Many no doubt were intrigued to read this headline last week: “Woman who became a man gives birth to a son”. The practicalities, it turned out, were not quite as difficult as they might appear. The (now) happy mother had not apparently had gender-reassignment surgery (always tricky when making the shift from female to male) and had retained his/her womb.

Given what it entails, it is perhaps surprising to learn that the success rate of changing sex (defined as “very satisfied” with the outcome) is an impressive 90 per cent. There are, it would seem, two main reasons for this. First the desire to be “reassigned” to the “correct” sex is immensely powerful from a very early age, as one young (male) university student described. “I would lie in bed and pray to God, promising I would do anything if he would just perform a miracle for me one day and turn me into a girl.”

Also, the aesthetic results are excellent nowadays, with supplementary procedures to soften the facial features, contour the body and reduce the prominence of the Adam’s apple, so the shift from masculine to feminine is complete.

In recent years it has become very difficult to obtain the necessary treatment on the NHS, which might be reasonable given all those other priorities – though many medical interventions are not nearly as dramatic or, some would say, worthwhile.

The word nausea, I learnt recently (always astonishing what one does not know), comes from the Greek word for a ship, so presumably sea sickness must have been quite a problem in those days, as was car sickness in more recent times. It is less so now, but some people are more susceptible than others, or may become so following an episode of inflammation of the balance mechanism of the middle ear.

It should not however compromise the joys of travel being, according to a recent article in the British Medical Journal, eminently treatable by the drug hyoscine, which has been around for at least 30 years. Applied as a patch or taken as a nasal spray, it is, comments Louisa Murdin of the National Hospital, “safe and well tolerated”. It may cause drowsiness and blurred vision in some, for whom antihistamine pills are a better option. Useful to know.

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The comments last week on the proliferation of edicts in medical surgeries restricting patients to “one problem per consultation” has prompted the perceptive observation that those not prone to bothering the doctor – whether due to shyness or reticence – will often only mention what is troubling them as they are about to leave. This should ring alarm bells that there may potentially be something seriously amiss. “Will the general practitioner now just tell them to make another appointment – knowing full well they may not do so?” enquires one reader.

This is not the only source of discontent. A Bolton woman notes how in recent years the practice she attends seems to be offering less and less, while also imposing other restrictions. So appointments can no longer be made ahead but only on the day – cue half an hour (or more) sitting on the phone trying to get through. Her surgery no longer, as it did before, offers ear syringing or provides sterile receptacles for urine samples, and though she knows that one of the partners is trained to give steroid injections for arthritis – which she would more than welcome – he apparently only utilises his skills for the benefit of private patients. Still, the doctors are at least keen on checking for high blood pressure and diabetes and starting patients on treatment (whether appropriate or not), for which they are of course financially rewarded.

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This week’s medical conundrum comes courtesy of Mrs F L from Leeds, who reports that her 86-year-old husband has started emitting a sharp whistle. It is, she says, rather like living with a parrot. He does not answer when she asks if he knows he is doing it, and she is concerned lest it may be a symptom of something obscure. She would be more than grateful to hear from anyone who may have had a similar experience with their spouse – and preferably with some idea of how to discourage it.