Monday, June 09, 2008
Can't breathe
Breathing is not overrated. With every breath I can feel stuff shifting around my lungs. Sometimes, I cough it up. I feel weak and I can't concentrate.
Obsessing over blood pressure
I am sick, I have been fighting bronchitis since before memorial day. Last Thursday at 4:00 pm, just three days after finishing off antibiotics, it flared up so bad that I decided to go back to the doctor. I hate going to the doctor. I have not gotten a primary care doc since we moved. I hate vetting a doctor.
I have an allergist and an OB/Gyn, and since I don't currently have any other health issues I want a doctor to monitor, I have not been in a hurry, mainly because I am obese and healthy. I don't have high blood pressure, diabetes, etc., which is very hard for some doctors and even more nurses to understand. I will likely get diabetes, but high blood pressure is not so likely with my family history.
It is dangerous and unpleasant to be treated for high blood pressure when one doesn't have it, as I have seen with my mother and husband. Both have chronically low blood pressure and are overweight. He often has high blood pressure when it is measured at the doctor's office because he is in so much pain from the trek to get to the doctor, and from fibromyalgia generally, but if his blood pressure is measured early in the day it is low, 105 over 70 being fairly typical for him and it gets lower at times. He also has a heart rate of 50 or so too and a cholesterol level of ten. To many doctors, this is offensive. How day a 300 pound man not have high blood pressure! And ten must be a test error! The highest they have ever measured his cholesterol is 32. He new the test was coming and he ate eggs every day to try to get the number up. Recently an idiot from the VA gave him an alleged migraine preventer which has a primary purpose of lowering blood pressure. Vernon told him that he struggles from low blood pressure, not high, but the doctor convinced him to try it.
The next morning, I could tell something was seriously wrong. Fortunately I was working from home that day, trying to fight this damn bronchitis. I made him call the doctor's office. He said he felt light headed. He appeared sluggish and his speech seemed mushy. The nurse was alarmed and advised him to drink lots of water and if it did not clear soon, I was to take him to the ER, as it seems his blood pressure may be "crashing." The water seemed to help. It took until late the next day for him to get back to normal. Not all doctors in the VA are incompetent, and a week after the incident someone finally read the pertinent parts of his chart, and called to apologize for letting the other, more senior doctor nearly kill him by prescribing that medication.
So, I sit here temporarily feeling nearly human from having taken a whole slough of pills. I thought I was going to fell better today, but no such luck. It feels like I will be going to sleep soon, so maybe that will help. At least my blood pressure was convincingly normal at the allergists office. The time before they told me I had high blood pressure and had in my charts a blood pressure of 180 over 120. I don't recall it ever being read that high, so I wonder where they got that reading. If it reads over 140 over 80, I usually make them take it a second time and pay attention to the cuff size and position. I have never had two consecutive high readings when I felt ok. Readings like 115 over 65, 120 over 70, which are the last two readings, are typical for me. They have backed off on the high blood pressure nonsense once more.
Now I wish I could get this bronchitis to back off.
I have an allergist and an OB/Gyn, and since I don't currently have any other health issues I want a doctor to monitor, I have not been in a hurry, mainly because I am obese and healthy. I don't have high blood pressure, diabetes, etc., which is very hard for some doctors and even more nurses to understand. I will likely get diabetes, but high blood pressure is not so likely with my family history.
It is dangerous and unpleasant to be treated for high blood pressure when one doesn't have it, as I have seen with my mother and husband. Both have chronically low blood pressure and are overweight. He often has high blood pressure when it is measured at the doctor's office because he is in so much pain from the trek to get to the doctor, and from fibromyalgia generally, but if his blood pressure is measured early in the day it is low, 105 over 70 being fairly typical for him and it gets lower at times. He also has a heart rate of 50 or so too and a cholesterol level of ten. To many doctors, this is offensive. How day a 300 pound man not have high blood pressure! And ten must be a test error! The highest they have ever measured his cholesterol is 32. He new the test was coming and he ate eggs every day to try to get the number up. Recently an idiot from the VA gave him an alleged migraine preventer which has a primary purpose of lowering blood pressure. Vernon told him that he struggles from low blood pressure, not high, but the doctor convinced him to try it.
The next morning, I could tell something was seriously wrong. Fortunately I was working from home that day, trying to fight this damn bronchitis. I made him call the doctor's office. He said he felt light headed. He appeared sluggish and his speech seemed mushy. The nurse was alarmed and advised him to drink lots of water and if it did not clear soon, I was to take him to the ER, as it seems his blood pressure may be "crashing." The water seemed to help. It took until late the next day for him to get back to normal. Not all doctors in the VA are incompetent, and a week after the incident someone finally read the pertinent parts of his chart, and called to apologize for letting the other, more senior doctor nearly kill him by prescribing that medication.
So, I sit here temporarily feeling nearly human from having taken a whole slough of pills. I thought I was going to fell better today, but no such luck. It feels like I will be going to sleep soon, so maybe that will help. At least my blood pressure was convincingly normal at the allergists office. The time before they told me I had high blood pressure and had in my charts a blood pressure of 180 over 120. I don't recall it ever being read that high, so I wonder where they got that reading. If it reads over 140 over 80, I usually make them take it a second time and pay attention to the cuff size and position. I have never had two consecutive high readings when I felt ok. Readings like 115 over 65, 120 over 70, which are the last two readings, are typical for me. They have backed off on the high blood pressure nonsense once more.
Now I wish I could get this bronchitis to back off.
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