When I was at Walmart I remembered they have a blood pressure machine. I sat down, put my arm through the cuff then pressed the start button. The cuff filled up with air around my left upper arm, stayed that way then slowly released the pressure. I was shocked when I saw the reading: 158/107.
It took a minute or so to catch my breath. Immediately I started adding up all the contributing factors that could have played a role in this spike. You see, I've never had a problem with high blood pressure. In fact during my last metabolic panel everything was good - even my blood sugar.
I have a wrist cuff at home. The next day I took another reading. It was lower but still in the high category. I called my doctor's office and spoke to a nurse. She asked me a bunch of questions. There was no evidence of a stroke or reason for a trip to the emergency room. Instead I was to continue tracking my blood pressure and see my doctor on Monday.
I'm not the type of person who runs to the doctor every time I have a hang nail. I'm also not the type of person who avoids my doctor when I have a real problem. I've had the same doctor for about five years. He's very thorough and we have a good doctor/patient repore. I'm always honest with him so that he has everything to be able to give me the best medical advice or medications.
He went through a list of stressors and foods that cause high blood pressure. I told him:
- Yes, I've had a migraine every morning for 11 days.
- Yes, my salt intake has increased (tomatoes/cucumbers) although my doctor said it wasn't a contributor because I was not puffy or retaining water.
- Yes, my stress level has increased
- Yes, I've walked about 2-3 times in the last 2 weeks
- Yes, my weight has been fluctuating in the last month
- Yes, I'm still seeing my therapist weekly
- No, my psychotropic drugs have not changed
- No, I have no chest pain or palpitations
- No, I do not have dizzy spells
- Yes, I do have times when my hands go numb
- No, my vision does not get blurry
I told him I was willing to take a blood pressure medication temporarily until we figure out what is going on. He was glad to hear it because that's what he was leaning toward. He ordered an EKG in his office. I laughed out loud and said, "Those are always false positives." He looked at me and asked, "Always?" I replied, "Yes, always." "Good," he responded, "then we'll have something to compare it to from two years ago."
The EKG was fine. He started me out on a very very low dose of a medication to help the blood pressure go down and stay down. I'm going to create a sheet to track some things. I'm a little concerned but more than that, I'm motivated.
If my blood pressure is starting to be effected by my weight then I have the power, control and self-will to fix it. For the next 30 days I'm going to take a walk every day and watch what I eat. Maybe I can prove to my dysfunctional and disbelieving self that putting forth some effort can have positive results.
After all, I'm worth it and so are you!
