High Blood Pressure - It's Stressful!

When I woke up Monday morning, I was feeling a little tightness and soreness in my chest. I decided to stay home and I called the doctor for an appointment. I have high blood pressure and have been taking Verapamil to keep it under control. I have a blood pressure montoring machine but I haven't been using it lately.

I dusted off the machine and took my blood pressure. It was 168/111 which is a stage 2 high level. I knew that was not good. I called Dr. B and made an appointment for later that day.

Dr. B did various tests and was very concerned that my blood pressure was so high. She insisted that I stay home in bed for three days and then return on Thursday to be checked out again. She prescribed Catapres-TTS-1 to go along with the Varapamil. CT1 is a patch that is worn for a week and then replaced with a fresh one.

I must say that it is very difficult to stay in bed when you don't really feel that sick. In fact, I have been laying on the sofa watching movies as I have no TV in the bedroom. I haven't done anything physical except walk the dogs twice a day and I have barely gone on the computer, which is why there has been no posts lately.

Dr. B feels that a lot of my blood pressure problems stem from stress. I know it's true but unfortunately, the big stress problem is not going away any time soon. I've just got to live with it for the time being. But there are small stresses I can and should avoid.

So I've decided that I am not making any plans. I am going to just stay home, watch my movies, and take it very easy. I am going to avoid my martinis (sob) for a while and eat even healthier. Since quitting smoking, I have gained 13 1/2 pounds and I show no sign of stopping. So I will focus on that for a while.

Well I just wanted to let my minions of readers know what happened to me. I still plan to blog and I promise to jump in with something more interesting in my next entry. What better way to blow off stress then through my blog, right?

High blood pressure is no laughing matter. For more information, check out A Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure by clicking here.