I am an active, healthy person. I have a resting heart rate of between 55-60 and my blood pressure is consistently 100/70.
I just came off 16 days of long hours, no days off, high stress, no exercise and too much alcohol. A few days ago, I noticed some tingling in my arms. I went to a nurse friend and had my blood pressure taken. It was 175/95 and my heart rate was 100. This scared the crap out of me. I went to my doctor. She did a bunch of tests and asked questions about lifestyle changes. I told her about my past couple of weeks. She said, “you need rest, exercise and better eating habits.” She also said, “You are 44. You can’t do what you once did.” This kinda pissed me off. I don’t like being reminded that I am mortal.
So I am taking some time off work and trying to get things back under control.
But it is amazing what you can do to your body in just a couple of weeks.
I am 110/70 usually. They don’t care if I come in after riding my Coker and five minutes after I arrive I’m 130/80. I thought only heart rate was affected by exercise but they told me blood pressure is too. It settles to 110/70 in about 1/2 hour. One time I went in and measured 140/90 with no exercise immediately prior to the visit. I was in alot of pain. They told me that was what made it jump for that visit…pain.
No one has proven you mortal so far. What have you got to worry about? From what I can tell you will live forever. Me too, but I don’t feel that way alot of the time. My dying statistic is still zero like yours, though.
By the way, how is getting “rest” and “exercise” really consistent. Your doctor is a quack. Go see a movie instead of a doctor. It costs less and you’ll be happier.
Wow, looks as if your body told you who’s who. My body does tricks on me if I get stressed out, mostly autoimmune conditions flare up. It’s clear as a bell to me when I need more sleep and need to lighten up. With my recent moves across the country and now to my new house and stresses from other countless directions, I am on a serious stress reduction plan:
don’t take work so seriously
make certain to get a good workout every other day.
Spend time outdoors when it’s nice (even work out doors reading, field research, or lap top in the shade
Garden
Get 9 hours of sleep each night.
I’ve been at it for a week now and I am feeling better. I sure like feeling rested and not as if I need a nap in the middle of the day! My BP is usually really low (like 90/50, and I do get light headed if I stand up too fast!) so when mine gets to the normal range like it was at my last check up, I know something is up!
Take care Jethro! Don’t sweat the 44 year old remark. You’d probably feel like you needed a lot of rest if you were keeping this pace 20 years ago, too.
B
Wow that’s really low. 100 mmHg systolic BP is the cutoff point where they no longer give drugs in an ambulance in instance of a heart attack (at least in Alberta, I would think that’s pretty standard though outside Alberta).
I did some advanced first aid training and had my blood pressure taken every day of the course (as well as heart rate, breathing rate, pulse oximetry, and blood glucose level), and over the month and a half or so of the course my BP was fairly consistently 120/70, resting heart rate of about 60-65. My BP hardly changes with excercise, I’ve never been over 126 systolic (at least not that i’ve measured).
175 systolic and associated with tingling isn’t a good thing… has it come down from that level yet?
I wouldn’t worry too much about a one off blood pressure. To diagnose hypertension you need several blood pressures on different occasions being consistently high.
I certainly wouldn’t want to start antihypertensive medication for a one off result. Often getting your blood pressure taken by your doctor is enough to put someones blood pressure up.
Harper- from memory I think your systolic pressure normally goes up with exercise and your diastolic goes down or stays the same.
Toddw9: 100 systolic is only low depending on the context. In a slim, young person it is pretty normal blood pressure. If an old person has a blood pressure which is normally 160/90, and now they were at 90/40 with central crushing chest pain/heart attack, then they might need to be careful giving certain cardiac medications like nitrates as it can potentially lower you blood pressure more. I’ve seen many people collapse after they give themselves nitrates sprays
if it were only eyesight that went down…
now here is an idea for the “old geezers meeting” :we measure our blood pressure on entering and after … after a heated debate and much drink … I am sure we will show those youngsters that we withstand the shock … and GizmoDuck could write another M.D. thesis on the ensuing results! " unicycling and the ageing process: which influences which"
If there is something or someone causing you the stress, get away from it/them.
Eat doritoes and cheesecake in the rain.
Roundup Roundup Roundup on the plants.
learn to be productive while sleeping.
You should be all set.
I’ve read that cholesterol is in large part genetic. That may be why your salads are not working. How much bleu cheese dressing do you have on the Salads? My Mom’s idea of a salad is a bowl of creamy dressing with some lettuce garnishes.
If all you’re eating is salad, you might be missing a part of your diet. Make sure your body is getting the nutrition it needs.
I sound like a Mom or something…To counter that: Don’t forget that excessive smoke and drink will make a short and sickly life more fun.
If there is something or someone causing you the stress, get away from it/them. … Nooooooooo!
Eat doritoes and cheesecake in the rain.: cheesecake is OK but what is “dorito”
Roundup Roundup Roundup on the plants: no! I am allergic to a lot of those products
5. learn to be productive while sleeping: I do …those two last mornings I could sing music that was invented in my mind during the night
I’ve read that cholesterol is in large part genetic. aah my mother then (my father is part of that famous SW France exception: he is rather fat but without any trace of cholesterol excess) That may be why your salads are not working. How much bleu cheese dressing do you have on the Salads? My Mom’s idea of a salad is a bowl of creamy dressing with some lettuce garnishes.
wheach! : almost no dressing except a drop of olive oil… (BTW “french dressing” is unheard of in France)
If all you’re eating is salad, you might be missing a part of your diet. Make sure your body is getting the nutrition it needs. sure I forgot to mention I had boiled rice too! - and occasionally steamed fish too-
To counter that: Don’t forget that excessive smoke and drink will make a short and sickly life more fun.
well never smoked (I am a wimp: smoke makes me choke!) but I drink red wine as prescribed by my doctor
the funny thing is that most people think I am cool: only me, my wife and my doctor know I am overstressed. others do not believe me.
This I can confirm:) I would never have thought you where subject to stress, Wobbling -teddy- Bear;) .
You always seem so cooooool in the fora.
Note for non french speaking people: wobbling bear - known as MOU on the french forum - has yet been told as the “coolest, wysest man on the forum”.
I consider him as the “hippy father I should have had”
No offense MOU, I didn’t mean to say you could be my father:D
I think the point was about lifestyle change. My body is used to a certain amount of exercise and a certain amout of rest. For two weeks, I had no exercise and far less than the normal amount of rest. Added to that was a good amount of stress–a death of someone close to me, another friend doing something incredibly stupid and hurting a lot of people, and then Easter week for a pastor. My body didn’t like it and rebelled.
Anyway, after 2 days of rest, exercise and a more normal schedule, things are beginning to even out. My BP today was 116/90–still high for me, but moving in the right direction.
I’m a doc and I just started unicycle seriously about 2 months ago. Freequently UPD (see avatar) I came to the conslusion that the working to live is a lot more fun than living to work. I feel that the unicycle has done more for me than my cardioloist. Since start down 20 lbs. and feeling great.I’m 58, maybe the oldest tyro unicyclist.
A few years ago with huge work load followed by the dot-com crash, divorce, and a host of other stresses, I too, embarked on a “healthy body” crusade, including 10 hours of sleep, lots of exercise, drinking lots of water, and plenty of time watching the comedy channel. It made a huge difference, but with major stresses like that, it took months to turn me around.
Nowadays I try to catch the stress thing earlier, but it has been hard to stick to the 10 hours of sleep! However, it improves one’s recovery, decision-making, and the like, so it’s probably time-effective in the long run.
I used to be a nurse (for 13 years), which was quiet a physical job, rushing about with few breaks even to go to the toilet. When I was at work my blood pressure would be 130/70 consistently and my pulse was 90 odd. At home (and now all the time because I have a more restful job) it is/was 120/60 and my pulse was 80 ish.
One of the problems with stress is that the more stressed you get, the less able you are to relax and take advantage of your usual support systems. So it’s important to catch it early. Identify the things you do when you start to become stressed. I know when I’m getting stressed because I start to do more internet shopping.
Ken, this is pretty much what my doctor said too. My blood pressure has returned to normal now that my schedule, exercise and diet is more normal.
However the tingling in my arms was apparently not related to the blood pressure. My tests results show a fairly severe B12 deficiency that were the cause of the tingling/numbness. Since my diet is not short of B12, this can’t be corrected by diet. Apparently, the reason I have the anemia is the inability of by body to absorb B12. So I am trying supplements for a month and if that doesn’t work, I will be getting monthly B12 injections.
Got results this afternoon from my recent blood workup. I hadn’t had a doctor’s appointment for quite awhile because of my series of layoffs over the last four years. Looks like I’m as healthy as a horse…I just feel like I’ve been kicked by one from time to time.
All my results, blood pressure, glucose, overall cholesterol, triglycerides, thyroid, are perfect except my good cholesterol could stand to go up a little. My overall cholesterol is 149. I asked what could bring up my good cholesterol and she said exercise…confound it! Why can’t I take a pill or something? So, I went out to the plant this afternoon and someone had brought in doughnuts. With my good results, I had a second one.
Anyway, good results need to stay good results. Mary and I have been discussing it. She is currently giving Curves a try and so far is quite positive about it. Now I need to figure out how I want to approach exercising. I want to figure it out here sometime soon.
Yoopers, your personality here is usually that of the unicyclists’ dad, but you’re a unicyclist yourself, right? Any problem with trying to up your amount of unicycling then?
Hmm, it might be cold/snowy out. I know I used to ride all the time when I lived in Michigan, but I was a kid then. You probably want more structure or a good reason to be out there. To that end I have the same problem. I love to ride the trails, but all the interesting ones are at least 45 min. away by car, so I ride a lot less than I should.
: almost no dressing except a drop of olive oil… (BTW “french dressing” is unheard of in France)