As we look back over the past year we thought we'd remind you of our 5 most popular medical posts for 2016 in case you missed any of them. The F words of recovery - could you have PTSD? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, can occur in anyone who has experienced a terrifying or traumatic event including serious injury or threat of death. The cluster of symptoms are … [Read more...]
Christmas food and warfarin
This time of year there is a tendency for us all to eat a little more than usual. For most people their main concern is putting on a bit more weight, but if you take warfarin you have the added concern of how will it affect my INR. When I lived in the UK and supervised an anticoagulant clinic, Christmas was always a difficult time. For some people their INR control went all … [Read more...]
The Story of Christmas Disease
Once upon a time in a land far away, in fact England in 1947, a boy called Stephen was born. While he was still a baby, his family took him to live in Canada where he soon started having problems with severe bleeding. At the age of 2 years he was diagnosed with haemophilia. On a visit back to England in 1952 at the age of 5yrs, Stephen unfortunately ended up back in hospital … [Read more...]
Clot risk – family history
This Medical Monday series is about risk factors for venous thromboembolism, VTE (pulmonary embolism and DVT). The post 'Are you on the red or blue team?' outlines the difference between arterial and venous clots. We are going to cover Strong risk factors; being in hospital, having surgery and immobility Moderate risk factors; age (60+), a previous blood clot, family … [Read more...]
Hilary Clinton’s history of blood clots
One month after the US election and another post about politics and blood clots - Did you know that Hillary Clinton has a significant history of blood clots and is on long term anticoagulants? She has had three episodes of thrombosis. DVTs in 1998 and 2009 Hillary Clinton had her first DVT in 1998 while she was the first Lady. She was on a fund raising trip to … [Read more...]
Clot risk – a previous clot
This Medical Monday series is about risk factors for venous thromboembolism, VTE (pulmonary embolism and DVT). The post 'Are you on the red or blue team?' outlines the difference between arterial and venous clots. We are going to cover Strong risk factors; being in hospital, having surgery and immobility Moderate risk factors; age (60+), a previous blood clot, family … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – holiday travel
The holiday season is a time when families often travel to be together. We are very lucky this year in that Angela's parents have traveled all the way from UK to NZ to be with us; in fact at the ages of 85 and 86 they have emigrated! It means they can see many more of their grandchildren over Christmas than they ever did in the UK. Here they are pictured with half (8 of 16) of … [Read more...]
earthquakes, Paua and coagulation
Almost 2 weeks ago New Zealand experienced a large Earthquake rated at 7.8 on the richter scale. This led to some significant changes in the topography of the South island with the seabed rising by as much as 4 metres in some places. This meant the sea life normally on the seabed well below the tide mark was suddenly exposed. One well known New Zealand delicacy, the Paua, … [Read more...]
Taking the Pxxs – Coagulation Science
This is the first of our two posts on the absolute basics of clotting which can be covered by two swear word innuendos, taking the Pxxs the ‘F’ words We hope to make the science of coagulation simple, by going at it in bite sized pieces that will in time build into a whole picture of coagulation enabling you to understand the science behind why you had a clot and how … [Read more...]
What’s in your blood? – Q & A
Have you ever wondered how your anti-coagulant drugs work? Well, it's all related to the not-so-scary science of coagulation. Student doctors often run screaming from this topic as it can be very complex with seemingly endless nonsensical Roman numerals that make up the biochemistry of the clotting cascade. But we’re here to make it simple, by going at it in bite sized … [Read more...]