The blood pressure problem: a brief history

As you may have noted, I've been writing about blood pressure a lot lately. This is owing, of course, to the fact that high blood pressure was one of the main motivating factors for the fitness regime I've adopted and that I discuss in this blog.

Describing to someone the other day the course of my blood pressure problems, I recalled just how serious things had gotten. I decided after that discussion that I should offer a brief overview of that course of events here in my blog as well so that my readers might better understand some of my motivations for becoming more serious about fitness. Thus, the following.

Throughout my life my blood pressure had been absolutely stable and normal. I can't say that I spent a lot of time in doctors' office prior to the late 1990's or so. In fact, I tried to avoid as much as possible visits to the doctor. And my health was generally good enough that I really didn't seem to require much physician assistance. But I don't recall at any point in my life--prior to just a few years ago--seeing any blood pressure reading above something like 120/75.

I began to make more frequent visits to the doctor's office in the late 90's owing to a health issue that began to plague me then and, consequently, had my blood pressure taken more frequently. And the normal blood pressure readings continued to be the norm until about '05 or so.

I'd say it was about then that I began to notice systolic readings of around 130 or a little higher. Beyond noting that these readings were a bit above what I'd seen throughout my earlier life, I didn't pay much attention to them. And I was not cautioned about it at the time by any medical staff, either.

It was probably one to two years after this that, when on a physician's visit for an unrelated test, I was told that my blood pressure was high and that I should see my doctor about this. Due to the fact that I was then between doctors, I did not manage to make an appointment with a physician in a timely manner.

It was probably at around this same time that I began to occasionally get headaches that seemed to worsen when I was lying down. I had already been experiencing a good deal of insomnia by that point, and the headaches made my insomnia problem even worse: I would simply have to get out of bed after a certain, fairly short period, because my headache was preventing me from sleeping. I didn't initially connect these headches with the blood pressure warning I'd gotten.

Also at around this time another odd health issue developed: I would sometimes get bloody noses for no apparent reason. It would feel as though I had a runny nose, but when I'd wipe my nose, I'd see that the liquid was actually blood. Someone mentioned to me that this might be caused by high blood pressure. But since I hadn't yet selected a new physician, I still did not seek medical attention.

Finally, while out of town on one occasion I was discussing some of my health issues with the wife--who happened also to be a nurse--of a friend of mine. She happened to have blood-pressure-measuring equipment in her home and offered to check my blood pressure, to which I readily agreed. She was shocked at the reading she got--something like 165/110. She essentially demanded that I immediately see a physician.

Trying to determine whether my condition warranted an early return home from that trip, I spoke "off the record" with a doctor who lived in that area. She said tests would be required before any medication could be recommended. But what sticks with me most about that conversation was when she asked "you know what the risk (of going around with high blood pressure) is, right?" When I replied that I did not know the risk, she told me: stroke.

This really drove home the urgency of the matter because I probably simultaneously realized both that I was no longer a young man, and also that I actually know someone who--though seemingly fairly healthy--had a stroke at age 48 (a year younger than my age at the time). I decided to cut my trip short and return home to see the first physician I could get to.

That pretty well summarizes the series of events that proved to be the key motivating factor in getting me on my current fitness regime. I was given tests at that doctor's visit to see what sort of medication I might take to lower the blood pressure and began taking hydrochlorothiazide. And I resolved right away to embark on the fitness regime that I continue to this day.

Summary

A few words, by way of summary, on the effects, to date, of the fitness regime on my blood pressure.

I was uncertain whether adopting this fitness regime would actually "cure" my blood pressure issues. The physician I initially saw about the problem was not encouraging that my issues could be resolved through a more serious fitness regime: instead, he seemed to be urging resignation to the fact that I might well have to take medication for this condition for the remainder of my life.

To be fair, he didn't discourage me from exercising--but he also didn't hold out much hope that my problem could be reversed by this means. It was therefore largely my own initiative to see how I might affect the problem through adopting a more serious exercise regimen. At the least, I was pretty certain it couldn't hurt; at best, I hoped it might bring the problem under control.

And the jury's still out at this point about what the net effect of my 1.75 years of serious fitness endeavors on blood pressure: those who've read my posts about recent blood pressure readings may be aware that I can't say at this point what the net effect has been because I'm now attempting to find out how/when/where I can accurately measure my blood pressure.

I can say with some confidence that, during warm weather when I'm most active, I seem not to need the medicine at all. I'm now trying to determine whether I can remain off the medication for the remainder of this winter.

If so, might I have reversed my condition through exercise? And how might the breathing exercises I've recently adopted--something only tangentially related to my fitness endeavors--have influenced blood pressure readings? I'm still in the process of answering these questions. Please continue reading my blog to find out the answers.