hypertnesion

i dont know if i told you, blogworld, but i have hypertension. my blood pressure shows as slightly elevated every time i go to the doctor, but right before i left for korea and had my last appointment, the doctor looked truly genuinely concerned and it scared me! she told me to get on some medication for it asap, even told me to go to urgent care to get the meds that day... i never got the meds, b/c im an asshole, who knows. i was just convinced that b/c im committed to these healthy lifestyle changes, it would go away by itself.

ok, i need to get over that. hypertension is called the silent killer... and im scared. a couple days ago i had a little dizzy spell, and it was probably after a workout and needing to eat, or needing water, etc, but it scared me b/c i was afraid i was having a heart attack and was going to die! not that i know what a heart attack feels like. but in the movies, the beginning of a heart attack always looks so harmless.

anyway, i am going to buy a blood pressure cuff today. need to monitor that... if it's high when i check it tonight (after being proudly 26 lbs lighter), i shall go see the doctor.

i looked up the prevention things for high blood pressure, and i follow all of them! but last time i had it checked was maybe two weeks into my arrival to korea (was only down around 10 lbs at the time), and the nurse looked worried and told me to come back in a couple of months to have it checked again.

hypertension prevention:

• reduce salt/sodium in your diet... i never put salt on anything!
  


• be physically active... me and cathe have been working on this for months.
  


• limit alcohol intake... i said before, i dont hardly drink.
  
  
• limit caffine intake... well, i do take in a lot of caffine from the coke zero. but i never touch coffee or anything else.
  


• dont smoke or use tabacco... i never smoked in the first place.
  


• practice healthy eating... and i do.
  


• hormones in birth control may elevate high blood pressure.... i use a bc method that's hormone free, dammit!
  


• maintain a healthy weight... ok, working on that one.
  


• african americans are more prone to hypertension... well, can't change that one.

dude, for real! work with me here, universe! im really trying! *sigh* for some reason, black people are more prone to hypertension than others. i didnt think it was necessarily a black thing, i thought it was b/c of the tastes for soul food which is very high in sodium, but i dont eat that... is it genetic? and i am still very overweight. now that part, i can change.