Time Flies!

I came for a visit, figured I should give you all an update on the health situation...

Then I saw it had been a whole week since I had written anything!  Time flies!

Last Friday I went to see my doctor regarding my renal test results.  He said the second results were at an acceptable level for now, so no renal failure yet.

That's right, yet.

He did verify my blood pressure again.  He is the type of doctor that routinely does that at every visit.

Friday, my blood pressure was officially at stage 2 hypertension.  164/101.  This puts me at a risk for all kinds of things.

•damage of kidney cells (this leads to a renal failure)

•damage of the retina (this leads to serious vision impairment)

•damage of arterial walls

•strokes and heart attacks

•heart failure and death

The thing is, 6 month ago, my blood pressure was about 96/55 with a pulse of about oh, 65 or so.  About 4 months ago, my blood pressure went up to about 105/59 with a pulse of about 90.  (Something wrong?  I call it stress; you can look at blog posts from early November to understand what was going on.  You can even take a peek at some posts from October. )  Last month I was a little high (about 140/60), oddly only systolic was high, my diastolic was OK. My pulse was back down to 68. (Again let’s look at what has been going on in the last 3 months December, January and February).

 I know, my being overweight surely is not helping with the whole blood pressure thing, but I think stress is the real culprit.  I think part of my weight and my inability to lose the damn fat even though I eat healthy and not that much has something to do with all of this.  Yes I know that there has been no actual proof that stress can affect blood pressure, but keep on reading.

Sure there is the stop smoking (which BTW was a stress reducer for me and I have yet been able to find an alternative that works as well)  People who stop smoking do tend to gain weight.  Absolutely true.

Yes there are the meds, as mentioned in a previous post, the meds were not helping (lose weight), they even  made things worst.

I've also discussed the challenges I have faced with my son over the last few years. 

I have very briefly touched some other events over the last few years which have also been stressful.

• Two people I trusted left me with a lot of debts that I had to pay off, one was a little over $16,000.00 (child care and setting me up for fraud), the other around $8,000.00 (mostly by racking up my credit cards) putting me in debt of well over $24,000.00. I eventually paid it off when my son got his DTC, but it was quite rough going there for a while.  Rather than paying off the debts these people gave me, I could have used that money on a down payment, maybe even a trip!  I tried fighting the fraud but I was unable to submit the proof. (2009 to 2011)
• The person I considered my best friend threw away our friendship.  As I was living with her, the home situation became very awkward and difficult. (2008 to 2010) This is the equivalent of a divorce stress-wise.
• Another friend went a little too far with my son, destroying that trust, later bringing the CAS to investigate the family yet again...(2008 and 2011) CAS dropped out of the picture but STILL very stressful while it lasted.
• The job assignment I had recently where I was being back-stabbed every day.
• A bunch of other smaller stresses which are too many to list.

A friend of mine described what I had been through in the last little while as "went through a shit storm with half a roll of toilet paper... "  How do you like that imagery? She is about right.  I have to find opportunities to use this expression just like "May he/she choke on the smoke of his/her own burnt bridges" or something like that.

Anyways back to stress.  I have been researching stress, more specifically "chronic stress" and the stress hormone "cortisol"

According to Wikipedia, chronic stress is:

Chronic stress is the response to emotional pressure suffered for a prolonged period over which an individual perceives he or she has no control. It involves an endocrine system response in which occurs a release of corticosteroids. If this continues for a long time, it can cause damage to an individual's physical and mental health.

Wikipedia also describes cortisol:

Cortisol (hydrocortisone) is a steroid hormone, more specifically a glucocorticoid, produced by the zona fasciculata of the adrenal gland.[1] It is released in response to stress and a low level of blood glucocorticoids. Its primary functions are to increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis; suppress the immune system; and aid in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism.

It suppresses the immune system by "muting" the white blood cells. Another function is to decrease bone formation.

Wait a minute, back up there. Cortisol which is produced during stress aids in FAT metabolism?

So chronic stress might have helped me GAIN weight and being OVERWEIGHT is a known factor in Hypertension.  Chronic stress affects sleep patterns, another thing that contributes to weight gain.  See where I am going here???

I took two stress tests, one from Stressnet and another from Holmes and Rahe.  You can find those results here and here.

I have come to the conclusion that if I were to reduce my level of cortisol (i.e. stress) i might be able to get my weight under control as well as my blood pressure.  If I don't get my blood pressure under control I obviously will not live to see the age of 50.  I might not even see the age 45!

How do I reduce my stress?

1. I need to be financially safe. (not going to happen unless I meet Mr. Right and he moves in and shares the financial responsibilities.  Since Mr. Right doesn't exist, this one is not possible)
2. I need to stop moving (as in house).  I need to get my home all nice and settle and stop living in limbo. This means get the boxes unpacked; get the furniture in the right rooms. Everybody in my house needs to get their shit done, everybody needs to help!
3.  The house needs to get cleaned up, the chores done.  I can't keep facing massive amounts of work and a messy environment all the time.  Living in a chaotic house increases my stress.  Dishes and food belong in the kitchen, coats in the bedroom or entrance, dishes need to be washed and put away, litter boxes need to be cleaned, vacuuming needs to be done, so does sweeping and picking up stuff from the floor.  Garbage needs to be put in bins, not tables and floor.  I can't always be me, and it needs to be done more than once a month or so, these things need to be done daily or weekly!
4. I need to reduce the drama (another that is unlikely to happen, actually none of these are likely to happen).
5. I need to stop worrying about the kids (My son's future, my daughter's safety when she doesn't come home for over 24 hours and doesn't tell us anything).
6. I need to move more (as in my body)  Dance, walk, swim.  Have fun while doing it.
7. While we are at it, have FUN!  Do things I ENJOY, find time to craft, decorate, paint. Sing more.  Not just be overloaded with responsibilities,  not always feeling like the chores won't get done if I don't do them.
8. Be less angry all the time.  One of the things that makes me the most angry is people not doing the things they are supposed to be doing.

It can be so easy to make me happy (I can hear my kids say that's not so), yet I am sad and frustrated all the time.  I have no plans on reducing my blood pressure through medications.  Either it comes down naturally or not at all. 

With high blood pressure, a heart attack or stroke can happen so easily, so quickly.   The good news is I don't need to kill myself anymore to escape this life, it's happening naturally!  It's just a question of years.

On the plus side my doctor did give me a medical certificate for the ergonomic assessment for my cubicle at work, now on to the work fitness.

Thanks for reading.