Remember what jump-started my whole Tuesday Total weight loss thing? It was a trip to the Doctor back in August where I had high enough blood pressure that they automatically asked me scary questions like if I was currently experiencing chest pains. Here's an excerpt from my 8/21 post Who's Got the Doldrums:
"Not only has the weather made me grumpy and lazy (hence the lack of blogging)
it also makes my blood pressure high.
Well maybe that isn't due to the weather but it's high.
I went to the Doctor and it was 150/90.
I think that's pretty high because she immediately asked if I had chest pains.
(No)
It's high at the Doctor because while they take my pressure I freak out inside my head.
I have total Doctor office anxiety.
(I've fainted at the Eye Dr. and Dentist before.)
I took it again at home and it was 120/80.
(perfect)
They won't take my word for it and want to do some blood work in two months to see if they can find out what's causing it.
So I decided to take these two months to get to a healthy weight and see if that makes a difference. I'm about 12 pounds over the max healthy weight for my height so I'd like to lose at least that in the next two months.
Last week I went back to Weight Watchers (instead of just paying for it) and lost 2.8 pounds when I weighed in yesterday.
(go me!)"
Well my two (closer to three) months are up and I went back to the Doctor today for blood work. My goal was to lose 12 pounds to be at a healthy weight but I have lost 22 pounds to be at an even healthier weight. (I still have more weight-loss goals but we'll address those in future Tuesday Totals.)
At the Doctor I did just fine while they drew my blood and did the other yucky annual exam stuff but my mind was focused on the Blood Pressure Cuff. I warned the nurse when she wrapped it around my arm that I have White Coat Syndrome. She assured me that since she was wearing a purple jacket that it wouldn't affect me. (love her!) I took a deep breath and then totally freaked out inside my head.
Either her purple jacket did magic or it was my weight-loss but I passed the freakin' blood pressure test with flying colors. 118/69 I'm so old and lame but hearing her say that made my day/week/the last two months!
Imagine how low my blood pressure actually is if I got a 118/69 result in a clinical setting?!
I've been getting light-headed when I get out of bed at night to use the bathroom or when I stand up too fast so I asked the Dr. about this and if I could cut back on my blood pressure medicine. She said to start with taking half a pill every day and to keep monitoring my blood pressure. If I'm still getting good readings in another 10 days or so we can cut down even further on the medicine or perhaps do away with it altogether. BEST NEWS EVER!
1 comment:
Nice work on the weight loss!
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