 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all of you fit and healthy skiers...
We all should know the symptoms of a stroke … Droopy face, slurred speech etc.
We see regular ads on TV from the Stroke Society explaining what to watch for.
But it's better to avoid it altogether by keeping a watch on your blood pressure.
There may be other things we could check, but I think blood pressure is fundamental and easy.
Your blood pressure can be brought under control by medication.
I hope this helps someone else.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@DrLawn, blood pressure is a weird thing.
I "suffer" from white coat syndrome. Regularly measured at 180/140 in Drs' offices (other than my lovely GP who always gets 120/80).
Mrs U bought a new monitor recently and there was a 30mg difference between straight hand and relaxed but curled hand. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@under a new name, I now have to take Chocks seniors BP every day. It’s amazing how much it varies even trying to recreate the same conditions each day. 15 mins in the chair, pre coffee, legs uncrossed etc.
When I had annual medical it was the first thing they checked. I had normally just been flying then biked across the airfield. Ooooh it’s a bit high, wait 10 mins - oooh it’s perfect.
I often wonder how many people are treated for non existent high blood pressure.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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There are many factors that can temporarily alter your BP during measurement- talking, being talked to, not resting before measurement, wrong cuff size, measuring over clothing, a recent large meal, smoking before measurement, drinking alcohol before measurement, even needing to empty your bladder. I prefer my patients to take 7 days of home BP readings before their appointment with me.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Cheers Guys,
I thought I would just mention it as a TIA or a full-Blown stroke can be quite life changing.
If there is any way we can avoid such problems we should take notice.
We wish we had been a bit more proactive when my wife had hers taken last year at a pharmacy while we were having a covid boost.
He said .. "Your blood pressure is quite high", I can't remember if he suggested she attempt to visit her GP.
But a few months later she suffered a stroke which has been quite a life changing event.
It’s been a full 6 months now since she has been able to walk properly unaided.
She feels that she will never recover now, so I'm trying to be as +ve as I can an cajole her into keeping up the heap of exercises.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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So sorry to hear about your wife, @DrLawn. Good job she has you to help and encourage her rehab exercises. It must be a slow and hard road. Strokes are truly terrifying, because they are often so disabling. But the factors leading to high risk of stroke are complex. I have low (around 90/60) BP but am high risk for strokes. I take anti-coagulants daily, and religiously but am under no illusion that I am safe from the risk.
We can seek medical advice, and take it, but........
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@DrLawn,
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So sorry to hear about your wife, @DrLawn. Good job she has you to help and encourage her rehab exercises. It must be a slow and hard road.
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+1
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Also.... it's important to acknowledge that hardly any of us are doing "all we can" to protect our health. I'm good about my pills, and I keep my weight under control, but I should do more exercise, drink less wine and eat more healthily.
When something goes wrong, chastising yourself about what you should have done differently doesn't help. Shit happens. My dad died of pancreatic cancer (also in his lungs by the end). He had smoked all his life (pancreatic cancer is rare in non smokers). I hugely admired the manner of his death, made easier by an excellent GP-led palliative care team and generous dollops of diamorphine. He never complained - which is admirable - but what was even more admirable was that he never expressed any regret for having smoked. He made his bed and he lay on it without complaint.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@DrLawn, sorry to hear about your wife. It can indeed be life-changing, and shows the importance of being serious about your health.
A pharmacy-led Hypertension case-finding service was commissioned a few years ago to encourage anyone with high BP to visit their GP for treatment. As part of that, some pharmacies (but not all) have access to 24 hour BP measuring. IMO, it should go further, and have the ability to prescribe medication, Pharmacists leaving university from 2026 will all be prescribers, but it could all be done already under existing legislation. If medication is prescribed this could then be passed onto GP for any necessary tests, including checking for renal failure, cholesterol and diabetes, which all increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Uncomplicated patients could be passed back to pharmacist for monitoring of blood pressure and increasing doses of medication.
However, the BMA passed a motion at their conference yesterday asking the government to decommission the service, as they maintain it is increasing their workload. Is this because pharmacies are identifying more of their patients with hypertension, or is it beacuse of inappropriate referrals back to the GP- the jury is out.
I have a weekly hypertension clinic in the GP practice I work in, and hope I am already making a difference to outcomes, but I'd actually have loved to be doing this in community pharmacy too. Not just identifying people with hypertension, but the ability to treat them too.
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| chocksaway wrote: |
When I had annual medical it was the first thing they checked. I had normally just been flying then biked across the airfield. Ooooh it’s a bit high, wait 10 mins - oooh it’s perfect.
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But it’s ”perfect” after 10 minutes, right?
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I often wonder how many people are treated for non existent high blood pressure.
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Zero?
Usually, anyone who’s treated for high blood pressure are advised to do at-home measurements. That would remove the “white coat syndrome” too. (My Mom has both: high blood pressure under good control but also “white coat syndrome”). So if someone’s ended up being treated for “non-existing” high blood pressure, they haven’t take control of their own health.
Sorry to hear about DrLawn’s wife experience. Do I understand the very high blood pressure came on suddenly since the last regular annual check-up?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@abc, you are making assumptions there that there is an annual check-up for all. There often isn't.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@abc,
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That would remove the “white coat syndrome” too.
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Not always. After many years of testing my own, I suddenly became my own white coat and no matter how much I tried to relax before taking it, I couldn't. Yeah, obviously I'm a bit of head case... anyway I now get it taken every six months by a lovely healthcare assistant at my GP practice, a woman with an almost impenetrable Scots accent. After she's wittered at me incomprehensibly for a bit, it's always normal on the third reading. Job done. Though I do take BP medication.
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Given how easily BP can be affected by quite small things, maybe all the noise about "stress reduction" really is important? We all need to try to stop worrying about things over which we have no control. Or even the things we can control. An hour ago I was chiding myself (very mildly) that the only "useful" thing I've done today is nearly clear up the kitchen after cooking dinner for family last night. I have also cleaned the double oven but that's pyrolytic.  And done 23 minutes on my rower. Not been out of the house. Lunch was 4 butter pecan cookies and a glass of milk.
Now I'm feeling completely content with my day, unproductive and idle as it has been.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Hells Bells wrote: |
| @abc, you are making assumptions there that there is an annual check-up for all. There often isn't. |
I’m making the assumption that snowhead families all have annual check-up.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Well, @abc, I'd say you're almost certainly wrong!
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Poster: A snowHead
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If you are over 45 and under 75, you should be invited for one every 5 years, unless you have a long-term health condition already.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Thank you guys, for all the great input on this.
Just to fill you in, my dear wife, we didn't think was a likely candidate for a stroke.
She was a regular walker going on long walks every Wednesday & Thursday to keep fit.
She was carefull about what she was eating and was about the correct weight for a 74 year lady.
She had given up smoking in 1996 (when parobolic skis came along).
Hardly any alcohol.
But something in her genes was giving her high cholesterol.
Now, both of us check our BP each weekend as we get up in the morning.
I'm quite steady on about 120ish over something or other.
She is usually hovering around the 141 mark.
When she gets up and hobbles to the kitchen she has a "Full Pharma Breakfast" of 4 different pills..
Blood thinners, statins and a couple of others. Then at bedtime another statin topup.
Monday morning consists of a trip to a great Physio shop for 45 minutes of trying to get her walking better.
The rest of the week I can usually get her to the gym for 15 minutes of peddaling a video bike along the beach in Barcelona. (We are going to visit Barcelona when she is able and call in at all the beach cafe's we pass on our ride.)
She was over the moon last weekend when she managed to "Walk" into town (about 1/2 mile) using what we call her stroller. (its a walking frame with 4 wheels)
She got there with a short break on the way, had a coffee when she got there and made it home.
We tried to repeat the challange next day, and although she managed it we knew we had over done it.
It has set her back for a few days.
BTW: the consultant, when asked, "What did I do wrong?", said you should have never smoked.
Her BP when she was in hospital was bouncing around the 180 mark.
She has never been the sort of person to bother the GP surgery for much and where we live ...
If you need to speak to a doctor, you can book a telephone appointment for about 3 weeks time.
I did't want to start an argument about anything here, I just wanted to post a warning that it's probably worth getting a blood pressure monitor and just find a few minutes a week or month to check that you are not in the "Red Zone".
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Hells Bells wrote: |
| If you are over 45 and under 75, you should be invited for one every 5 years, unless you have a long-term health condition already. |
5 years! That’s a long time!
Even my relatives in China are entitled (though not exactly “invited”) to have one every 2 years. Every year for those over a certain age (not sure exactly the number, but I would have qualified if I were a resident)
Also, maybe not 45, but by 50 (or 55, given the 5 year gap in check-up), how many are still without some “conditions”?
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Sun 24-11-24 19:19; edited 2 times in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@DrLawn, and your warning is being heeded. Most people don't bother their GP until something happens. Genetics plays a significant part in cardiovascular disease. That's why you have 90 year olds still smoking in the care home garden, 60 year olds with dementia, and 40 year olds with heart attacks and strokes. Lifestyle does play a part and can make some differences.
My best wishes to you and most of all to Mrs Lawn on her road to recovery.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@abc, over 75s will be invited for one every year, but anyone has access to a GP at any time (even if they do have to wait for an appointment)
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Thank you so much @Hells Bells, your symathy is appreciated.
and that goes for @Origen, @abc, @KSH, too.
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I (over 75....) have an appointment for a check with my GP in a couple of weeks. First in several years and I have heart failure. I have not had a medication review or any monitoring of my condition for some years. If I was concerned I'd have taken the initiative myself but I have a slight fear of being taken off my expensive medication if I seem too well.... 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Hells Bells wrote: |
| @abc, over 75s will be invited for one every year, but anyone has access to a GP at any time (even if they do have to wait for an appointment) |
In the US, the recommendation is every 2 years before 50(‘ish’, it’s a while back for me now, so my memory maybe inaccurate), once every year past that.
I distinctly remember NOT going for the ‘annual’ when I was told to increase my check-up frequency. But now, I try to fit one in semi-annually due to a “condition”. Even though I’m in otherwise nearly perfect health, it’s something that can be significant if it comes back. (Hence my question in my post regarding the absent of “existing conditions” for anyone over 50)
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@Origen, you should be getting one annually especially with your medication and condition. I am guessing that you will also be on apixaban or something similar. or that you should be having blood tests at least annually and more frequently as you get older. Make sure they also record your weight and height. Ask to speak to the pharmacist attached to the practice if you are concerned about your medication. You should also be having blood tests for that expensive medication, and no-one should be taking you off it. It's not that expensive compared to the cost of hospital care. No input into your care from a cardiologist or specialist nurse?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
No input into your care from a cardiologist or specialist nurse?
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Not for ages. The cardis in QA hospital discharged me from their care during lockdown (though I was told I could go to the nurse specialists in the HF team if I was concerned - they are excellent, and it's thanks to them I'm on Entresto, but they're overburdened). I have had blood tests, which presumably have not given cause for concern. But I'm looking forward to seeing the GP. He's new to me, as mine retired, and the word on the street is that he's good. I'm fortunate in that my general capacity is far better than my dismal ejection fraction would indicate!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Origen, I am sure if your GP thinks you need further input from them, he/she will recommend it. Good that your blood tests are up to date.
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You know it makes sense.
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My blood pressure is pretty high (varies 125 to 150 average) but my heart rate is pretty low 40 to 50. Got a pressure monitor and get checked up at 6 monthly intervals by the GP. You can get a test done where they check no sign of internal organ damage is done. They are monitoring it and will give medication should it become necessary.
I had a meniscus tear done a year ago and it peaked at 215 (over what I can't remember) post op, the monitor is the hospital went mental, I felt absolutely fine though.
You may not feel at all unwell, not known as the silent killer for nothing.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Isn’t a blood pressure gauge a relatively inexpensive item? My Mom got one really early on and keeps a journal of the numbers. She got a new one a while back and will be giving the old one to her brother in China.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@abc, they aren't expensive.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@abc, In the UK the one my surgery uses is about £75, I bought the same model as theirs.
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