Maarten Vasbinder lives in Isaan. His profession is general practitioner, a profession that he mainly practiced in Spain. On Thailandblog he answers questions from readers who live in Thailand and writes about medical facts.
Do you have a question for Maarten and do you live in Thailand? Send this to the editor: www.thailandblog.nl/contact/ It is important that you provide the correct information such as:
- Age
- Complaints)
- History
- Medication use, including supplements, etc.
- Smoking, alcohol
- Overweight
- Optional: laboratory results and other tests
- Possible blood pressure
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Dear Martin,
My name is P., age 68 years. I have been living in Thailand for 5 years. After a life with many addictions such as alcohol, drugs and smoking, I stopped everything 20 years ago. My new addiction has become fitness, 7 days a week. I don't take any drugs.
In the Netherlands I had my blood checked regularly. In the conversation with the doctor afterwards it was invariably, cholesterol a bit too high, but the good ones compensate for this. And no reason for drugs.
Now I have the last two blood results from Thailand and I would like to ask you how you read this and what you think about it.
The next question is about my blood pressure. When I wake up in the morning my blood pressure is 145/90, after exercise and the rest of the day 110/75, how should I read this?
Is there a substitute for aspirin in Thailand? As a remedy for a possible Tia?
Many thanks and greetings from Surat Thani.
Regards,
P.
******
Dear P,
I fully share your GP's observation, given your current blood results.
Your blood pressure is excellent. At night and in the morning it is often a bit higher. Your cholesterol fluctuates somewhat between reasonable limits.
In case of a TIA you can take 300 mg aspirin, which you can buy here.
As a prophylaxis there is Aspent-M 81 mg 1 tablet before breakfast, but is that really necessary? In addition, it can cause stomach upset.
Why did you have an INR check in 2017?
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Maarten