The Balkan Chronicle

They sold us 'happy pills' - but all we got was suicide and misery

A scandal can exist for ages before anyone notices. Here is one such. Ten years from now we will look back in shame and regret at the way the drug companies bamboozled us into swallowing dangerous, useless 'antidepressant' pills.

You'd be far better off taking a brisk walk. The moment of truth must come soon, though most of Britain's complacent, sheep-like media will be among the last to spot it.

Appeal for our friend and sister with progressive breast cancer

After four years of war and all the turmoil of the war and aftermath of the genocide, afer great poverty and reconstruction of the country we meet more often than not with great health challenges among young people of our brothers and sisters in Bosnia. This is my appeal to you that you will take part in making a contribution to our humanitarian-charity activities in collecting funds for one of our sisters, Elma Karaman-Kopic, who is 26 years old, mother of two, boy 3 y/o, and a girl 5 y/o, a loving wife and daughter and above all a great citizen of her community alwas willing to help to those who are in need.

Chemical found in deodorants, face cream and food products is discovered in tumours of ALL breast cancer patients

A chemical widely used as a preservative in cosmetics, food products and pharmaceuticals has been found in tissue samples from 40 women with breast cancer.

A number of studies since 1998 have raised concerns about the potential role of these parabens in breast cancer as they possess oestrogenic properties.

Oestrogen is known to play a central role in the development, growth and progression of breast cancer.

Things really are in black and white for toddler with rare eye condition

For toddler Freyah Rose Lyons things really are black and white - because she has a rare condition that means she cannot see any colours.

Doctors believe her colour blindness could have been caused by her mother Cassie contracting a cold or flu virus while she was pregnant.

Cassie, 20, said: 'She is a really bright baby and what she lacks with her vision she makes up for with her other senses.

The woman who is allergic to her OWN tears!

Katie can't have a bath, go swimming, or even go out in the rain

It takes her two hours to recover after every quick shower

A young woman whose life is blighted by an allergy to water has told how she can't even watch a weepy film, because her own tears bring her out in a painful rash.

Katie Dell, 26, is one of only about 35 people in the world diagnosed with the rare allergy aquagenic urticaria.

Thousands of us are hiding our misery behind a happy mask. Could YOU be a victim of smiling depression?

Alison Cowan felt hiding her depression was the best way to deal with it

He's one of the country's best-loved comedians, leaving audiences in stitches with his fizzing sense of humour.

Yet last month David Walliams admitted he's suffered with depression for much of his life.

'I go through periods of intense self-loathing,' he said.

Lack of sleep: Can it make you sick?

Q: I'm having trouble sleeping lately. Does this increase my chances of getting sick?

No name / No state given

Yes, lack of sleep can affect your immune system. Studies show that people who don't get a good night's sleep or who don't get enough sleep are more likely to get sick after being exposed to a virus, such as the common cold. Lack of sleep can also affect how fast you recover if you do get sick.

Cocaine users are 45% more likely to develop glaucoma - even if they've given up the drug

People who take cocaine or are former users are 45 per cent more likely to develop a common form of blindness, a large study has found.

Researchers also found they developed glaucoma 20 years earlier on average than patients without a history of drug use.

A study of 5.3million people by the Veterans Health Administration, in Indianapolis, found glaucoma patients with a history of cocaine use were on average only 54-years-old. This compared to patients with no history of class A drug abuse who were around 73-years-old.

Green tea may help treat fatal disease

Prevailing medical evidence suggests that the deadly genetic disorder hyperinsulinism/hyperammonemia is rare.

But Dr. Thomas Smith, a researcher at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, questions whether that's true.

He and researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have found green tea compounds that show great promise for treating the disorder, which causes insulin to rocket to dangerously high levels and glucose to plummet when patients who have the disorder eat a little too much protein. They often go into a coma then die.

Perhaps, Smith said, a lot of children die before they're diagnosed, and the disorder is more common than believed.

Prolonged stress 'can shrink the brain' and even lead to dementia

Suffering stress for long periods of time can shrink the brain and even cause dementia, researchers have claimed.

Chemicals released by the body during prolonged stress are toxic to brain tissue, they found.