Starting down the slippery slope

[susandennis]

I'm home from the doctor's office and not quite sure how I feel about having gone.

On the up side, the doctor was great. She was very respectful and understanding and not offended (that I had dissed her profession for years) or shocked - at least she didn't seem that way. I took a copy of my Living Will/Healthcare Power of Attorney and she asked me good questions about that... 'if you had to be intubated briefly to save your life but would absolutely recover, would you want that?' Nope. And again she was not judgmental at all and seemed only interested in understanding what I wanted and not hellbent on changing my mind.

She listened to my heat and lungs and poked on my tummy and said it was good. She took my blood pressure and said it was high. Really high. So then she got all doctory.

And the slippery slope begins.

See my thought is that once you start taking pills and getting exams and taking tests, it's only a matter of time before you are locked into and totally dependent on the health care system and you are no longer a stand alone entity. I don't want to be totally dependent on anything except my TiVo.

She wanted me to go to my nearest fire station every day to get my blood pressure checked. I allowed as how that really wasn't going to happen. So I signed up for going back to her next week to get it checked.

She also talked me into a physical. She was able to do this because she really did listen.

"Would you object to getting a mammogram?"
"Well, not per se but the only reason to get one is to find something that needs to be treated and I'm not interested in being treated."

But, she carefully countered with the comfort argument... hurt prevention is something I can get my arms around. Mainly I was so appreciative that she was hearing what I was saying.

So, next week I go back for a blood pressure check and in September, I'll go back for a physical and then as she said 'we'll see'.

Comments

[melodysk.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it went quite well though Susan. I would'nt want to be left to fester if I had a disease but I wouldn;t want prolonging either

[susandennis]

Exactly

[aellia.livejournal.com]

Is that true about the Fire station?
Been thinking about how it went. Scared to have my BP done.
Brave lady you are!
x

[susandennis]

She said that the firestations here were all set up for it and all you had to do was walk in and ask. I'd never heard of that before.

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Could your blood pressure be high because you had the stress of being there? And did they use the correct cuff? I have fat sausagey arms, so I need the big cuff.

[susandennis]

Who knows... the cup looked pretty big to me. My arms are none too slender and it went around fine. I'm sure she knows what she's doing.

[rivendweller.livejournal.com]

I take a blood pressure pill daily, mostly because I don't want to have a stroke. I shudder at the thought. I haven't been to see my doctor in a year. It's really easy to just take the pill in the morning and be done with it. No big deal. And I don't have to worry about having a stroke.

[susandennis]

I understand that your view is one shared by many. Just not by me. First it's the blood pressure pill then the colesteral pill then the bone pill... slippery slope...

I'm not worried about having a stroke now so I don't need the pill :)

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

I swear I'm not preaching. See, with high blood pressure, I'd be scared of having a stroke that doesn't kill me, but leaves me inside a body that's living but not functioning....if you know what I mean. I'm terrified of having people have to take care of me like an infant.
'Nuff said.

[susandennis]

I hear you and I, too, am terrified of having people take care of me. I guess maybe in the back of my mind, I'm thinking no pill = stroke kills me, problem solved.

[minimac.livejournal.com]

Of course, you know from my journal, that my Mom has suffered what turned out to be a severe stroke...trust me, it's worth swallowing a pill or two each day to lessen the chances of that ever happening to you.

My Mom has never been a pill popper but took blood pressure medication and cholesteral medication for years with no worries or problems...just two little pills a day...oh, and she took an aspirin a day to help prevent blood clots.

Trust me, it's worth a little peace of mind. Take care of yourself!

[rev-hank.livejournal.com]

I think...
massage once a week instead of once a month might be good for your blood pressure.
;)
Im glad you went.
Im glad it was a mostly positive experience.
My only counterpoint to taking some blood pressure meds is to prevent a stroke.
You would not die right away if you had a stroke. You would be incopacitated (ms?) and dependent on someone to take care of you. YOU would SO hate that more than any pill...
thats just my .02 - Im glad you went.

want that massage today instead of tomorrow??
I got the day OFF!
:D
let me know.

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

Susan: As is becoming clear, there are lots of us who deal with this blood pressure thing, and who have thoughts and musings and angers and rages about various parts of the healthcare system -- in my case, it's about health insurance and the problems of the pharmaceutical branch. My INSURER (not my doctor, not anybody who knows anything about medicine or anything at all about me) tries to tell me which medications I should be taking -- when they tripled my payment of the only blood pressure medication that seems to work for me, one that it took TWO FUCKING YEARS of trial dosages and annoying side affects to determine, and I questioned this, their response was that I should look into using a different medication. WHO THE FUCK IS AN ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONARY TO PRESCRIBE MEDICATION? Plus who the fuck is anybody to completely violate the entire nature of an insurance contract at whim because they feel like it? I paid into the system for a quarter of a century, and when fate determined that I needed to take a little out (actually less than my company and I together pay in, far less), whoops! The rules changed! All that money you paid, that's our profit. You -- why, just go through another two years of side affects and maybe try taking a diuretic.

Sorry, I got carried away.

Anyway, I seem to be making your case here, but what I was setting out to do was not to tell you of the sorts of problems that high blood pressure can cause -- which you know anyway and which others are already telling you -- but to ask you if there's anything you might want to know that those of us who have made the decision to go this pill-a-day and regular checkup route can tell you -- either about our personal experiences or how we resolved this dependency issue.

[susandennis]

Ha! See??!!!

But, thank you. I don't really have any questions. I sure might once she lays something on the table... But, I'm good for now. Thanks.

[tmb2005.livejournal.com]

It's certainly possible that at least a partial explanation for your high blood pressure was the stress of being in the doctor's office. "White coat hypertension" is a fairly common phenomenon.

Have you considered buying a blood pressure machine to take it yourself at home? I do that, and my readings are always much lower at home than in the doctor's office - and I've calibrated my machine against his, so I'm confident that my readings are accurate enough.

[susandennis]

So you take your blood pressure at home and then what... what do you do if it is high or low or whatever? Do you take more pills or fewer pills or eat something without salt? Or put more salt on something?

I'd be happy if it was white coat hypertension... in fact, I think that's what I'll sign up for.

[tmb2005.livejournal.com]

White coat hypertension sounds like a good choice, doesn't it?

What I meant by suggesting that you take your own blood pressure was that you could tell if it was truly high or just high in the doctor's office. Taking your own readings over a period of time would let you know whether you have a problem or not.

In my case, I just do it from time to time and keep a record of the readings. They are usually fine, so that just confirms that the medication I take (2 pills every morning, that's it) is having the desired effect. If the results weren't okay, I imagine that my doctor would use them as a basis for adjusting the medications.

that sounds to me ...

[henare.livejournal.com]

like a definite possibility. this happens to me as well: i go in and the nurse shows me into the exam room ... and once i'm in that room i know i have at least a twenty minute wait and i start fuming ... and it shows up in my blood pressure. half an hour later (once i'm done fuming about the wait) it's definitely lower.

i think the daily firehouse situation is a bit goofy but maybe (next time you take one of your walks) you can arrange to walk past a firehouse and do it then ... and maybe if you're good you get to slide down the firehouse pole when you're done.

if you do decide to get a home blood pressure machine you almost certainly want a fairly automated one--the manual ones are definitely not easy to operate by yourself. you could perhaps nail one off freecycle.org (i'm sure there are lots of well-intentioned people out there who bought these and don't use them anymore).

[jwg.livejournal.com]

For most people with high blood pressure, a daily regimen of one of the many types of BP medication - diuretic, alpha blocker, beta blocker, calcium channel blocker, ACE inhibitor gets it under control (they work differently and have different kinds of side effects, mostly inconsequential). And periodic occasional measurements confirms that.

If you want to minimize your dependence on others it certainly will pay to get your BP / cholesterol under control because the effect of not doing so could well be a middle ground of ill health as opposed to death. For some people diet, exercise, and other stuff works but for most it requires some meds. Cholesterol medications have other good side effects minimizing stroke risk and other heart problems.

Some drug stores and other places have BP testing machines. In the Gloucester Y lobby there is one. You sit down, stick in your arm, poke a button and wait 1/2 minute and you get a reading. I was checking it there recently before and after I switched from one kind of calcium channel blocker to another to eliminate the side effect of low BP when I got up from lying down (which worked and my BP is stable).

[lordjim.livejournal.com]

Susan, you and I are much alike in some ways, this one for instance. Living a long time is not a big enough priority to try to make it happen by a lot of medications and doctor visits and such. I don't like doctors or hospitals or dentists. I'm sure they are all good people and all, but I'll just wave and say "Howdy!" as I pass them by.

[susandennis]

Yes, exactly. And you are older than I am... and you're still kicking!

[lordjim.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's like you get 6 months advanced notice. It'll give you time to be sure your affairs are in order, whatever that means. Like when you're dead, you care about leaving a mess?

[happyjenn97.livejournal.com]

I agree with some others that it seems most likely that the stress of the doctor visit itself was what make your blood pressure go up. If in doubt, you could buy your own at-home blood pressure kit and take it yourself periodically.

And I agree with you about the not wanting to be reliant on some stupid pill or whatever to make me "healthy." The only medication regimen I can picture myself doing would be insulin, etc. if I were diagnosed as diabetic (which, given my family history, is likely only a matter of time). A lot of the other "hereditary" problems in my family are directly related to obesity, which, thankfully, is not a problem I have at the moment. (And yes, diabetes can be linked to obesity too, but I don't believe that's its cause with us.)

Anyhow, I applaud you for not letting them "make" you do things you don't want to do.