21st June 2004 - kindness photo - Linda A photos at pbase.com

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21-JUN-2004

21st June 2004 - kindness

We still have our houseguests, Patti and Sally for one more night. They are just such a kind and loving pair, I can’t imagine my life without them in it now. This is Patti with Sally OOF in the background, it’s a more serious one than the others I’ve done of them.

I’ve had a bit of a day today. I had to leave home at 5.30am to drive 130 miles to a meeting in the Midlands, just north of Birmingham. I needed to be there by 9am and that time of the morning is so difficult to judge timings because of the Monday morning return to work, which often causes chaos. I allowed plenty of time because I was meeting my boss and I know she’s always early for meetings. In the event I got there so early I ended up killing time in a motorway service station for an hour before I went to meet her.

After the meeting, I drove back through the most extraordinary weather, at one point (bearing in mind it’s the mid-summer solstice) I drove through hail and snowy stuff, which was actually laying on the road. It was the most bizarre experience.

While driving, I heard a doctor on the radio talking about how to ensure a long and happy life. My first observation about the discussion is to acknowledge that the PR agency that are working for J&J/MSD are clearly VERY good at their work indeed because the doctor gave a lengthy plug to the new cholesterol lowering drug that has just been awarded a licence to be sold ‘over the counter’ in the UK – the first such move anywhere in the world.

I have some reservations about this issue because I am a child of the welfare state in the UK and have been brought up to think that the NHS will look after me from the cradle to the grave as they say. As I spend more and more time doing research into medicines I realise this is no longer true. The belief that if you needed a medicine then you would be prescribed it on the NHS is simply not true. For example, if you have raised cholesterol, you will only be prescribed a lowering medication if you stand a risk of heart attack of 15% or more over the next ten years…..and they have only just raised the bar to this level, until April, you only got the medication with a 1:3 chance of a heart attack.

To put that into perspective, there are somewhere in the region of 6-8 million people in the UK who wage Ł1 on winning the lottery when the odds are somewhere around 14,000,000:1 against. I wonder how these people would feel if they realised the ‘prescribing rationing’ that goes on and how the medical professions are gambling with their lives at much shorter odds than this.

Anyway, once the plug was out of the way, the rest of the conversation was about how to live a long and happy life. The discussion was about how to make sure your lifestyle was compatible with old age. One of the key factors in making sure you reach that ripe old age is keeping your mind and body active. These things really do contribute to keeping the doctors away.

They interviewed an elderly man of 98 who was talking about his way of keeping the grim reaper from his own door and he was talking about his lifestyle (which sounded completely fabulous and I hope I am enjoying the things he’s enjoying when I’m 98). His formula? Do at least one kind act every day! What a lovely thought. It may sound a bit cheesy and maybe it is but even so, I made up my mind there and then to try to do the same. What will my good turn of today be? I don’t know. Do you think bringing DM a cup of tea while he’s in the bath counts?

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brother_mark		22-Jun-2004 21:57
Perhaps you can improve your chances of living a long and happy (by the way) life, by following that old man's suggestion to be kind at least once a day. Maybe that is even more effective than following the pharmaceutical industry's prescription for eight or nine different drugs to balance one's poor diet, lack of regular exercise and a stressful lifestyle. Will people with a high cholesterol and a 1:10 chance of having a heart attack be better and more economically served by getting dietary advice and following it than by taking the pill? Dr. Coombs lists many exceptions to the 15% rule. Including diet not working. Interesting pose for this photo. I'm glad you had such a good visit.

Guest		22-Jun-2004 21:49
I think bringing DM a COKE while in the bath is even kinder, as we all know how he likes Coke!! LOL! And this is a FANTASTIC picture of 2 women I want to hang out with!! Are they heading to San Francisco any time???

Beth		22-Jun-2004 18:14
I can see your point, Linda, but I think we live in such a world where taking medication is the first rather than the last option, and that I personally would want my doctor to exercise caution in putting me on a treatment for the rest of my life. Plus a lot of these conditions can (in some cases) be effectively managed by a change in diet, more exercise and a healthier/less stressful lifestyle. But that would require people to take responsibility for their own health management, which many are unwilling to do.

Linda Alstead		22-Jun-2004 17:56
Thanks to Dr Coombs for setting out so clearly the types of people who Doctors treat using Statins. I have had another look at my commentry from yesterday and decided perhaps I ought to clarify my position. I'm not suggesting in any way that the Doctor who was on the radio yesterday was in any sense acting inappropriately by promoting OTC Statins, simply that she was expressing a belief that they work and will probably benefit people. I think the PR machine has been in overdrive since the switch application as I've heard so many 'articles' and news items referring to the switch. I feel sure the doctor on the radio was simply reflecting the volume of media coverage about the switch. In terms of my comments, the point I was making was that if you have a 1:10 chance of suffering a heart attack in the next ten years, with the current guidelines you should not be treated on the NHS. I was trying to say that those odds are very short when it's a life that's being gambled with. I accept the point totally that fit, healthy people shouldn't be getting medication they don't need but in my view with a risk of 1:10 people should get treatment.

Dr. Coombs		22-Jun-2004 12:43
I read with interest your feelings about statins. Statins are prescribed to patients with a risk of infarction (the 15%or > you refer to) but also to those who are at risk of other vascular events, so that includes diabetics as well as those who have had a stroke, and to those who fall into the "secondary prevention" category in hypertensives - such as those with existing dyslipidaemia. It also applies to those with familial hypercholestraemia and those whose cholesterol has not been lowered by diet and exercise and other lifestyle modifications within a set period. Quite rightly it isn't prescribed to fit healthy people who do not have any risks - because lifestyle modification can be as effective in maintaining normal levels of total cholesterol. Hope this helps.

Ray :)		22-Jun-2004 08:56
Yes, part of the "Knowing Me, Knowing You" video from memory. How Sad!!

northstar37		22-Jun-2004 08:45
I listened to the same show whilst taking my mother in law home. There was a man who did a parachute jump at 101 years old. I offered to buy her one too. But she just chuckled. This picture reminds me of Abba a bit. Very interesting!