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How to not worry....

Discussion in 'Questions and Answers' started by Fishweiser, Nov 6, 2013.

  1. Fishweiser

    Fishweiser New Member

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    About a year ago I started taking medicines for high blood pressure. I was taking the medicine and things were going along fine. One day a couple of months ago, me and a buddy of mine were playing ping pong and I got pretty winded. Winded to the point I felt a little pain in my chest but it went away shortly after I got my breath back I decided I would check with my doctor the next day. Well turned out it became a much bigger deal than I thought. They did an EKG and things were normal there but they then scheduled me with a cardiologist which did another EKG, took some blood to check my potassium levels, did a calcium score test which I havent heard the results from yet. Im scheduled to do a stress test and a follow up later this month. Ive been having to keep up with my blood pressure with a tester I bought from amazon. Actually, Ive been doing that offr and on for a year, but Ive been doing it 2 or 3 times a day since the chest pain visit. So theres alot going on.

    Well up until last week, I sorta thought this will be nothing. So one day while I was on vacation, me and a buddy went out of town to a hockey game. Of course, I didnt eat well...had a sausage egg and cheese biscuit in the morning, a big ole mushroom Swiss cheese burger and greasy fries for lunch, a big salty pretzel at the game, chicken wings after the game all washed down with almost a full day of drinking an ungodly amount of beer. Theres a supplement out there called NAC that does wonders for hangovers, so I took some of those before drinking and before I went to bed that night. I didnt feel too bad in the morning, but could tell it was a rough night. I had a big plate of eggs from the hotel, then later picked up an energy drink on the way home. Once at home, I just relaxed most of the day and just watched TV. I didnt feel hungover, but felt uncomfortable. later that evening, I checked my blood pressure and the bottom number was alot higher than normal. It was like 155/99. I was a little concerned so I went and did a little research on the internet and kinda scared myself with what I found on a yahoo answers forum. I decided to double check my pressure and it came to 165/103. I almost started to panic. I decided to lay down and relax..maybe even try to fall asleep. I couldnt stop thinking about it. I laid there for an hour, checked again and it was 175/107. Thats when I decided to go to the MD360, which is a branch of the local hospital system that's sort of like an all night doctors office. Once there, I was more nervous than ever, they took my blood pressure and by then, it got to 224/ 124. They gave me a small pill and slowly, it came down enough for them to let me go. .....I spent the rest of the night in bed with all sorts of morbid thoughts and nightmares. It was a scary enough experience, and a bad enough night to decide on making some major changes in my lifestyle. I decided to stop the nightly drinking of 2-? beers and replace the beer with bottled water, and decided to only have beer on the weekends and keep it to a 6 pack when I go out. That would be a very significant cut back on my beer drinking.

    The next few days went as planned. I was eating well and not drinking. My blood pressure was coming back to what it normally was before the incident. I felt better but it was still in the back of my mind. I had another trip planned, this time to Atlanta where a buddy of mine lives. Hes a big beer drinker too, so I was a little concerned about A) can I keep my 6 pack plan? B) can I eat well enough? and C) what will happen if my blood pressure spikes in ATL? Well I get there at noon on Friday had my first beer around 1pm for lunch which I ate salmon with broccoli at an Ocharlies. We hung around the rest of the day, didnt really drink much. Then later that evening, me him and his wife went out to eat, and I got a pork shank, which I kinda felt stupid in a way, but felt like I had been doing well enough the last few days. By nights end, I over shot my 6 pack by about 2 beers. I felt pretty good about everything that night. The next morning, I felt pretty good. We were supposed to go over to my buddies brothers house for the games on Saturday. The thought crossed my mind "I hope those 8 beers and pork shank dont cause my blood pressure to spike today" and as soon as the thought crossed my mind, I started to worry a bit. I checked my blood pressure hoping to see something pretty close to normal to ease my mind. It read 157/ 96. ...checked it again, and it was 162/100.....I decided to not check it anymore to quit worrying. That didnt stop me though, all sorts of things were running through my head. The ride was 30 minutes to his brothers house, my buddy told me there was an urgent care near by if I felt like needed it. So that was relieving. Then his brothers wife was a registered nurse, and she was to come home later that day which was relieving. All in all though, I still felt the weirdness of my blood pressure being sky high. Later that evening, the nurse was there and basically she said she thought it was mostly tension. My buddy convinced me that if I had a couple of beers it would help. So I had a couple of beers, it took the edge off then flushed them ith water the rest of the night. The next day things were good. I ate healthy all day, and my blood pressure was like 138/77 for the most part, that day and the next few days and gradually coming down.

    Last night, I went over to a friends house, just had water but ate a small bowl of beef stew. I started to wonder what the beef stew would do to my blood pressure and...there we go again....I came home and checked, my blood pressure was 151/88. I was expecting a lower number because I read that blood pressure is lower at night, and that seems to be the norm for me as well. Earlier in the day I was at 122/77 so I was pretty excited all day to see something lower. So it was both a little worrisome and disappointing to see it that high. Again, I didnt check it anymore, tried to take my mind off of it by watching TV, then reading books and such but my mind kept drifting back to worrying about it all.

    I realize that if I can stop all this worry, it will help things greatly...I just dont have a good way to take my mind completely off of it. I think Ill be better once Im done with all my tests, which is a month away...as long as they come out normal. I was just curious to see what kinda responses I get here with it all.
     
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  2. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    It may sound crazy and silly, but when you feel like your worry is escalating, just take a minute in a quiet place, close your eyes and focus on deep breaths for a minute. Also find little ways to occupy your brain for small increments, little games like a crossword, sudoku, etc. for example.

    Also, use this month to start rectifying any wrongs or regrets you may have in life. Let your friends and family know that you love them. These things remove layers of stress and take away the panic we all get from viewing our mortality. This isn't about cleaning up your affairs before you pass away or anything, its more like scrubbing off the layers of barnacles on your boat so there's less resistance in the water and they don't eat a hole throw the bow.
     
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  3. Fishweiser

    Fishweiser New Member

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    Thanks fin!! I never had to deal with anything like this. Im 41 and not much overweight. I still feel like Im in my twenties, got loads of energy left in me. Im just hoping the test results all come back normal, so I can stop worrying so much. If it does come out normal, Ill be making some changes for the better. Its definitely a wake up call for me. Hopefully with a life style change, i can get off the blood pressure meds completely and be better overall!
     
    Fin D likes this.
  4. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    Yeah man, just use it as an opportunity to fix things that need fixing. Doing things like that take so much stress away.
     
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  5. McLovin

    McLovin Resident Pats fan.

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    first of all, dont go into the POFO and talk to FinD.

    :tantrum:
     
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  6. Fishweiser

    Fishweiser New Member

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    LOL!! I just checked at lunch and it was 136/75...which is high, but the bottom number is as low as I've seen it in a long time. Im starting to think I need to quit checking my BP 3-4 times a day. Im kinda being over obsessive with it. I had a taste of what its like when its really high, so Ill kinda know if somethings getting bad. I think if I check it once every few days will be better. That way Im not so hung up on the numbers and stressing out over every little jump.
     
  7. MikeHoncho

    MikeHoncho -=| Censored |=-

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    Dude, take up jogging/running. If you have a dog, run with it.

    Hope this helps.
     
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  8. Fishweiser

    Fishweiser New Member

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    Yeah, I want to do something like that. I do have a part time job at Lowe's and that gets me a lot of exercise, maybe not so much cardio outside of just a bunch of walking. Id join a gym, but not sure ho much ill be able to use it. I think Im down to jogging as the best option I have.
     
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  9. anlgp

    anlgp ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A

    Yes, so long as it's okay with your doctor I would recommend, but I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

    I'm the same way with my heart rate and temperature sometimes, and it makes me worry more.

    If you find out the secret to not worrying shoot me a PM would you?
     
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  10. Fishweiser

    Fishweiser New Member

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    sure thing!
     
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  11. Ludacris

    Ludacris Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I recommend meditation. I did it once at a class conducted by a buddist monk and that one class was all I needed. It teaches you to be still and focus on breathing. When you focus on breathing it's training you to set your mind to one thing only. It's trains you to not think about anything going on around you be it present, future or past. You just focus on closing your eyes and breathing. That focus is harder to achieve than you think. Applying it in the real world, it's basically to learn to just be in moment and complete the task at hand one task at a time.
     
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  12. Fishweiser

    Fishweiser New Member

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    I always thought something like that would be good when going through other stressful times I've had. Thats something I will definitely look into. I just looked on Amazon and theres several books and videos on it.
     
  13. MonstBlitz

    MonstBlitz Nobody's Fart Catcher

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    Hey Fish, sounds like you have some health related anxiety here. A couple things stick out to me - it's when you start to think about your blood pressure that you begin to have your symptoms. Like others, I need to stress I'm not a doctor, and it sounds like you've had some legitimate issues with your blood pressure in the past. So make sure and talk to your doctors before following any of my advice! This kind of generalized anxiety can trigger very real physical symptoms - including high blood pressure. Read this -

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/anxiety/AN01086

    Notice what it says about alcohol. Drinking is terrible for any type of anxiety, health anxiety included. I also see several of your episodes occurred after drinking.

    Now here's where it gets tricky - the constant checking of your blood pressure is causing anxiety for you but it sounds like it's something your doctors want you doing. I think you'll need to tell your doctors about your anxiety and work on a plan for keeping track of things that won't cause you undue stress and anxiety. You also need to stay off the internet. As much as possible do not self-diagnose. Leave that to your doctors. If they aren't concerned, you shouldn't be.

    To manage the anxiety, I saw someone already mentioned meditation. That's a great idea. And so is exercise. Getting outside in the sun will do wonders for your anxiety. And you don't have to quit drinking, but I'd highly recommend cutting back or quitting entirely until you can get your anxiety under control.

    Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss anything else.

    This is coming from my own personal experience as someone who has gone through a couple of different bouts of anxiety and hypochondria in my life.
     
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  14. Boik14

    Boik14 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    If you want to stop worrying, stay occupied so your brain doesn't have time to worry. Find hobbies, immerse yourself in work, clear up any misgivings in your life like fin d said etc.

    As for your diet just remember you control it not the other way around. I like to eat as well but if you limit yourself to small portions (that doesn't work for me) or read the backs of packaging and the intake maximums for fats and sodium (That does work for me). When you do things like grocery shop don't shy away from your favorite things, just buy the lower sodium and lower fat versions.

    exercise plays a huge role as well in keeping blood pressure down. I've gone to the point where my blood pressure at times struggles to get to normal after a workout because I have physically and mentally tired my body out. That's probably not great either but then if I wanna go and grab some beers and wings I can.
     
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  15. Fishweiser

    Fishweiser New Member

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    You know, all my life people have mentioned to me that Im a fidgety restless kinda guy whose always in a hurry. Its funny, I don't notice how fidgety I am until I see myself on a camcorder. Ive embarassed myself seeing how fidgety I can be compared to others. Its like Im in fast forward sometimes! LOL!! Of course theres alot of times Im pretty calm as well. Its something Ive never talked to my doctor about, but I do have a follow up soon and Ill be sure to mention it and see what they say.

    As far as alcohol, before all of this, I was drinking at least 2 20oz pilsners a night..... sometimes 4, all withen an hours time...weekends I can really pack in the beer. This past week, I didnt drink a thing. I notice my blood pressure seems to come down a little daily and I feel better each and every day. Ive been eating healthy to an extreme. Oatmeal with chia seeds in the morning, cereal and a fruit smoothie(bananna, blueberrys, strawberries and OJ) for lunch...then celery, carrots and tomatoes for snacks and dinner most nights. It will be hard to keep up with that, but so far so good. Ive lost about 10 pounds so far. For excercise, I havent followed a complete routine, but mostly doing some exercises that I remembered from p90x. Maybe getting 15-20 minutes per day. I need to step that up more and start jogging here soon. So far so good though!
     
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  16. Fishweiser

    Fishweiser New Member

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    I definitely need to watch the sodium and make some tweaks. before all this, my idea of healthy was "limiting myself" to 1 pizza a week, 1 burger a week, 1 sausage egg and cheese biscuit a week. ...I guess I thought it was better than 2 of each a week! LOL!! Ive never dieted before in my life. Ive always been able to eat what I wanted and Id never have any real bad issue with weight. I mean I would be overweight, but most would never consider me overweight by looking at me. A diet will be a challenge, but having a goal will help. I definitely want to get off the blood pressure meds. Plus, in june, me and some freinds are planning a week long cruise in Alaska. Id love to be in tip top shape for that so I can splurge with the fun and food...and of course alcohol. LOL!....This will be my first cruise ever and the biggest, furthest trip Ive ever taken in my life!
     
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