Hypertension and Coronavirus/Covid-19 Vulnerability ...

[seasider18]

I read this on another health forum and have no idea how true it might be.

I happened to run into a chap who I had gone to University with - low these many decades ago - and he (now a virologist) told me some interesting things about the current Coronavirus/Covid-19 situation that is currently gripping our globe. He is in fact currently working on this.

(i) There is some doubt about the current test it seems - but then there is a lot of doubt in general it appears over the entire subject at present.

(ii) He said - based on the articulated findings from China - that a common denominator in the deaths was hypertension. They currently believe this is key in the transference from Covid-19 to ARDS - and it is the latter which brings on - as I understood it from what he said - the increase in mortality.

My Question - and one I haven't really been able to get answered is this:

IF YOU HAVE HBP (and I've had genetic hypertension for decades - my own father having died at 42 because of it when I was nine - but have taken medication which has successfully controlled that same for 44 years) THAT IS KEPT UNDER CONTROL BY MEDICATION ARE YOU STILL IN THE HEIGHTENED VULNERABILITY CATEGORY FOR CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19 BY VIRTUE OF THE CORE HYPERTENSION?

Does anyone know??? ... or does anyone know where I might go to get this query answered.

I would be most very grateful to hear.

[Milkfairy Heart Star]

Hi seasider18

I suggest you ring the BHF helpline or visit the 111 website.

This is link to a BHF article about the coronavirus and your health

bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

Keep safe and keep washing your hands😁

[seasider18 in reply to Milkfairy]

I think that there is a massive overreaction with talk of a pandemic. About 90,000 in Hunan province so why should we have millions ?

Personally I have not seen empty supermarket shelves . In Sainsbury's yesterday the only item we could not get was Swedish Meat Balls and todays usual weekly shop from Ocado had no out of stock items or substitutions.

I had a cardiology appointment at the hospital today and everything and everyone there was mask free and normal

[Milkfairy Heart Star in reply to seasider18]

Let everyone keep calm and carry on washing our hands

[seasider18 in reply to Milkfairy]

What should I do with my magnificent possibly 60 year old leather gloves I actually inherited from an uncle

[Milkfairy Heart Star in reply to seasider18]

Oh keep wearing them. I wear my Raynauds silver gloves when I am out.

Sit on my hands and try really really hard not to touch my face with my gloves on.

[seasider18 in reply to Milkfairy]

Not touching face is very difficult. I got something in my eye when out today.

[magih in reply to seasider18]

I am keeping a plastic ziplock bag of loose tissues in my pocket for that purpose - when nose itches/something in eye, I use clean tissue then discard, wash/gel hands.

[seasider18 in reply to magih]

Advice in the media is to 'throw away used tissues'.

I hope people do not take that too literally.

[magih in reply to seasider18]

I have another bag for that purpose😊

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to Milkfairy]

Singing Happy Birthday! Please post your birthday when it comes around so we can vary the words over the coming days and weeks! 🎂

P. S. You may have a piece of cake on your birthday...

[Milkfairy Heart Star in reply to MichaelJH]

Haha I had my birthday late in February

Let's have a competion to pick our favourite 40 second song to wash our hands by😁🧤

[seasider18 in reply to MichaelJH]

My wife's is next week and there will be a cake. I have to wait until September. My wife usually takes some friends out for tea but will give it a miss this year.

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

I saw an item that said the Chinese had found that smoking was a significant factor in many deaths. Maybe time to give it up if you still do...

[seasider18 in reply to MichaelJH]

Stopped in 1993 and now hate all smokers.

[Sunnie2day in reply to seasider18]

I don't hate them, I feel sorry for them. It's everything I can do to keep from telling them about all the arsenic and 50gajillion other horrible chemicals in that cigarette they're puffing on in hope of them stopping on the spot. They know, they don't want or need me telling them.

[seasider18 in reply to Sunnie2day]

I would probably never have started but my first two jobs were in the tobacco trade and got a 100 a week free. Was soon buying another 100 on Tuesday.

[SpiritoftheFloyd in reply to MichaelJH]

Just checked -last cig was 434 days and counting!

[seasider18 in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

My wife stopped in 1967.

I had twice previously stopped prior to 1993. First time I started again was out of boredom on a much delayed Edinburgh/London train journey that took 13 hours.

The other was at a Scottish Cup final when my team was losing 4 -0 to Celtic at half time.

[Sunnie2day in reply to seasider18]

We moved house in 2018 - the stress was so bad we both started smoking 'the occasional' cigarette. He got to about six a day, I got to 10 and it took us a full year to get back to none.

Stress has to be the biggest enemy of cessation attempts!

[seasider18 in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

Look how much money you have saved already. I believe in the UK they are about £11 for 20. When I left school they were then the equivalent of 11p for 20 and then Labour Chancellor Hugh Dalton put them up to about 18 p in the budget.

nytimes.com/1947/04/16/arch...

The Charlie Chester radio show did a weekly chant. That week it was

Down in the jungle living in a tent

We ain't civilised, No rent

No Mr Dalton, No Mr Bevan

We ain't civilised thank heaven

[SpiritoftheFloyd in reply to seasider18]

5s3d when I started - now £11.29 - smoked 30 a day, so that's nearly £7,400! (and counting)

[seasider18 in reply to SpiritoftheFloyd]

When I stopped in 1993 I put the money away every month it paid for a holiday in Hong Kong and a later bargain winter flight to Zimbabwe to go on Safari's.

I remember all that but the 1000's of fags, cigars and pipes are lost in a cloud of smoke.

[seasider18 in reply to MichaelJH]

They used to be heavy smokers and liked Western brands. First time we were there around 1984 we went round a silk factory in Foshan. When they later gave us refreshments I passed round cigarettes and they said "Ah! State Express"

[stevejb1810 in reply to MichaelJH]

It possibly also explains the disparity in death rates between men and women - Chinese men being more habitual smokers than Chinese women.

[stillaboveground in reply to MichaelJH]

My husband stopped smoking in February 1973 after my dad passed away owing to Woodbine related breathing problems, I continued to smoke until Friday 13th December 1985, (everything good happens on Friday 13th for me) I am too old and knackered to work out how much we have saved, but I bet it's a tidy penny.

[seasider18 in reply to stillaboveground]

I also started to buy better wine when I stopped.