The health and fitness thread about random things

[T42]

Was daft enough today to have an espresso just before riding, and had very mild angina when heart was running over the cardiologist's theoretical max. Nothing startling, but enough to make me reduce the effort.

At my last stress test I had a "discreet" depression of the ST segment when I went over "max" revs.  In previous years the cardiologist would have pushed it a wee bit further then sent me for an angiogram + probable stent, but that would have meant an hour or so in what's joyfully called reanimation here, and I reckon they don't want odd bodies cluttering the place up just because they want to pedal a bit hard.

I reckon I'll try the vasodilator the cardiologist recommended.  If it clobbers the effort too much I can always have an espresso or two.

[rafletcher]

Bugger. My gall bladder has started complying again, after 7 years of virtually no symptoms. Now I’ve had discomfort - although thankfully not the full-on agony - twice in 2 days  .

Here’s hoping it passes again before bedtime. And a wake-up call to start eating sensibly again.

[Lightning Phil]

Was daft enough today to have an espresso just before riding, and had very mild angina when heart was running over the cardiologist's theoretical max. Nothing startling, but enough to make me reduce the effort.

If you don’t mind me asking. What percentage of your max HR is this theoretical max set by cardiologist?

[matthew]

I have developed a lump / cyst on my elbow. It's not quite on the point but it is close. In fact it is located directly over the wire twists that secured the ends of the wire when I had the fracture of my olecranon pinned.

I wouldn't think much of it except a) new lump and b) being over the wire it interacts when I put my elbow on an armrest which is uncomfortable.

Anyway GP Econsult form completed and I will see what they say. I wouldn't mind if the answer is take out the wire as after 15 years I doubt the bones still need it there.

[hellymedic]

I suspect removing the wire might well cure your problem.

Wire removal is not usually an urgent/high-priority procedure and NHS surgical waiting lists are extremely long at present. Things might literally come to a head (& change urgency/priority) if a wire pokes through the skin or there are signs of infection.

[matthew]

Well I was actually asked to do a face to face consultation at the GP! Diagnosis is a Bursitis and give it a few weeks whilst trying to avoid aggravation but leaning on it.

[mrcharly-YHT]

A week's holiday, first time in ages. Daughter, son-in-law and baby grandson are here.

So I get sodding tonsillitis.

Not serious enough yet to need antibiotics.

[Gattopardo]

So was at the docs today, having bloods taken and a general chat.  Had my blood preassure taken last week and it was very high 160/110 high, today had a similar high reading even after cycling 16miles to get to the docs. 

As there were other things going on they gave be something for anxiety....15 minutes later my BP was in the normal range and I felt calmer.  Cycling back was interesting.

[MikeFromLFE]

I drove almost the entire length of the A14 yesterday. This is the furthest I've driven in around 2 years.
I woke up in the night with everything aching to the point I was wondering if I had flu. Plus, dehydration from only stopping once for a coffee (well , Starbucks) somewhere near Cambridge.
This morning it's just my neck and shoulders.
Moral is - pace yourself back to normal.

[T42]

Got a hilly hundred km tomorrow with a bunch of chums, first group ride since March 2020, so I did a short loop today to get my legs moving.  Was tempted into overtaking a couple of younger riders on the only decent hill of the ride, and now I've got a phunny pain to one side of my left Achilles tendon.  As it says in 1 Corinthians ch 13, bugger, and furthermore drat.

Just rubbed a few ccs of ketoprofen gel into it to see what happens. Don't want to miss the ride, we're aiming i.a. at our favourite Italian coffee & ice-cream joint in Dahn, but I might miss out a few of the gratuitous cols El Prez pencilled in - since he got his buzzy eBike he's a devil for them.

[Gattopardo]

One for the docs, why would elevated sodium appear in a blood test then in a blood test within 16 hours of the first be not as elevated but still out of normal range? 

As a diabetic, on diabetic medication and ssri so am really excessively sweaty as well as a diabetic med that make me thirsty and pee alot.  Monitoring the colour of my pee to see if I am correctly hydrated.

Is there any thing to be concerned about or change so this won't happen again?

[hellymedic]

Do you know the glucose level at the time of these measurements?

A high sodium can indicate dehydration.

Water follows osmotic gradients and big shifts in osmolality can shove/suck water in & out of vital organs & cause mischief.

Potassium & glucose follow each other into the cells, under the influence of insulin, and sodium tends to move in the opposite direction to potassium.

Potassium levels are critical to healthy functioning, sodium less so.

It's all something of a merry-go-round,

I'd be interested to know your sodium level when your hydration is adequate and blood sugar is within healthy limits. I suspect it's OK...

[Gattopardo]

Do you know the glucose level at the time of these measurements?

A high sodium can indicate dehydration.

Water follows osmotic gradients and big shifts in osmolality can shove/suck water in & out of vital organs & cause mischief.

Potassium & glucose follow each other into the cells, under the influence of insulin, and sodium tends to move in the opposite direction to potassium.

Potassium levels are critical to healthy functioning, sodium less so.

It's all something of a merry-go-round,

I'd be interested to know your sodium level when your hydration is adequate and blood sugar is within healthy limits. I suspect it's OK...

First time there has been an issue that I know of.  In the sense my sodium levels has never been mentioned before.

First time I have had a call from an out of hours gp, and be told to go to A&E, if I can't get there by myself an ambulance would be arranged.  Glad I took a book.

[hellymedic]

We medics seldom get worked up about sodium levels, unless they are high in babies or very low in adults.

This GP had not seen  you and was playing dafe.

My instinct would be to watch, wait & repeat the test, observing contemporaneous glucose & potassium levels.

[Gattopardo]

Please do not take this as complaining, just a bit scary.

[hellymedic]

I don't! Suspect Dr was scared about 'the numbers' too!

We were taught to 'treat the patient, not the numbers' BUT

Some numbers, like potassium levels, might be dangerous and won't show in the patient's appearance.
Remote consultations have obvious limitations...

[chrisbainbridge]

We have peppermint in The garden growing luxuriously so we have taken to drinking peppermint tea. Which is great until the laxative effect becomes obvious.

I am probably empty enough that I could have a high quality colonoscopy with no further prep!!

[hellymedic]

Partner drinks peppermint tea (Sainsbury's bags) and isn't so affected.
Maybe he needs more....

[Gattopardo]

We have peppermint in The garden growing luxuriously so we have taken to drinking peppermint tea. Which is great until the laxative effect becomes obvious.

I am probably empty enough that I could have a high quality colonoscopy with no further prep!!

Picolax?

[T42]

Isn't he one of the characters in Asterix?

[chrisbainbridge]

We have peppermint in The garden growing luxuriously so we have taken to drinking peppermint tea. Which is great until the laxative effect becomes obvious.

I am probably empty enough that I could have a high quality colonoscopy with no further prep!!

Picolax?

pretty much the same effect, but gentler

[Ashaman42]

Well it couldn't be less gentle or you'd turn inside out.

[giropaul]

I don't think we have one of these in here.

Me leg is acting funny. Sometimes it spasms. Sometimes it goes on strike and goes floppy. Always when I'm walking and occasionally in public, which is amusing/embarrassing/'ucking ridiculous. Pick one.

GP decides it might be a problem with my knee. Well, unlikely, I have knees like a bullock (figuratively speaking). More likely my damaged/weak lower back. Never mind, another Physio referral will help anyway.

I had similar. After scans etc ( that did diagnose a completely borked back ) some googling led me to a University study, and this suggested Naproxen as the culprit. Sure enough, it was.
A little later I was in a pharmacy and in conversation with the pharmacist he expressed surprise that I was so up to date. He’d only just qualified and there was some mention of the issue in his final weeks.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I usually get a little bit of hay fever in June or July. This year it's gone weird. I go camping and it clears up; come back home and my eyes itch and nose streams. It's not a cold and it's not something like dust, as it's seasonal, so I presume the culprit pollen is something in gardens or roadsides. There's a plane tree opposite, and they're not commonly seen out of towns, so perhaps it's that.

[Kim]

I usually get a little bit of hay fever in June or July. This year it's gone weird. I go camping and it clears up; come back home and my eyes itch and nose streams. It's not a cold and it's not something like dust, as it's seasonal, so I presume the culprit pollen is something in gardens or roadsides. There's a plane tree opposite, and they're not commonly seen out of towns, so perhaps it's that.

This was my childhood.  We'd go on holiday for two weeks and I'd maybe sneeze occasionally when exposed to grass.  Then on the way home we'd turn off the M25 and my eyes would start streaming again.

I had it similarly badly as a PSO in Canterbury, but not while living in Brizzle, Sheffield or, strangely, Newham.  Middle Earth is somewhere in the middle, and seems to have a strong pollution factor to it.  And of course Highgate (That London) is where it all began.

I've concluded that I'm allergic to Conservative-voting areas.  Hypothesis that Tory voters are more inclined to doing Gardening...