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Friday, May 14, 2004

Priceless

Blood pressure after talking to nurse on the phone discussing my painful mammogram experience: 138/86

Blood pressure after sex: 101/72

Blood pressure of seriously prude person reading this after trying to google some serious straightforward important health information: priceless

Posted by Ann on 05/14/04@09:31 AM CST ..::Link::..Whisper or Scream?

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Boring Health Stuff

They put me on blood pressure medication...just a half a pill, or 12.5 mg. Last Wednesday I went in to have to checked and it was still high. The nurse said I was too young to have high blood pressure. Stan said later that she should've kept her mouth shut, they shouldn't say such things. The thing is, since when is your early 40s too young to have high blood pressure? It's when my mom developed it (or at least that's when they discovered it, she could've had it earlier and didn't know it because she wasn't seeing a doctor when we lived out east) I suspect, the nurse was not reading my chart, and just going by the way I looked. Maybe she thought I was only in my 30s. I bought a digital reader and have been taking it at home. This morning I was 113/86. The diastolic is still higher than it should be, but the systolic is amazing. I hope it's an accurate reading. I guess I won't know until I go back in on Monday, but then how accurate is that when you have whitecoat syndrome? But it always takes a long time for drugs to take effect on me too. Like novocaine. When I had teeth pulled before I got my braces, it felt as if they were pulling them without any anaesthetic. The second most physically painful experience in my life.

I'm still feeling weird effects from the meds though. I feel sleepy during the day and I have weird sensations in my my throat, neck, chest, head, like someone is holding me tightly. It's not a headache, it's just weird. I can't describe it. I have weird effects from drugs in general. All drugs. The only drug that never gave me weird effects has been the birth control pill, and now, I'm going to have to go off of it because of my high blood pressure (which is probably the bad effect I now have from that!). My mom says it's probably just psychosomatic, but if it were psychosomatic, wouldn't I feel nauseous or dizzy as the side effects on the drug info sheet state? Wouldn't I pick something like nausea (which I can feel rather easily anyway) as a psychosomatic side effect if I was worried about taking the drug? Instead, there is absolutely NO nausea. Why would I invent something like a sensation of my head and neck being held tightly?

My blood test also shows high cholesterol and triglycerides, but here's the scoop...my 'bad' cholesterol is low, or at least under the number it should be under, and my 'good' cholesterold is high, above the number it should be above! So how can my overall outlook be that bad if the HDL and LDL are where they should be? It's baffling, and I can't even find info on the web about scenarios like mine. Everywhere I look it talks about low HDL and high LDL. I feel alienated yet again. The only reassuring thing, if one can call it that, is that my mom has the same exact pattern. My body is only doing what its genes are telling it to do. You can't help your genes. At least I don't have my dad's genes...he barely has blood pressure. I'd rather have it too high than none at all.

I had a mammogram a week ago...my first one, baseline. I will never do it again. It was the most severe physical pain I've ever felt. Don't believe the BS you read 'They're uncomfortable, but not painful.' Gimme discomfort anytime. Gimme 10 gynie exams in a row. Unless you've ever had a painful operation or been in a car accident or something, THEY ARE THE MOST INCREDIBLY PAINFUL THING YOU WILL EXPERIENCE. I also don't feel 'right.' I still get occasional shooting pains or aches, even a week after it. I feel like they damaged the tissue. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I feel they're hanging differently. Nope, never again. I should've listened to my gut instinct and not the doctors. I'm sure that experience didn't help my blood pressure. If men had to have that done to them every year or so, you're damn well sure they'd invent a procedure with less pain. Bend over and caugh and get a finger in your butt...big deal. And men are freaked out by that!!!!!???!?

Posted by Ann on 05/13/04@12:54 PM CST ..::Link::..4 Screamers.
By Ann @ 09:31 AM CST:05:14:04 ..::Link::..Whisper or Scream?