I'm still knocking around ...

[TeePee]

Good to hear it!

Also, that great advice for everyone approaching middle age. The warranty has expired, it's time to start looking at regular check up and taking care of yourself. Even simple things like High Blood Pressure, in your 30's can be managed and have no effect on life. Alternatively a decade of unnoticed damage leading to a quick and early death in your 40's or 50's. A few more decades of life purchased with an hour of your time every six months? That's a no-brainer.

Here's hoping for a few more decades of excellent forum posts from you Saracen!

[cptwhite_uk]

Im not old, Im 37.

I see dementia has already set in too....

[g8ina]

It was a quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail....

Im actually 69. Im still not old.

[neonplanet40]

Thank you for sharing Saracen and happy you're still posting your long posts They are part of the furniture so to speak!

[cptwhite_uk]

It was a quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail....

Im actually 69. Im still not old.

We're only as old as we feel g8ina, age is but a number.

[[GSV]Trig]

Getting old and growing up are two very different things...

[Saracen999]

Good to hear it!

Also, that great advice for everyone approaching middle age. The warranty has expired, it's time to start looking at regular check up and taking care of yourself. Even simple things like High Blood Pressure, in your 30's can be managed and have no effect on life. Alternatively a decade of unnoticed damage leading to a quick and early death in your 40's or 50's. A few more decades of life purchased with an hour of your time every six months? That's a no-brainer.

Here's hoping for a few more decades of excellent forum posts from you Saracen!

Thanks, TeePee.

Agreed on the blood pressure thing, too. I must've been, oh, 35-ish when a relative (that happened to be both a nurse, and have hypertension) asked when my BP was last checked. I thought about it and decided, probably never.

She ended that, and cheked it right then. High. Not hugely but certainly higher than 'normal'. We checked again a couple of days later, and still high. Well, we were on holiday in the US at the time so I was told, firmly, get a doctor's appointment when you get home and have it offially checked. The results, over a couple of visits and a couple of days, were again, high but not superhigh.

I've been on BP tablets ever since. The exact prescription has changed a few times over the years, but still, a couple of tablets daily and job done.

Thee alternative would have been just not noticing a problem existed. Hypertension isn't called the silent killer for no reason. It's pretty much symptomless. BUT .... if untreated, puts excessive wear on just about all major organs and is an open invitation to trouble with one or more, as the years go by.

My advice? EVEN IF YOUNG(-ish) get checked periodically. Once a year or two, at least. The nurse at a GP can do it, or you can buy your own (good) tester for kinda £25 and up. Mine was under £40 and isn't the cheapest GOOD one.

It just might save your life. Or a relative's. Lke mine did.

[[GSV]Trig]

I've had a few medical types explain that hypertension is like the plumbing in your house, it'll be fine for ages with high water pressure, and then one day it won't, and you'll spring a leak...

[cptwhite_uk]

I've had a few medical types explain that hypertension is like the plumbing in your house, it'll be fine for ages with high water pressure, and then one day it won't, and you'll spring a leak...

This is basically what happened to my father-in-law last September. He had high blood pressure, and since moving to the UK in 1996 never once visited a GP. We spend last summer with him on holiday, then 4 weeks later he died, he'd had a tear in his aorta after 20 years of ignoring the issue and not taking any medication to manage his blood pressure. He was still relatively young at 74. An amazing man - physics scientist at the frontier of new material manufacture, professor, and talented guitar played with a colourful life. Had he not brought his family to the UK I would have never met my wife...so yeah, get checked and sort out any issues before it's too late.

[[GSV]Trig]

Yeah, apparently high blood pressure doesnt go well with being overweight and doing that thing where you stop breathing when you sleep...
Should probs give the GP a call..

[Saracen999]

Yeah, apparently high blood pressure doesnt go well with being overweight and doing that thing where you stop breathing when you sleep...
Should probs give the GP a call..

Sleep Apnoea?

At the risk of sounding preachy .... yeah, you should give him a call. I get why you might "mañana" doing so, because yeah, he's probably going to go on about the "overweight" bit too. But, better than family waking up one day to find you didn't.


AAA, cptwhite_uk? Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm? Sorry to hear about that. Nasty. I''ve had both a friend and the Mum-in-Law suffer that, and they were both fortunate enough to survive it, against the odds. In both cases due to very prompt and substantial surgery. In the Mum-in-law's case, because she was actually in hospital when it happened, and the ward staff caught on to the event fast enough.

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, Trig, yeah, AAA is one of the potential risks. In both the cases I knew of, the 'victim' was "lucky" enough that the split occured where pressure from other organs kept it somewhat controlled, for long enough to get help. If it had occurred elsewhere on the aorta, the odds are the sufferer doesn't last long enough to get to hospital.

Am I trying to scare you? Yeah, a bit. But seriously, GET CHECKED. If you don't want the GP's lecture, at least go buy a decent blood pressure tester. I recommend the type with the upper-arm "cuff" not the wrist type, as they seem to be more accurate. The one I got was one of the M4 series by Omron, and imagine my surprise when a year or so later my GP replaced his old hand-pump-the-bulb type with, yup, Omron M4. They're not hard to find. I mean, even Argos carry them.

They're easy to use. Follow instructions, obviously, but basically, sit down, and while relaxed and "at rest", hold your arm at about chest height, and push the button. The definition of "normal" varies on a variety of factors but for a typical adult male, anything over 120/80 for an at rest reading, is going to be of concern. THe GP will probably want several readings over several days, not least because just sitting in the GP office having it done will stress some people enough to give an elevated reading. Alternatively, they might want a 24-hour monitor, which is just a simple tester your go about your normal life wearing for 24 hours.

You might even find a local pharmacy that offers free BP checks, and some workplaces do, too.

But if your readings, on average, are high then you really ought to take it seriously. And not just for blood pressure reasons. Especially if overweight, diabetes is another reason (and not the only one), but again if caught in time, the more unpleasant consequenes can be avoided, and very possibly simply by lifestyle changes. What generally doesn't happen, though, is that consequences can be avoided by pretending the issue doesn't exist.

If you end up on medication (and you might well not need it), even that is not particularly unpleasant. I can't say I noticed many, if any, side-effects after about 25 - 30 years of BP meds. But medication might not even prove to be required. You won't know unless you get yourself checked. So yeah, calling your GP is a good idea. It might well even save your life.

[[GSV]Trig]

Sleep Apnoea?

At the risk of sounding preachy .... yeah, you should give him a call. I get why you might "mañana" doing so, because yeah, he's probably going to go on about the "overweight" bit too. But, better than family waking up one day to find you didn't.

Its been a pretty busy year tbh, and didn't really know about the high BP until I did one of those 'Future Health' appointment things, she took my BP 3 times in the half hour I was there as apparently the first reading was a bit high..
78/102
73/102
58/102
I hear that the 102 bit should be about 60...
Could also explain the deterioration in eyesight over the last 2 years as well...

[Saracen999]

Its been a pretty busy year tbh, and didn't really know about the high BP until I did one of those 'Future Health' appointment things, she took my BP 3 times in the half hour I was there as apparently the first reading was a bit high..
78/102
73/102
58/102
I hear that the 102 bit should be about 60...
Could also explain the deterioration in eyesight over the last 2 years as well...

Got those the right way round? I'd expect to see the first one higher .... at least, presuming you're in the UK. Usually, the two readings are systolic then diastolic, that essentially being BP when the heart contracts (i.e. pumps) then BP when it relaxes, i.e. the pause between pumps.

I'm not a doctor, and this is probably starting to get a bit close to where mods will class it as medical, so beyond "if in ANY doubt, talk to a GP", I'm reluctant to go much further. If they are actually the other way round, i.e. the 102 is systolic, then they don't strike me as high. Or putting that slightly clearer, high enough that you're likely to end up on medication.

But, it's a simplistic perspective and a GP is going to be looking at other factors too, like weight, diabetes, possibly want a look at blood chemistry looking for things outside standard ranges. And so on. I was told my cancer meds are supressing potassium and magnesium. The solution? Include more foodstuffs containing those, which I'm glad to say, meant a banana a day, and strawberries. Wot a shame.

But, like I said, I'M NOT A DOCTOR. High BP is a pernicious little beggar, shows very few if any symptoms, or at least, easily recognisable ones, and can cause serious damage if left untreated. My advice, to ANYONE, is if in doubt, get it properly tested. It doesn't have to be a GP, and they're certainly busy enough as it is BUT, high BP is not to be taken lightly. If in doubt, get professional testing.

And I think I'd best leave it at that, before I collect a mod-slap.

[[GSV]Trig]

Yup, thats the right way round, and tbf, I have had various friends that are nurses and other random medical types telling me that I need to go see a GP, as you say, tomorrow....

[Saracen999]

Well, potentially low blow incoming ....

I ask this as a hypothetical, not expecting an answer on a public forum, but .... do you have kids? Wife? If so .... well, I'm sure you caan guess where I'm going with that.

It's bit bit of a diversion, but a close friend of my wife's had (past tense) a husband that failed to wake up one morning, aged about 35. It turns out he had an aneurysm and it killed him. His was in the brain and, allegedly, was probably a congenital thing that had been there since birth, and could have gone pretty much any time. To the best of my knowldge, BP wasn't a factor with him, but if it had been, that alone could have triggered an aneurysm. He left 3 kids, and a pregnant wife, and what got him was a condition probably only detectable with the type of head scan that doesn't generally happen unless there's a valid reason to suspect a problem. In other words, he had no real chance to see it coming, because his condition had literally zero visible symptoms, until it hit.

High blood pressure is a condition that, once detected, isn't that hard to treat. In my case, it took two or three combinations of tablets to get the 'right' balance. kno there's been advances in available treatments in recent years but personally, my meds have been stable for a good few years and I'm reluctant to mess with that balance while it's working.

Also, I've had really no side-effects to speak of. It's literally take a couple of tablets evey morning, and get on with life. Oh, with one exception .... one of my tablets is not recommended in combination with eating grapefruit. IIRC, it kinda negaes the meds. So, when I fancy grapefruit, I have an orange, or maybe melon, or even pineapple, instead. Drastic side-effect, eh?

[[GSV]Trig]

Got an appointment with the doc at 1050...