No Hai Blud 4 me!

[susandennis]

We used to have this wonderful housecleaner - she was giant and very black and she was always talking about her "hai blud". As in "don't you be doin' that - you give me the hai blud!" She was wonderful and I have spent the last 24 hours channeling her.

BUT no more.

I got to thinking about the blood pressure thing. I realized that my new wonderful doctor was going to get all fixated on this high blood pressure thing until I could prove to her that she was hallucinating. If I go next week and my blood pressure is down, then she'll invariably want to go for 2 out of 3. Why fuck with it?

So... yes... I went to the fire station. I have two very nearby to pick from. I figured if the first one was weird about it, I'd try the second one. But, the first one was all over it. This really cute firefighter went and got the equipment and did me just as I stood there. AND gave me this handy little card with stroke info and a place to record the readings with the date... So I can take it back to Ms. Dr. Worry Wort and prove that I'm cool.

This is what I found on the web...

Doctors generally agree that systolic readings of 120 to 140 and diastolic readings of 70 to 90 are normal.

Cute fire fighter guy wrote on my card: 124/86

I'M SO NORMAL!!!!! ha!

Comments

[cbertsch.livejournal.com]

Yay!!!

[dizzdvl.livejournal.com]

Yay! It might have been stress at the doctor's office!

[mtnkodiak.livejournal.com]

You may well have a case of "lab coat HBP", where your BP rises when you get into a medical/hospital setting and you get nervous. My mom has a bad case of it, and I have it to some extent, as well. I consider it a form of "test anxiety".

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

Yep. test anxiety.

yay!

[henare.livejournal.com]

your bp must be really low if you can get a firefighter to do you right there and it's still normal! :)

your worry-wart doc will probably be much happier if you go back to the firehouse once again (maybe early next week)

Re: yay!

[susandennis]

That's what I was thinking!!! I wasn't particularly relaxed. I was thinking he was cute. I was standing up and I had just walked 4 blocks in the sun. And I was still normal.

And... oh yeah. I plan to get my card fully filled out before I see her on Wednesday. I might even go every day. I want bullet proof.

Maybe next time I can get him to really do me... hmmmmm

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

How come firefighters are so cute? Is it the uniform?

[tmb2005.livejournal.com]

Great news! It sounds like that it may have just been a case of white coat hypertension after all! (And you're right - in my experience, all medical personnel tend to fixate on high blood pressure readings. They just won't let it rest until you get those numbers down, one way or another.)

[kyrielle]

Good news. Not surprising: considering how very much you dislike doctors, it seemed likely your 'high blood pressure' was stress. Both physical and mental stress can do it (I normally get very good low readings since I don't mind doctor's offices, but one day it was too hot in there and I do NOT like heat and got upset about it, and boy did my reading go uuuup).