(A) New Direction(S)
Sep. 11th, 2018 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisnewdayAs a result of the yearly physical, which I had on Monday, I've now embarked on a major lifestyle change. Among other things, I'm having to confront an issue with high blood pressure which I've managed to weasel my way around in the past.
This was my first appointment with the doc who took over when mine retired earlier this year. And he didn't want to hear it, that my BP was always elevated when I came into the doctor's office.
Which has been true, historically speaking, but it's been reaching levels recently which he deems unacceptable.
So, when he asked me if I was a "salty guy," I said, "Yup!" and he said, "At least you're honest."
The thing that spurred me into action, today, was that I received a phone text from my pharmacy that said my BP med was ready for pick up. And that was NOT my understanding of our conversation.
I'm NOT a pill guy and I've long been of the opinion that doctors are too inclined to whip out the prescription pad when other better, cheaper, safer remedies may be available.
You know that disclaimer that always accompanies your prescription, these days? The one that says, "You have been prescribed [such-and-such a drug] because your physician has determined that its potential benefits outweigh its potential risks? And then they list the risks?
You oughta see the list that comes with these blood pressure meds. Besides which, it was my understanding that we were going to try a change in diet before resorting to the effing nuclear option.
So, when I got the pharmacy's text, I said screw that and began reading labels and emptying out my cupboards and refrigerator. And was in fact successful today at reducing my sodium intake by, I kid you not, about 90%.
The question now is, how to maintain that level in whatever days lie ahead. Because it is a major change in lifestyle. One which dismantles one of the major underpinnings of my life as a single, aging adult--how to maintain adequate daily nutrition.
Doesn't sound like much of a challenge? Read some labels and start thinking about what you would eat in the event that you suddenly had to revert to a SALT-FREE diet. Not a reduced-salt or low-salt diet, but a salt-free one. Which is what I figure I've gotta do to prove to this guy that, in my case, there's an effective alternative to the GD pills.
So, wish me luck. I'm probably gonna need it this week because I also have 2 surgical consults coming up, one of them the day after tomorrow, which could send me in yet another direction or directions
Which I'm now hoping can happen, if it has to, without propelling the rest of my life completely out of control...
LPK
Dreamwidth
9.11.2018
This was my first appointment with the doc who took over when mine retired earlier this year. And he didn't want to hear it, that my BP was always elevated when I came into the doctor's office.
Which has been true, historically speaking, but it's been reaching levels recently which he deems unacceptable.
So, when he asked me if I was a "salty guy," I said, "Yup!" and he said, "At least you're honest."
The thing that spurred me into action, today, was that I received a phone text from my pharmacy that said my BP med was ready for pick up. And that was NOT my understanding of our conversation.
I'm NOT a pill guy and I've long been of the opinion that doctors are too inclined to whip out the prescription pad when other better, cheaper, safer remedies may be available.
You know that disclaimer that always accompanies your prescription, these days? The one that says, "You have been prescribed [such-and-such a drug] because your physician has determined that its potential benefits outweigh its potential risks? And then they list the risks?
You oughta see the list that comes with these blood pressure meds. Besides which, it was my understanding that we were going to try a change in diet before resorting to the effing nuclear option.
So, when I got the pharmacy's text, I said screw that and began reading labels and emptying out my cupboards and refrigerator. And was in fact successful today at reducing my sodium intake by, I kid you not, about 90%.
The question now is, how to maintain that level in whatever days lie ahead. Because it is a major change in lifestyle. One which dismantles one of the major underpinnings of my life as a single, aging adult--how to maintain adequate daily nutrition.
Doesn't sound like much of a challenge? Read some labels and start thinking about what you would eat in the event that you suddenly had to revert to a SALT-FREE diet. Not a reduced-salt or low-salt diet, but a salt-free one. Which is what I figure I've gotta do to prove to this guy that, in my case, there's an effective alternative to the GD pills.
So, wish me luck. I'm probably gonna need it this week because I also have 2 surgical consults coming up, one of them the day after tomorrow, which could send me in yet another direction or directions
Which I'm now hoping can happen, if it has to, without propelling the rest of my life completely out of control...
LPK
Dreamwidth
9.11.2018
no subject
Date: 2018-09-12 12:56 pm (UTC)I have done salt free during a pregnancy, ewww.
That being said, you might not want to cut out salt entirely as the body needs some. We only use Himalayan salt and it is better than table salt. Also, beet juice is said to reduce blood pressure effectively. But, it is expensive.
You could also buy a cuff, keep records at home and see how your numbers run when not at the doctor's office. I, being the nervous nellie that I am always have high numbers at the docs but am fine at home and I am medicated. Thankfully my GP knows this and doesn't flip out over my readings when he sees me.
And no, I am certainly not a health care professional, but just wanting to share personal experience as I've done a lot of research on hypertension and lived with it for years. I'd say take my advice with a grain of salt, but oops better not.
Hope you get it ALL straightened out easily and quickly.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-12 02:03 pm (UTC)Thanks. Because, of anything that anyone could have said to me this morning, THAT was the most helpful because I needed the laugh.
Honestly, right now, I feel like that doctor's visit yesterday was among the worst things I've ever done to myself.
I was working pretty hard just to get along, to make a life for myself, and then this person, whom I don't know and who doesn't know me, comes along and just helter-skelter starts turning it upside down.
I am gonna go to my consult tomorrow but have pretty much decided I'm gonna decline any options and will likely begin, after that, to find myself a different GP for primary care.
One who listens for a minute before he begins to spout all the wisdom he's accumulated, for the sick and the elderly, in his thirty-some years of life...
no subject
Date: 2018-09-12 04:02 pm (UTC)Imho they lowered the acceptable bp numbers so that Big PHARMA could sell more pills. The healthcare system in this country is totally fucked! We can no longer rely on physicians to take good care of us and must be our own advocates.
no subject
Date: 2018-09-12 05:49 pm (UTC)Totally agree! And the problem is, we find ourselves in this position at a time in our lives when we likely have the fewest resources, material, mental, and physical, to do so.
Regarding meds, one of the early highlights of my visit was when the male PA came into the exam room to do the prelims and couldn't pronounce the names of half the short list of drugs I've been taking.
Sad. Top to bottom, sad. Or, in the words of your more succinct appraisal, "totally fucked..."
no subject
Date: 2018-09-13 12:48 pm (UTC)And I never go to doctors. Never! Unless I need a emergency patch.
My Fitbit has actually proven very useful for tracking exercise and food intake. I wouldn't have thought I'd like it before I started using it, but I do, and I highly recommend the product. I have the very cheapest model, which is just a little battery in a rubber wristband that I synchronize with a phone app. I imagine there is some way you could get it to track macronutrients. I highly, highly, highly recommend it.
When you live alone, it's really hard to get passionate about cooking. One's inclination is to say, "Fuck it," and reach for that frozen, microwaveable dinner.
Ask yourself what you would be doing with that hour that you spend cooking? Does cooking take away from some more vitally interesting occupation? In most instances, not. Also, you know, it's perfectly fine to roast vegetables for dinner. Dinner doesn't have to have a starch, a protein, and some plant matter.