Have started another Poll on whether you are Sick or Healthy?

Changing

by docklock - 2024-10-10 12:17:08

My "Sick & Healthy' can change daily.

I just turned 80 a couple of months ago, so I don't know how I'm supposed to feel cause I've never been 80 before.

Obviously I have a PM (or I wouldn't be here LOL). Have a couple feet of 'battle scars' left over from various operations.

Have terribe balance and use a walking stick to maintain some equilibrim and special shoes cause my feet are screwed up.

So I (lightheardly) can change any of the 1-5 fairly often.

My outlook on life in general is great. I have two dogs that I love and care for, so I HAVE to get up and take care of their needs.

Just my opinion -- your mileage may vary.  

Yes health can change in an instant

by Gemita - 2024-10-10 14:13:47

Docklock, thank you.  I knew this wouldn't be easy and you make some very good points.

It does sound as though you have mobility problems on a regular basis, so I can see that you have a chronic condition.  Nonetheless, your attitude towards life is so positive and I am sure this is helping you not to focus on your health difficulties.  Sorry you felt unable to participate in the Poll.

My husband is under the Balance Clinic due to his last stroke, so I appreciate your difficulties only too well.  Like you, my husband loves animals (well we both do).  The fact that you have to get up to care for your two beautiful pets must help you to stay well..  They are such a joy to have around the house, aren't they

docklock

by piglet22 - 2024-10-11 05:07:56

I think you describe senior years nicely.

You go along for decades not thinking you are old, putting off the evil day, then finally compared to the rest, you are old.

It's life. You have to live it as best you can. Remember the early years, but don't try to relive them.

There are advantages to being not young. A bus pass, free prescriptions and until recently, help with heating bills. Grrrrr

Now and again people open doors for you..

Use your advantages.

The life graph is like the pacemaker battery voltage graph. Trots along for years, not changing much, then takes a sharp downturn.

Best wishes 

Thanks Gemita

by piglet22 - 2024-10-11 05:22:38

I can see a lot of work has gone into this.

The questions are just right and you can see the trend developing.

An afterthought, I wonder if someone information on age etc. might be useful or maybe too intrusive. Maybe optional.

I guess the actual visual aspect of the poll design was a joint effort with the web designers. I've done very very basic web design but nothing as fancy as the bar charts and radio buttons. It all takes work and testing 

Piglet

by Gemita - 2024-10-11 05:55:44

Yes I can see a trend developing too.  I wonder if it stays like this?  I am surprised there are a few members in perfect health!  Lucky ones.

The current software only allows for five questions/options and one specific answer from a respondent which is frustratingly restrictive, so I cannot insert anything else at this stage and it wouldn't be fair anyway because some folks have already voted.

The visual aspect is not that great, especially if one says too much, but I think defining Sick and Healthy was helpful.  Our current software only seems to allow for one short simple Poll question.  It kept throwing up an error when I tried to submit my Poll question with an explanation!  

Gemita

by piglet22 - 2024-10-11 06:41:50

Perfect health with a pacemaker? That's debatable, but still relevent as it's a personal view.

The device constantly reminds me that an important organ doesn't work properly. i wouldn't say I was in perfect health.

However, the device restores me to some semblance of what it used to be like years ago when I didn't have to worry about health.

Now decades on, there aren't many bits that don't have problems. Literally from top to toes. The medication list tells all. I can't do what I used to do like running and long bike rides, but the legs still work, I can do most of the daily jobs, but going on the roof is off the menu.

My best description would be fairly healthy for my age, all things considered.

Do you have plans to do this regularly? Like a census?

I think it would be useful, maybe every couple of years? It could provide some very useful information as it targets our specific group of patients. It could reflect changes in healthcare, politics, social attitudes and advances in pacemaker technology.

For our non-UK friends, the recent change in government could bring about some health related changes. Removing some benefits from pensioners could be a negative policy, tackling the much bigger NHS problem, positive. Apparently, the economy is in dire straits, taxation is sure to rise and health, mental and physical could suffer. Who knows?

Piglet

by Gemita - 2024-10-11 14:45:46

Your enthusiasm shines through, thank you.

Perfect health with a pacemaker or an ICD?  I agree that statement is debatable although there will clearly be periods when we feel 100% well too.   

The pacemaker doesn’t bother me but the reason for my pacemaker still turns up to remind me that I have electrical faults inside my heart and although these no longer cause syncope, I am still symptomatic during these disturbances and far from healthy at these times.

You asked if we have plans to do something like our current Poll more regularly?  I am quite happy to set up future Polls if members want to send me ideas.  We have done more of a professional survey in the past on “Pain following CIED implant” and this was published in the British Medical Journal but I received expert help from a member here with this survey.  I couldn't have done it on my own.   A Survey would be much more work but of course it would give far more useful info than a simple Poll.  It was a struggle though to get sufficient respondents together, to make the Pain Survey following implant a worthwhile study and we had to keep it running for about a year to gather in the region of 320 respondents.  

When we get the new site up and running, it seems we will have the ability to create our own polls, and if they turn out to be popular, we can then take it further, more perhaps along the lines you suggest Piglet. 

I am glad you find the current Poll of interest;  at least I feel it has been a worthwhile effort.

For Future Reference

by DoingMyBest - 2024-10-14 10:29:46

Perhaps when done again - and this may not really matter statistically - you could add some kind of time frame reference. When I answered the poll I was thinking of how I feel today. Since I'm currently getting over a virus that is affecting my heart rate (thanks for the helpful info, Lavender), I answered "Very good." As I thought about it later, I thought perhaps I should have answered "Excellent" as that is more usual for me. Oh well.

Otherwise I thought your poll question and answer selections worked pretty well.

I want to add that I absolute abhor poorly constructed surveys with forced multiple choice answers for which none of the answers fit! Sometimes this is just a poor choice of words such as "always" instead of "most of the time" or "never" instead of "rarely." Other times its a, b, c, or d when it should be a, b, c, and "none of the above." Sometimes I wish I could check a box that says "Find someone else to rewrite this survey and try again. This one is junk."

That's my two cents worth today.

It is difficult to please everyone

by Gemita - 2024-10-14 12:18:03

DoingMyBest, thank you for all your help with this and I hope your virus and heart rate have settled.

I have always felt that a date when the Poll was posted should be given.  I see from past Polls that this has never been done.  Without a date, there is no indication of the period the Poll runs from, nor of the end date.  I may try to slip the date of posting in somewhere, if the software will allow?   There is no end date because hopefully we can keep it running until we collect a sufficient number of responses to make it a worthwhile Poll.  The date the Poll was posted was 10 Oct 2024 (now included).

Health is not a fixed entity and it will vary for every individual, depending on their circumstances.  It is known that we can be completely well some days and not on others, particularly with chronic/acute health conditions.  My personal feeling is that wiith a pacemaker, we all have a chronic health condition, either that of heart block, sinus node disease or another heart/health condition leading up to the need for a cardiac device.  Even though the device may have completely and successfully treated our heart condition, we may still from time to time get symptoms requiring settings adjustments, or feel unwell from other associated conditions.

Are you sick or healthy is primarily a general health Poll question for the day a member responds to the question but clearly I would hope this would be based on the member's general health over a relatively long "period of time" not merely based on how they feel at the "precise" time of responding to the Poll.  Your response to the Poll "very good health" in my opinion was still an appropriate one at the time. 

We are restricted in how we can display Polls and in how many questions we can ask (up to 5).  We are even more restricted in being offered only one response answer option per Poll which is clearly not ideal.

If anyone finds these Polls of little interest or worse, rubbish, they can always ignore them.  I know I haven't been able to please everyone.  As far as I am aware, our Polls have often been regarded as "fun" Polls and Polls to stimulate discussion, really nothing more.  Clearly though I would like them to be meaningful and of interest to those who kindly take the time to complete them.