High cholesterol/high blood pressure

Interesting views on here. I take 1.5mg of Indamamide for blood pressure, which is controlled.

Cholesterol levels within the accepted ranges but one of the new Practitioners at my surgery mithering me about triglyceride level of 2.1 and wanting me to take more statins. I currently have 2 per week. On the British Heart Foundation website it says up to 2.3 is ok for triglyceride level.

Never been told about triglycerides before - anyone else in the same boat?

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Oops. She didn't smoke or drink. She walked every day, rarely ate sweets, cakes or junk food. She took vitamins, even brought her own food to office parties. She died of cancer aged 52.

I worked with a lady who was extremely health conscious. She didn't

But Judy54, she mustn’t get cross when she gets replies that don’t suit her narrative.

Yes definitely a personal choice based on professional advice. Do I take the tablets, do I have the operation etc. If it were me yes I would take them if they helped to prevent a stroke/heart attack. This is also why I have the Covid and flu injections every year, it is all about precaution. A lot of sound advice on here but ultimately the OP must do what she thinks is right for her, no matter what any of us say we can't make up her mind for her.

foxie, I, too, am a little saddened when people who are fortunate enough to enjoy excellent health attribute this exclusively to their wise choices and behaviours.
I understand that there is a relationship between lifestyle and illness but nothing , absolutely nothing , my daughter could do will restore her non - working pancreas.
She is active, eats a very healthy diet with virtually no processed foods and no sugar .
She is alive and well, as is her little daughter, due to regular injections of insulin, for which I am profoundly grateful.
A friend, in the middle of gruelling treatment for a second ( different) cancer, seems to me the victim of rotten luck, not rotten lifestyle

I feel just a little bit annoyed when people "brag" about being fit and well and never needing any regular medication. As if everyone who has a chronic illness has contributed to their condition by eating a poor diet, not exercising or in some way deliberately neglecting their health. It's such a self righteous view. No one likes being ill, no one likes taking medication and no one likes the restrictions that often come with ill health. FGS instead of being self satisfied just be grateful if you stay well in later life!

Maybe, - but she was asking Who else has been put in a similar situation - and what way did you deal with it

So I suppose the truth is that almost nobody was in her position (feeling as she does).

This meant that she didn't really get the answers she was hoping for.

With you there Jaxjacky.

I did read the OP Notspaghetti but she/he has already made their mind up and shot down any differing opinions in a rather ill tempered manner.
So, I didn’t and don’t see the purpose.

I wouldn't touch statins myself. A healthy diet has always worked well for me, and good exercise. I'm 75 and never taken meds apart from paracetamol for the occasional headache. I don't blame you for being hesitant.

I think Cariad has been very lucky in that she has never had a serious condition where following an alternative regime is reasonably successful. Not having had serious illness is more to be thankful for, than being ‘proud of’. Are we to infer then that people who have been ill are somehow to blame?
I hope your luck holds, and your good health continues.

Cariad Has it not occurred to you that your father was fortunate to have those decades of life, even if he was ‘put through those things’.
My father died of a heart attack in 1976 and didn’t have a choice of whether he had any treatment or not. There wasn’t any.
He was 55, leaving my mother a widow at 53, never enjoyed what would have been a well-earned retirement, or saw any of his five grandchildren who he would have loved and who would have loved him.

She just wants us all to agree and thus validate her idiosyncratic views.

I don’t think this thread has been useful to anyone, not least to Cariadagain who started it. It also has a slightly bad tempered feel about which I haven’t met before on my GN threads. Cariad what more do you want from us? You asked your question in your original post and received lots of answers. You then proceeded (or sounded to me) to get quite aggressive towards posters who weren’t on the same wavelength as you. I ask again, what more do you want from us?

Jaxjacky she was asking if anyone else who felt like her had been in her position.

Who else has been put in a similar situation - and what way did you deal with it "once and for all...= end of".

Maybe if people had read that (at the end of the OP) they would see what she was asking.

For myself, I have found consultants and a GP who will work with me and help me manage the risks I'm happy with. It's not a once and final solution but it's not what was recommended either.

After all, nothing is risk free!

I think we all appreciate the right to choose, but I don’t understand why you started this thread?

David 49

I've seen all sorts going on heart-wise with every member of my direct family and heard of loads in less close ones. One thing I have seen too is the pressures relatives can put on people.

I knew this was what was happening - with my mother putting pressures on my father to accept HER decisions about HIS illness. I couldnt say anything and just had to sit and watch it - whilst generally letting him know my attitude was "You do you - you make your own decisions and don't let your wife/my mother make them for you". He got put through literally decades of all the "heart treatment" normal "run of events" - and so it's no wonder I'm very much of the mind that everyone should be "You do you" about things and I make no judgement either way. I just think "Their body = their choice".

"You do you" is basically my approach to pretty much every issue.

A 75 I have decided to pay for a cardiologist to check me out fully to make sure there are no unexpected events as far as possible - nothing is guaranteed!. He did advise Statins in addition to basic hypertension medication. Cost to me around £500 a year.

My father had an unexpected heart attack, he was over 80 but otherwise in good health

CariadAgain as the young say ,'You do you'. Believe what you want but don't expect others to agree.

There are indeed "real" online doctors to be found and I have found some - who are defo real doctors - up there that are not coming out with the "party line" - but are saying what they think/know of other approaches. I think we all learnt how to find them 2020 onwards - ie ones who do do research themselves personally. We had to - as a high proportion of doctors just transmitted what the Government said, rather than "I've investigated personally - and this is what I've found....".

Many of us have found ones who analyse what they're being told and then make up their own minds for themselves. Kudos to them for taking time out of their doubtless busy lives and being courageous enough to do so.

”When I cure the heart failure..” unfortunately heart failure isn’t curable, but it is manageable with the help of medication, which you are refusing, so best of luck!

My friend has had A fib and heart failure for 6 or 7 years, and is on medication - she leads a pretty normal life, and hopes to do so for many more years.

Obviously, we're all stupid and just believe real doctors rather than Dr Google. Good luck to you and your approach to health

NotSpaghetti

The trouble is, foxie, each time someone decides not to take advice they still need that advice to work out if they want to follow it.

The idea that people who often don't take advice shouldn't seek it in the first place is just silly.

We all like to know what a doctor/consultant thinks so that we are able to make a decision!

Absolutely!

I now know what lines they're thinking along, that their approach is one of "tell me what to do - and expect me to obey", rather than "Present the options to the patient and patient decides what to do out of available options". I have the impression that, in their mind, there is the "One Route" and I had expected to be given options/told prognosis (and not just a doom-laden "You could have a stroke....as well as a heart attack""). All 3 medics involved had gone into medicine for all the right reasons as far as I could see - ie to help people. So their comments were indeed given due consideration.

I've already found they underestimate White Coat Syndrome. I knew about that anyway - and they told me it adds 5 points to the top reading. Errrr....nope....in my case they told me the top reading was 190 - I wondered why the little nurse went a bit white and so I asked her!!! (That is very high!) and when they did say to me "Read yours at home - 3 times daily - and no...do NOT do it when you know you feel calmer". Clue for home readings coming out high still - but around 140 - not the 190 at the hospital. So my White Coat Syndrome personally is an added 50 points!!!

There's stuff that they didn't ask about and I have recently developed what I thought was an unrelated symptom - and my own reading tells me that it could very well be related and it's one of the things heart failure can do to people. Well - at least that knocks that particular ailment off my "To Do" list and I'm not going to waste my time specifically focusing on that and will think "When I cure the heart failure - that should vanish too automatically".

I always want to know/indeed have been trained to ask for "both sides of the coin". Comes from being an ex-Quaker I guess - ie one of the ways of thinking is "There are always at least two sides to any question.....try and find out objective facts about a situation....and then make up your own mind. We anticipate you're an intelligent person". Yep....the church where I found a very factual/objective book in the "library" about recreational drug-taking. It was divided exactly 50% evenly - with the pros on the one hand and the cons on the other hand and then you were left to think for yourself. The plus side sounded interesting "You may have a nice trip". The minus side told you the costs/the health hazards/etc/etc. I read my way through both sides objectively - and then decided not to take any recreational drugs ever. Correct decision - in West Wales one meets a lot of former druggies.....well I certainly do anyway...and yep...I can see how wrecked their bodies and minds often are.