Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Information and Services in Turkey Section => Health & Healthcare => Topic started by: Karennina on March 28, 2008, 21:23:48 PM
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Can anyone tell me please, I am due to fly out to Calis on Friday, I knew I had high blood pressure due to medication I am taking, the thing is I found out this week it has gone up to 190 over what I do not know, I have to see the doctor on Tuesday morning and see if it has come down at all, I just wondered if I had to mention I am flying would doctors be able to stop me if my b.p was still high?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
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I don't think they could actually stop you, but you would probably invalidate your insurance (if you have any) by not taking the advice (or declaring it).
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Oh damn, I never thought about the insurance, the thing is I never expected it to go even higher, oh well I am flying anyway with a view that Turkey will help to bring my b.p down! ( touchwood )
Thanks anyway Scunner.
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I have customers on that flight, try not to burst ;)
Doesn't the flight bring it down anyway - thinning the blood and all that? If that's right, call it medicinal :D
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It MIGHT be of use if you get yourself a blood pressure monitor the arm ones are the best & the docs prefer these. You can buy one in Lloyds Chemist usually for £9.99 - make sure they give you the correct sized cuff too!
The reason I say this is I've discovered I have 'white coat syndrome' - I'm NOT at all frightened of our doc. - In fact she's really lovely & we're quite friendly with her & have even socialised with her. I'm not phased by going to the doctors at all BUT the minute they take my blood pressure it shoots sky high & gives a totally false reading. We've laughed about it as it appears doctors too are not immune from this syndrome as one of the other docs is exactly the same.
Just a thought as until we bought our own I actually had higher readings than you. I do take meds but at home my readings are 'normal' when I go to docs they are anything but. They test our BP monitor against theirs the readings are consistant. - i.e. way high when I'm sat in docs office. I KNOW it's crazy - so does the Doctor affected BUT it makes no difference. Sit in a comfortable docs office BP is UP UP UP.
Hope you have 'white coat syndrome' too - it beats taking medicine you might not need. Otherwise do deep calming breathing & make sure you take a baby aspirin a day.
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Oh thanks so much for that info I think I will buy a b.p monitor tomorrow,and compare to what happens at the doctor's surgery, I really hope the "white coat syndrome" is part of my problem, I am flying on Friday no matter what because I can not wait to be back in Calis!
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P.s Dont worry Scunner I wont "burst and bring the plane down" All the best with your customers I hope you sell some properties.
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Whoops I am such a din you meant flight brings b.p down I got a little confused and thought of me "bursting" and bringing the plane down!
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You have a greater imagination than I do, I could never have come up with that ;)
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My advice would be first accept you have got higher blood pressure and as a consequence that you are at greater risk of having a heart attack. - don't fall into the trap of convincing yourself you haven't got higher blood pressure because the machine is wrong. Then you must decide whether to proceed with the trip or not or whether to declare it on the medical insurance or not.
I speak from experience when I say that the people who suffer most when someone has a heart attack is not always the victim but the people (usually a wife or husband) who have to go through the anxiety of finding out whether it will kill you or not - a trauma that can last days or weeks!
I would not intentionally want to put my wife through that again and therefore I would do all I can to protect her from this. I hope it all work out well for you and your party, but please take care of yourself.
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Thanks for that Twin Bee, I have just come back from Asda and had my b.p checked there it was down to 160 I know that is still high but not so bad I have a doctor,s appoint Tuesday morning and I will tell her I am flying on Friday, the pharmacist said he has never heard of not being able to fly due to high b.p as he said a lot of people must fly without even knowing they have high b.p.
I hope you are ok now Twin Bee.
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It seems to be a good thing to have a personal BP gizmo. My OH went to the pharmacy here and had it tested and was shocked at the result. He was advised to take diuretics along with the Ramipril he was already on. Now we have a meter and have found his BP is normal. Phew!
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Our doc did tell us that around 20% of people from all walks of life - including doctors- have 'white coat syndrome' - which is why she advised me to get our own BP monitor.
I do keep an eye on mine - when I remember! - if it goes up it's either because I've forgotten to take my meds (this time of life thing is a total pain as I also often forget vowels!) OR I'm in docs. surgery. I'm normally quite 'normal' though.
You CAN bring your blood pressure down yourself by consciously sitting quietly & doing deep breathing excercises. Something people forget when they are in a panic state.
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Derek or is it Karen - Thanks for thinking of me.
I do find it helpful to think (more) about the effect of my heart condition on my wife and my family than on me. Thinking of them is a very good leveller and this helps to keep me grounded and sensible. Thankfully they are not over protective so they would not want to restrict me too much but they look out for me and I think it makes sense that I let them do this and respect them for doing so.
For example they might stop me lifting things that are so heavy that I have to strain and hold my breath to lift. They stop me running marathons but they say running 10 miles is ok so I dont exceed that limit. And they insist I have proper health cover on my travel insurance, even though it has cost me £85 per week. Most of all they insist I take the tablets as prescibed!
Actually my consultant said to me of all the medical advice out there to prevent a further heart attack the most important life saving thing I could do is to keep taking the medicine. He said the tablets are more effective at preventing a heart attack than not smoking or drinking a glass of red wine or having regular exercice. All these help but the tablets are the most help in keeping you alive if you have a heart condition.
My wife has told me about the moment she was called to the hospital and she was told to get there quick and not to come on her own. It was a 2 hour drive away and she says it was the worst 2 hours of her life. Ironically while she was coping with this trauma I was in a hospital ward pain free and insisting that I had not had a heart attack. It was definately worse for her than me!!
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It is Karen, I am real glad you were ok. Yes I can understand how traumatic it must have been for your wife, I would be the same if it were Derek! The medication I am on is for anxiety and I also found out today that these pills can cause high blood pressure, I have never had a problem before taking the pills if anything I have had a tendency to have low blood pressure, I am going to talk to the doctor about coming off the pills, and see if it helps to get my b.p down!
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Twin Bee
I hope you don't think I'm telling people to stop taking their meds. - I'd never do that. I realise that I need to take mine too to stop myself having a heart attack, However, because of this stupid 'white coat syndrome' if the doc. hadn't suggested that I buy a BP monitor & test myself I could have ended up taking more medication than was necessary to keep my BP under control. IF I do deep breathing exercises while I'm in docs surgery for a few minutes I can also get my BP down to 'normal' levels from VERY abnormal levels. If the doc gave me enough medication to control the high levels induced by 'white coat syndrome' then I'd be on FAR too much medication which can cause very nasty side effects and actually exacerbate the feeling of unwellness.
I NEED to take my tablets BUT I don't need to take more than absolutely needed to keep my BP down. I had a nasty scare about 12/13 yrs ago when I collapsed & they said that I'd had a heart attack after giving me an ECG. Thankfully I've not had a major one & I really don't want one. Surprisingly they didn't put me on any medication then, just told me to take things easier - virtually impossible when I was looking after my terminally ill mum on my own, trying to run my own business, having very little, very disturbed sleep as mum needed me during the night + being very stressed out as I tried to be superwoman.
Having trained/worked in the pharmaceutical industry for a number of years PLUS the fact that my mother died from the VERY nasty side effects of her prescription drugs (OK - she was only the 14th person in the world to have those side effects & die of them, OR, which is MORE likely, she was just one of the few that was totally teetotal, drug free & whose symptoms - granulation of liver & lungs - begun straight after she took the drugs involved) I now look for more natural remedies than the highly synthesised pharmaceutical alternatives. 60 years ago ALL pharmaceuticals were based on herbal remedies. The majority of drugs today are also based on herbal remedies except the active natural compound is now chemically synthesised. Mother Nature put in her remedies other natural chemical compounds that are ALSO needed to mitigate the nasty side effects of the main healing compound. Often the whole is better than part.
I believe we should also take responsibility for our own health & if that means looking for better natural alternatives - so be it! The Multi Billion Pound Pharmaceuticals are VERY scathing about many alternative remedies & have tried to get many withdrawn from the market. As many of the people working in the alternative/complimentary health field are well aware, if they manage to do this, within a very short while they'll be marketing these 'super drugs' themselves & charging ten times more for them. FIRST they have to get them off the market.
Just an example - I had VERY bad gastric reflux, so bad that i often had acid in my mouth & found it hard to lie down. I was told to raise head of bed on wood & was on medication that helped somewhat but didn't stop the symptoms altogether, I had to be VERY careful what I ate/drank & when. Then I started getting hip pains - a bit of research & I found it was the gastric medication that was probably at fault - if used for over 12m it can cause hip problems. Most people wouldn't have connected the two - why would they? I then found that by using Natural Active Manuka Honey 2-3 times a day on toast - Yum, Yum - I could CURE my gastric reflux in a very short time - within 2/3 wks i was symptom free & i took for about 3 months - no problems since! The same honey will also get rid of MRSA infections!
NO pharmaceutical company wants you to know there is actually a better product out there to CURE your problem rather than mask it. When you get hip problems they can sell you something to mask that too. Onto a winner aren't they! Our doctor now advises people to go buy Manuka from Tesco or Holland & Barrett instead of taking prescription drugs as she was amazed how quickly I was cured - she's also getting great results!
Karen - one of the best Stress reducers on the market is St. John's Wort - with far less side effects than many of the artificial pharmaceutical drugs. It's also a heck of a lot more efficient than many alternatives. It does react with a few (& it is just a few) drugs but it is considered pretty safe to use. Just check with your pharmacist first that it is not contra indicated with any other drugs you are taking.
Twin Bee - look into Nattokinase OR eating Japenese Natto - it's a natural defurrer that I found. I must admit that when both Carl & I took it we felt much better. You can buy from US for about $15 or less for 90 capsules - up to 3 months supply. Helps dissolve blood clots too. I hope you're feeling 100% now after your awful scare - this might just stop you having another. It's complimentary not an alternative!
For both of you - look at EFT - seems crazy but it's wonderful - based on tapping accupuncture points & works on just about everything - stress, pain, sorrow, fear, joint movement, addictions etc. etc. etc. Don't knock this until you've tried it as it works really well on 90% or more of all problems. Anyone who has used this properly will tell you it's wonderful. www.emofree.com.
I won't be adding more to this thread as we're off to New Orleans via Heathrow, thankfully with Delta not BA (but I'm tapping already!)
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Hi Linda
Thanks very much for all that info, I found it very interesting, and you have just confirmed to me what I have been thinking I am going to say to the doc on Tuesday that I want to come off my pills and take natural supplements, I already take Kalms which definetly help me.My aunt also swears by the white coat syndrome as it has happened to her on many occasions getting her b.p checked!
Tomorrow I am going to go to Lloyds to buy one of those monitors, as I think that is a good idea, thanks for the info on tapping I will give that a try too.
Hope you have a good time in New Orleans and not too much trouble at Heathrow, have a safe flight.
Karen
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Linda I didn't think that. I was just trying to make two points. One that the victim is not always the person with the heart attack and that for heart conditions taking prescibed medication is more likey to be a life saver than exercise, diet etc though both play a part in recovery. Also as I have got older I have also realised it is best to be honest to oneself and to ones physician and to the medical insurance company!
TB
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..minor warning on st Johns Wort, whilst very calming it can cause photo-sensitive reactions in sunny - climes!
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I too have high blood pressure.I was on medication for a number of years and one day I collapsed and knocked myself out when I fell and thumped my head.I was taken to hospital and told my blood pressure was extremely low.I was kept in and told to take no more BP medication.This was confirmed last week when I saw a cardiac specialist.He informed me that although my BP was high,he was not worried about it,as it was moderately high.I still get postural hypotension,but I would rather not take medication for HBP as I was told I was lucky that the fall I had, had not caused a cranial fracture.That was not the first time I blacked out,and each time I ended up in hospital,I was told I was overmedicated.It,s a diffucult decision to choose.Take medication or not.I suppose everyone is different.Personally I would go on holiday and have a good time out.
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My husband too has been told he has high BP,after having a mot at the docs in the last few weeks before we make the big move next week .He has been going for blood tests and i have brought him a blood pressure machine ,but they also said it could be with the big move and stress related ,leaving the UK and moving abroad,even so they have put him on Ramipril and said to monitor it.But another doc said when we get out to Turkey and settle to stop taking meds and check on a regular basis your BP and it maybe ok. Kim
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I live in Calis and i have high b p, i check my monitor every day and it's fairly stable each time, so i haven't used my medication in 12 months, the heat from the sun seems to have controlled it. Alan
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i have had a couple of personal bp monitors and found them very inaccurate and variable,,,however for those who dont already know., the chemists in and around calis and fethiye are quite happy to check your bp regularly..f.o.c.
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Thanks again everyone for taking the time to reply, I have been back to the doctor and it was done to 158 still high but better then 190! The doctor was not overly concerned about it although she was a little concerned about how many bottles of Budweiser I drink at the weekends so I have to cut down on my alcohol intake now.
She had no problem at all with me flying, I am also going to cut down on my medication for anxiety as the one I am on is known for raising b.p.
That is really good to know that the chemists in Turkey will take your b.p for you.
I hope you are making a good recovery Alan I have never met you but I saw you had been poorly on the forum and kept meaning to post on that thread to wish you well so I have killed two birds with one stone tonight!
I am soooo glad I can still get on that plane Friday morning Calis here we come!
Thanks again everyone for all your help, this forum really is the best.
Karen
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I am pleased for you too- have a lovely relaxing time.
TB
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Check with your GP if its ok for you to fly. Put your mind at rest.
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Linda
She did :D
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It is not a dangerous to fly with a high blood pressure. I think you have to check up before you go on fly. Keep to control blood pressure by use fruits and simple exercise. It help to control blood pressure.
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thomasmite996...look at the date of this thread and you'll see it's 4 years old!
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And I have just read through the whole thing - deeerrrrr, what an idiot, my B.P. will be sky high now - from embarrassment!! :-\
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Sadler,you're not the only one :-\
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It was good to resurrect the thread, I am on medication for HBP and bought a monitor some time ago, the new monitors are clinically validated and so give accurate readings, mine is from Boots and the nurse at our practice in England uses exactly the same monitor. In the UK I kept a note of my readings which included time of day, pulse rate and any special circumstances that might have a bearing on the reading, post exercise for instance. This thread just prompted me to go and check how it is here in Turkey, the reading was 129/78 which is at the high end of normal. Like others, I too have no desire to continue with medication if possible but I'm certainly not going to cut it down or cease taking it on the basis of one decent reading, I will however monitor the situation and have the appropriate discussion with the doctor if I am able to maintain a normal reading.