Less than a month ago I was working out at the gym, doing my thing. My "thing" is a series of weights and elliptical work, trying to get my time shorter and my weights heavier, typical circuit training stuff. I was doing particularly well this work-out, my heart rate was down, I cut my time by 5 minutes...it felt great! Except when I got home, my face looked like a tomato, and it stayed that way all night.
The next day I had a headache, and this weird feeling like there was this literal pressure cooker going on inside me. It just felt strange. It was hard to concentrate on anything. This went on for about three days. Eventually I just felt like I should check my blood pressure, so off I went to a CVS to do so, and it was 145 / 90. It said see a doctor, so I made an appointment at this new clinic by my house.
They checked my BP also, and it was the same. The doc, a rather chatty Indian dude, told me to come back next week to check it again. It was a bit lower that second time, around 130/90. I fasted for 12 hours and they took some blood for a diabetes / cholesterol check. I was instructed to come back for a third visit.
On the third visit my BP was still around the 140/90 range, and they had other bad news, my cholesterol had actually gone up 10 points to 263 total. My LDL (bad cholesteral) is 175. Hey, on the plus side, my blood sugar was normal.
The doctor says to me, in an accent I have not heard since I had some computer trouble...
"You're are a ticking time bomb. Your BMI is 35, which is mildly obese (can you really be mildly obese I thought?), You have high cholesterol, and you have stage 1 hypertension."
I gotta tell you, I was pissed. Not that I have been busting my ass these past 6 months with a lousy loss of ten pounds, but all these indicators getting worse? WTF is all the oatmeal for? The nuts? The stinky ass salmon?
Right then and there he was going to put me on some medication, which I promptly, but politely, convinced him not to do. He gave me three months to drop my numbers, or it's Lipitor to the rescue.
Now what?
Kathy,
No, never have. The doctor didn't bring it up, but I will give it some thought, thanks.
Posted by: FB | June 19, 2007 at 06:41
Lipitor gave my husband leg cramps, so he refused to take it. He lost 20 pounds and looked great, but has gained most of it back. It's depressing. I too need to go on a little mini-diet to get rid of some winter flab. Bah. Why can't my metabolism just speed up?
Posted by: Margaret | June 18, 2007 at 21:57
Oh gosh, I HATE to be one of those commenters, too, but I have triglycerides that are through the roof and it's mostly owing to me having hyperthyroidism. I just found out. I have about another three weeks of medicine before I'm tested again to see where I'm at with those levels, but it was directly contributing to my cholesterol problems.
Posted by: Erin | June 18, 2007 at 20:00
Have you ever had your thyroid checked?
Posted by: Kathy J | June 18, 2007 at 18:33