Search results

Hey Critter - of course there is "germ theory" - but the issue here is how to stop breathing in the germs. If you can breathe through your mask you will breathe in many germs, particularly viruses as they are extremely small. Gloves will of course stop the skin on your hands picking up...

I haven’t worn a mask for months and months now. Very few people here - England outskirts of London - are wearing them now. Today I had an appointment at hospital to see my endocrinologist - neither he nor any of the nursing staff were wearing masks, same with the other patients I saw. Last...

The Swan Neck Flask experiment of Pasteur was to show that germs did not have spontaneous generation. The curve of the flask prevents outside air from entering the flask so no contamination occurs. When the neck of the flask is broken off, bacteria reach the sterile broth and organism growth...

Face masks: Cochrane Review: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full "Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of laboratory‐confirmed influenza/SARS‐CoV‐2 compared to not wearing masks (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.72 to...

I was diagnosed with diabetes (monogenic) back in 2007. I immediately went on a very low carb way of eating after reading 'Diabetes Solution' by Dr Richard Bernstein, himself a Type 1 diabetic. In addition to very low carb eating I was testing my blood glucose levels too, both before food and...

I had that, the small red spots moving on the walls and on my skin - it was one of the side effects of the tramadol I was given - once I stopped the tramadol all side effects from it went. I've never had pain with the migraine auras. They were quite frequent the first several years after...

Hi - I've not had high blood pressure issues but I've had visual auras since the day after AVR. You'll find there are several of us on forum who developed visual auras post AVR - no idea of the cause except possibly something to do with the heart lung machine.

I'm still here Steve ! Nice to see you :)

I thought the article that @PeterII posted was rather good and comprehensive. It certainly mentioned a lot about K2 in relation to those on warfarin too. Surprisingly K2 isn't so easily available from food, apart from certain foods like fermented foods, sauerkraut for example, or natto in...

Hi Karen, My ejection fraction is also hyperdynamic and around 75% - it's been that before aortic valve replacement and often since. I've never quite understood what hyperdynamic means ! I copied this about the gradients...as the stenosis gets narrower the gradients increase: Degree Mean...

I always understood that an echocardiogram is an ultrasound of the heart. My echocardiograms always seem to include 2D, flow Doppler - I've sometimes watched the screen and seen the colours of the way it presents the speed of the blood flowing through the aortic valve. I recognise the phrase...

Bicuspid aortic valves, which many of us on forum have or had, leads to calcification of the valve which is due to the turbulence of the blood flowng through the bicuspid valve as it is too narrow to begin with. It is the turbulence which often identifies the bicuspid aortic valve in the first...

Hi Karen - very glad to read you're seeing a cardiologist on Monday. I'm doing okay thanks. I see my cardiologist annually and have an echocardiogram annually too. I have high pressure gradients across the replacement valve, I don't mean high blood pressure but the actual pressure as the heart...

Hi Karen - welcome to the forum ! You write you have been diagnosed with moderate-severe aortic stenosis but you didn't mention an echocardiogram. Did they tell you the cause of the aortic stenosis ? An echo is usually able to determine that. I had a biscuspid aortic valve which was first...

I had traditional OHS with a full incision. Apparently the surgeon was going to do a smaller incision but wasn’t able to access my aortic valve with that - I have pectus excavatum (a depressed sternum) so perhaps that’s why. When I woke from the procedure I felt no pain at all - that first day I...

I'm sometimes been asked at my post surgery echos.

And from me - Happy New Year !

It's very easy to get downtrodden by pain, I know, and there's nothing wrong with feeling that way, but it's like we don't have any choice if there's no medication which can help, so just hang in there and it will get better.

It will be nine years ago on 6th January. I have a tissue valve so I will need a redo at some point. One surgeon told me the valve I have has an average lifespan of ten years but some people on here had theirs last longer. Regardless I will doubtless be going through all that pain again when I...

I was in a huge amount of pain post surgery. I was prescribed Tramadol which is supposed to be an opioid but I got no pain relief from it - not everyone does, something to do with the way the liver handles it - and I got terrible side effects from it. GP prescribed me Oramorph but I kept...