bp bp bp

A few weeks ago a thought occurred to me. The lady at the transplant centre had said that not only did I have to be in good health to donate, but that my blood pressure had to be at or below 130/80. I remembered that back in January, the doc took my pressure and it was so high she had me come back a week later for another test. I couldn't remember what that final result was, but knew she was pleased with it and off I went.

So, trying to be thorough, I made another appt with the doc, mostly to make sure that they wouldn't have a problem with my follow up care here if I'm able to donate. Before I left, I again asked for her to take my bp. OMG.. from those readings, I'm nearly ready to explode! out of three tries I can remember a 179 /89 and a 180/ something.. Because I'd just driven straight from Manchester to the docs.. screaming along as fast as I could manage in fear of being late.. we figured maybe some of the high readings were from stress.

She asked me to come back in a week and suggested no salt, reduce alcohol consumption and that sometimes even losing half a stone helps (that's about 7 lbs). So, I went on a diet. No more crap for me. I bought a decent multivitamin (even tho I think they prolly come out looking just like they went in) some ginkobiloba and magnesium.

I emailed my daughter to tell her the bad news. She told me later that she had a 'little breakdown' and cried a bunch but still appreciated my willingness to have tried. At the time though, we agreed it didn't look good but would wait on the final appt.

The weather's been crap so for exercise I've been jumping rope in the living room. (yet another reason to love the high ceilings) I poop out quickly but it's got my heart rate up for a while.

I've also been reading around some and found one doctor who advises to up my water intake. He said that if you shortchange your body of water, the body will protect it's organs by constricting blood flow to the perepheries (gad, I know I've spelled that wrong - sorry) That constriction is part of the bp readings. So I've been drinking more water. And peeing more. Weirdly enough, I've been thirstier too.. guess you get used to having it once you start?

At the end of my week, the doc took three readings. The best was 152/89.

Defeated, I went home and rang the transplant centre, told them I'd discovered I was wrong about having a good bp. I was gobsmacked to then be told that studies have shown that if a person can control their bp with a single medication, that they are still considered fine to donate.

They are shipping a portable bp machine to my daughter's house so before we arrive at the hospital I can take a set of readings over 24 hrs. Because my readings have been all over the place, only an average will give an idea if this can be controlled with a single medication. I can turn in the readings when we arrive at the hospital on Monday.

When reading about all this, when I thought I'd potentially be unable to donate, I had decided that I really didn't want to have to take bp medicine. I don't take any regular medication, feel healthy as an ox and thought I would try my best to control this through diet and exercise.

Now that the donation is still on and it's my daughter's life we're talking about.. I'm happy to take the medicine.

I'll probably be getting the most thorough check up of my life this next week. It's quite daunting to realize that I may be coming home with the knowledge that I'm not as healthy as I think I am, that they may discover something is wrong. It's a good thing because it means I can take care earlier if shit has gone awry... but will be a jolt to my self image.

It is true however that my mother's family has had many instances of cancer. Perhaps this super healthy self image has just been ridiculous all along. o well.. will know in a week.