General Medical issues thread

[Pushka]

Father died of it but not particularly genetic as I’ve been told.

It was noted in my medical files as important as he didn't drink, or smoke. At all. Never did.

 

[TheRealTMA]

It was noted in my medical files as important as he didn't drink, or smoke. At all. Never did.

Mine did excessively!

 

[Pushka]

Mine did excessively!

The younger person I know who died, drank and smoked excessively. I suspect that in itself created the issue. And hopefully too in your fathers case and not genetic. Mine? Jury out.

 

[TheRealTMA]

The younger person I know who died, drank and smoked excessively. I suspect that in itself created the issue. And hopefully too in your fathers case and not genetic. Mine? Jury out.

Who knows.

 

[Toula92122]

Both my parents died of pancreatic cancer as well as one of my mother's sister. I'm hoping it's just coincidence rather than genetic.

 

[Myrna]

Landlord came yesterday and he mentioned that he did a 23andme test. I have been looking into this - not so much for ancestry thing, but to know my blood type and potential health issues (either genetic or otherwise). I called the GP clinic a few weeks ago to see if blood group was shown in any my blood tests. But they said no, only if I were pregnant! Hubby knew his blood group as he used to donate blood in the US (when we lived there).
What do people think of 23andme test? In its website, it said it is currently does not offer a report on blood type.

 

[Toula92122]

We did the 23andme testing when the provided a full medical profile of genetic characteristics. It was quite fascinating as so much of it was spot on. Predicted from genetics what our 3 most likely health issues would be and they were spot on based on family history and medical events that have since played out. However don't think they are any longer allowed to provide such a profile as too many of the big boys obviously want to have the power to overcharge to provide such information.

 

[prozac]

Landlord came yesterday and he mentioned that he did a 23andme test. I have been looking into this - not so much for ancestry thing, but to know my blood type and potential health issues (either genetic or otherwise). I called the GP clinic a few weeks ago to see if blood group was shown in any my blood tests. But they said no, only if I were pregnant! Hubby knew his blood group as he used to donate blood in the US (when we lived there).
What do people think of 23andme test? In its website, it said it is currently does not offer a report on blood type.

You could always donate blood or plasma.

 

[k_sheep]

There is zero reason to know your blood type, other than curiosity. In an emergency you will get O neg (or possibly O pos if you are male or a female over 50) until your blood is typed which only takes about 10 mins. Even if you say to someone "oh I'm B neg", you will not be given typed blood based on that. Mismatched transfusions go very badly, very quickly, and there is no chance anyone will 'trust' someones word. Certainly the lab will not issue the blood!

Prozac has the best idea though - if you donate you can find out. I recommend enrolling to be a bone marrow donor (doesn't require anything extra from you, the tests are done on the blood you donate) while you are there - we are having major issues currently because we rely on European and Asian donors a lot, and they are unable to travel. I think it's important that we improve our local donor pool.

In general, most bone marrow donations do not involve painful bone marrow biopsies anymore - it's just like donating blood (through a vein in your arm after some stimulating injections). Even if for some reason they do need to collect from the bone, it is done under a light general anaesthetic so is very minimal pain. So I encourage everyone to register as a donor.

If you can't donate blood for whatever reason, you might still be a suitable bone marrow donor - Register - Strength to Give | Blood Stem Cell Donation . You can enrol with a cheek swab.

I'll get off my soap box now

 

[VPS]

There is zero reason to know your blood type, other than curiosity. In an emergency you will get O neg (or possibly O pos if you are male or a female over 50) until your blood is typed which only takes about 10 mins. Even if you say to someone "oh I'm B neg", you will not be given typed blood based on that. Mismatched transfusions go very badly, very quickly, and there is no chance anyone will 'trust' someones word. Certainly the lab will not issue the blood!

Prozac has the best idea though - if you donate you can find out. I recommend enrolling to be a bone marrow donor (doesn't require anything extra from you, the tests are done on the blood you donate) while you are there - we are having major issues currently because we rely on European and Asian donors a lot, and they are unable to travel. I think it's important that we improve our local donor pool.

In general, most bone marrow donations do not involve painful bone marrow biopsies anymore - it's just like donating blood (through a vein in your arm after some stimulating injections). Even if for some reason they do need to collect from the bone, it is done under a light general anaesthetic so is very minimal pain. So I encourage everyone to register as a donor.

If you can't donate blood for whatever reason, you might still be a suitable bone marrow donor - Register - Strength to Give | Blood Stem Cell Donation . You can enrol with a cheek swab.

I'll get off my soap box now

Never be ashamed to be passionate about something and especially so if it could save someone's life.

Interesting - I'm not eligible to donate blood on two counts - melanoma and living in the UK in the 80s but I will certainly investigate this.

 

[SuePa]

If you can't donate blood for whatever reason, you might still be a suitable bone marrow donor - Register - Strength to Give | Blood Stem Cell Donation . You can enrol with a cheek swab.

I just checked. One of the criteria is

I'm a bit (a lot! ) out of that range and also ineligible to donate blood, but I can and will encourage my nephews to sign up.

 

[prozac]

I just checked. One of the criteria is
View attachment 228789
I'm a bit (a lot! ) out of that range and also ineligible to donate blood, but I can and will encourage my nephews to sign up.

When I was on the register and shortlisted AusRedCross told me they did not want to accept donors older than 50-55. I was mid-late 40's at the time and after further testing it became a short-list of me and one other. Red Cross treated me like royalty. In the end I received a thanks-but-no thanks letter. It was a real kick in the nuts after all the build up.

 

[prozac]

There is zero reason to know your blood type, other than curiosity. In an emergency you will get O neg (or possibly O pos if you are male or a female over 50) until your blood is typed which only takes about 10 mins. Even if you say to someone "oh I'm B neg", you will not be given typed blood based on that. Mismatched transfusions go very badly, very quickly, and there is no chance anyone will 'trust' someones word. Certainly the lab will not issue the blood!

Prozac has the best idea though - if you donate you can find out. I recommend enrolling to be a bone marrow donor (doesn't require anything extra from you, the tests are done on the blood you donate) while you are there - we are having major issues currently because we rely on European and Asian donors a lot, and they are unable to travel. I think it's important that we improve our local donor pool.

In general, most bone marrow donations do not involve painful bone marrow biopsies anymore - it's just like donating blood (through a vein in your arm after some stimulating injections). Even if for some reason they do need to collect from the bone, it is done under a light general anaesthetic so is very minimal pain. So I encourage everyone to register as a donor.

If you can't donate blood for whatever reason, you might still be a suitable bone marrow donor - Register - Strength to Give | Blood Stem Cell Donation . You can enrol with a cheek swab.

I'll get off my soap box now

When I was short-listed (then dumped) I had a number of conversations with a donor coordinator who told me they have a lot of trouble getting certain ethnic groups to donate marrow (or even blood for that matter) which made it difficult to match donors with patients of these ethnic backgrounds.

Plasma donation is another thing to consider. It does not take much longer to donate than blood and you get fed! I ended up doing this after I was told my blood would never be given as a transfusion due to time spent in a certain SA country.

 

[SuePa]

Plasma donation is another thing to consider.

So plasma is still acceptable, even if blood is not? I spent too much time in UK in 1980s - possible mad cows.
It's a shame, but understandable, because I'm O- . My GP just requested bllod type when I was having cholesterol and blood sugar etc checked.

 

[prozac]

So plasma is still acceptable, even if blood is not? I spent too much time in UK in 1980s - possible mad cows.
It's a shame, but understandable, because I'm O- . My GP just requested bllod type when I was having cholesterol and blood sugar etc checked.

I'm same so thought it a pity it was not used for purpose. I don't know about mad cow but my refusal might have been for some mosquito-borne disease.
You should ask about Plasma.

 

[Milboo]

Exederin in the USA combines aspirin, caffeine and paracetamol. Some people swear by it. The addition of caffeine into tablets never really seemed to take off in Australia or Europe. Dunno why.

I have a stock of this from my last transit through the US and find it can be effective. I normally grab a coke when I feel a migraine coming on too.

Well that was a fun experience. Ended up with a MRI and on blood pressure monitoring for a week. Thankfully clear on the scans and the BP came back down again.

 

[Pushka]

So I tried this coffee thing last week when I had a thumper. Had a double espresso. I think it helped a lot.

 

[drron]

Exederin in the USA combines aspirin, caffeine and paracetamol. Some people swear by it. The addition of caffeine into tablets never really seemed to take off in Australia or Europe. Dunno why.

Actually there is a very good reason caffeine is not added to tablets in Australia.Australia suffered from an epidemic of kidney failure due to Vincent's and Bex APC powders.
THe P was phenacetin which did the damage and the C was caffeine which addicted many.
There was an expression-A cup of tea ,a bex and a good lie down.Even Kevin Rudd advised reporters questioning him about a leadership challenge to do just that in September 2011.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Actually there is a very good reason caffeine is not added to tablets in Australia.Australia suffered from an epidemic of kidney failure due to Vincent's and Bex APC powders.
THe P was phenacetin which did the damage and the C was caffeine which addicted many.
There was an expression-A cup of tea ,a bex and a good lie down.Even Kevin Rudd advised reporters questioning him about a leadership challenge to do just that in September 2011.

Thanks for that! Interesting.

I wonder why they have been slow to (re)introduce it? The caffeine does seem to work really well.

 

[prozac]

So I tried this coffee thing last week when I had a thumper. Had a double espresso. I think it helped a lot.

So does bacon and eggs. However I really can vouch from a lifelong affliction of migraines that would last days to the efficacy of Naprosyn, or Naprogesic if you want to test it out without a script. Specialists tell me it works in a great many cases.