Olive Press Andalucia Issue 436

Page 1

LIVE FOREVER Want to stick around as long as Spain’s Maria - age 116?

All about

JANUARY 2024

Walk your way fit ... and live 16 years longer

R THE LONGE LIFE ress.es

www.theolivep

the t the best in Spain amongsexpectancy world for life

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shed some ESPERATE to timber but apexcess festive hitting the prehensive about

prelocal gym? by The Lancet A 2018 studycould hold the world’s to worry as scienThere’s no need the best way to dicted Spain cy by 2040, at tists have revealed cy in highest life expectan - a daily walk. life expectan By Yzabelle Bostyn get into shape 85.8 years old. ts have speculated THE averagefourth highest in the highlighted sevinwalks Researchers have that can bring a Other specialis Spain is the years above the siestas, regular could eral small changes ing, health-imworld and three Korea (83.6). life expec- that frequent frequent sex y of 83.3, (83.9) and and even more wide range of anti-agenhancing benternational average. s live to at leastby the The worldwide average the UK be influencing the longevit fitness-e with and Spaniard years, Most proving is just 80.3 years. a new report also rankSpaniards. above, at 80.4 according to for Economic Co-op- tancy can alefits. clocking in justSpain’s high life ex- This comes despite Spain greater intent . Organisation such as toWalking with strengthen muscles ment (OECD) to good ing highly for negatives the oldest takes It is believed eration and Develop could be linked leviate stress, n, and alcohol use. flexibility and Australia which SAMPLES fromworld - Maria bacco, cocaine in cocaine They tie with the report, Health at pectancyide healthcare provisio in the and bones, increase well as The country ranks third in woman nationw as without the addianalysed spot all the diet, being fourth ranean use, following a. lengthen lives, fitness classes. Branyas - are the key to a long at 84.5 the Mediter a glance. UK and Australi tional costs of found that nasal the top spot, to try and find the warm climate. year, Japan took by Switzerland In the last a Studies have life. of walks, the techfrom Cataluny years, followed almost 3% UK breathing during g through your The Spaniard le 116 years old, of breathin incredib adults in the enan tions is nique mouth, complica your and Spain admitto but has no health and mobility nose rather than coof improvements ted to using past other than hearing ables a range health. anacaine in the Ausissues. al Sciences is your cardiovasculared by Colorado her age, she year and in the El BurriUniversity of Agricultur Unlike most peoplescular probResearch conduct extract- The from animals at ty showed athletes tralia this figure team has been what lysing the blood on, in Hinojos, in Andalucia’s has zero cardiova issues, and State Universi nasal breathing had to see A SWEDISH university rose to 4%. the lems nor memory to Feliz AssociatiDoñana National Park. Spanish donkeys who practiced ry rate than when s stories from ing blood fromto help humans who are losing However, Spain at the ‘enormouto can recount if they happened respirato inlooking lowest lower is a It learnt can be manes their mouths, had the age of four as strength’ of theirto be transbreathing through flow of oxygen their hair. rates of overall ly yesterday. has previous obtain a formulahair. use in the dicating an improvedeam. herself opioid Maria e HAIR natural yoghurt ferred to human Negro exthrough the bloodstra weighted vest world, alongsid and credited eating just BRAINED Researcher Juan her longevity, “I Likewise, wearing Israel, with usate the health are looking at each day for ’, adding: SCHEME?: plained: “We of hair was found to accentu 0.1% of adults the avoiding ‘excesses little, but evwalk. Donkeys the characteristics ing opioids in benefits of a dailyed by the journal by humans folhave always eaten in Doñana growth sharedd animals. I have never not conduct year. and , who study last A erything ed men to I have could help and four-legge will find posAccording data, Ergonomics suggest lowed any regime. vest burnt 6% cure bald“Hopefully we to baldness, any illness or been most recent 7th (a 2.5 wore a nine-kilo suffered from g room.” ness sible remedies than without t to some Spain rankedalcothrough an operatin more calories is recommended for which is importan in terms of kilogram vest peohol use, the averwomen). conthe speed of ple.” litres. age person average is 8.6 Best of all, altering rates were also greatest impact. suming 10.5 litres s, with Spanish smoking a walk has the of power walkworld average per capita. higher than 15 smoking Even small bursts l to reduce people over They drink more have the potentia s such as UK, 19.8% of ing the in disease than ranked daily. d to the international averthe risk of key . which with li- Compare UK ranks low, type 2 diabetes 11th, with 10 age of 16%, the smoking daily. tres per capita. just 12.7% of people The international

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appointment free without an are now available FLU vaccinations around Andalucia. respiratory illnessas the spread of at all health centres however, just a fall The move comes across Spain, with is starting to subside. es, such as flu, of 2024 saw a 3.2% decrease s. The first week cases per 100,000 resident nationwide with only from 966 to 935has the second lowest rateby the Balearic Islands. also ia bettered only Andaluc per 100,000. 100,000, a rate rate of 1691 cases 460 cases per has an infection Castilla-La Mancha

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A BRITISH expat has died after being given the deadly painkiller Nolotil for a shoulder injury, it has emerged. Mark Brooks, 42, was enjoying a game of golf near his home in Alicante when he began experiencing shoulder pain. The next day, he went to his local health clinic on the Costa Blanca, where he received a shot of metamizole, also known as Nolotil. Some 48 hours later the gardener, from Derbyshire, was admitted to hospital in Torrevieja with depleted white

FINAL HOLE: Just 48 hours later, Mark (centre left ) was dead

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blood cells and sepsis. The next day, he was taken into intensive care with organ failure. Two days later, he was dead. His partner, Summer Moses (right) has been left to pick up the pieces with their four-yearold daughter, Aurora. The pair had been planning to get married, before the tragic incident took Mark’s life in October last year. “Summer was in complete shock. One day he was playing golf, really excited, and then the next he was dead,” anti-Nolotil campaigner Christina del Campo told the Olive Press this week. “She’s now working two jobs just to make ends meet. It’s not just his life that’s been ruined, it’s her life and her daughter’s too. All because of a painkiller.” The incident happened when he attended a clinic popular with expats in Ciudad Quesada on October 15. Within hours of receiving an injection of Nolotil he developed a rash and blisters

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British expat, 42, dies after taking Nolotil: Father-of-one developed sepsis after being given the ‘lethal’ painkiller for a minor golf injury

By Yzabelle Bostyn

on his buttocks. When he was taken to A&E in Torrevieja, doctors found he had a low white blood cell count, alongside signs of liver and kidney failure. His condition rapidly deteriorated and just four days after receiving the injection, he slipped into a coma. According to death certificate records, Brooks’ cause of death on October 20 was ‘organ failure, septic shock and cellulitis.’ Now his ex-partner has reached out to the Nolotil campaign group, the Association of Drug Affected Patients (ADAF) run by del Campo.

Deaths

It came after she discovered documents, which revealed that Mark’s death was as the result ‘an apparent allergic reaction to metamizole’. Anything but the first, the drug has now been linked to over 40 deaths in Spain, including many expats. So dangerous is the drug, the Olive Press launched a campaign in 2017 to have it banned for expat patients, in particular, as many clinics continued to hand out the drug. Spain’s most popular subscription painkiller, Nolotil is known to have adverse effects

on Northern Europeans and is banned in 30 countries, including Britain, Ireland, Australia and the US. A 2018 report from the TRAGIC: 4-yearEuropean Medicines old Aurora is left Agency showed a ‘potenwithout her dad, tial to induce agranuloMark (above) cytosis’ among certain populations. A 1999 Swedish study estimated the risk at one in British people,” explained del manding new analysis of the every 2000 prescriptions, with Campo. risks of the drug and a revision a 26% mortality rate. of the information sheet given It is believed the drug could to medical professionals. Regulations have contributed to up to 350 Boehringer Ingelheim, the “I want them to revise and cases of agranulocytosis, incompany that makes Nolotil, modify regulations and investicluding 170 Britons living in claims all the side effects are gate cases properly. They need Spain. clearly listed in its information Yet incredibly, only one Span- to act because it keeps being packet. ish health authority, Catalu- given without a prescription. nya, has warned against us- People’s lives are at stake.” Opinion Page 6 ing the drug as a first-choice The campaigner is also depainkiller. It ruled there was ‘no evidence’ it was better at controlling pain than ‘safer alternatives’ like paracetamol or ibuprofen. Meanwhile, one English expat newspaper recently even published a two-page feature effecANDALUCIA reservoir levels are still critically low detively promoting the drug. spite the recent rainfall, latest statistics have shown. It came just after ADAF began Almeria is the worst affected province with water suplegal action against the Spanplies stand at just 9.38% - while Cadiz and Malaga are ish Medical Agency (AEMPS) also at perilous levels. in November, claiming a 2018 Across Malaga province levels stand at just over 15%, government directive not to which is alarmingly a 0.2% drop over the past week sell Nolotil to Northern Euroand a year-on-year fall of 22%. peans is not being followed. The stark numbers come after Junta president Juanma “We’re not looking for money Moreno warned the region needs 30 straight days of or damages. We want to make rain to avoid severe water cuts this summer. them stop giving Nolotil to However, record high temperatures are forecast for the rest of January, with the mercury set to reach the high 20s - with ZERO rain predicted. In Cadiz, reservoir levels are at 15.32%, with just 0.16% being added over the past week. Meanwhile, Granada stands at 23.4% (+0.17%), Jaen 21.3% (+0.7%), Sevilla 34% (+5%), Cordoba 18% See pages 24 (+1.6%) and Huelva 36% (+3.8%).

Cracking up

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