And I don’t mean British Petroleum.
The stuff I’m taking now is hydrochlorothiozid (gesundheit!), 25mg, once a day.
It occurred to me that I’m having to treat this similarly to how The Boy should treat his diabetes — monitor the vital sign in question, take medication, eat better & exercise. I just get a squeeze rather than a poke.
My mother-in-law happened to have a BP meter in her closet, so I didn’t have to go buy one. My brother-in-law and his family left an exercise bike in our garage with a bunch of other equipment, so I think that’s going to come into the house. It’s fairly quiet; I think everyone will be able to watch TV while I’m going nowhere fast.
Turns out that lots of other folks at work are also on BP medication. What does that tell you?
Friday, November 18, 2005
4 comments:
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Did your doctor tell you to try diet and exercise before you started taking medication? That BP medication can be worse than high BP, you should try to stay away from BP meds.
ReplyDeleteI’m hoping that the medication is temporary, too... I don’t want to be taking Sideeffectin the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteI hope I’ll know more tomorrow when they start the tests.
My doctor started me out on HCTZ, too...It didn't quite do the trick, so he added Diovan. My blood pressure is now under control. Of course, I need to lose quite a bit of weight...BTW, HCTZ is a diuretic, so expect to keep goign to the bathroom. Drink plenty of fluids...and avoid caffiene (it's also a diuretic). You might also talk to your doctor about whether you should take a potassium supplement. Diuretics can also cause a high lipids (triglycerides), so don't be surprised if you have to go on lipitor or it's ilk.
ReplyDeleteHey Jeff... after waking up with a killer leg cramp one morning, I added potassium. I drink a lot of water during the day already, so I'm used to frequent bathroom breaks, and I quit the coffee cold turkey. It took about a week for the withdrawal headaches to go away.
ReplyDeleteMy goal is to get off the meds entirely. For now, I think the HCTZ is working because I'm not having all the weird symptoms.