January has been an interesting month, so far. For one thing, I am now on blood pressure medication. I went to the doctor a few weeks ago, just to make sure I was still alive (apparently that's a normal thing?), and my BP was high. Well, I wasn't terribly surprised, but my doctor told me to keep an eye on it and call her in four weeks. I went back to work and didn't worry about it too much. I had the nurse at work check it the next day, and it was 160/94. The next day it was still 158/94, and she said I should probably start thinking about worrying about it. Well, I bought a monitor, and I quit eating salt, and I bought lots of fresh fruits and veggies, and I continued to go running and do my yoga, and I really did try to do everything that I could to keep it down. I started keeping a log of my BP, taking it 3-4 times a day. Yes, I know, it's a little overkill, but what's the point of monitoring something, if you aren't going to know exactly what it's doing? I like to know!
After 3 weeks of checking my BP 3 times a day, the diastolic (the bottom number) had only been under 80 3 times, and had only been under 90 11 times, and the wonderful women that I work with were trying to send me home to rest because they thought I was going to keel over and die right on the spot. Many of them tried to tell me that my hypertension is caused by my job, but I told them it runs in my family; my grandmother has been on medication for it since she was 14. However, as I was forced to admit, teaching also runs in my family, so maybe they have a point...
After 3 weeks of hypertension I called the doctor back and she had me come in and laughed at my log. She laughed, but she said she loved it, so take that, organization haters!
Apparently the BP pills can cause dizziness and dry coughs, but 8 hours after I took the first one my BP was down to 108/82, which is the lowest I have ever seen it. This morning it was 114/74, so as skeptical as my hippy, EMT, pharmacist father is, I have to say it seems to be working. And I have been sleeping! I haven't slept through the night in quite a while, and it probably helps to have my BP somewhere in a vaguely resting area while I'm trying to sleep.
The other thing that may be affecting my sleep is that we FINALLY bought a bed! Or a mattress, anyway. Our air mattress sprang another, unfixable leak, so we were on the floor again, and it is so nice to have squishy things under my back while I sleep. Jesse seems to be having trouble adjusting, though. Last night at 1 in the morning he woke me up. He rolled all the way on top of me, and laid there for a while. Then he rolled way over on the other side and pulled me over that way. Then he rolled me over so I was facing the other way, moved my arms up, down, threw an arm over my face, buried my face in his armpit, pushed me over to the other side again....and this went on until about 2:30. He was fast asleep the entire time. At least he was sleeping deeply! And the times that I was allowed to sleep were fantastic. Bed=Awesome, and Sleep=not grumpy, sleepy Mrs. Smith, snapping at children and falling asleep while trying to listen to them read. I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful the last two days have been, especially compared to how frustrating the last couple weeks have been. I have been snippy and grumpy and exhausted and just no fun. So I am incredibly happy with lower blood pressure and beds.
And on that note....it is 9:00 and my bedtime. I will leave you, and go sleep on my fantastic memory foam mattress with my bamboo memory foam pillow. Memory foam heaven awaits!!
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