Friday:
I put that job application in, and now I'm trying not to stress about it too much. I really hope I get an interview.
I saw my doctor this morning. My blood pressure is not too bad 130/something (still not ideal, but lower than it was) so I got another script for Duromine (phentermine). But I've been plateauing at around 71.1 kg for about 10 weeks now, so we talked about some strategies to get the weight loss started again. Like reducing snack portion size, and walking with weights. I've never tried that, I feel it might be a bit annoying to carry weights, arms swinging, while trying to enjoy a walk. But I'll give it a go. My main issues are that the food portion sizes and eating when I'm not hungry have crept in again.
Another thing I've never tried before - today I got laser hair removal on my underarms. The first of 8-10 monthly sessions, assuming I don't react badly. It hurt much less than waxing! Little hot jabs as each hair was vaporised. Very quick, she just ran the thing back and forth over my skin - didn't need to do individual hairs like I was expecting. It's a small area so it's ideal to try it out. Imagine having smooth armpits forever! It's around the same price per session, but after the full course I should never need it again so it works out much cheaper really.
Showing posts with label blood pressure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blood pressure. Show all posts
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Still forging on
Thursday:
I've been keeping up the healthy eating and daily exercise. Today I walked around the lake. About 5.7km. Lovely weather for it, we've just turned the corner into autumn and it was a cool cloudy day with no wind. I went around clockwise for a change and I noticed two groups of people whose paths I crossed twice as they walked around counter-clockwise - two older ladies power-walking (not too old, maybe 55), and a mother with a little kid on a bike. Both groups must have been going considerably faster than me because of where we crossed the second time. Those older ladies were zooming along and chatting as well. And a much older man jogged past me. Just shows exercise does not have an arbitrary age limit.
I had a blood test this morning for my thyroid, hopefully that and the sleep study will give me and the doctor some useful information. All the results will be sent to the referring doctor, the one at the uni, but I'm not at the uni any more and I want to return to my regular doctor. Not sure how to manage that. Maybe just see the uni doctor one more time. She's free. Or she was to students - which I'm not any more ... all a bit muddled. But I didn't like her much and she was 45 minutes late when I was her first appointment of the day and if I see her it will just be to get my results.
I went into a pharmacy on Tuesday to check my blood pressure again. It was a different place, and instead of just being able to use their machine the chemist came over and did it, which was nice I guess. He took three readings, only five or ten seconds apart, and I got 128/90 (a bit high), 141/91 (a lot high) and 116/80 (completely normal)!! Very confusing. He told me to ignore the middle one as it was too different from the others - I hadn't discussed any health history with him and that was the one most like other recent readings. But the three were so different from each other, which made me lose a bit of faith in the whole system. I suppose that is why he took three readings, to get some kind of average.
I got through Dungeons and Dragons supper with only a lovely little pear and a few squares of dark chocolate, which are apparently good for high blood pressure. So I am doing really well on the food front as well. Healthy all the way!
I've been keeping up the healthy eating and daily exercise. Today I walked around the lake. About 5.7km. Lovely weather for it, we've just turned the corner into autumn and it was a cool cloudy day with no wind. I went around clockwise for a change and I noticed two groups of people whose paths I crossed twice as they walked around counter-clockwise - two older ladies power-walking (not too old, maybe 55), and a mother with a little kid on a bike. Both groups must have been going considerably faster than me because of where we crossed the second time. Those older ladies were zooming along and chatting as well. And a much older man jogged past me. Just shows exercise does not have an arbitrary age limit.
I had a blood test this morning for my thyroid, hopefully that and the sleep study will give me and the doctor some useful information. All the results will be sent to the referring doctor, the one at the uni, but I'm not at the uni any more and I want to return to my regular doctor. Not sure how to manage that. Maybe just see the uni doctor one more time. She's free. Or she was to students - which I'm not any more ... all a bit muddled. But I didn't like her much and she was 45 minutes late when I was her first appointment of the day and if I see her it will just be to get my results.
I went into a pharmacy on Tuesday to check my blood pressure again. It was a different place, and instead of just being able to use their machine the chemist came over and did it, which was nice I guess. He took three readings, only five or ten seconds apart, and I got 128/90 (a bit high), 141/91 (a lot high) and 116/80 (completely normal)!! Very confusing. He told me to ignore the middle one as it was too different from the others - I hadn't discussed any health history with him and that was the one most like other recent readings. But the three were so different from each other, which made me lose a bit of faith in the whole system. I suppose that is why he took three readings, to get some kind of average.
I got through Dungeons and Dragons supper with only a lovely little pear and a few squares of dark chocolate, which are apparently good for high blood pressure. So I am doing really well on the food front as well. Healthy all the way!
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
High blood pressure and some night thoughts
Thursday:
I checked my blood pressure at the Chemist this afternoon. 148/103. Which is high. Probably not high enough to be put on medication, but high enough to worry about. So the reading at the doctor was correct, and my blood pressure must have gone up since last time I visited my regular doctor. At the very most, that is about 9 months ago.
Is the high blood pressure caused by the sleep deprivation? Both caused by something else? Pre-diabetes involved?
Lying awake during the night, at around 2am I had a bit of a revelatory thought. I was thinking about how I want to get this sleep problem worked out, but I really really don't want to have sleep apnoea. Imagining having to wear one of those face masks every night. And then I realised that it is probably up to me. I mean, I know that being overweight is affecting my health in various ways, but it just really hit me that I AM DOING THIS TO MYSELF. As far as I know, I don't have anything congenitally wrong with me. It is most likely that anything wrong with me, any health issues I am having, are caused by my diet and exercise habits. I can change my daily habits to make hours to study, why can't I find time and energy for my health? It is a depressing situation that I need to make empowering instead. If I can affect my own health in such a bad way, I can also do it in a good way.
Much later, maybe 6am, I was tossing and turning again. And I realised that relatively recently, but more than a year ago I think, I started sleeping with one hand cupping my face with my thumb and first finger pressing against my cheekbones. This has always puzzled me, but I kept doing it without conscious decision. And this morning I wondered if it was an attempt to keep my airways open? Is it affecting my sinuses? I don't know. I need to get this sorted so I can get some sleep.
To change the self-absorbed subject, a new study has just come out from the University of Sydney. I've only seen the media excitement about it so far, and I don't know how accurate that is. But anyway, they tested lots of different diets on mice. High protein, low fat, low calorie etc. Something like 35 different diets, the biggest study of its kind. And the headline findings are that high protein/low carb diets made the mice thinner, but also made them die a lot younger. The fatter high carb mice lived a lot longer. The worst diets were high fat and (surprisingly, at least to me) low calorie. I always thought calorie restriction, at least in humans, led to much longer life. Anyway, this is mice not humans but it is still interesting. What I get out of it is that thinner does not equal long life. Health is not just equated with skinniness.
I checked my blood pressure at the Chemist this afternoon. 148/103. Which is high. Probably not high enough to be put on medication, but high enough to worry about. So the reading at the doctor was correct, and my blood pressure must have gone up since last time I visited my regular doctor. At the very most, that is about 9 months ago.
Is the high blood pressure caused by the sleep deprivation? Both caused by something else? Pre-diabetes involved?
Lying awake during the night, at around 2am I had a bit of a revelatory thought. I was thinking about how I want to get this sleep problem worked out, but I really really don't want to have sleep apnoea. Imagining having to wear one of those face masks every night. And then I realised that it is probably up to me. I mean, I know that being overweight is affecting my health in various ways, but it just really hit me that I AM DOING THIS TO MYSELF. As far as I know, I don't have anything congenitally wrong with me. It is most likely that anything wrong with me, any health issues I am having, are caused by my diet and exercise habits. I can change my daily habits to make hours to study, why can't I find time and energy for my health? It is a depressing situation that I need to make empowering instead. If I can affect my own health in such a bad way, I can also do it in a good way.
Much later, maybe 6am, I was tossing and turning again. And I realised that relatively recently, but more than a year ago I think, I started sleeping with one hand cupping my face with my thumb and first finger pressing against my cheekbones. This has always puzzled me, but I kept doing it without conscious decision. And this morning I wondered if it was an attempt to keep my airways open? Is it affecting my sinuses? I don't know. I need to get this sorted so I can get some sleep.
To change the self-absorbed subject, a new study has just come out from the University of Sydney. I've only seen the media excitement about it so far, and I don't know how accurate that is. But anyway, they tested lots of different diets on mice. High protein, low fat, low calorie etc. Something like 35 different diets, the biggest study of its kind. And the headline findings are that high protein/low carb diets made the mice thinner, but also made them die a lot younger. The fatter high carb mice lived a lot longer. The worst diets were high fat and (surprisingly, at least to me) low calorie. I always thought calorie restriction, at least in humans, led to much longer life. Anyway, this is mice not humans but it is still interesting. What I get out of it is that thinner does not equal long life. Health is not just equated with skinniness.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Sleep doctor
Monday:
I saw a doctor this morning - one at the university as that was easiest to fit into my schedule, so I hadn't seen her before - and we talked about my sleep problems. She didn't know what was wrong but we are investigating a couple of possibilities. Firstly she's given me a referral to have a sleep study done. Apparently there is guy at the university who organises for you to do the sleep study at home (more likely to get a proper reading under more normal conditions than you would get in a sleep lab), he gives you the equipment and then the readings are sent off the to the labs to interpret. I have no idea what it involves - a few of those suction things on various places maybe? I suppose the two things they want to know are how often I wake during the night and whether is because I've stopped breathing.
The other thing is to get my thyroid checked, which involves a blood test so I have a referral for that too. It will also check various other things I'm not sure of. I had a blood test less than a year ago for my pre-diabetes and it covered a few things but I don't think thyroid was one of them. And anyway, the sleep problems have started recently so I need a new blood test.
A third possibility is some kind of allergy, although I haven't had hayfever or anything, so I could try a steroid nasal spray at night to see if that helps.
I had my blood pressure taken, standard procedure with a GP, but she used a new-fangled type of machine with a really thick heavy cuff. She turned it on and it squeezed and squeezed. I always find having my blood pressure taken quite uncomfortable (I don't think anyone else has ever said so, maybe it's my flabby arms) but this was downright painful. It just kept squeezing. Finally my gasps and winces of pain clued her into something wrong (I would have said something eventually. Maybe) but it was finally on its downward cycle by that stage. The doctor worked out that it had squeezed way too hard from its pressure output reading. My arm was still hurting three hours later, and I now have what look like purple stretch marks on the white underbelly of my arm that aren't on my other arm. I think it over-pressured my veins.
The doctor said my blood pressure reading was high. I've never had high blood pressure in my life, not even when I was pregnant. If anything, it's often a bit low. So she tried again, with the more old fashioned type of machine on my other arm. Still high. 150 over something, I don't really know what that means or what is normal. But anything above normal is a new thing for me. And now we don't know if it is another symptom or a pain response to the first machine.
I didn't have a good night's sleep last night (and Tim says I was snoring) and I actually dozed off in a lecture this afternoon. It's a dark lecture hall without any windows or natural light, and I just couldn't keep my eyes open. Head nods forward, jerk awake. Head nods forward, jerk awake. Embarrassing. I hope the lecturer, who is also my tutor, didn't notice. So rude of me.
Monday is official weigh in. 82.7 kg, down 300g. I think normal daily fluctuation rather than actual weight loss, I certainly didn't have a virtuous weekend in terms of eating and exercise. But if I can get this sleep thing fixed I think that will be a great help.
I saw a doctor this morning - one at the university as that was easiest to fit into my schedule, so I hadn't seen her before - and we talked about my sleep problems. She didn't know what was wrong but we are investigating a couple of possibilities. Firstly she's given me a referral to have a sleep study done. Apparently there is guy at the university who organises for you to do the sleep study at home (more likely to get a proper reading under more normal conditions than you would get in a sleep lab), he gives you the equipment and then the readings are sent off the to the labs to interpret. I have no idea what it involves - a few of those suction things on various places maybe? I suppose the two things they want to know are how often I wake during the night and whether is because I've stopped breathing.
The other thing is to get my thyroid checked, which involves a blood test so I have a referral for that too. It will also check various other things I'm not sure of. I had a blood test less than a year ago for my pre-diabetes and it covered a few things but I don't think thyroid was one of them. And anyway, the sleep problems have started recently so I need a new blood test.
A third possibility is some kind of allergy, although I haven't had hayfever or anything, so I could try a steroid nasal spray at night to see if that helps.
I had my blood pressure taken, standard procedure with a GP, but she used a new-fangled type of machine with a really thick heavy cuff. She turned it on and it squeezed and squeezed. I always find having my blood pressure taken quite uncomfortable (I don't think anyone else has ever said so, maybe it's my flabby arms) but this was downright painful. It just kept squeezing. Finally my gasps and winces of pain clued her into something wrong (I would have said something eventually. Maybe) but it was finally on its downward cycle by that stage. The doctor worked out that it had squeezed way too hard from its pressure output reading. My arm was still hurting three hours later, and I now have what look like purple stretch marks on the white underbelly of my arm that aren't on my other arm. I think it over-pressured my veins.
The doctor said my blood pressure reading was high. I've never had high blood pressure in my life, not even when I was pregnant. If anything, it's often a bit low. So she tried again, with the more old fashioned type of machine on my other arm. Still high. 150 over something, I don't really know what that means or what is normal. But anything above normal is a new thing for me. And now we don't know if it is another symptom or a pain response to the first machine.
I didn't have a good night's sleep last night (and Tim says I was snoring) and I actually dozed off in a lecture this afternoon. It's a dark lecture hall without any windows or natural light, and I just couldn't keep my eyes open. Head nods forward, jerk awake. Head nods forward, jerk awake. Embarrassing. I hope the lecturer, who is also my tutor, didn't notice. So rude of me.
Monday is official weigh in. 82.7 kg, down 300g. I think normal daily fluctuation rather than actual weight loss, I certainly didn't have a virtuous weekend in terms of eating and exercise. But if I can get this sleep thing fixed I think that will be a great help.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)