eavega
Lieutenant
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2008
- Messages
- 1,377
Just about two years ago I decided that I wanted to get healthy. I was gonna turn 40 in 2010 and knew that statistically it was now or never. I have two young daughters, and I would like to be around to hopefully meet my grandkids some day. I changed my eating habits, made an effort to exercise, etc, etc.
I thought I had accomplished my goal. As of my annual physical last week, my total weight is down 105 Lbs, my cholesterol numbers are great (168 Total, 55 HDL, 104 LDL, 47 Trigs), my fasting blood glucose is 90, all the rest of my blood work came back normal, my resting pulse rate is in the mid 40s, my body fat is 15% or less. To all apparent metrics, I am the picture of health.
Then we get to my blood pressure. It seems that cardiac issues run on my mother's side of the family. My mom passed away from a sudden heart attack at 62, my grandmother of a stroke, my grandfather from congestive heart failure. I knew this history, which figures into my efforts at getting healthy. Well, it seems that a healthy weight and healthy eating habits are not enough. My blood pressure read 145/90, which prompted my doctor to want to monitor it more closely since that falls into the stage 1 hypertension category. He asked me to get a home blood pressure monitor and start taking my bp multiple times a day so that we can establish whether or not it was just a bad morning and some white-coat hypertension or if it was the real deal. Well, a week into taking my bp three times a day, and the average sits right at 141/85.
The worst part is that short of maintenance medication, I don't know what I can do. Checking the NIH and WebMD websites (along with others) their basic advice is "lose weight and exercise more". Gee, thanks. Been there, done that. Seems that there is a percentage of the population (myself included) that is predisposed to hypertension. The only other thing I can do is cut my sodium intake, but that is already about as minimal as I can live with. I use very little salt when preparing food, and avoid all processed foods. Even with all that, my reading though medical studies on sodium and blood pressure indicate that the best I can hope for is about a 3-4 point drop in the BP should I cut out all salt.
I'm just venting here. It almost seems that despite my hardest efforts, I fell just a bit short in the health department. I guess at this point it will be eternal vigilance in terms of cardiac issues.
Rgds
I thought I had accomplished my goal. As of my annual physical last week, my total weight is down 105 Lbs, my cholesterol numbers are great (168 Total, 55 HDL, 104 LDL, 47 Trigs), my fasting blood glucose is 90, all the rest of my blood work came back normal, my resting pulse rate is in the mid 40s, my body fat is 15% or less. To all apparent metrics, I am the picture of health.
Then we get to my blood pressure. It seems that cardiac issues run on my mother's side of the family. My mom passed away from a sudden heart attack at 62, my grandmother of a stroke, my grandfather from congestive heart failure. I knew this history, which figures into my efforts at getting healthy. Well, it seems that a healthy weight and healthy eating habits are not enough. My blood pressure read 145/90, which prompted my doctor to want to monitor it more closely since that falls into the stage 1 hypertension category. He asked me to get a home blood pressure monitor and start taking my bp multiple times a day so that we can establish whether or not it was just a bad morning and some white-coat hypertension or if it was the real deal. Well, a week into taking my bp three times a day, and the average sits right at 141/85.
The worst part is that short of maintenance medication, I don't know what I can do. Checking the NIH and WebMD websites (along with others) their basic advice is "lose weight and exercise more". Gee, thanks. Been there, done that. Seems that there is a percentage of the population (myself included) that is predisposed to hypertension. The only other thing I can do is cut my sodium intake, but that is already about as minimal as I can live with. I use very little salt when preparing food, and avoid all processed foods. Even with all that, my reading though medical studies on sodium and blood pressure indicate that the best I can hope for is about a 3-4 point drop in the BP should I cut out all salt.
I'm just venting here. It almost seems that despite my hardest efforts, I fell just a bit short in the health department. I guess at this point it will be eternal vigilance in terms of cardiac issues.
Rgds
, and I'm so impressed with what you've accomplished. I have a buddy in his early sixties who puts most everyone I know, present company included, to shame with regard to physical fitness. Six pack abs, runs half marathons, that sort of thing, and to top it all off he's blind. He was on his treadmill one day and "just didn't feel right" so he quit running and called his doctor. Long story short two weeks later he was in the midst of an angiogram and went into cardiac arrest on the table. They performed an emergency bypass and he's felt like a million bucks ever since. He only had one vessel blocked, but it was the most important one (excluding the aorta of course). Docs refer to it as the widow maker because apparently it's the main culprit behind the sudden fatal heart attacks. That little story just illustrates your point that heredity is the one factor you can't impact. Will you begin taking the BP meds?
