The middle aged thread

Good effort mate.

I turn 60 at the end of the year, the bitter sweet reminder of any youth is that I am of a cohort that has to wait until 67 before my state pension

Played football last night 1st time in a year or so..my body hurts in places I didn't know existed

"Mutiny in Heaven"

Which coincidentally is also the track which will be played as my coffin enters the flames.

Cheer up, it can't be long now....

I've always said it would be Dead Joe. Practically written for me.

Got diagnosed with hypertension back end of last year. Got prescribed some meds, they made me really ill, then moved to Amlodipine, but it didn't made a dent in the BP, if anything it went up slightly with the meds.

Been waiting for a 24 HR BP monitor check. First appointment they sent me was the day of a funeral so moved it. Next appointment was for when I was away on holiday so asked for it to be moved. They said fine, but if you can't make that one they would cancel the referral. Anyway, been waiting and waiting so ring up to be told it has been cancelled and I need to be re-referred.

Anyways, whilst on holiday, I forgot to take my pills. Came home, still not taking my meds and have been testing my BP multiple times a day. My BP is now normal? Don't know what the feck is happening.

Perfect

Maybe you just needed a holiday?

@ELbowloh

I was going to say what Hippy said!

Keep testing, are you keeping track of it somewhere? I haven't done mine in ages, gonna check it right now!

Also, wtf is this "cancel the referral" shit? It's not like you just didn't turn up to appointments, you're actively trying to schedule something around you life. WTF is wrong with healthcare in this country?

Over a decade of under-funding.

Well, quite.

I've ranted about that elsewhere given I'm balls deep in health dramas and I have the luxury of private insurance and it's still fucking stupid.

This feels like a mistake though (obviously?)... in my experience, if you can't make it and let them know then you get rescheduled rather than cancelled.

Yeah, although I've had it in the past where appointments don't get made on their end (a mistake) and then you're out of the system and have to fuck around chasing them up to point out the issue and get back on track.

Coz paperwork is what everyone needs when they're trying to recover.

Not so sure. I found the holiday as stressful as feck and the kids played up the entire time.

Yeah, keeping an excel spreadsheet!

Its shit. The number you ring to say you can't come is the direct number for the cardiology unit, not the appointments number. So they can only cancel it. They can't rebook you are even tell anyone what dates you cannot make. They just say, you'll just go back in the hopper and you have to wait for a letter to arrive with a new date.

The system is crap. And I also blame 14 years of underfunding and deliberate mismanagement by the last government.

I hope you get sorted soon.

As for the holiday being stressful... sometimes it's a different kind of stress! Stress vs worry, I guess. For me anyway - I don't mind being stressed in terms of having lots to do and being on life's conveyor belt, but worrying tips me upside down because I can't rationalise it*.

Good luck!

*another thread in itself

Different stress? Change in diet? I don't know what can make rapid changes to BP but over the longer term I dropped mine with diet (back at uni). Now mine has gone back up again though because I just don't care any more.

Then attach those pannier onto a shallow (racing) trolley, two on each side.

This is the content I came for. 100% will be trying this. Salutes

Enjoy!

Sounds stupid but what was your hydration like, using the pee colour scale.

Do you have a smart watch with Bp checking capabilities? As cardiology may accept the results from that.

I anything else, i was drinking less water on holiday. pee was definitely darker.
I do have a smartwatch, it does HR, but not BP.