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Any cardiologists in the house? Blood pressure query.
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Lateralus
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Aug 26, 2010, 08:31 PM
 
Here's my story.

When I was 21, I was hired for a transportation job which necessitated the first physical of my life. During the physical it was found that my blood pressure was bonkers high (160/95~). So my GP did a blood work and it was found that I had a hyper adrenaline production, or something to that affect.

So I was prescribed a med, a beta blocker I believe - the name of which I've forgotten, which after a dosage increase had brought me down to around 135/80~, which my doctor said was well enough for me. Also noting that the blood work revealed that I had one of the healthiest cholesterol levels he'd ever seen.

Flash forward a year to mid 2008, and through voluntary unemployment I lost my health coverage and thus my medications. So I weened myself off of them and that was that.

Now two years on I'm still without coverage, country hopping and have decided to make the most of my short stay in Mexico to get some cheap stuff done - namely dental work and tackling the blood pressure med issue since I can get as much of the med here as I request; not just a month.

Today was my cardiologist appointment and the examination was, obviously, much more thorough than what my GP ran me through two years ago - including an EKG.

After the tests (which yielded identical numbers to my pre-medication levels of 3 years ago) the cardiologist was outright alarmed, saying blood pressure as high as mine has him seriously thinking I could be suffering from either kidney issues or a tumour on my adrenal gland and that if I don't do something much more proactive than hop back on meds, I'll be dead in 15 years. His words. Emphasis again on 'dead in 15 years' as I left his office.

I'm not expecting anybody to tell me the doctor was full of shit without having been there. What I'm looking for is a moderate voice or two because this doctor is pushing me to drop $3000 for a full battery of tests before I leave the country and... I really don't wanna spend that kind of money on something right now if the medicated blood pressure levels I achieve by next week are healthy enough that I needn't worry massively.

Thanks in advance peeps.
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Aug 26, 2010, 09:01 PM
 


It's lupus.
     
Eug
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Aug 26, 2010, 09:28 PM
 
You can always get a second opinion, but if a reasonable cardiologist told me to get the tests, I'd get them, esp. if I already knew I had a significant problem. Remember also that the point of the tests is to check what the underlying cause is, not just to treat the blood pressure numbers. If one of the tests comes up positive, that's very important to know. However, if the tests come up negative, that's good to know too.

BTW, how expensive would it be to get proper medical insurance? Or how hard would it be to get a new job with health benefits? Personally, I think one the most important things to spend money on is proper health insurance, if at all affordable in your situation.
     
ghporter
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Aug 26, 2010, 09:33 PM
 
The kidneys are very sensitive to long-term elevated blood pressure. The microscopic tubules that perform the active filtering of the blood are delicate, and blood pressure, elevated blood glucose and a number of other things can damage them-sometimes permanently. (San Antonio, TX has a huge population of type 2 diabetics and an also huge number of people on dialysis as a direct result.)

Medication by itself rarely causes blood pressure to moderate. It'll go down, sure, but the causes and the side effects won't change. Lowering your weight, being physically active, and avoiding overuse of products that cause the body to alter its fluid balance (salt is a biggie) are essential, even with the "best" meds in the world.

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Lateralus  (op)
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Aug 26, 2010, 10:03 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
You can always get a second opinion, but if a reasonable cardiologist told me to get the tests, I'd get them, esp. if I already knew I had a significant problem. Remember also that the point of the tests is to check what the underlying cause is, not just to treat the blood pressure numbers. If one of the tests comes up positive, that's very important to know. However, if the tests come up negative, that's good to know too.

BTW, how expensive would it be to get proper medical insurance? Or how hard would it be to get a new job with health benefits? Personally, I think one the most important things to spend money on is proper health insurance, if at all affordable in your situation.
Yeah, I know... I think where I'm at now is... Well, I'm essentially backpacking at the moment and don't have an end in sight for it. Yet this situation seems to be calling for a level of financial and career/insurance stability that runs counter to my adventures.

I'm not even sure what kind of insurance is available to me given my situation, let alone if it'd cover this kind of stuff. Time to start investigating...

Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
The kidneys are very sensitive to long-term elevated blood pressure. The microscopic tubules that perform the active filtering of the blood are delicate, and blood pressure, elevated blood glucose and a number of other things can damage them-sometimes permanently. (San Antonio, TX has a huge population of type 2 diabetics and an also huge number of people on dialysis as a direct result.)

Medication by itself rarely causes blood pressure to moderate. It'll go down, sure, but the causes and the side effects won't change. Lowering your weight, being physically active, and avoiding overuse of products that cause the body to alter its fluid balance (salt is a biggie) are essential, even with the "best" meds in the world.
And that's what pissed me off when I found out about how high my blood pressure was in the first place - I was a cyclist at the time. I was doing 100 miles per week almost without fail, eating a very clean water/fruit/vegetable/whitemeat diet... and had already been avoiding sugar, salt, caffeine... yet my blood pressure was still nuts!

Even now that I'm out of cycling for a while, I still eat well and have maintained an ideal weight.

Balls.
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Aug 27, 2010, 01:16 AM
 
More information is needed. What is your height and weight? Do you have any family history of early death or cardiovascular disease? Yes, you need a more in depth exam.
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cjrivera
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Aug 27, 2010, 01:24 AM
 
Check out the generics at Wal-Mart or some of the big chain drug stores.
Generic beta blockers are $4/mo or $10 for 3 months.

HTN can also have a genetic component (seeing as you have a very healthy lifestyle).
Any family members with HTN? Or cardiac disease?
There may have been something that you told the cardiologist, or something in the workup (like elevated creatinine levels) that made him more concerned about your renal function.

What tests did he want to do? What was he/looking for? (Renal artery stenosis, perhaps?)
Did you ask him why the first doctor was not as concerned? Or why he was more concerned?
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Aug 27, 2010, 01:25 AM
 
Get theeself to a nephrologist.
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Aug 27, 2010, 05:02 AM
 
Originally Posted by Lateralus View Post
And that's what pissed me off when I found out about how high my blood pressure was in the first place - I was a cyclist at the time. I was doing 100 miles per week almost without fail, eating a very clean water/fruit/vegetable/whitemeat diet... and had already been avoiding sugar, salt, caffeine... yet my blood pressure was still nuts!
Go completely veggie. Then see where your BP is after a month.

(It took fifteen years of nagging for my mother to take notice of this advice. After recently doing so, her BP has dropped from astronomical to manageable levels.)
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Aug 27, 2010, 07:19 AM
 
A veggie diet isn't magic, at least compared to healthy non-veggie diet. It might help, but then again it might not.

He really needs to heed the advice of his cardiologist at this point.
     
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Aug 27, 2010, 07:47 AM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
A veggie diet isn't magic, at least compared to healthy non-veggie diet. It might help, but then again it might not.
You keep telling yourselves that.

I come from a long line of high BP folks. Last time I went to the doctor and had a BP test, he actually had to check his gear because he didn't believe the readings.

Originally Posted by Eug View Post
He really needs to heed the advice of his cardiologist at this point.
Yes. But he can do that and go veggie.

Role of Vegetarian Diet in Health and Disease- Vegetarianism- High Blood Pressure and Vegetarian Diet
In one of the studies 59 healthy omnivores were allocated to a control group (which ate an omnivorous diet for 14 weeks) or to one of two intervention groups whose members ate an omnivorous diet for the first two weeks and a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet for one of two six-week experimental periods. Home, clinic, and laboratory blood pressures, dietary intake, body weight and lifestyle factors were carefully month bred throughout the project. Urine and blood collections were made for each experimental period.

There were no appreciable differences between vegetarians and omnivores with respect to mean age and height. For weight and Quetelets' index, however, vegetarians of both sexes were lower than omnivores. Mean blood pressures adjusted for age, height and weight were significantly lower in vegetarians than omnivores, and were not related to past or present use of alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee, physical activity, personality or religious observance.

The prevalence of mild hypertension ( ' 140 mmHg systolic and/or 90 mmHg diastolic) was 10% in omnivores and 1% in vegetarians.

Analysis of the diet records showed that the vegetarians ate significantly more dietary fibre, polyunsaturated fats, magnesium and potassium, and significantly less total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol than did the omnivores.

There was a significant fall in mean systolic and diastolic pressures in both experimental groups during the period on vegetarian diet. Mean blood pressure in experimental group I rose after resumption of the omnivore diet (period 2) to the level which preceded the vegetarian diet. Considering both experimental groups together, the mean fall in blood pressure associated with a vegetarian diet was 6.8 mm Hg systolic (SD 8.8) and 2.7 mm Hg diastolic (SD 6.3). Multiple regression analysis showed that the change in B.P. was associated with eating a vegetarian diet independent of age, sex, Quetelet's index, blood pressure before dietary modification or change in body weight.
Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation
Even allowing for all that, the blood pressure of vegetarians doesn’t increase in the same way as meat eaters – in fact it goes up little with age. It’s not surprising, then, that a vegetarian diet can be used to treat high blood pressure. It is the totality of the vegetarian diet that works not any specific ingredient.

Vegetarians’ lower risk of high blood pressure is considerable and can be anywhere between 33-50 per cent. There is an inescapable link with meat and a Californian study as long ago as 1926 showed this. The vegetarians’ blood pressure was raised by 10 per cent simply by feeding them meat – and it happened in only two weeks.
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Aug 27, 2010, 08:02 AM
 
BTW, Lat, I'm not intentionally trying to turn this into a veggie vs omnivore flamefest. I just know that going veggie (ovo-lacto) is the single most effective thing you can do to sort your BP problem out. I've seen people balancing meds for years and it ain't fun.
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Mrjinglesusa
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Aug 27, 2010, 09:08 AM
 
Originally Posted by Lateralus View Post
And that's what pissed me off when I found out about how high my blood pressure was in the first place - I was a cyclist at the time. I was doing 100 miles per week almost without fail, eating a very clean water/fruit/vegetable/whitemeat diet... and had already been avoiding sugar, salt, caffeine... yet my blood pressure was still nuts!

Even now that I'm out of cycling for a while, I still eat well and have maintained an ideal weight.

Balls.
And this is EXACTLY why you need to have a battery of tests done to determine WHY your BP is so high. From what you have described, there is no reason you should have such high blood pressure (you are active, not overweight, eat well, etc.).

Everything might be fine and it's simply genetics. Some people simply have high blood pressure. In contrast, there could be an underlying pathology that is directly affecting your blood pressure. You need to find out what, if anything, is causing your high blood pressure.
     
Mrjinglesusa
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Aug 27, 2010, 09:23 AM
 
Originally Posted by Doofy View Post
BTW, Lat, I'm not intentionally trying to turn this into a veggie vs omnivore flamefest. I just know that going veggie (ovo-lacto) is the single most effective thing you can do to sort your BP problem out. I've seen people balancing meds for years and it ain't fun.
Is that based on anecdotal evidence or have there been clinical studies demonstrating that a veggie diet directly lowers blood pressure?

For example, how do you know it was the veggie diet that lowered BP and not weight loss resulting from eating a veggie diet? Was consumption of a veggie diet also tied to a change in lifestyle (i.e., more excercise, weight loss, less sodium intake, etc.)?

My guess is that is was not the veggies per se that lowered BP, it was weight loss, more activity, lower sodium intake, etc. that lowered BP. And anyone can lose weight, be more active, lower their sodium intake, etc. without converting to a veggie diet.

Any doctor will tell you that the most effective thing(s) you can do to lower high BP is to lose weight, excercise, and limit sodium intake. That is assuming there is not an underlying pathology that is directly causing the high BP. The vast majority of high blood pressure is caused by being overweight, high sodium intake, and/or not being active.

That is why the OP needs to have some tests done. There is no reason, based on his description of his lifestyle, for his BP to be so high.
     
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Aug 27, 2010, 09:50 AM
 
Show me one single double blind study that concludes that going vegetarian, as a single measure, lowers blood pressure. There isn't one.

A well balanced diet, regular exercise and keeping your weight down are effective BP regulators. Ditching meat from your diet isn't.
     
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Aug 27, 2010, 09:55 AM
 
Originally Posted by Phileas View Post
Show me one single double blind study that concludes that going vegetarian, as a single measure, lowers blood pressure. There isn't one.

A well balanced diet, regular exercise and keeping your weight down are effective BP regulators. Ditching meat from your diet isn't.
[Relationship between low-protein diet and hyperte... [G Ital Nefrol. 2008 Sep-Oct] - PubMed result
The effect of a plant-based low-carbohydrate ("Eco... [Arch Intern Med. 2009] - PubMed result

Just 2 I could find in about 3 minutes of looking. Both seem to say that vegetarian diets can help BP issues.
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Aug 27, 2010, 10:35 AM
 
Originally Posted by Phileas View Post
Show me one single double blind study that concludes that going vegetarian, as a single measure, lowers blood pressure. There isn't one.

A well balanced diet, regular exercise and keeping your weight down are effective BP regulators. Ditching meat from your diet isn't.
Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa View Post
Is that based on anecdotal evidence or have there been clinical studies demonstrating that a veggie diet directly lowers blood pressure?

For example, how do you know it was the veggie diet that lowered BP and not weight loss resulting from eating a veggie diet? Was consumption of a veggie diet also tied to a change in lifestyle (i.e., more excercise, weight loss, less sodium intake, etc.)?
• • •

In one of the studies 59 healthy omnivores were allocated to a control group (which ate an omnivorous diet for 14 weeks) or to one of two intervention groups whose members ate an omnivorous diet for the first two weeks and a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet for one of two six-week experimental periods. Home, clinic, and laboratory blood pressures, dietary intake, body weight and lifestyle factors were carefully month bred throughout the project. Urine and blood collections were made for each experimental period.

There were no appreciable differences between vegetarians and omnivores with respect to mean age and height. For weight and Quetelets' index, however, vegetarians of both sexes were lower than omnivores. Mean blood pressures adjusted for age, height and weight were significantly lower in vegetarians than omnivores, and were not related to past or present use of alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee, physical activity, personality or religious observance.

The prevalence of mild hypertension ( ' 140 mmHg systolic and/or 90 mmHg diastolic) was 10% in omnivores and 1% in vegetarians.

Analysis of the diet records showed that the vegetarians ate significantly more dietary fibre, polyunsaturated fats, magnesium and potassium, and significantly less total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol than did the omnivores.

There was a significant fall in mean systolic and diastolic pressures in both experimental groups during the period on vegetarian diet. Mean blood pressure in experimental group I rose after resumption of the omnivore diet (period 2) to the level which preceded the vegetarian diet. Considering both experimental groups together, the mean fall in blood pressure associated with a vegetarian diet was 6.8 mm Hg systolic (SD 8.8) and 2.7 mm Hg diastolic (SD 6.3). Multiple regression analysis showed that the change in B.P. was associated with eating a vegetarian diet independent of age, sex, Quetelet's index, blood pressure before dietary modification or change in body weight.
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bstone
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Aug 27, 2010, 10:38 AM
 
Doofy did it.
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Phileas
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Aug 27, 2010, 11:00 AM
 
No he didn't. I have no idea how the researcher could publish that with a straight face.

Analysis of the diet records showed that the vegetarians ate significantly more dietary fibre, polyunsaturated fats, magnesium and potassium, and significantly less total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol than did the omnivores.
All that study proof is that vegetarians were eating healthier than omnivores. There is no indication of any kind that an omnivore diet that's prepared with healthy eating in mind is in any way inferior to a vegetarian diet.

The above study would only make sense if all meals prepared had identical salt/fat content. You can eat a veggie diet made up of chips and you'd not do your health any favour at all. On the other hand, hypertension is virtually unknown in the Inuit community, who's diet is 90% animal based.
     
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Aug 27, 2010, 11:01 AM
 
Originally Posted by Phileas View Post
All that study proof is that vegetarians were eating healthier than omnivores. There is no indication of any kind that an omnivore diet that's prepared with healthy eating in mind is in any way inferior to a vegetarian diet.

The above study would only make sense if all meals prepared had identical salt/fat content. You can eat a veggie diet made up of chips and you'd not do your health any favour at all. On the other hand, hypertension is virtually unknown in the Inuit community, who's diet is 90% animal based.
Hey, he was challenged to find a good study showing that a veg diet directly affects and helps BP. He did. Now you're trying to redefine it?
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Aug 27, 2010, 11:05 AM
 
A healthy vegetarian diet vs an unhealthy omnivore diet will of course make a difference.

A healthy omnivore diet vs an unhealthy vegetarian diet will make the exact same difference.

Unless the two diets were carefully controlled the study is utterly meaningless.
     
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Aug 27, 2010, 11:06 AM
 
Originally Posted by Phileas View Post
A healthy vegetarian diet vs an unhealthy omnivore diet will of course make a difference.

A healthy omnivore diet vs an unhealthy vegetarian diet will make the exact same difference.

Unless the two diets were carefully controlled the study is utterly meaningless.
ok i am going to go back to doing my laundry. later
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Aug 27, 2010, 11:08 AM
 
Originally Posted by Phileas View Post
A healthy vegetarian diet vs an unhealthy omnivore diet will of course make a difference.

A healthy omnivore diet vs an unhealthy vegetarian diet will make the exact same difference.

Unless the two diets were carefully controlled the study is utterly meaningless.
I think Doofy's suggestion has on strong point in its favor - simplicity. Unless unhealthy vegetarians are as common as unhealthy omnivores, which it appears is not the case.
     
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Aug 27, 2010, 11:13 AM
 
Originally Posted by Phileas View Post
All that study proof is that vegetarians were eating healthier than omnivores. There is no indication of any kind that an omnivore diet that's prepared with healthy eating in mind is in any way inferior to a vegetarian diet.

The above study would only make sense if all meals prepared had identical salt/fat content. You can eat a veggie diet made up of chips and you'd not do your health any favour at all. On the other hand, hypertension is virtually unknown in the Inuit community, who's diet is 90% animal based.
Look, what proactive measures do you think Lat is going to take to avoid an early grave? He already eats healthily, avoids salt, takes exercise.
What's he got to lose by trying my way for a couple of months? Do you think he's going to be less virile if he goes veggie or something? Do you think you're going to be less manly if Lat goes veggie to try to stamp on his problem?

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Aug 27, 2010, 11:16 AM
 
Originally Posted by Phileas View Post
A healthy vegetarian diet vs an unhealthy omnivore diet will of course make a difference.

A healthy omnivore diet vs an unhealthy vegetarian diet will make the exact same difference.
I eat mostly crap. I smoke. I take little exercise these days. My family line has a history of high BP and associated problems.

And yet my doctor wonders whether his gear has gone out of calibration when he takes my BP.

Make of that what you will.
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Aug 27, 2010, 11:19 AM
 
I don't have a problem with vegetarianism. I eat meat like we ate meat 100 years ago, as a flavouring and addition rather than a main part of the meal. I make sure it's organic, I make sure it's local, I only buy from butchers I know and trust. In fall the deer hunt provides us with lean meat without hormones or antibiotics.

I can guarantee you that my diet is healthier than that of a whole bunch of self proclaimed vegetarians who eat fake bacon bits.
     
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Aug 27, 2010, 11:22 AM
 
Originally Posted by Phileas View Post
I can guarantee you that my diet is healthier than that of a whole bunch of self proclaimed vegetarians who eat fake bacon bits.
I guarantee that your diet is "healthier" than mine. I eat mostly crap.

...But my BP's perfect. That's kind of the point.
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Aug 27, 2010, 11:47 AM
 
Hmmm... The veggie religion strikes again. Veggie diets are not inherently better, nor are omnivorous diets inherently worse. Omnivorous diets often are worse, but that is due to the content of the diet, not just the fact it's omnivorous.

Furthermore, veggie diets without close monitoring of what is in those diets can be quite problematic too, esp. in certain groups such as pregnant women. In fact, some of the classic tea-n-toaster type little old ladies could be classified as having veggie or near-veggie diets, but most would consider that type of diet a bad one, as it can lead to serious nutritional deficiencies.

To put it bluntly, if someone is promoting veggie-ism without caveats such as the above, then it would seem they have drunk a little too much of the soy koolaid replacement. Nothing against soy here actually. I drink soy milk often, and grew up on tofu.

P.S. My BP's perfect too, yet high blood pressure runs in my family.


Originally Posted by Doofy View Post
Look, what proactive measures do you think Lat is going to take to avoid an early grave? He already eats healthily, avoids salt, takes exercise.
What's he got to lose by trying my way for a couple of months? Do you think he's going to be less virile if he goes veggie or something? Do you think you're going to be less manly if Lat goes veggie to try to stamp on his problem?
Nothing wrong with vegetarianism. What's objectionable is vegetarians who promote vegetarianism as a panacea, without qualification. Heck, back when I was in university it seemed the #1 vegetarian meal amongst 1st year students was french fries and diet coke. Hardly what I'd call a good diet.
( Last edited by Eug; Aug 27, 2010 at 11:54 AM. )
     
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Aug 27, 2010, 11:53 AM
 
Originally Posted by Doofy View Post
I guarantee that your diet is "healthier" than mine. I eat mostly crap.

...But my BP's perfect. That's kind of the point.
But you've made it clear that you're on the badass end of every bell curve, so I'm not sure why you're putting up your health as evidence.
     
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Aug 27, 2010, 12:11 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
Hmmm... The veggie religion strikes again.
Don't talk shite. All I'm doing is suggesting something to Lat which he hasn't already tried.

Quite why you're against that I don't know. Do you hate Lat and want him to die or something?
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Aug 27, 2010, 01:50 PM
 
Nah, I'm just providing realistic information, something that you don't seem to be doing.

To repeat my point:

A veggie diet isn't magic, at least compared to healthy non-veggie diet. It might help, but then again it might not.

He really needs to heed the advice of his cardiologist at this point.
     
Doofy
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Aug 27, 2010, 02:08 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
Nah, I'm just providing realistic information, something that you don't seem to be doing.
Strong words from a man who thinks that Lamborghinis don't get driven because they don't drive past the dealership every time they go out.

You're obviously having an off-day. Give it up Eug. I provided a link to a page which cites several studies and a few minutes with Google will turf up loads more.

At this point, Lat has two choices:

1) Try my suggestion for a couple of months.
2) Don't try my suggestion for a couple of months.

We'll let him decide, eh?
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Aug 27, 2010, 02:45 PM
 
Heh. I never said he shouldn't try a veggie diet. I just suggested it might not be a cure-all and he should listen to his cardiologist... and then you got all bent out of shape. Like I said, the veggie religion strikes again... unfortunately.

As you may have noticed, I have little patience for those who promote such diets with such dogmatic fervour.

Read the other posts in this thread. Maybe then you'll understand their common sense statements. Well, maybe not, judging by your responses here.
     
Railroader
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Aug 27, 2010, 03:23 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
As you may have noticed, I have little patience for those who promote such diets with such dogmatic fervour.
I'd hardly call this "dogmatic fervour" [sic]:


Originally Posted by Doofy View Post
Go completely veggie. Then see where your BP is after a month.

(It took fifteen years of nagging for my mother to take notice of this advice. After recently doing so, her BP has dropped from astronomical to manageable levels.)
He only posted more relevant data after being challenged (by you no less).
     
Lateralus  (op)
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Aug 28, 2010, 12:01 AM
 
Hmm... Two things;

First - I'm never surprised at but always appreciative of the wealth of information the members of this board have to offer. No matter how specific and unrelated a thread posted in the lounge is, there seems to be a wealth of information to feed it. There's a collectively high IQ around here that isn't common web-wide. Kudos, peeps.

Second - I'm touched that the subject of my health has turned into an argument.

Originally Posted by bstone View Post
More information is needed. What is your height and weight? Do you have any family history of early death or cardiovascular disease? Yes, you need a more in depth exam.
6'5", 210lbs. A healthy weight relative to my height and build.

Part of my issue here is that I don't know much of my hereditary medical history since I know nothing of my father. But my mother and her lineage are, all things considered, healthy as sunshine.

Originally Posted by cjrivera View Post
HTN can also have a genetic component (seeing as you have a very healthy lifestyle).
Any family members with HTN? Or cardiac disease?
There may have been something that you told the cardiologist, or something in the workup (like elevated creatinine levels) that made him more concerned about your renal function.

What tests did he want to do? What was he/looking for? (Renal artery stenosis, perhaps?)
Did you ask him why the first doctor was not as concerned? Or why he was more concerned?
See above regarding medical history.

There wasn't a lot said, per se. Upon seeing my numbers and EKG he went straight for pushing into my abdomen after entering the office. At that point I had a hunch the session was going to end with something more earth shattering than 'Here's your prescription, run along'.

Tests run were basically just a few blood pressure checks with different body positioning, the EKG and hands-in-guts.

He seemed surprised that the first doctor only cared so far as cutting a prescription until I explained that the first doctor was a GP, not a specialist, and my ignorant mission of the time was simply getting my blood pressure to a sufficient enough level to not get taken off road at work. Which is to say had I not been an ignorant kid who felt invincible, I'd have done some research on my own and pushed for an actual explanation. But that wasn't my duty - it was the GP's. But whatever.

One other bit of information I extracted from my translating friend this morning was a suspicion on the doctor's part of something that sounds extremely similar, if not identical, to renal artery stenosis.

Originally Posted by Doofy View Post
Go completely veggie. Then see where your BP is after a month.

(It took fifteen years of nagging for my mother to take notice of this advice. After recently doing so, her BP has dropped from astronomical to manageable levels.)
I actually will try that. I'm all for experimentation that will yield a healthy result, regardless.

I'm gonna wait a week or so though since I'm being force fed shit by the family of a friend I'm visiting and because I wanna see what the medication I was prescribed, which I started taking this morning, will achieve on its own.

One thing that has me really thinking veggie-zealot might work for me is that fact that I got off of milk a few years ago when I decided it just never agreed with me. And upon doing so my blood pressure dropped 5-10pts.

I like chicken
I like liver
Meow Mix, Meow Mix
Please de-liv-er
     
Lateralus  (op)
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Aug 28, 2010, 12:18 AM
 
As an addendum - I will absolutely act on the encounter I had at the cardiologists office yesterday. It's just that the timing is shit inconvenient and doesn't correlate with my backpacker budgeting. But I'm hoping to be in a stable position by late this year. I'll act substantially when I am, if not insured, then at least employed.
I like chicken
I like liver
Meow Mix, Meow Mix
Please de-liv-er
     
ghporter
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Aug 28, 2010, 10:22 AM
 
Originally Posted by Lateralus View Post
It's just that the timing is shit inconvenient and doesn't correlate with my backpacker budgeting.
Long term care and dialysis don't correlate with that kind of budgeting either... Priorities, dude-remaining able to do any budgeting at all is way ahead of putting off necessary health care. And your cardiologist may have information on various drug compaies' reduced cost medications, which can help you afford the meds.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Railroader
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Aug 28, 2010, 12:11 PM
 
LoneStar speaketh the truth. It's like a paraphrasing of one of my favorite sayings*: "If you can't find the money to pay for it now, how are you going to find more money to pay for it later**?"

* Actual saying: "If you can't find the time to do it right, how are you going to find the time to do it over?"

** I know, very flawed logic. But the actual saying is apropos.
     
   
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