[Pat]

Here's the latest BBC Link about Strokes & BP. http://news.bbc.co.u...lth/8562830.stm

[Tina]

Thanks pat very interesting xx

[David]

A good article – a tad late for me but hopefully others who have or suspect occasional BP excursions will get their GP to pay more attention.

[Colin]

Thanks Pat,

No one knows if they have high or low BP unless it is checked on a regular basis, and most gp's in the country look at you as if you have suddenly grown horns if you ask for it to be checked at least the ones I have visited are too busy checking their computer screens and checking to see how many patients are left.If you want bp checked you have to make a separate appointment and have the nurse check it and then they parlez with the gp who administers the prescription for medication if you need it.

In comparison the first thing gp does in europe is to greet you at the door and while you are getting seated he/she has the stethescope and bp monitor at the ready.It doesn't take long and doesn't hurt.

It's ok for the stroke association and others to set out guidelines but like the highway code they are seldom adhered to. Furthermore who would police it or enforce it lol.

Cheers

Colin

[barry]

hi personally would like to see machines in chemist where you can put your arm in and it gives you a ticket that tells you what your bp is
ok am living in 30.000 century

[Colin]

It's ok Barry I'm often asked if am on a different planet lol


Colin

[Brian M A]

Hi all,

BLOOD PRESSURE

It is all very good them going on TV and web sites saying this is new research, but is it? Colin your right Guidelines are just that guidelines, and unless you're monitored every time you go to your GP blood pressure is impossible to control, it has to be read every time you visit, by your doctor and the nurse not just one of them. And a correct reading is done three times with a break in between each reading for you to relax. Blood Pressure has to be controlled and they have known this for years and anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that a fluctuation of a pump is not good for you..and that is what blood pressure is a record of how the heart is pumping the blood around your body..

My doctor takes my blood pressure every time I see him, and if I see the nurse in between seeing him she does it as well, and I am given the readings so I can keep my own record, I know not all doctors do this even in my area, some even say it is not their job..My blood is tested regularly to see if the drugs I am taking are being used as they should..

I really do get fed up with all this bloody hype on TV and by the Stroke Association jumping on the band wagon every time the horse has bolted, saying they are doing this and doing that, its about time they were doing something the evidence has been out there for years about stroke. But for years it was classed as an elderly person illness and you were just left to get on with it or die without any support whatsoever. And in some cases that is still happening today.

And seeing that the Stroke Association has been around for more than 100 years, its about time the horse was stopped from bolting...

TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack)

How to treat TIA.s has been known about for over 50 years yes 50 YEARS, and look at all the hype last year about that, they should hang their heads in shame not pat themselves on the back for the disgusting way they have treated stroke survivors and carers for years.

AF (Arterial Fibrillation)

Blood Pressure is a big risk factor so is AF Atrial Fibrillation and that is quicker and easier to test for than blood pressure all the doctor has to do as you sit there while he tries to work out Microsoft is take your pulse, if irregular report it so you're seen by an expert and the correct tests carried out..

And another point for you all to think about, did you all know that doctors get paid extra for doing some of these simple tests and it all comes out of your areas health budget..I always thought doctors were already paid to treat us to the best of their ability under their contract. So now you may understand why there are not always funds for the help we really need.

Barry a lot of Chemists now do free blood pressure checks just ask if yours does..

[Colin]

Brian well said young man,

I can tell by your post that you are very passionate about this topic, and in this so called civil rights and zero tolerance scenarios that are popping up all around the place especially Doctors Group Practices, from the time you pass the 'Gestapo' at the door, and dare ask to see a doctor, via the triage nurse, heaven help you if you make a request for a bp check or anything else because you are immediately classified as a troublesome patient with attitude and the zero tolerance flag is raised. Crikey that was a bit of a rant lol.

The last time I visited my cardiologist he refused point blank to check my bp saying that I would be stressed out with visiting him, hmmmm if I had been any more relaxed I would have been horizontal lol. I shook his hand and thanked him for his valuable time and his hands were all clammy and sweaty I suggested that he should have his bp checked as he seemed a little stressed out himself,oops lol.

As you so rightly say a lot of pharmacy's do simple bp and warfarin clinic tests nowadays but you have to ask for this service and it is done on a referral by gp. hmmm back to the holder of the key to gateway of primary care.

Enough from me lol

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Colin

[Pat]

The Stroke Association has priority over all issues(thats the impression I get) concerning Stroke and with all their best intentions the message is still the same...Old Person's Illness. The advert showing FAST is the picture and impression that is given to all viewers...just dial 999 and all will be well. Yet one-third of stroke survivors are disabled. The advert showing Social Care where an elderley lady who stroked is being taken care of by a carer. So again we have the elderley person.

I stroked due to High BP, which has left me disabled. But guess what...my GP hasnt seen me for 2 years! Ive recently been asked to go back for a review and only because Headway wrote to her to give her a short report on me. When I went to the hospital for botox the BP machine wasnt working...so no BP taken. I have a BP Machine at home but how accurate is it? I rang Boots up to see if they calibrate BP Machines and nope...so how do you know if your readings are accurate fluctuate or low. And the question of 'white coat syndrome' always arises!

[Colin]

All valid points Pat,
And I think the answer still lies with the first port of call and that is the gp's door. There may be a small minority of group practices who give preventative care but on the whole it is stable door medicine, whether it is due to lack of staffing, budget cuts or whatever, Money is the ruler. In a way the British public have themselves to blame for allowing the abuse of the nhs system with scroungers, loafers and not forgetting our new British subjects who get everything and have never contributed a penny, and the flood gates open. Unfortunately the real sufferers still suffer and are left with an inadequate service and still face the gestapo when trying to rehabilitate.

I had my 'invasion' due to an anomaly from birth so I'm told but I also had major heart surgery at 8yrs old which scarred my brain and caused irreperable damage due to poor filtration of heart by-pass machine whilst under going surgery. If that anomaly had been present you would have thought the surgeons would have spotted that at time of surgery, can anyone answer that question,,,, nope because modern technology is advanced since my op and most of the operating team have passed on.

Contact the manufacturer of machine Pat and they should have a supplier or some means whereby your monitor can be callibrated.

Oops ranting again lol,,, better watch my bp lol



Colin

[Pat]

Another gem about BP in Daily Mail today which Barry has posted. I think its a repeat on the previous article. However there is an interesting sub-post called The Key Questions contained in this post

[Brian M A]

Hi All,

Good subject this, Colin your right about surgeries giving good advice or a crap service depending on where you live, there is good practice out there but god help us if they all get it right, that will never do..the wide open stable door is the biggest problem we have, our health service is so wide open to abuse and we all know this, but the powers that be walk around with their heads in the sand..we need to find some way of speaking out with a united voice and I do not mean through the Stroke Association, as that would be disastrous.

Pat, could not agree with you more when you say we are all portrayed as old, and I think useless and needing to be spoon fed by the Stroke Association and I also think they have their own interests at heart long before ours as stroke survivors..I find some of there information and adverts using older people condescending and insulting, we are not all GAGA after a stroke, far from it...We got rid of their part time family support service here as for the same money we got three full time Specialist Stroke Nurses and four community fully trained stroke assistants all employed by the NHS, as I said for the same money..

Not only is stroke the biggest cause of severe disability in the UK it is also the third biggest killer in the UK a third of all people who have a stroke DIE...And far more younger people are having strokes, this is well known by the powers that be..

I also have a blood machine which I need to get calibrated, if fluctuation is now such a problem why do they have readings of between 130/60 to 170/80 as being normal we all know that no two people have the same blood pressure, like stroke they are all different.