Now I Have No Choice

I'm feeling much better since my doctor took me off the statin drugs. I know he is going to want me to go back on them but I really don't want to. I need to find a better way to keep my cholesterol under control.

After looking around on the internet for information on this subject I found that once again it all comes down to the same old same old. Diet and exercise. Hear that Richard? Diet and exercise. Is it ever anything else? No. It never is.

Now I have a really important reason to stay on track and exercise every day. Not that wanting to lose weight isn't a good reason but now I have a real health reason that is staring me in the face. I have to lower my cholesterol. My test reading was 256 with LDL of 182. These are high numbers for someone who is a vegetarian but as Dr Bob reminded me both my mother and my father had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. It's in my genes.

So...It will be oatmeal every morning for breakfast now because I have read that just eating oatmeal every day can bring those numbers down. Lunch and dinner will have to be filled with fresh and crunchy veggies. Back to salads. Easy on the bread (kill me now) and snacking will be fruits and nuts. Boring but healthy.

I will get back to exercising every day. Yesterday it was Party Off The Pounds (Hi Laura) and today it will be Disco Sweat. Doing videos in my living room seems to work better for my plantar fasciitis. I'm hoping to get back to the track once I get my new $400 (that is not covered by insurance) orthotics. They should be ready on Friday. Every time I don't feel like exercising I will think about my very high cholesterol and do what I have to do. Now, I have no choice.

Happy Birthday, You've Got High Cholesterol!!!

Yesterday I had an appointment with my favorite doctor, Dr Bob, who has been my primary care doctor for 30 years. I had given blood about a week ago for my annual check up and yesterday was the follow up visit to talk about the results. It really didn't go the way I had hoped.

For the last few years I prided myself on being in my 50's and not being on any meds. I knew my blood pressure was a little high but it had been that way for years and I fought Dr Bob tooth and nail every time he suggested that I start taking blood pressure meds. I thought I was going to be able to keep my pressure down by diet and exercise. Well, that didn't work.

Last month when I went to see Bob about my foot pain his office staff took my blood pressure and it was 155/95. He was none to happy with that and finally put his foot down (so to speak). He basically told me to shut up, cut the crap and take the Lisinopril that he was going to prescribe. I'm aware that I need to be treated like that at times. Richard has treated me like that through the years when I needed it too. Anyway, I gave in and said okay. I would take the pills.

I got to Dr Bob's office yesterday and once again my blood pressure was taken. It had come down but not enough for his liking so he upped my dosage. He said to me "Look Claudia, I don't want to hear it. Your blood pressure is still too high so I'm upping the dosage and you are going to take it". I agreed to comply with his instructions and double up on my meds this morning.

As he was looking at my chart and my test results he noticed that the next day (today) was my birthday. His next remark was "Happy Birthday. You've got high cholesterol". My reading was 256 which is pretty high for a vegetarian. He reminded me that both my parents had high cholesterol and now he wanted to prescribe something for that too. Knowing how he deals with me I figured that there was no point in arguing with him so I agreed.

He had me give blood for one more test and wants to see the results before putting me on the meds but I walked out with a prescription which I will start taking in a week or so. I also was told to get a bone density test.

So, happy birthday to me. I have plantar fasciitis, a heel spur, bursitis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and need a bone density test. Yeah, I'm not getting old (she said with complete sarcasm in her voice). At least my EKG was good.

Here is a little birthday present from my on my birthday to all of you. Was there ever a hotter man on the planet then Paul? I think not!! Happy Birthday to me!!



Here is a birthday laugh from me and Paul. If you have ANY problems with blue humor or dirty jokes DO NOT CLICK ON THIS. Thanks Paul, you made me laugh my ass off today.

More On The Blood Pressure

115/65 this morning. What a difference! Just changing the time when I take my blood pressure meds made a huge difference in my morning reading. This is the lowest reading I've ever gotten after just rolling out of bed. That is usually when I am at my highest. I sure hope it lasts. I feel better. No feeling of pressure in my head or headaches. I feel much calmer too. When I started taking the Lisinopril my readings were good and then all of a sudden they started going up, up, up so I hope that doesn't happen again. I like this feeling of calm.

I'm not thrilled about the a few of the side effects of this drug. Actually, there is only one that I don't like. It's the swelling or rapid weight gain. Just what I need! Swelling or rapid weight gain. Kill me now. I will try and counteract these effects with healthy food choices and exercise(a la Fucking Agreement). I know Richard would tell me to ignore these things and keep working hard so that's what I'm going to do.

I'm off from work today (Yay!) and I am going to Joy's early yoga class so I need to eat a little something now so that I won't crash after class and eat everything in sight when I get out. I do need to stop and get some groceries when class is done and I've noticed that when I don't eat breakfast I have absolutely no will power to say no to things in the market so I'm off to grab a small bowl of oatmeal. That should hold me until I make it home with fresh fruits and veggies for lunch.

I also need to get in a cardio workout today so I'm thinking that a little Disco Sweat or Party Off The Pounds (Hi Laura) is in my future. I'm outta here....

High Blood Pressure

It's still dark as I post this blog entry. It won't be light for another half an hour or so yet and I don't go to the track in the dark. Too scary. Once it gets light out there will be people out there to keep me company.

High blood pressure this morning. 145/90. This is the highest it has been since I started taking my blood pressure meds. I don't know why but my pressure is always highest in the morning. I wake up and roll out of bed with the highest blood pressure of the day. You would think that sleeping wouldn't be stressful enough to raise my pressure but it does. I've been on Lisinopryl for about a month now and when I started taking it it worked really well and my pressure was low even in the morning. Little by little it has been rising but only in the morning. I've noticed that my pressure is high after a night of vivid dreams which I had last night. I dreamed about my dad who has been gone almost 25 years and I never dream about him. I'm not sure what that is all about.

I'm going to call my doctor today and ask him if maybe I should be taking the meds at night instead of first thing in the morning. Maybe that will work better. I'm sure my extra weight is not helping my blood pressure. That's always in the back of my mind too but I can't seem to do anything about it yet. As I posted in on our Fucking Agreement blog my food starts out great with healthy choices in the morning and degenerates into junk food and crap as the day goes on. I also need to exercise one or two more times a week. It's what I need to do for my health so why do I have so much trouble doing it?

Kerry's UT infection is back again and that worries the crap out of me. Bob(our doctor) told her to call him as soon as she feel any kind of symptoms and it started again yesterday. It seems that she is allergic to many of the meds that are prescribed for this so that's a problem along with the fact that she seems to be prone to these infections.I will be speaking to Bob about this too as she is in Gainesville and has classes all day.

Pat and Rigby are fine and that's really good. At least one half of the family has no issues.