General Medical issues thread

[JohnM]

So if punters snack on hamburgers and chips all week they will be fine? Throw in a sedentary lifestyle and the a and e departments of local hospitals will be as clogged as their aortas.

I think you may be mixing obesity and high cholesterol.

 

[cove]

Just finished at the pool so my body is tingling from the endorphins.
I have stopped doing leg presses at 220 now that I have seen how that helped the Fremantle Dockers in 2016.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Absolutely,just annoying I had to go into heart failure for them to actually find it, thankfully I travelled overseas and ended up coming home with pleurisy. Antibiotics didn't work, so a quick trip for a chest X-ray to shut me up resulted in them funding an enlarged heart, still took 2 months for them to find something, my surgeon said I had approx 6 months left to live if he didn't operate ASAP Not what a 38 year old wants to hear!

Oh how frightening! Great though it was found!

 

[beefarmer]

I think you may be mixing obesity and high cholesterol.

I don't have the stats handy but i would like to compare the incidence of cardio vascular related morbidities with normal and high cholesterol patients firstly, and then consider the issue of weight on these as well. I don't think i will be surprised with the numbers, but you never know. Might spend some time analysing.

 

[beefarmer]

Oh how frightening! Great though it was found!

Serendipity is a wonderful thing. This is how cough was found as well. However, in Pfizers case, it was a lot easier to detect as you would expect.

 

[Flying mermaid]

The risk factors are really important and not just the cholesterol level on its own. Unfortunately I think I crossed over to 'the dark side'.

I would absolutely take a statin if I felt the risk warranted it - they are there for a reason and save a lot of lives.

 

[get me outta here]

This reminds me that I got a device from the physio that had a couple of vertical splits up either side of the ankle and went under the foot, and a couple of horizontal Velcro straps. Quite simple. I felt very much safer wearing it as there was no way the ankle would turn again. Someone suggested though that if I did fall, it might snap the tib/ fib. But, I think they were being alarmist.

Dr Google may help you look up such a device. I'm away so can't go an look up the manufacturer. You buy either a right or left foot as appropriate. The manufacturer's name goes on outside of the ankle.

Any particular way to do it, or differs per person depending on the way it is injured?

Still quite sore today - thinking maybe it's still worth taking the crutches as at least the option is there. We're HLO anyway (not bad for 3 weeks!) so should be easy enough to get them around.

 

[Pushka]

I don't have the stats handy but i would like to compare the incidence of cardio vascular related morbidities with normal and high cholesterol patients firstly, and then consider the issue of weight on these as well. I don't think i will be surprised with the numbers, but you never know. Might spend some time analysing.

Well, I have a raised cholesterol, and hypertension so you might expect me to be overweight. I am not. There are other factors at play than diet. But am hoping the spread works.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Well, I have a raised cholesterol, and hypertension so you might expect me to be overweight. I am not. There are other factors at play than diet. But am hoping the spread works.

Ditto me - BMI under 25. Make pretty much all my own food, even my stock for vegetable soups. Diet can be a factor but is certainly not the whole story. I have been on proactive for a couple of years, but my cholesterol has slowly climbed - hope it works for you.

 

[TheRealTMA]

I would absolutely take a statin if I felt the risk warranted it - they are there for a reason and save a lot of lives.

Some background - non-industry funded studies.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...poor-choices-but-the-media-shouldnt-help-them

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)31583-5/fulltext?rss=yes

 

[Flashback]

Well on my way to LHR now to start the holiday. Ankle is feeling good so have decided to take the risk and leave the crutches behind. Going to bypass assistance today as the BP increase isn't worth it - hopefully see you all on the other side with a smile on my dial :mrgreen:

 

[Flying mermaid]

Some background - non-industry funded studies.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...poor-choices-but-the-media-shouldnt-help-them

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)31583-5/fulltext?rss=yes

Thank-you for taking the trouble to find that. Dr FM feeds me things as well and made me read the whole Cochrane review on statins. At the end of the day you have to look at the whole risk profile and both she and my doctor are supportive of my decision to not take statins.

 

[beefarmer]

Hereditary factors are so important with all of these cardio-vascular related issues. My own thoughts are that if your family tree has no serious heart related, and stroke related issues, then a reading of 6 or under is good. There are folks that can eat nothing but fast food and probably show little signs of cholesterol related problems. Same with the guy who smokes eighty a day and is 85years old. Exceptions do occur and you weigh up the risk factors. Good old fashioned aspirin is being used to thin the blood. My colleague asked why I was taking it since I had no familial issues. I said because it helps with preventing bowel cancer and is simple and cheap as an insurance policy. I stopped it as he pointed out that my risk factors are minimal and don't match my risk of a cranial bleed. Similarly my stomach soreness disappeared.

You just have to be careful and sensible in all of these issues. Mine has been 5.5 for ages. Maybe it's the antioxidants in the red wine I consume that give me a fine picture of health.

Flying mermaid above must have got in with a similar idea in this minute. Risk-benefit is a universal concept applying to a lot of things.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Well on my way to LHR now to start the holiday. Ankle is feeling good so have decided to take the risk and leave the crutches behind. Going to bypass assistance today as the BP increase isn't worth it - hopefully see you all on the other side with a smile on my dial :mrgreen:

Excellent - sounds as though you are on the mend! Hope all goes well and you have a fabulous holiday!

 

[Flying mermaid]

Mine has been 5.5 for ages. Maybe it's the antioxidants in the red wine I consume that give me a fine picture of health.

Damn - that's what I am missing! Better start drinking red wine. :mrgreen:

 

[Pushka]

5.7 was flagged as high in my recent test.

 

[cove]

You get used to some red readings in your blood tests if you have had some issues over your life. Do remember that people who live their lives in a miserable **** on the liver way don't tend to live long.....it just feels like that to people who live with them.

 

[Pushka]

You get used to some red readings in your blood tests if you have had some issues over your life. Do remember that people who live their lives in a miserable **** on the liver way don't tend to live long.....it just feels like that to people who live with them.

I've had some doozies recently. In the recent one the score was so high the lab said they had no idea how to interpret it! Lucky the rheumatologist is used to such things.

My liver tests are very low. I clearly need to drink more alcohol.

 

[suze2000]

5.7 was flagged as high in my recent test.

I presume you are talking about total cholesterol? If so, for women, the recommended fasting range is <5.5 (for men, I think it's <6 or 6.5. I forget, because I'm not a man. )

That said, I would not have thought statins a good idea unless you were well over 6, pushing 7, because of the possible side effects.

 

[Pushka]

I presume you are talking about total cholesterol? If so, for women, the recommended fasting range is <5.5 (for men, I think it's <6 or 6.5. I forget, because I'm not a man. )

That said, I would not have thought statins a good idea unless you were well over 6, pushing 7, because of the possible side effects.

Surprisingly these labs did not give the usual hdl/ldl/tri levels. I have a few auto immune issues happening now that pushes me into the treatment area.