3 ms·

If a test shows "narrowed arteries" or whatever but it's not currently impacting you; inaction is an option. Knew a fellow who was told he had a "weak blood ve

If a test shows "narrowed arteries" or whatever but it's not currently impacting you; inaction is an option. Knew a fellow who was told he had a "weak blood vessel in his brain", had probably had it forever, but now he's retired they can "go in and fix it" and so he goes in for a surgery to remove a threat he was unaware of and that had not hurt him yet. He got out after a week, never really recovered, and died within 2 months. Apparently there was another aneurysm they failed to see or fix; because it couldn't have been a direct result of his procedure.

SemanticStrengh 4y ago
edit: my comment is not adequate for aneurysms Well there are solutions that have negligible risk of damage and potent likeliness of protection/improvement, e.g. for narrowed arteries the vasodilator tadalafil in low dose should be a net improvement. Then you might want to combine it with a pro-angiogenic drug such as VEGF or better BPC-137. Also even if someone seems asymptomatic it doesn't mean he is, narrowed arteries very likely to increase his aging rate and chances of death and are likely to create a nocitropic effect by creating a mini brain ischemia.
- greggsy 4y ago
  While I’m sure you know what you’re talking about, and it is very interesting, it’s poor form to suggest treatments for a cardiovascular brain conditions, after being given second hand information of a single symptom with no further history or context.
  - SemanticStrengh 4y ago
    well yes I was talking in general, actually for brain aneurysms the recommendations I made are likely to increase mortality because the aneurysm has more likelihood to break with a vasodilated overflow.
cma 4y ago
Do you know the medical term for what he had? Was it one of these? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_arteriovenous_malformation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_arteriovenous_malfo...
- h2odragon 4y ago
  Could have been; but I don't recall what it was even if i did hear it. He explained it to me as "they said i had a time bomb that hadn't gone off yet in my skull" but he wasn't convinced until they scared his wife too. My impression was that the seriousness of the condition was debatable, that was the feeling i got from him. What he might've been told by his doctors i dunno.
  - hirako2000 4y ago
    Since we've accepted to let healthcare be a business, we can only blame the logical consequence of that system, health professionals are running a business, they will scare off the siblings son and grand kids of a senile elderly if they can bank 20k for some unnecessary surgery. I imagine someone will be jumping on the occasion to point out that not all car dealers are crooks, but the rising number of anecdotes is concerning.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - chasd00 4y ago
    it's a nice, fat, and juicy billable event, of course it was a "time bomb".
hammock 4y ago
Brain surgery is safe and effective, and prevents severe disease and death. I encourage everyone to stay up to date on their brain surgeries. I’m sorry to hear about your friend.
- meepmorp 4y ago
  Nah, we should all assume that of any and all medical interventions are unsafe and ineffective based on individual second-hand anecdotes we read in the comment sections of websites.
- pfisherman 4y ago
  I get the satire and I hate to be pedantic… BUT The phrase “safe and effective” has a legal meaning and only applies to (1) drugs and vaccines, (2) high risk medical devices, and (3) novel medium risk medical devices. The phrase “safe and effective” notably does not apply to the practice of medicine, which is not regulated by FDA. When it comes to medical practice, you are usually speaking in the language of (CMS) quality / value - “quality adjusted life years” - and then clinical endpoints - blood pressure below X. I know this is being pedantic, but as someone who has had an up close view of FDA regulatory policy / process from both sides of the table, it literally hurts my head to see some of the inaccurate and misguided stuff that gets bandied about on the interwebs.
bell-cot 4y ago
My understanding is that, for typical "retirement age" humans, any major surgery (including "physically minor, but you're under general anesthesia for a while surgery) carries a high risk both of very slow recovery, and of very slow or obviously incomplete recovery of pre-surgery mental capabilities.
- SAI_Peregrinus 4y ago
  I had a brain surgery (craniectomy to remove a colloid cyst in the interventricular foramen of Monro) at 22, and while I was home from the hospital after 2 days it took over a month to get back to normal. It'd surely be hellish after retirement age. Anything with general anesthesia is high-risk, no matter how minor the rest of the procedure.

SemanticStrengh 4y ago

edit: my comment is not adequate for aneurysms Well there are solutions that have negligible risk of damage and potent likeliness of protection/improvement, e.g. for narrowed arteries the vasodilator tadalafil in low dose should be a net improvement. Then you might want to combine it with a pro-angiogenic drug such as VEGF or better BPC-137. Also even if someone seems asymptomatic it doesn't mean he is, narrowed arteries very likely to increase his aging rate and chances of death and are likely to create a nocitropic effect by creating a mini brain ischemia.

greggsy 4y ago
While I’m sure you know what you’re talking about, and it is very interesting, it’s poor form to suggest treatments for a cardiovascular brain conditions, after being given second hand information of a single symptom with no further history or context.
- SemanticStrengh 4y ago
  well yes I was talking in general, actually for brain aneurysms the recommendations I made are likely to increase mortality because the aneurysm has more likelihood to break with a vasodilated overflow.

cma 4y ago

Do you know the medical term for what he had? Was it one of these? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_arteriovenous_malformation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_arteriovenous_malfo...

h2odragon 4y ago
Could have been; but I don't recall what it was even if i did hear it. He explained it to me as "they said i had a time bomb that hadn't gone off yet in my skull" but he wasn't convinced until they scared his wife too. My impression was that the seriousness of the condition was debatable, that was the feeling i got from him. What he might've been told by his doctors i dunno.
- hirako2000 4y ago
  Since we've accepted to let healthcare be a business, we can only blame the logical consequence of that system, health professionals are running a business, they will scare off the siblings son and grand kids of a senile elderly if they can bank 20k for some unnecessary surgery. I imagine someone will be jumping on the occasion to point out that not all car dealers are crooks, but the rising number of anecdotes is concerning.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- chasd00 4y ago
  it's a nice, fat, and juicy billable event, of course it was a "time bomb".

hammock 4y ago

Brain surgery is safe and effective, and prevents severe disease and death. I encourage everyone to stay up to date on their brain surgeries. I’m sorry to hear about your friend.

meepmorp 4y ago
Nah, we should all assume that of any and all medical interventions are unsafe and ineffective based on individual second-hand anecdotes we read in the comment sections of websites.
pfisherman 4y ago
I get the satire and I hate to be pedantic… BUT The phrase “safe and effective” has a legal meaning and only applies to (1) drugs and vaccines, (2) high risk medical devices, and (3) novel medium risk medical devices. The phrase “safe and effective” notably does not apply to the practice of medicine, which is not regulated by FDA. When it comes to medical practice, you are usually speaking in the language of (CMS) quality / value - “quality adjusted life years” - and then clinical endpoints - blood pressure below X. I know this is being pedantic, but as someone who has had an up close view of FDA regulatory policy / process from both sides of the table, it literally hurts my head to see some of the inaccurate and misguided stuff that gets bandied about on the interwebs.

bell-cot 4y ago

My understanding is that, for typical "retirement age" humans, any major surgery (including "physically minor, but you're under general anesthesia for a while surgery) carries a high risk both of very slow recovery, and of very slow or obviously incomplete recovery of pre-surgery mental capabilities.

SAI_Peregrinus 4y ago
I had a brain surgery (craniectomy to remove a colloid cyst in the interventricular foramen of Monro) at 22, and while I was home from the hospital after 2 days it took over a month to get back to normal. It'd surely be hellish after retirement age. Anything with general anesthesia is high-risk, no matter how minor the rest of the procedure.