So I've been officially diagnosed with hypertension.
I've probably had it for a while, but haven't had a proper doctor's office visit since pre-covid. Last year my optometrist mentioned "oh hey your blood pressure looks kinda high, you should get that looked at." I never followed up with a doctors' visit.
Back in March I attempted to get my annual tooth cleaning. The dentist took my pressure before numbing me, stopped what we were doing and told me I needed to go to the urgent care across the street *right now*. I never really understood the context of what the BP numbers mean, but I was 175/120, which is apparently Very Bad™. EKG and blood work came back normal, but I was put on Amlodipine, which gave me chest pain as a side effect. Doctor switched me to Hydrochlorothiazide, which functions as a diuretic but that's much more manageable, I just take it in the afternoon before I go to work instead of in the morning after I come home/before sleeping so it doesn't wake me up with extra bathroom trips.
I still never got my tooth deep cleaning. The dentist says they won't numb me until I come in with normal blood pressure levels, so I have to wait until my BP consistently measures in a normal range. This is a problem also because I still have my wisdom teeth and was planning to try to get them removed this summer.
This is something I'm going to have to commit to some serious life style changes over. My grandfather died at 60 due to heart issues and I've always had it in the back of my mind that something similar might happen to me if I had his genetics and this seems like a wake up call I should listen to. I'm already not a smoker or daily drinker like he was which is off to a good start. I was drinking heavy duty energy drinks (Bangs, Red Bulls, Celcius mostly) at my night job, but those have been surprisingly easy to quit, I'm feeling okay without caffeine. What's really hard is the sugar and sodium. It's in fucking *everything.* It's way too easy to grab a snack and realize halfway through eating it that the package says 140% daily value. And it feels like if I even think about cutting back sugar my body starts screaming at me to bite into the nearest chocolate bar. I'm going to need to put serious effort into actively exercising and meal prepping.
I've probably had it for a while, but haven't had a proper doctor's office visit since pre-covid. Last year my optometrist mentioned "oh hey your blood pressure looks kinda high, you should get that looked at." I never followed up with a doctors' visit.
Back in March I attempted to get my annual tooth cleaning. The dentist took my pressure before numbing me, stopped what we were doing and told me I needed to go to the urgent care across the street *right now*. I never really understood the context of what the BP numbers mean, but I was 175/120, which is apparently Very Bad™. EKG and blood work came back normal, but I was put on Amlodipine, which gave me chest pain as a side effect. Doctor switched me to Hydrochlorothiazide, which functions as a diuretic but that's much more manageable, I just take it in the afternoon before I go to work instead of in the morning after I come home/before sleeping so it doesn't wake me up with extra bathroom trips.
I still never got my tooth deep cleaning. The dentist says they won't numb me until I come in with normal blood pressure levels, so I have to wait until my BP consistently measures in a normal range. This is a problem also because I still have my wisdom teeth and was planning to try to get them removed this summer.
This is something I'm going to have to commit to some serious life style changes over. My grandfather died at 60 due to heart issues and I've always had it in the back of my mind that something similar might happen to me if I had his genetics and this seems like a wake up call I should listen to. I'm already not a smoker or daily drinker like he was which is off to a good start. I was drinking heavy duty energy drinks (Bangs, Red Bulls, Celcius mostly) at my night job, but those have been surprisingly easy to quit, I'm feeling okay without caffeine. What's really hard is the sugar and sodium. It's in fucking *everything.* It's way too easy to grab a snack and realize halfway through eating it that the package says 140% daily value. And it feels like if I even think about cutting back sugar my body starts screaming at me to bite into the nearest chocolate bar. I'm going to need to put serious effort into actively exercising and meal prepping.
