The Cockroach Catcher: The Cockroach Catcher II: Attempted Living---Finland

Sunday, May 28, 2023

The Cockroach Catcher II: Attempted Living---Finland

Finland

Men occasionally stumble over the truth,

but most of them pick themselves up

hurry off as if nothing ever happened.

Sir Winston Churchill.

Finland – Settled and Unsettled Medical “Truths”

Blood pressure is another medical question far from having been settled.

In 1988, a paper came out of Finland that was quietly unsettling. Generations of doctors have been trained to work hard to get our patients to lower their blood pressure, no matter how old or frail they are. Yet according to this paper the highest mortality was observed in those in the lowest systolic and diastolic groups, and lowest in subjects with systolic pressures at 160 mm Hg or higher and diastolic pressures at 90 mm Hg or higher.

This was further confirmed in 1997 of a 5-year survey of seniors aged 75 years and over.

Goodwin who covered the above concluded:

Medicine is practiced in a cultural context. One of the tenets of our culture is that high blood pressure is bad. In my experience, levels of systolic blood pressure greater than 200 are often viewed by medical personnel as a medical emergency. At a minimum, however, the geriatrician can share the news that such levels of blood pressure are a good prognostic sign.

The biggest problem according to Goodwin: the geriatrician who does not treat such patients risks many calls from--wait for it: the grandchildren who are physicians.

In 2019 The Berlin Initiative Study found that people aged 80 and over who had a lower blood pressure — of 140/90 mm Hg or under — actually had a 40 percent higher mortality risk than peers with blood pressure exceeding those thresholds.

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The Cockroach Catcher II: Attempted Living.

Just published on Amazon

The Cockroach Catcher II: Attempted Living.

Review on Amazon:

Maureen

Not the ordinary memoir

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 17, 2023

Verified Purchase Am Ang Zhang has brilliantly woven together nostalgia, discoveries, astute observations and intelligent opinions. The fascinating title of the book is a deliberate understatement of his abundant life, where being a senior consultant psychiatrist is only a part of it . He is obviously a man of gifted intellect and refined tastes who, rather than hampered by material scarcity as a young child refugee, was fascinated by beauty in nature, and quickly acquired an appreciation of the finer things in life, enriched by travels and sustained by a keen engaging mind.
Reading his memoir is eye opening, and at times therapeutic. It was like meeting up with a learned old friend, as you sit with him and listen while his memories and ideas overflow. You travel with him as his stories move from continent to continent, from detailed episodes to gentle remarks, from freshly harvested catches to gourmet preparations, from ancient finds to modern scientific research ......
A most delightful read.