For quite some time know, I have been aware that my blood pressure has been significantly higher than it should be.
This morning at 3 am, I woke up sweating and agitated. My heart was racing a mile-a-minute. Having been under a bit of stress at work (a more and more frequent occurrence with cut-backs and the public scrutiny of the Public Service, especially where the use of contractors — like me — is concerned). I pulled out the blood pressure monitor and took my BP — an activity, itself, guaranteed to raise my pressure — and was horrified to see that it was 190/114 with a heart rate of 91.
I went in first thing to the clinic to see my doctor (Dr. Mullan) who pronounced my blood pressure “dangerously high” and gave me an anti-hypertensive called Micardis until the results of the tests he has also ordered are in. He has also given me a week off work.
For someone who is overweight and leads a fairly sedentary lifestyle and with a history of hypertension and/or heart disease on both sides of the family (my birth-father’s entire family suffered from one sort or another and most died at an early age; and my mother’s father died at age 53 from a coronary thrombosis — barely a year older than me…) you would think I would have been more and not LESS conscientious about taking care of this before.
A case of “if I ignore it, it won’t happen”….
I am going to have to make some changes…
Hypertension and panic attacks… This is an interesting article on the association between hypertension and panic attacks. To my mind it is a valid theory and sort of self-perpetuating. Those with hypertension tend to have a heightened response to the stimuli involved in panic attacks. A panic attack raises your blood pressure and feeds the panic. I find myself unable to stop spiraling into panic-mode when my BP is up.
