Cycling UK Forum

Yeah right! £100k a year and all they do is fob people off.
No doubt you be posting yet another link about it all.

Huge giggles from me this morning.

Was just about to go online and book an appointment, when I thought I'd read the letter again. It's obviously a standard printout with my name and address inserted at the top.

Please respond to this letter within 3 weeks of the above date. If you do not contact us, we regret we will need to reduce your monthly prescription to weekly until you have had your review.

The ONLY prescription I have is for Fostair preventative inhaler that lasts for more than a month, and a Ventolin reliever inhaler that lasts forever providing I take my Fostair daily.

I think I'll ignore the letter and see what happens and call their bluff.

Mick F wrote: ↑9 Jan 2022, 4:23pm Inconsistency is the fact that BP measurement is ALWAYS inconsistent.
Put one arm in the BP device and take a reading.
Put the other arm in and note that the figure is different.
Put the first arm in, and you'll get a third reading.
Repeat ad infinitum.
Try it and see.

As I said in my previous post I have tried it and my results are always pretty much the same regardless of which arm,time of day,home or GPs.Totally consistent results since taking the Ramirpril.
|If you are getting wildly different results then either your equipment is faulty or you have BP issues.

I can put my arm in the machine at the health centre and get a reading. Usually high.
It's a professional machine of course, and I have no doubt of its accuracy or repeatability.

The place where the scales are and the height measurer is as well as the BP machine, are in a small (publicly accessible) room off the waiting room. All DIY devices requiring no staff input.

I do know, that when I've used the BP machine, I've handed in the "best of three" readings, and once or twice, "the best of five".
I have experimented by doing repeated alternate arms one after the other without waiting, and at no time have the readings been consistent. Some higher and some lower.

If they force me to go and do it (as requested) I'll do the experiment again and annotate which printout is which arm and how many times.

I have my own BP device - battery operated - and have used it over the years. Still gives variable results depending on which arm and go back to the first arm again and it's different again.

The whole ide of BP measuring is pointless IMHO because the results are a random snapshot.

Ramiprill made me ill with headaches, so they tried another drug but with the same result, so not been on anything for years, and I don't care.

PS:
I can feel my BP rising just discussing this subject!

Yes, I can feel when my BP is high or is low, despite people saying that there are no symptoms.

Mick F wrote: ↑10 Jan 2022, 10:08am PS:
I can feel my BP rising just discussing this subject!

Yes, I can feel when my BP is high or is low, despite people saying that there are no symptoms.

That might not be your blood pressure that you can detect, as discussed upthread.

Jonathan

Hi,
When I was first diagnosed with high BP over 30 years ago 175/125 sitting down.
I had no symptoms whatsoever and I would not know any different.
But today as soon as my BP goes above 145 over say 95 I get tightness in the neck tightness in the head a headache if I've had high BP for several days.

Over the Christmas for about a whole week I've had to put up with daily headaches nausea and even my eyes are being affected!
Blood pressure has been up to and above 200/100 a few times.

It might be because I've been on medication for high BP for over 30 years?

My doctor even scolded me for suggesting that my headaches were to do with high blood pressure.
Then on a visit to the GP I got frogmarched around by a overzealous nurse.
Up and down staircases on crutches ha ha.

So when the nurse checked my BP was high and asked me if I had an headache

Mick F wrote: ↑10 Jan 2022, 10:05am Ramiprill made me ill with headaches, so they tried another drug but with the same result, so not been on anything for years, and I don't care.

So why continue contributing to a thread if you have no interest?
AFAIK Ramirpril is what GPs suggest trying first.As with any medication it is trial and error.

Mick F wrote: ↑10 Jan 2022, 10:08am PS:
I can feel my BP rising just discussing this subject!
Yes, I can feel when my BP is high or is low, despite people saying that there are no symptoms.

In that case I would cease to bother reading the thread!

Hellhound wrote: ↑10 Jan 2022, 10:44amAFAIK Ramirpril is what GPs suggest trying first.

It's complicated. Here's the current NICE guidance on choice of drugs:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng136/ ... 6899919517

(Ramipril is an ACE inhibitor, so ACEi in their flowchart.)

Jonathan

That goes someway to explaining why a friend takes two types of medication for his high BP.

Hellhound wrote: ↑10 Jan 2022, 10:44am

Mick F wrote: ↑10 Jan 2022, 10:05am Ramiprill made me ill with headaches, so they tried another drug but with the same result, so not been on anything for years, and I don't care.

So why continue contributing to a thread if you have no interest?

I do have "interest" as I wonder why I had difficulties with BP meds and don't care to have them again.
Just coz I don't want to be having them, it doesn't mean that I have no worthwhile opinion.

I'm not that unusual ......... but maybe I am because I'm bucking the trend.

Mick F wrote: ↑10 Jan 2022, 3:53pm

Hellhound wrote: ↑10 Jan 2022, 10:44am

Mick F wrote: ↑10 Jan 2022, 10:05am Ramiprill made me ill with headaches, so they tried another drug but with the same result, so not been on anything for years, and I don't care.

So why continue contributing to a thread if you have no interest?

I do have "interest" as I wonder why I had difficulties with BP meds and don't care to have them again.
Just coz I don't want to be having them, it doesn't mean that I have no worthwhile opinion.

I'm not that unusual ......... but maybe I am because I'm bucking the trend.

Maybe you should be sharing your opinion with your GP/Medical centre.

Navara wrote: ↑20 Jul 2020, 2:06pm
Problem:-
A couple of days ago I was out riding a regular loop.It felt strange from the off.I felt a distinct lack of energy but thought it was just muscle warm up etc.About 5 miles in there's a short,sharp little climb maxing out at 10% and to say I struggled is an understatement.I quickly ran out of gears and when I got to the top I had to stop and get off.Here is where the worrying started.I felt dizzy,was seeing stars and my legs just went.I had to physically lie down and felt sick.After a few minutes I sat up but still felt strange.I was in two minds whether or not to dial 999!
After roughly 10 minutes I felt OK so decided to get home a safely as I could.By the time I got home I'd done just under 13 miles but felt tired.It wasn't until yesterday that it dawned on me that I had quite possibly taken 3 Ramipril capsules instead of 1.I get a supply of 28 per month but appear to be 2 short!

I haven't read through the whole of this thread so apologies if this has been covered, but you need to conside eliminating the possibility of Atrial Fibrillation (AF), which can occur just now and again (paroxysmal) or permanently and affects people by varying degrees. Some never know that they have it until a search for other issues leads to it's discovery. Others can suffer a lot more and be completely grounded by it.

Last week I bumped into an old cycling buddy who I haven't seen for a couple of years who described your symptoms to a tee (including he didn't know he had AF until a medical examination for some other issue).

Further, I've had 3 episodes of long term AF (each being resolved by Cardio Version) over an 18 month period in which I spent 8 months more or less tied to the sofa and home!!! Prior to the first period of AF, I experienced symptoms like yours.

If you were so inclined, you could as I did, buy a Kardia Mobile device (about £80) which in conjunction with a smartphone app, can show and tell you if you are in AF. My local surgery and hospital were entirely happy to accept the readings from this device. It's greatest benefit is when I'm having a low performance day, is to tell me if it's AF or just my age hindering me.