Or any other time, to be honest.

I was supposed to have minor surgery last week, but my blood pressure was unusually high, so it was postponed and I went to my doctor to get a blood test to see what was happening. I saw him yesterday to discuss the results.

1. He still has no idea why my blood pressure is up; it's usually 110 / 70 (and was so two months ago), but in the last three weeks it's been as high as 150 / 110.

2. My cholesterol is a little high and my bad cholesterol (LDL) is really high; my cholesterol has been low historically but now the total is 200 (should be 180 or lower) and the LDL is 130 (should be 90 or lower).

3. My glucosylated hemoglobin (hemoglobin with sugar attached) is a smidge high: it should be 6% or less and it's 6.1%. This suggests that I'm inching toward diabetes.

The glucohemoglobin test is not usually performed, but my doctor is extremely tenacious and wants to find out the cause of the elevated blood pressure.

The good news is that everything is easily treatable. The bad news is that my wife is very worried.

In any case, Merry Christmas! Count your blessings!

And avoid blood: even your own can be bad for you.

 

I wish the best for you, try to have a Merry Christmas

 

Sorry to hear about that. Hope it works out and is easily treatable. I found out last Friday that I have hemolytic anemia. My body is destroying my red blood cells. The good news is that it is creating enough new ones that I'm not actually anemic. Since I don't have any symptoms, I had no idea I had a problem until the blood bank notified me of an abnormal test result after I donated blood. Went to the doctor and he referred me to a specialist who did some tests and put me on folic acid pills and is going to monitor the situation. As of right now it's not a problem and he told me not to worry about it so I'm not. I can't donate blood until this issue is resolved, but hopefully everyone that reads this does if they're able to. It not only saves people's lives, but it may have kept me from finding out about my problem once it was more severe instead of catching it when I did.

I have to laugh at your comment about watching out for your own blood. Apparently my body is a step ahead of you and getting rid of mine.

 

Hey guys, merry christmas and sorry to hear about the health issues. Sounds like you guys have taken care of it though so try not to worry and just have a great holiday all!

 

Sorry to hear it, but the word "treatable" makes me feel a LOT better.

 

sorry to hear about that magician, but it does sound like you've caught things well in time. it sounds like you may need to make a few lifestyle changes (diet, exercise, etc.) and perhaps some medication (and I'm no doctor, I'm just reading into the tone of your posting), but this just might be one of those opportunities to reassess yourself and your health and priorities, and you and your wife can work on getting healthier together.

it's just another item on the New Year's Resolution list.

 

Sometimes our BP goes up when we are under stress. Any chance that your concern over the surgery sent your bp up? You might want to get a home bp machine. They are fairly inexpensive. You can test your bp at home when you are not in a stressful environment.

 

Bill, I hope all will be OK. Grace and I are worried, but we know you'll pull through - you are more fit than I am. There are Chinese herbal remedies and dietary suggestions I can give you because my father had almost the same exact conditions a few years back, and you know the Chinese's got an herb for every ailment there is Seriously, let us know how things go and if you like an approach from a different angle, please let us know.

 

that would raise more than his blood pressure. Eh!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by tritium_pie

and ya know, it might just be a character flaw of mine but, IMO if you play your cards right, you can really work your wife's concerns to your advantage.

 

Wickerbill: Best of luck to you. We seem to be in a similar situation: icky blood stuff that was caught early enough that medicine should be able to take care of it. By the way, here's another similarity: I found out about the high blood pressure three weeks ago when I went to the Red Cross to donate blood.

Tritium: My diet's pretty good in general - my wife and I are both good cooks - but I'll probably be cutting down a bit on the homemade eggnog (eggs, cream, powdered sugar, brandy: the good stuff). I have the next week off from work so I should be able to ride my bike regularly, weather permitting. I used to ride 20 miles a day at lunchtime and I can easily drop 20 lbs. doing that for a couple of months. All the more reason to get a consulting business off the ground so I can work from home.

Bill: Inasmuch as I've had knee surgery three times (I was allowed to be awake and watching the last one on the TV), had emergency gall bladder surgery, been stitched up a few times, had a few broken bones reset, and so on, and knowing that this is relatively minor surgery, I'm fairly certain that it isn't from stress over the operation.

Furthermore, there really hasn't been anything atypically stressful in my life in general, lately. I'm very busy, but then I'm always very busy.

Mingster: Thanks for the offer. Our family doctor is extremely well-read, so I'm sure he'll know a lot about anything you suggest. I'm certainly happy to hear any suggestions you have. Please don't worry, and give Grace a hug for me.

Scot: All of the readings have been manual, and on a couple of occasions I had two in the same day at different locations that were very similar. Alas, they're probably accurate. As for the cholesterol, our doctor's preferences are quite conservative, but it's the LDL that really concerns him. More generally, he's concerned that everything - blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol - has changed in a relatively short time.

What's funny is that our doctor was going out of his way to be delicate in telling me about the results of the glucohemoglobin test. He knows that my wife and I are quite direct, and that we really want to know what's happening and what we can do to treat it. I told him afterward that I was all ready to say, "Give it to me straight, doc; don't sugarcoat it." How ironic.