugs".

I found it very fascinating as I believe that in many (and perhaps most) cases nature possesses the remedy to that which ails us more so than the pharmaceutical companies would like us to know. If we know that a certain plant that we can grow ourselves will act to sooth eczema for example then why would we purchase their creams and pills?

Anyway I was particularly interested in a method Wong showed to help insomniacs like myself as I have built up a resistance to OTC sleeping medication. What would he suggest that I could grow myself or extract from a common natural source to aid me in falling asleep?


Well, quite simple really. Hops. Yes the same hops used in beer.

Apparently on the hop plant their is a yellow dust that aides in inducing sleep.

As not to have your bedroom smelling like hops Wong suggested adding a few handfuls of dried lavender to a breathable mesh bag that you lay on your pillow when you desire to go to sleep.

I am trying to source the ingredients over the net as I write this and will write how it pans out for me in the near future.

Here is his recipe from the BBC2 website:

HOPS PILLOW FOR INSOMNIA

For a pillow about 32 x 23 cm:
4 handfuls dried hops flowers
4 handfuls dried lavender flowers
1. To dry the hops and lavender yourself, tie them in bunches and hang upside down in a well-ventilated space out of direct sunlight for 2 weeks. Alternatively, place in a low oven (about 100C) for 30 minutes or so until dry and crispy. Strip the flowers off the larger or harder stalks.
2. Put equal handfuls of dried hops and lavender flowers into a cotton pillowcase, and seal the end.

USE: Place the pillow under or beside your head to induce sleep.

UPDATE HERE!!

Just how Bad are Dentists in Britain?

I was checking out the BBC's website earlier today and came across this article with the following headline.

"Girl starved to death after op"

So in my head I say "Wow, that is odd. What kind of medical procedure could she have had performed on her that would lead to her starving to death?" You would in my opinion be likely to ask yourself the same question upon reading it as I.

So I look to the first paragraph under the headline and it reads the following.

"An eight-year-old girl starved to death at home because she refused to open her mouth after a dental operation, an inquest heard."

Huh?? A dental operation?? Really?!

Now if you are to read the entire article you will read that she had such a fear of dentists that it was decided for her that she would be put under general anesthesia (i.e., put to sleep temporarily) so that they could remove 8 baby teeth or as they are called here in the UK her 'milk teeth'.

So, just how bad do dentists in this country have to be for someone to get to this level of fear of them? Granted, it could have been all in the little girl's head. My brother bit the hand of a dentist when he was about 5 like some rabid dog when the dentist was trying to inject him with novacaine. But I really don't think this is the case

Why, you ask? Well, because Britain has quite the reputation for extremely poor dental hygiene. To the point that it has become a long running joke amongst Americans.

From Austin Powers to that famous episode of the Simpsons where Lisa goes to the orthodontist to get braces and is shown the 'The Big Book of British Smiles' to instill fear. And I am here to confirm that this is a joke that has ample proof to show that it based on reality. I have seen too many British people, normal good-looking people who open their mouth to speak and make you feel nervous that you are focusing your gaze solely on their crooked and stained fangs.

It really makes you wonder why so many people here do not utilize the dentistry service that is available in this country. Particularly since a large part of it is free on what is part of their social National Health Service, also known as the NHS.

Well perhaps that is the problem. The NHS covers almost all aspects that fall under health. From the optician to the doctor and the dentist. There is one large difference though between these 3 aspects of health I just mentioned. While the doctors remain a fully socialized and free service for all legal residents a decision was made about 20 years ago to privatize other aspects of the NHS such as opticians and yes, you guessed it! Dentists. They now had the option to remain under the NHS umbrella or remove it from themselves and be a fully private business.

It didn't take dentist long to figure out that by removing the 'shackles' of the NHS they could charge whatever they wanted to for a procedure. There was then a mass exodus from the system by dentists and it is now a broken system. This article from the BBC says that " over 300,000 people lost their dentist in three months" and that "900,000 fewer people are now seeing an NHS dentist than before government reforms, figures show."

Clearly government intervention has not worked to help the state of the poor British publics molars and incisors. Boy am I glad good teeth run in my family....