Hey, I just met you... but this could kill you!

Well, there must be something going on around the Blogosphere (or maybe my Atkins buddies) because my friend Kelly had a bit of a health scare a few weeks ago.

It looks like it’s my turn! I’ve been doing Atkins for seven weeks now and have lost 12-ish pounds. The first week I felt weird, but I attributed it to being an out of balance electrolyte thing. I had some chicken stock and everything was fine. Clearly the diuretic effect of the Atkins diet is screwing with me. Or maybe it was just the Atkins flu. 

Fast forward to last weekend where I was completely miserable. My throat was disgusting. My tonsils were enormous and covered in puss. I considered sharing the photo on the blog, but decided that was just TMI. So, I showed the photo to one of my doctor friends at work and she told me that I needed to get antibiotics. On Saturday, I took my sick butt to Your Doc’s In. The PA took one look at my throat and burst out laughing, “YEAH! You NEED ANTIBIOTICS!!” I told her that I knew that already.

Then she says, “There must be some mistake… you say that you’re not on blood pressure medication.” I said no, my blood pressure is always low – 110/70. She shakes her head and says, “No, you’re hypertensive. Your BP is 140/110. Are you sure you aren’t on any blood pressure medications, because you should be.” I convince her that it must just be because I’m in so much pain. My discharge papers list my first condition as hypertension instead of the strep throat that I came in with.

Great.

So I’m thinking this must be some kind of mistake. For the last month and a half, I’ve been dieting and exercising my ass off, have lost weight, and now I’m hypertensive?

So all this week I’ve been stressed about it and my chest has felt tight. I chalk it up to anxiety. I still think that a lot of it has to do with anxiety. If I could just freaking relax, it would be better. But now the seed of doubt has been sowed and every weird pain or tightness doubtlessly sends my blood pressure into stroke country. Which makes me more anxious. Which makes my pulse race and my blood pressure skyrocket. 

It's a vicious cycle.

Earlier this week, I mentioned my doctor's office experience to my friend at work Grace, who also happens to be the ED manager and my favorite coffee buddy. 

“That’s really high. You need to check it. Landra is in triage, ask her to check it for you.”

I suppose that I inherited some of my dad’s stubbornness when it comes to health problems. I’m in denial. Oh… and yes, my dad suffered from high blood pressure. So my denial is stupid, since I know these things can be genetic.

So of course, I put it off. Grace asked me again today how my blood pressure was. I sheepishly told her that I hadn’t had it checked.

She hauled me out to triage and checked it herself. It was 133/105. Still high. She said that it’s the diastolic (bottom) number that is the concern moreso than the top. She gave me a bit of a lecture on how important it is that I take this seriously. Consider me admonished.

I think that it may have something to do with my sodium intake. I also mentioned it to my boss, who agreed that the high blood pressure could be due to my excess ingestion of sodium. Looking back through my LoseIt app, I’ve been consuming between 500 and 1000 more mg of salt than is recommended. So I’m going to be reducing my sodium intake big time. Hopefully reducing my sodium to a normal level will make my blood pressure decrease to something that won’t kill me. Like back to my usual 110/70.

That said, I’ll be checking my blood pressure each day at work and I’ve agreed to call my doctor next week if it’s not lowered by then.

Fingers crossed that salt is the problem. If not, I suppose that genetics are finally catching up with me. Which sucks, since diabetes also runs in my family. 

On the bright side, at least I work in the ER where medical help is only steps away!

Getting back on the fitness wagon

I work out!

I began thinking last week that I wasn’t exactly sure why I fell off the wagon to begin with. Ironically, I fell off the wagon the week before I started my new job. I got two hours of my life back with my new commute, yet somehow I couldn’t find the time to exercise.

I could blame it on having all of that free time and working on the house more… I could say that my exercise buddy was out of commission with a knee injury, so I couldn’t go… I could come up with any number of reasons that culminated in me not making the effort.

The real problem?

I did not make exercise my priority.

It was as simple as that!

I’m gradually easing myself back into a fitness regimen because an injury would really set me back. I got on the scale last Thursday and it read about what I thought it would. I’ve gained 8 pounds in the past 5 months of not going to the gym. You know what? It’s not such a big deal. I can gain that by taking in an extra 200 calories a day, or by not working out. That’s about one Blue Moon (which unfortunately, I LOVE to drink). Sure, it sucks that I lost my initial momentum, but in time I will lose what I gained. It could be worse – I’m still 2 pounds less than I was when I started getting serious about my fitness last November.

Slow and steady wins the race. I went to pilates last Tuesday, then got up early and did 25 minutes on the elliptical last Thursday. Friday evening I certainly consumed too many calories in the form of fried foods and adult beverages, but I did have a late night swim, plus the walk to the swimming places and back to my vehicle. So I walked for about 1.5 miles in addition to probably half an hour or so of doggie paddling and a few ungraceful dives. I think that counts as three days of working out.

I went to pilates last night, then got up early this morning and did another 25 minutes on the elliptical before work. I may get to the gym on Thursday, but we’ll see. Friday morning I’m planning to get up early again and do the elliptical before work.

My goal is to make it to the gym or be active three times a week, preferably for 45 minutes to an hour each time. Hopefully I will go more, but if I don’t, I’m not going to beat myself up over it. At least three times a week, the gym is my priority. Ideally, I will go early on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with a few pilates or other classes once my fitness level starts to improve. I used to get my heart rate up in the 160 to 170 range, and now I can’t push myself much past 140-145.

I know how out of shape I am and I don’t want to push myself too hard right now and get discouraged, hence why I am only doing 25 minutes on the elliptical. I can push myself in a few weeks, but not now.

My main goal this go-around is to make physical activity a habit and to keep up with it. I want to be healthy, but I don’t want to become so focused on the weight loss aspect that I lose sight of the ultimate goal – being healthy. I’d like to get my BMI to within the normal range, and that is my main goal. If I lose more, that would be great.

I’m not going to obsess over the scale. The next time I’m planning to weigh myself will be September 23^rd. Hopefully by then, there will be a downward trend. I said before that I wasn't going to go crazy over tracking my food and exercise, but I changed my mind. I had a lot of success last time using Lose It, so I think it will be a helpful tool to keep me on track. It's also nice to have a good idea of how many calories are in whatever I'm about to shove down my gullet. Some foods can be deceivingly filled with sugar or fat. I'll be getting an iPhone soon as well (so happy about that, my BlackBerry is literally taped together and no one makes apps for it anymore), so it will be nice to have the Lose It application on my phone.

That's it for now. I'm hoping to get some photos posted of our work in the kitchen this weekend!