High Life
The year I turned 40, I bought a house, I started a new relationship, and the doctor told me I had high blood pressure.
I’m 4 foot 10 and ¾. I weigh around 105 pounds.
It’s been a little over a year and a half since my initial diagnosis. I’ve tried around 5 different medications and, honestly, I’m over it.
My primary doctor has sent me to see a cardiologist. Their conclusion is that my blood pressure is hereditary, and I’m sensitive to medication.
My sensitivity has displayed itself in the nausea, fatigue, dizziness, insomnia and headaches that I’ve experienced since starting on these meds. Simply put, these meds made me feel like shit and I don’t like it.
I never imagined a world where I would wake up and rely on some
When I tell people I have high blood pressure, I get “oh, you’re so small” “oh, that’s your diet” “oh how old are you?” “
When you feel bad a lot, it’s easy to slip into depression. Your life just isn’t wan you want it to be, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. Your medication can keep you stable, but they don’t make you feel normal. All medication comes with side effects, it’s just a matter of finding a side effect that you’re able to handle. You compromise not having this
It’s a sucky way to live your life. I realize that I haven’t been dealing with this for long and while I’m battling “the silent killer,” I know people that are dealing with tougher conditions that prevent them from living regular lives. Just me getting up in the morning and driving myself to work is a privilege some folks don’t have, and for that I’m blessed.
So check on your sick friend. Give them
Sadly, too many of us suffer from hereditary high blood pressure and the medications aren’t without a lot of side effects that can make us feel worse than having high blood pressure and we often wind up taking combinations of medications that sometimes wind up being effective but comes with a cost that we don’t want to pay… but that’s better than having a stroke and you can believe me when I tell you that you DO NOT ever want to have a stroke.
Oh, no! Strokes are not part of the plan. I’m going to stay popping these pills until I figure out a less chemical filled way to manage it.
They say that diet and exercise works, creating a more stress-free environment for yourself and, yeah, even having more sex can go a long way in managing and reversing high blood pressure so you can get off the medications… but you have to be seriously committed to such things and they’re not always that easy to do.
Already doing all of those things. I think the exercise is the biggest challenge. Most of these medications have dizziness as a side effect.
And even bigger when you have a bum ankle, huh? You need time to exercise and now it’s all about trying to make the time to do so… when you have many other things making demands on your time and sometimes so many that you don’t have time to have nice healthy sex… and if you can’t, you really know there’s something very wrong that needs to be corrected; otherwise, you and your meds are gonna be lifelong friends and as you’ve learned, that’s not all that much of a good thing.
I take lisinopril and HCTZ and it keep my BP firmly in the normal range; I’m not happy about the side effects but I also know how much I didn’t like having a stroke so I just kinda work through them, ya know?
I take those and bystolic. My blood pressure is managed but impact my quality of life. I’m highly sensitive to medications so we’re working to get the dosage correct so my blood pressure is in check and the side effects aren’t so strong.
Yes – even I had to have my dosage of HCTZ modified to a lower dose to eliminate some issues it was giving me. As for quality of life, yeah, pretty big impact… but one you will eventually learn to deal with because, um, you have to. I do give you such big props: Many of us suffer from this silent killer and refuse to take the medications and thinking that they’re okay… until they have a stroke or a heart attack “out of nowhere” when it could have been prevented.
Given the alternatives, sure – I can live with whatever side effects the meds are laying on me…
I can’t live with the side effects if it’s impacting me making a living. I’m down to taking HCTZ twice a week & the day after I take it is always a challenge for me.
Yeah… HCTZ. Makes me pee like a race horse and it’s inconvenient to have to keep running to the bathroom – and I’m not working any more!
Okay… you KNOW i relate to this. And that last paragraph i need tattooed on my forehead BECAUSE WOOOO SIS!!!!
I love you! I wrote this the day after we had our last long catch up. Definitely had you in mind when I wrote it.