Friday, September 4, 2009

Not What I'd Planned

I began changing the way I eat and the way I look at food at the beginning of 2009. It wasn't a new year's resolution. I just started at that point in time.

Eight months later, some things are great and some not so great. I just had confirmation that I suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure). Up until recently, the one thing I could always count on, no matter what, was perfect blood pressure. Never too high. Never too low. Two years ago, when I weighed about 10% more than I do now and did less exercise than I do now, my blood pressure was lower. Just goes to show, it's not all in the pounds (or loss thereof). I'm not on medication yet. First, I have to go for an echocardiogram (next week) and I'm also starting to use a meditation/relaxation CD. My life is quite stressful, mostly due to work, so I'm going to see if some help relaxing will assist in lowering the BP. BTW, I do not consume a lot of salt, but will obviously pay even more attention to how much salt is in my food.

I've also been having a lot of headaches recently and my GP has asked me to keep a headache diary. One more thing to worry about.

This is not the post I'd planned to publish today. Usually, I try to use my life as a springboard for a general discussion, but today I'm feeling too stressed to do that. Even learning to use my home BP monitor is stressing me out! There never seems to be a perfect time to check the BP: no eating at least a 1/2 hour before, 15 minutes of relaxation (can I watch TV, can I read, what if the phone rings?), the same time every day (you've got to be kidding). My heart is pounding.

I'm sure I'll get over this self-created stress and get on with things, just as I always do. But in the meantime, thanks for listening.

3 comments:

  1. When i have to take my own blood pressure i do it as soon as i wake up and before breakfast :)

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  2. Blood pressure problems are usually diet related... and the easiest way to eliminate your problem is to increase your consumption of fruit and vegetables to a MINIMUM of 5 servings a day. The easiest way to do that is to start drinking green smoothies. I hope this helps, as medication brings so many other complications...

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  3. Hi - On reading your post here, I really felt I could appreciate that your life was already stressful and here's one more thing (BP monitor) to be added to the list... no cure for life stress, unfortunately, but I'm wishing you the chance to take things easy on yourself if possible, and hope you can carry on with the meditation cd !

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