Now, when my blood pressure was 140/90… and above starting in my 40s… I started getting all kinds
of symptoms.
I’m a Type-A person who stresses about work and the people I want to help and take care of.
My “fast-living” caught up with me though. Yet because of my serious autoimmune disorders... I didn’t
immediately connect my high blood pressure… With the problems I was having.
These are the same 7 symptoms I mentioned at the beginning of this presentation. Through my own experiences,
I organized the symptoms in a way that makes sense.
I ate lots and lots of pasta…
The 7 symptoms are:
Stiff neck and jaw.
Constant headaches.
A tight, sometimes painful chest.
Fatigue and weakness.
Nausea and vomiting.
Shortness of breath.
And the one symptom that’s always directly affected me the most…
Sleepless nights.
I lived with those symptoms… Fully believing it was just the price of… being me… and the other
health
challenges I deal with. But at about 40+… I started keeping track of my blood pressure at home…
At the request of my doctor at the time. I bought a blood pressure device from Walgreens.
Now, when I took my blood pressure for the first time… I was shocked when my systolic number was over
200.
And my bottom number, the diastolic was over 100.
I had gone from prehypertension to straight-up red-alert hypertension… In a heartbeat.
As I continued monitoring my blood pressure… I watched as my symptoms were directly going up and down…
Based
on my numbers.
When I saw… plain as day… how my unchecked high blood pressure caused direct damage to my blood vessels,
veins, arteries and heart… I took a major pause.
Heart problems and high blood pressure run in my father’s side of the family. So, I began paying major
attention to these 7 symptoms that took over my life.
That’s when the intense pain in the back of my neck became the only thing I could think about. All of
my
experiences pointed to an acute lack of circulation… And a heart that was working way too hard…
Without
virtually any relaxation. The tightness in my chest… Became acute inflammation and pain.
I later discovered that unchecked or improperly treated high blood pressure can “injure” blood cells and
vessels. 19 And the very first thing ANY… body… does to repair itself… Is to inflame the “injured”
areas.
In other words…
“The more blood pressure goes up, the more injury you have,” says Dr. Webb… a well-known expert.
Here’s the thing… With unchecked high blood pressure… It can quickly become a cycle of repeated cellular,
vessel
damage… And therefore…
More acute inflammation.
By the way, acute inflammation… all by itself… is known to accelerate premature aging… Which only increases
free
radicals and more cellular damage… Especially in the heart.
For me, that meant… My heart was working harder than ever… Just to barely give me enough energy to…
barely… keep
moving… While my blood pressure-related symptoms just kept making my life… scarier.
I was nauseous all the time… And threw up almost every day... Which was a sign of really, REALLY
high blood
pressure.
I even threw up at my local, very small town coffee shop, literally out of nowhere. Talk about an
embarrassing
moment. It really made it hard to go back there for a while. But that was far from… it. My headaches were a
constant, annoying reminder that my heart was struggling to stay healthy.
When I realized my symptoms weren’t just me getting older… Getting my blood pressure into a healthy
range became the most important thing in my life.
I went back to my doctor who put me on meds. She initially put me on an Alpha Blocker.
And I won’t lie… I couldn’t decide if my symptoms… or the side effects were worse.
I was dizzy, nauseous and every part of me… hurt. I couldn’t drive… I couldn’t breathe well… And
I
couldn’t focus on anything.
I quickly went back to my doctor… And she replaced my meds with a Beta Blocker.
But the side effects were just as bad! I felt even more dizziness. And I couldn’t sleep… no
matter
how tired I was… Or how late in the night it got.
The further lack of sleep made me feel like I was losing touch with reality.
I forgot what it felt like to be rested… healthy… and energized. I looked like it too. My eyes had
one look... Dark and puffy.
The combined internal inflammation and external puffiness made me look… and feel… years older than I was.
And
with tremendous sleep deprivation... My emotions were all over the place… And I couldn’t focus on anything I
needed to do.
Which made the stress factor even more acute. The overall fatigue and inflammation were worse than it had
ever
been… Forcing me to live as a shell of my former self.
Circling the drain longer and deeper. Needless to say… It was a humbling time for me. I was always active
and
athletic… and strong. That made feeling THIS weak and fragile… traumatic.
So, I went back to my doctor one last time.
She put me on an ACE Inhibitor… And told me to eat more Cheerios in the morning. No joke. That was the full
extent of her nutritional advice… To eat more Cheerios.
“This is medicine? Is this for real?” I asked myself. I felt so defeated… and more scared and
confused about my
high blood pressure than ever before... Because the sands of time were running out… But I didn’t know how to
stop it.
And even worse… Nobody could help me.
My doctor kept randomly choosing another prescription to test me on. It was obvious she had zero awareness
about
how badly the side-effects would affect me… Or what was causing my blood pressure to spike so wildly.
As the pain continued to dominate my life… I lost a big part of myself… of my confidence.
Every day was another test of my pain tolerance… And my drive to keep going.
Finally, I decided I couldn’t keep taking my blood pressure pills. They got my numbers down… some…
but the side-effects made life not worth living.
I couldn’t work… My marriage was falling apart… And I didn’t have the energy to do anything I
enjoyed.
I knew I couldn’t continue living like this…
And I definitely didn’t want my daughter to grow up watching me fall apart at the seams.
Or without a dad at all. It wasn’t even just the fragility, weakness and symptoms.
I gained a bunch of weight… which… as someone who also deals with autoimmune issues… isn’t safe at
all.
Every extra pound was a real risk to my health and wellbeing. Also… the ongoing inflammation just
continued to break me down.
And now that I decided to stop taking my blood pressure meds… Well... that’s when I shifted my
attention… And
started trying to find ways to naturally balance my blood pressure.
As a quick disclaimer… I’m not a doctor… And I certainly am NOT recommending you take yourself off your
blood
pressure meds. That’s a choice you should consult with your doctor about.
But for me, I couldn’t keep living with BOTH my blood pressure symptoms… And the painful side-effects of the
pills my doc kept giving me.