Résistance à l’insuline / Insulinorésistance: The condition where body cells respond poorly to insulin.
Indice HOMA-IR (Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance): The most common clinical test, calculated using fasting blood glucose (glycémie à jeun) and fasting insulin (insulinémie à jeun).
Glycémie à jeun: Fasting blood sugar test.
Insulinémie à jeun: Fasting blood insulin test.
HGOP (Hyperglycémie Orale Provoquée) / Test de tolérance au glucose: An oral glucose tolerance test measuring blood sugar response over time.
Indice QUICKI: Another calculation used to measure insulin sensitivity.
Is that here in France? It’s one of the things we love about France - the willingness of our MT to send us for tests / check ups at the first sign of (possible) trouble. It was the speed things happened here that meant I was diagnosed and fitted with a pacemaker within a month, OH had an op to remove a kidney tumour and I had a colonoscopy to remove two tumours, neither of our cancer ops needing chemo.
Sue. The only one of the above that I have done is “glycémie à jeun”, that was ok.
I suggested an angiologue because my father had a thrombosis (which is arteries and veins, not heart).
I don’t have any aparent signs of heart problems, it’s really the family history combined with the triglycérides, ferritine and HDL results that concern me. These particuler labo tests have been outside the normal limits for at least 4 years (doing blood tests once a year).
I visited an angiologue years ago. All clear… but that was “years ago” and things change. That was around the time I was misdiagnosed by a cardiologist… and I’ve not 100% shaken that tbh despite 2 other cardiologists assuring me all was ok.
Speaking from experience, this is a routine procedure and nothing to be concerned about. Stick strictly to your cardiologist’s advice between now and the procedure and if you have any worries or concerns speak to him/her or to your médecin traitant. It will be fine
My médecin généraliste has never shown a huge amount of concern about these labo results. But I’ve done research on this online and they are definitely signs to take note of (in my opinion), especially taking into consideration my father’s thrombosis. I returned to see the généraliste and at my request she happily wrote ordonnances for an angiologue and a cardiologue. Up to me to take it from there…it’s the specialists who are going to tell me what happens next I suppose, but I haven’t been to see them yet.
Fully agree with doppler ultrasound , actually it is part of the suite of a cardio set of tests mainly for heart valve performance as well as a blood workup. Carotid flow would be more important for brain . The equipment is now very affordable and there is no risk to the patient , so it should be as routine as an ECG. When I say affordable I mean cheap. I once attended a clinic when I had an unexplained lump , and the doctor , picked up his iPAD , plugged in a sensor head and was able to do the imaging there and then.
Yes, with the exception of cholesterol, that’s been my experience too. My leucocytes have always been below the recommended level but never a comment was made. In my case, I think that’s just what my levels are and so no big cause for worry. I noticed that ‘recommended level’ was reduced a few years back anyway!
To be fair, I suspect the individual numbers have to be viewed in context and with regard to other numbers. I’m sure that’s what MTs do - even if it doesn’t look like they’re paying attention!
That said, I do think one has to take that on board and be the driving force behind any further exploration. And maybe that’s right, I don’t know, but I don’t want to be accused of being frivolous and wasting the doctors’ time
Because strokes are v common it’s an important test, in my book at least. It is able to show progression of soft plaques which if present in the carotids are almost certainly present in the arteries of the heart but may not yet be calcified and stable.
I think the general term term in English is Angioplasty if they use a balloon to squish plaque .and the making of images Angiograms ..But popular use would be Cath. Lab or fancier title like Rapid Access Clinic .or even worse PCI … Percutaneous Coronary Intervention .
Once you are getting these things the English is doubly confusing and words mean differently than one might expect. For instance, my cardiologist or i"interventional cardiologist " would send both me and my GP reports after each intervention , and would refer to evidence of restenosis as POSITIVE .. which I would have read as a good thing .. It’s not ..it’s exactly the opposite .It means that the artery was clogging up again..
Definitely prevention is best, especially with heart and artery matters which can bring on sudden death as with my father many years ago (he had no warnings and he had done little in the way of prevention tests). As someone mentioned, we are lucky in France to be able to get this done and usually fairly quickly. I have some doubts about the competances of généralistes, but the great thing is that they do write ordonnances quite freely and if we think it might be necessary to see a specialist, we can !! (obviously we shouldn’t abuse that right). But when it could directly effect our longevity, why not.
I think it fair to say that they’ve changed. The newer breed seem to me to be, as I said before. kinda like a triage. They look at the numbers, consult their ordi and ping you off to the relevant specialist. The ‘old school’ doc is a dying/retiring breed.
My previous GP (I changed only last week) was what I’d call of the new breed. Indeed, she seemed to spend longer looking at her computer screen than she did at me. On the plus side, she was rarely there and you’d often get a remplacent or student/newly qualified bod. There’s one particular remplacent I liked to see, retired but keeping his hand in (unfortunate word choice), that was ‘old school’ - and he syringed my ear. I remarked, GPs can’t do that in the UK nowadays and he told me that they can’t in France either but it was quicker and easier for me, rather than hanging around waiting for an appointment with a specialist.
That’s what killed my husband despite having all the tests (doppler, heart readings, and others) He was waiting for a rdv in two weeks time at Brest to have the carotid artery cleaned out and a few days before, suffered a huge stroke that called for us to switch off life support. Oddly enough our neighbour was waiting for this operation too but suffered problems when the surgeon cut in the wrong place and he was in agony for weeks until it was done again. The only sign OH had for all this was pins and needles in his left arm some months earlier and was given some tablets to take. As we donated his organs they found the heart and other major ones to be free of any form of cholesterol or cancers or other nasties.
Sorry to hear that Shiba, but how good of you to donate his organs at a time of stress like that. It is situations like heart free of cholesterol etc that undoes the general cholesterol is bad idea.
Does anyone have any knowledge of an external Cardioversion?
Back in the UK and this is what cardio are suggesting for me. I know it’s basically a shock to the heart to get it working in a regular cycle. I have had palpitations and an irregular heartbeat in the past. They have been treating me with pills so far, for bp, new ones which are used for treating kidney problems which they think work well as a supplement for diuretics, as well as diuretics and blood thinners. Not keen to take more pills than absolutely necessary. My cholesterol levels are good apparently so no statins needed. I put this down to eating a goodly amount of avocados per week, actually a half a day is enough.
Grateful to hear from anyone who has had this procedure done. Especially with a view to hearing if it hurt à lot, being a baby about any medical procedure that might hurt! I did see this being administered to a woman on a tv programme and she nearly rose off the trolley when the elec charge was made! Hoping to hear something reassuring please.
