Dr Kerryn Phelps, Health Editor, 'Today', with Tracey Grimshaw, Nine Network - Leisure illness; caution with home diagnostic kits
GRIMSHAW: While many people return from their holidays looking healthy and rested, for some it's quite the opposite. They end up spending up most of their break in a doctor's surgery or tucked up in bed. The reason? Leisure sickness - a syndrome of the relentless modern society we live in, we're told, but a very real illness, nontheless. To tell us more, we're joined now by 'Today' Show Health Editor, Dr Kerryn Phelps. Morning, Kerryn. PHELPS: Good morning, Tracey.
GRIMSHAW: Is leisure sickness a real syndrome or is it one of these new millennium malaises that we're hearing about?
PHELPS: Well, it's really interesting because I think, forever, people have said, 'every time I go on holidays or I have a break I seem to come down with some sort of illness, whether it's a migraine or a headache, just feeling exhausted'.
GRIMSHAW: The flu.
PHELPS: Or the flu or a cold or some sort of viral infection. Well, a Dutch psychologist from Tilberg University thought he'd actually take a look at this phenomenon because he couldn't see it actually anywhere in the literature. So, he did a search, couldn't find anything on it. So he did a study of 2,000 people in Holland and they found that about 3 per cent of people said 'yes', as soon as they have a holiday or a break they come down with some mystery illness. And so, it does appear to be a real phenomenon.
GRIMSHAW: I always thought it was just because often you'll get on an international flight, and if one person on that flight is crook, everybody gets crook. It's not as simple as that?
PHELPS: No, it's not. But, you don't have to get on an aeroplane to apparently get this. If you've had a really intense period of work and then you take a few days off, that's when you can come crashing down. So, it doesn't appear to be related to just being in the path of a passing virus, because, I mean, that's going to happen all the time, anyway. But the timing of this seems to be quite critical.
GRIMSHAW: Okay. Let's talk about what might cause it. And let's talk about the personality types that are likely to get it.
PHELPS: Well, according to this research, the psychologist said the people who are most likely to get it are the ones who are very work oriented, who are very achievement oriented, who love their work to the point of almost being so committed to their work that it's the thing that's most important in their lives. And so he postulated that these are the people who might actually benefit from an attitude adjustment, and that that might actually help their problem.
GRIMSHAW: And so the way to solve it is to not be quite so invested in work, maybe have better stress management, something like that?
PHELPS: Exactly. To pace yourself, to look at the balance in your life. One of the suggestions he came up with was to actually exercise on a Friday afternoon, so that you ease yourself into the weekend.
GRIMSHAW: It seems amazing you can actually stave off something like a virus with stress relief. But anyway now let's talk about this home diagnostic kit, because they are coming under some questioning in the U.K., aren't they?
PHELPS: Well, I don't think in the U.K. that they have quite as stringent requirements on these kinds of devices being available to the general public, but, nonetheless, we do have a lot of very reliable home testing devices in Australia. But the important point is that you use them under medical advice. Now, clearly, for example, if somebody thinks that they're pregnant, then they'll do a home pregnancy test, they'll go to the doctor to have that confirmed and to have the appropriate testing and referrals done for the management of their pregnancy. Similarly, with people who are trying to get pregnant, ovulation test kits have become very popular but, once again, you need to know how and when to use them to know when you're going to be ovulating and when you're likely to be fertile and the most likely time to get pregnant.
GRIMSHAW: That probably has more implication if you're trying not to get pregnant than if you're trying to get pregnant, isn't it?
PHELPS: I think it might be a little bit expensive for people to do it that way. But, certainly, if they're going to be thinking about a pregnancy and wanting to know the best time to try and get pregnant, particularly if you've got an irregular cycle, that's actually quite useful for people. But, once again, you have to know how to time it and what to do about a result when you get the result. So, medical advice is definitely warranted. But, in Australia, we are really looking very much towards people monitoring their health at home. There are some tests that will help you to manage your illness, and asthma is a fine example. And this is what's called a peak-flow meters and anyone with asthma should have a meter like this one in their home. You blow very hard in this end of the tube and it pushes up that dial and it tells you ... and, once again, a management plan with your doctor as to what to do if that peak-flow starts to drop. So it helps you manage how your airways are responding to medication.
GRIMSHAW: So, I guess the message is, if we wrap it up, that some of these home diagnostic kits are good and some you shouldn't rely on and maybe you should just talk to your doctor about which is which.
PHELPS: In some cases, these will help to monitor your blood pressure or your blood glucose if you're diabetic or your asthma and so forth. In other cases, I think they can make people overly reassured. For example, with blood in their bowel motions, if they haven't got blood in their bowel motions when they do a test, they think, 'Uh, that's fine, I haven't got colon cancer', - not necessarily the case - need to see a doctor, need to know what you're doing with these tests. But, definitely, for some people, this will help them manage their medical problems at home.
GRIMSHAW: Okay, thanks Kerryn.
PHELPS: Thanks, Tracey.
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