Greys & Things

I have high blood pressure.  I really didn’t think I did.  I thought I had “white coat syndrome”.  You know, your blood pressure shoots up when you are at the doctor’s office.  My blood pressure has always been fine when I test it at Walmart.  I really wasn’t concerned about it.  I visit the doctor every six months because I am on medication for high cholesterol.  He told me six months ago that if my blood pressure continued to be high the next time I came in, I would have to go on medicine.  He said that even if it was fine at Walmart, it was still spiking up at other times and he wanted it to be lower.

I went to the doctor on Thursday.  It was high again.  He put me medication. This really upset me because I really did not want to go on another medication.  I dropped off the prescription, but did not pick it up until Saturday.  My husband was with me.  I decided to check my blood pressure at Walmart and was shocked when it was higher than it was at the doctor’s office.  It was then that I realized that it really was up.  It scared me.

I have been really nervous about taking the medicine because what if it drops too low?  I bought a blood pressure monitor for  the house.  I have been using it since Saturday.
I’ve been checking it several times a day.  This morning, my blood pressure was fine, but it was up again when I checked it a few minutes ago.

I am on birth control pills because believe it or not, they have really cut down on my migraines.  I take them continuously and they have helped tremendously, but I think that is the cause of my blood pressure going up.  However, I recently switched to a different one and things have not been right since that time.  I’m having a very difficult time right now with them.  I am waiting for a call back from the ob/gyn on what to do on that end.  I have a feeling I will have to stop taking them totally and then the migraines will come back.  It’s a vicious cycle for me and it really plays on my emotions.

I have not been feeling well for the past few weeks.  Something just doesn’t feel right.  I did research on high blood pressure and it says there are no symptoms to it.   Part of how I feel could be in my head just because now I am very aware the high blood pressure thing is real, but I really didn’t feel well before I found that out.

The good thing is now I feel like I have taken control of the blood pressure problem.  I am on medication and I am monitoring it and will know if it takes a sudden turn either way.  I really never thought I would be checking my blood pressure at home, but it’s now a necessity for me.