Under pressure

Well, I just had a discouraging visit at the doctor's this morning. I was put on blood pressure medicine when I gave birth to Jack, due to hypertension. I was hoping to be weaned off the meds, since I've been slowly losing weight, eating well, and getting lots of sleep. But surprisingly, it's still high. The nurse took my blood pressure and it was fairly low, 122/60. I was pleased, but then startled when the doctor took it again 25 minutes later and it was high, 130/90. And I had just taken my pill a few hours earlier (which makes me lightheaded and nauseous sometimes).

The doctor was also concerned, and ordered a kidney ultrasound, to make sure my kidneys are functioning properly. I have already had an EKG (back during my Hooveritis days 4-5 years ago) and that looked normal. I work out every day, eat right (except for the occasional fast food order), and, like I said, am losing weight (18 pounds since Jack was born on Halloween). The only thing I can think of is that it's genetic, since my mom has had hypertension/high blood pressure for years now, and my dad has it now too. It was very depressing to hear that I haven't progressed in that area. I do a lot to take care of myself, and yet this is one more thing that is out of my control, and that is a stress factor in my life.

I hadn't been to see my doctor in a year and a half, and she was saddened to hear about Jack and everything that has happened since he was born. Then she told me she had lost twins at 21 weeks, almost 20 years ago, and she understood how hard this all was on me. She said she couldn't imagine going through what I'm going through, but I think losing twins would be much, much harder for me. She was also impressed by how I've been handling things, but just as I tell everyone else, I don't really have a choice, and I just deal with it and do what I have to do to get through each day. She was very encouraged to hear that Jack is going home soon though.

My kidney ultrasound is on Saturday, so hopefully that will give me some answers as to what's going on with my body. Funny thing is, now I'm freaking out a bit about the high blood pressure not going away, which is probably making my blood pressure higher. That's stress for ya.

(Image from firstaidwarehouse.co.uk)