Inside Health

My blood pressure is perfectly normal, but could I benefit from medication to lower it even further? We discuss with Oxford University’s Prof Kazem Rahimi and our resident GP Margaret McCartney. How do you diagnose a new disease that could have 200 symptoms? We explore long Covid in children with our reporter Carolyn Atkinson and Professor Sir Terence Stephenson from the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute for Child Health.PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood

It’s time to talk about periods and contraception. Different birth control options alter the menstrual cycle. Journalist Nicola Davis tells me about her decade without periods and our resident GP Margaret McCartney and sexual health doctor Julia Bailey discuss the evidence and what you need to know. We’ve also got vaccination expert Adam Finn to discuss the slowdown in young people getting the Covid-19 jab and cardiologist Rohin Francis explores the link between erectile dysfunction and the heart.PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Geraldine Fitzgerald & Beth Eastwood

Time for a sprinkling of happiness with a new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection.Last time we heard how children's A&E is under huge pressure as infections, that disappeared during Covid, make a comeback. But doctors also warn that many of those children shouldn’t actually be there. Damian Roland a paediatrician in emergency medicine at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust busts the myths about fever and gives tips on when to take your child to A&E. And the wonders of ear wax, until it builds up, that is, as it does for me. But it's not just ear wax that nurse Andrew Hill has found in people's ears - cocaine and spiders too. You get it all here on Inside Health.PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCERS: Beth Eastwood & Geraldine Fitzgerald

Here at Team Inside Health we’ve noticed our children are constantly ill. So we find out why. Are all those bugs that were dormant for the pandemic suddenly having a resurgence? Or has a year and a half of being squeaky clean left a lingering impact on our immune system? Plus Medlife Crisis - Rohin Frances asks can you be too fit?

The Inside Health podcast is back with a bang! Find out how having a couple of mates round for the football trapped scientist Alex Crozier inside a Covid experiment. Laura talks us through her remarkable journey, from a fear of needles to having her Covid jab, and Oxford University’s Daniel Freeman has some tips for you too. We’ve unleashed our cardiologist, Rohin Francis, for the first of his “Roving Rohin” (trademark pending) reports on hospital staff who don’t get the vaccine. And GP Navjoyt Ladher shares her insight on where we’re at with the pandemic. Happy listening.PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCERS: Beth Eastwood & Geraldine Fitzgerald

This is the remarkable story of how the UK’s Recovery Trial saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of Covid patients. It was set up in nine days, after a conversation on the number 18 bus. Within 100 days it had found the first life-saving drug. This trial has united thousands of doctors, the NHS and 40,000 patients, at the scariest moments of their lives, changing the pandemic, and possibly medicine, forever. We speak to Oxford professors Martin Landray and Peter Horby who devised the Recovery Trial, and to some of the doctors and patients who helped make it happen.PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCERS: Geraldine Fitzgerald & Beth Eastwood

I was floored for three days with side-effects after having my first Covid jab and many of you have been in touch about your side-effects too. Why do some of us feel awful after the vaccine, while others barely notice anything? What does this say about our immune systems and how protected we will be against covid? We put your questions to Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious disease at Edinburgh University. Our resident GP Margaret McCartney has been taking a look at the reports of blood clots after vaccination, and we speak to Victoria Male, a lecturer in reproductive immunology at Imperial College London, about the rules for vaccination in pregnant women.PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCERS: Beth Eastwood & Geraldine Fitzgerald

I have become hooked on playing online chess during this lockdown and after watching the Queen’s Gambit. So we’ll find out if it is actually doing my brain any good and whether it and similar games can ward off dementia. Margaret McCartney takes us on a fascinating tour through the history of deliberately infecting people with diseases, as the first “challenge trials” with coronavirus are about to start. Listeners David and Barbara tell us about a treatable condition called normal pressure hydrocephalus that is often mistaken for dementia. PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Beth EastwoodClip from the Netflix series 'The Queen's Gambit', directed by Scott Frank. Music copyright: ‘Training with Mr Schaibel’ by Carolos Rafael Rivera from the official soundtrack of The Queens Gambit

What has the pandemic done to our sex lives? We’ll hear if there’s been a baby boom with Dr Margaret McCartney and Dr Rebecca Thomson-Glover has the lowdown on sexually transmitted infections. We’ll also explore changes to contraception and sexual health services. Meanwhile it feels like we’re on the march to normality, but what about the backlog of patients whose treatment has been cancelled. We speak to Charmayne whose surgery has been held up by the pandemic and Nick Arresti from the British Orthopaedic Association to see how such waiting lists can be tackled.

Most people recover rapidly after catching coronavirus. But I chat to three people who were infected almost a year ago and are still feeling the impact, both on their bodies and their minds. Doctors are having to rapidly grapple with how to treat patients with long Covid. We speak to one of them, Dr Manoj Sivan, the Research Lead for the Long Covid Service in Leeds, who warns that long Covid could be a “second pandemic”. We also have GP Dr Navjoyt Ladher answering your questions on the Covid vaccines.PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood