Here's a reminder to take care of yourselves

Good News Bad News
Yeah, well I shouldn't have expected that the doctor would say "just lose a few pounds and your blood pressure will come down." He doesn't care why it's up, he just wants me to take medicine. I'm very depressed - it has always been low and I hate being "someone with high blood pressure."

The above statements are made even more stupid by the fact that much of my family has a genetic kidney disease that causes high blood pressure (kicks in during middle age). My father died too young (of cancer) for it to have shown up, so I don't know if I even have a 50% chance of having it (his mother did, so he could have - if he didn't, I can't). You'd think I would be more aware of the risks of high BP. . .

So the good news is I will finally find out - with my BP up, insurance will pay for the test to check my kidneys.

The other good news is that I didn't wait so long that I had a stroke or something.

I'd still rather not be faced with medicine for the rest of my life. Sorry to be a poop right now - I'll be more cheerful after I finish all my tests. Right now, I want to have a beer, eat a ton of chips and cry.

This is the other reason we put off seeing doctors.

P.S. No, I haven't told my husband - I'll wait until I get all the information. He has enough to worry about now.

Pennymac02 said:

Me too!
I used to give blood regularly, a couple of times I was turned away because my BP was too low. Now I find myself on not one, but two BP meds, 40 pounds overweight, and unable (or unwilling) to get on a "need to be healthy kick". I HATE being someone with high blood pressure! And I'm willing to do ANYTHING to lose weight, except diet and exercise, of course. : )

BP question and diets
So I got put on Benicar - my BP went right down to 120/80, but my pulse is up to 80 (I had been about 60). Did you have effects like that? I'm also a bit dizzy - not dangerous (kind of fun, actually).

About diets - a friend went on Nutrisystem as she really needed to lose almost 40 lbs and couldn't. She's lost 17 lbs so far - although I suspect that is because some of that food is inedible. Some of it she likes, however, and she claims to be happy with the program. Her health insurance paid for part of it, also.

With Doug still trying to gain back about 20 lbs, and me also trying to feed our 13-year-old boy (he is growing so fast you can see if if he stands still long enough) I have not been making much low calorie food, so I don't see me dieting any time soon.

Exercise is another story - that 50 minutes when I'm on the elliptical in the morning before work is the only time I really feel at peace. It's not making me lose weight, but it might be saving my sanity. . .

DrMary said:

BP question and diets
So I got put on Benicar - my BP went right down to 120/80, but my pulse is up to 80 (I had been about 60). Did you have effects like that? I'm also a bit dizzy - not dangerous (kind of fun, actually).

About diets - a friend went on Nutrisystem as she really needed to lose almost 40 lbs and couldn't. She's lost 17 lbs so far - although I suspect that is because some of that food is inedible. Some of it she likes, however, and she claims to be happy with the program. Her health insurance paid for part of it, also.

With Doug still trying to gain back about 20 lbs, and me also trying to feed our 13-year-old boy (he is growing so fast you can see if if he stands still long enough) I have not been making much low calorie food, so I don't see me dieting any time soon.

Exercise is another story - that 50 minutes when I'm on the elliptical in the morning before work is the only time I really feel at peace. It's not making me lose weight, but it might be saving my sanity. . .

Keep It Up
Keep on walking. I am starting my exercise again. The people I know who have high BP who have controlled it with diet and exercise are very happy.

Best

Noellesmom said:

officially starting
Let's see - my mom has been in and out of the hospital since the first of the year, my husband is still recovering from his bout with hypopharyngeal cancer (next PET is 4/12), I have a spot on my bladder with biopsy next Monday, I am lethargic, have gained 25 pounds since Jim got sick trying to eat with him to keep him eating, my exercise has been nil since I take Mom and Jim to all their appointments and work full-time...yep, I'm definitely stressed and too busy to start a health regime.

Yet, still, I am going to. I am tired and stressed and I'm not eating right.

Here I go on my "taking care of me" new start. I've got to take care of myself because no one else can do it for me.

I am definitely on the upswing of motivation and have started modifying my diet (Jim eats just fine now, thank you, and I don't have to be the cheerleader for that anymore) and will walk at least fifteen minutes after I get home tonight.

Tired of being tired. Time to get over it.

Hugs to all of you! Hope you can reach down inside yourself wherever your motivation is hiding and pull it out and get going.

It is more than time.

Routine
Routine has always saved me - I learned that from my step-father (who lost his wife to cancer in the 40s and found the only way to go on was to make everything a routine). It has helped me to make only one change at a time and find ways to make it a hard habit to break. I found that I could handle one "improvement" a week (like exercising 5x/week, or removing snacks from the house, or getting to bed at a decent hour, no matter what).

The only time of my life that I have any control over is the hour before breakfast, which is why I do cardio then. I set everything up the night before (including making a protein drink and putting in in the fridge) so I have no excuse to avoid it - no searching for the running bra, or finding a good program to watch, as I have it all there. So far, that is the only "good-for-met" thing I've been able to keep up on. I might go back to logging my eating on CalorieCount - it really does help me remember to not overeat. . .

Which I'm tempted to do right now - my doctor will get the results of my ultrasound in 2 days and I'll start bugging him. I tried to get the technician to offer an opinion but she wouldn't. I watched over my shoulder and was positive I saw cysts and all sorts of nasty things in my kidneys, but I have a pretty active imagination.

Good luck on the biopsy - spots on bladders are often calcium deposits. . .

Noellesmom said:

Hmmmm...calcium deposits
Whatever this is it is near the neck of my bladder, blocking complete emptying of the bladder and, thus, providing me with UTI's (or, perhaps, frank bladder infections) since late January, possibly before. Also, some significant pain in my very lower left quadrant.

Ready for it to be gone as I don't do so well with antibiotics and have been on them almost constantly for a couple of months. Don't like that.

And be sure to let us know your test results. When do you expect to have them?

Got the results
and it was good news - normal kidneys, which means I am unlikely to have PKD (the kidney disease my aunt and uncles had and all of my cousins have) as the cysts show up in the 40s (I'm 51).

Of course the bad news is that the raised blood pressure is indeed due to my crappy life style. Even if I keep up with exercise and lose weight, I might still have to take this BP medicine the rest of my life. Argh. But it's better than cancer and better than having kidneys that are going to explode.

On a sad note - my father's siblings all died of PKD, 2 before they knew what it was. He died of brain cancer before we knew about the disease, so we never knew if he had it. However, neither my brothers nor I got it, so it is likely he was not carrying the gene. What luck, the only one in a family of 4 to not get the gene, and he was the one to get brain cancer.

OK - everyone else out there: have you had a physical in the last year? Do you need some encouragement to go get one? Don't forget the dentist and OB/Gyn. Are you over 50? Have you had a colonoscopy? (I will need lots of bugging to get that last one.) Had your eyes checked lately?

I'm going to repost that last paragraph on a new thread - folks will be invited to post their "checklist" of health issues they know they should take care of. We'll all give helpful hints and bug each other to see our doctors. I know it helped me to know you folks weren't going to let me skip (I was pretty close - I was in tears today when I went to get my results, as I was that scared).