I had a doctor’s appointment today for what I believe is an ulcer again. Got some meds. Am happy about this. But.. my blood pressure was high. Not going to kill me immediately, but not something I want to sustain.
My doctor wanted to start me on meds immediately. I told him no. I have a bunch of reasons why I said no; none of that needs to be written out here and can mostly be summed up as, “I don’t like taking meds and I am stubborn” with a touch of the crazy thrown in for good measure.
He stared at me.
I stared back.
He told me I have 30 days – 4 weeks – in which to prove to him that I do not need meds. He’s given me the target of taking 4 points off of my systolic number.
THIS oughta’ be fun, no?
Edited to add some things:
- I have a family history of high blood pressure (for which medication was used and no lifestyle changes whatsoever) and heart disease and all those other awful things – so I do take this very seriously.
- One of the side effects of the ulcer is that I am ridiculously – wildly, crazily, unfathomably – bloated. I literally can’t take a deep breath. This doesn’t help with blood pressure.
- The doctor was very rushed when he said he wanted to prescribe the meds; I am not going to take anything, at all, for any length of time, without a discussion.
- In the past, I have had white coat hypertension (as evidenced by the variance in pressure between home and doctor’s office)
- I have been off of my gym routine, thanks to the two surgeries and the six week plague-from-hell. I am now back at it and, I think, that will help lower things. Really, I’ve been lazy and I need to stop being lazy and get back into the habit again and stay in the habit.
- If, after 4 weeks, my pressure isn’t down, I will discuss the meds with the doctor and, if he still feels it’s a good idea, I’ll take them.
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Blood pressure goes up and down like Mary’s pants at a picnic. Did you wait long to see your doctor? Were you totally pissed off by the time you got to see him? What time of day was it?
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I’m glad he’s giving you a month. Can you take your pressure at home in order to see if it’s the white coat thing?
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I find the mere act of them taking my blood pressure rasies it… with the fumbling around, trying one cuff, then realizing its true – they need the larger cuff and so on. Occasionally, if the reading is unusually high, I ask them to come back and take it again in 5 minutes, and invariably it’s always dropped some in that short bit of time.
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My sister brought her blood pressure down with salt monitoring, but it went back up despite her best efforts (we are a high blood pressure family too). She went on the meds, like you, mad that she had to. In the end, I think she’s just grateful that we live in a world where meds like that are even available… plus her BF has had several heart attacks since she’s been with him, and modern medicine/the cardiac unit at Hamilton General is truly amazing…
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You were right to skip the drugs for now. Keep up the gym thing, and eat right (which I think you do anyway, for the most part) and get the ulcer under control and you should be able to make him happy in 30 days.
If not, well, fine, but it’s worth a shot the natural way first. -
Please check out marksdailyapple.com
There’s a ton of info on how you body proccesses different foods and how to get healther.(Just check out the succes stories and you’ll see blood pressures lowered and such)
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Kudos. I want you to “live long and prosper”.
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I’m going to be honest; I don’t think this is going to be much of a challenge. I just need to get off my ass and do what I was doing before.. and, once I’m in the habit of it, it’s not a big deal. At least, I’m hoping that’s how it’s all going to go. :)
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I take blood pressure meds. I have absolutely no side effects, except the delightful one of migraine prevention! I walk every day, I am a vegetarian, but both parents have 160/100 even with meds. I am genetically predisposed. So is the guy from the fitness minute “Body Break” – he is on meds too, since age 18!
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