State of the nations health

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madguern

Active Member
Location
Guernsey
Hi all

Looking forward to a meal out with friends tonight but had a call at work to say one of them had had a heart attack this morning. The guy is only 39 years old ! Hell of a wake up call ....

Being on 38 this shocked me as this always happened to people a lot older. My wife spoke to a nurse an apparently this is becoming more common. Especially among those who smoke.

He has had to have an operation and this has left me a bit stunned ! Are we as a nation becoming more unhealthy and unfit ! This should be becoming less common in this day and age.

NB he is expected to recover and hopefully he will take the hint and stop smoking !
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
It's pretty common, although not at his age. Loads of folk I know puff and pant climbing stairs......

Also a chance he had a genetic fault - hopefully he'll get exercising / stop smoking.
 

Fab Foodie

hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Location
Kirton, Devon.
I was fairly fit... well, evens for the club 10 TT, but smoked and have familial high cholesterol and had my first attack at 42. Nurses on the Cardio-ward said the same... it's increasingly common to see men younger than I with their first heart attack.
 

Maz

Guru
If you stay physically active, does the increased flow in blood help to "flush away" any cholosterol build up?
 

Greedo

Guest
I was talking about this today. We drove by a school and the amount of fat kids was amazing. There were at least 20 or 30 of the 100 we drove by the could be described as very over weight. Got me thinking. When I was at school I honestly can only remember one guy who got dogs abuse for being fat. Eveybody else was fit and normal. I'm only 37 so I'm not talking about 40/50 years ago
 

longers

Legendary Member
...he asked hopefully...

:smile:

Is it worth getting a cholesterol test done? I'm thirtyfive and have a moderately unhealthy/healthy balance, I think.

Did I read on here somewhere that diet and lifestyle play much less of a part in your cholesterol levels than your own bodies ability to make it. Did I read this right?
 

longers

Legendary Member
Hope your friend does make a good recovery Madguern.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
longers said:
:smile:

Is it worth getting a cholesterol test done? I'm thirtyfive and have a moderately unhealthy/healthy balance, I think.

Did I read on here somewhere that diet and lifestyle play much less of a part in your cholesterol levels than your own bodies ability to make it. Did I read this right?

To some extent, yes, I think. My Mum has been told she has raised cholesterol and put on Statins - which she's not keen on. She has an exemplary diet - fruit, veg, little red meat, vegetarian meals once or twice a week, fibre, little sugar or salt etc (I eat so much better at hers!), and gets plenty of exercise - not for exercise's sake, but walking to the shops, into town, gardening etc.

I'm sort of encouraging her in her challenging the doctor about the drugs - at 75 I can't help thinking that she's doing alright so far...

As for a test, I dunno. How much are you willing to change your lifestyle in the face of the results? You're a smart guy, you know what's good and what isn't, you could just live as healthily as possible anyway....

(Looking at that, it sounds confrontational, I don't mean it to be. I just mean, what can a test tell you about your lifestyle that you don't know already? But then, I don't 'do' doctors really, so I'm not a good person to ask...)
 

longers

Legendary Member
No confrontationality detected here Arch, but I dispute the smart comment.

Arch said:
I just mean, what can a test tell you about your lifestyle that you don't know already?

It might be the kick up the arse I need.
 

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
First, don't be too quick to judge... it could be a "real" medical problem. but either way, i hope he makes a full recovery.

... and talking of fat people... you should work at my place. i got in the lift the other day (i'm entitled, i have a 50 miles round trip commute) and a young girl got in. She must have been about 20 (God that makes me sound old) but she had been out for a fag (I could smell it) and had walked back from the smoking hut (about 200 yards) and got the lift to the FIRST (!!!!) floor. She was out of breath when she got in the lift! God knows what state she would have been in if the lift was out of order and she'd had to walk up a flight of stairs!

Once they sent an email round saying the lift was going to be out of order for two days for maintenance. The woman opposite me, who is obese, said "well, i better bring my own food in, coz once i'm up here, i'm not going down until the end of the day! She couldn't face the thought of having to go down to the restaurant at lunch time and having to climb back up the stairs.

i would say 10% of the people at work are obese, 40% are overweight and the rest are just lucky they are not overweight. i work in a BIG office too. Most of them are shocked when they discover i cycle to work... they nearly fall down when they realise how far.
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
Maz said:
If you stay physically active, does the increased flow in blood help to "flush away" any cholosterol build up?

Simple answer no. I'm 58, fitter than a fit thing, cycled most of my life, club rider for about twenty five years, though I smoked for about ten years, mid teens to mid twenties. Thought I was in great shape, then in 2008 started getting chest pains, thought I had a chest infection. Turned out I had angina, had to have angioplasty and stenting. Now back to normal, but have four stents in my chest. As I'm sure Fab Foodie will agree its something thats a terrible shock at the time.
 

Maz

Guru
[quote name='swee'pea99']...he asked hopefully...[/QUOTE]
Yes, sort of, to be honest with you.
 

Mark_Robson

Senior Member
Arch said:
To some extent, yes, I think. My Mum has been told she has raised cholesterol and put on Statins - which she's not keen on. She has an exemplary diet - fruit, veg, little red meat, vegetarian meals once or twice a week, fibre, little sugar or salt etc (I eat so much better at hers!), and gets plenty of exercise - not for exercise's sake, but walking to the shops, into town, gardening etc.

I'm sort of encouraging her in her challenging the doctor about the drugs - at 75 I can't help thinking that she's doing alright so far...

As for a test, I dunno. How much are you willing to change your lifestyle in the face of the results? You're a smart guy, you know what's good and what isn't, you could just live as healthily as possible anyway....

(Looking at that, it sounds confrontational, I don't mean it to be. I just mean, what can a test tell you about your lifestyle that you don't know already? But then, I don't 'do' doctors really, so I'm not a good person to ask...)
I'm forty four and I've lost two school friends to heart attacks and I have been asking my GP and OH doctor for a cholesterol test for a few years now and they have both said the same thing. Because my weight is fine, I don't smoke or eat a lot of red meat and I don't have a history of heart disease in my family then there is no point, as the test by itself can be misleading.
 
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