$1.889

Today was my followup appointment with the doc concerning some elevated blood pressure numbers detected during my barrage of tests when I fell in September. At that time, I had an elevated blood pressure. About three months later, still high. And yesterday…. still high. Sorta. When the nurse took a reading, the numbers were down slightly. When the doc took a reading, they were slightly higher than the nurse’s.

Either way you slice it, I now have my first opportunity to ride the medium-to-long-term medicine wagon. And I’m not thrilled. I don’t like what it implies, especially when combined with my moving to bifocals just a couple of months ago.

The doc has me taking daily an ACE inhibitor, Altace at a dosage of 5mg. I will be taking that for six weeks to see if that will help my blood pressure drop. Apparently, finding a medication that works for any given patient is a bit of a scavenger hunt, by trying different meds and dosages until one shows results. I’m not jazzed about the thrill of the hunt on this one!

There’s a gazillion reasons why I might have high blood pressure. My father and grandmother (his mother) had it. I am overweight. I am sedentary, although trying to breakout. I don’t eat as well as I could, and I am in a job that can be pretty stressful. All of those things can factor into high blood pressure.

What’s strange to me is that in just about a year, this problem has cropped up, as my numbers have historically been real close to normal. No matter. The key now is getting the numbers under control, and driving some other benefits to me because of changes in diet, lifestyle and trying hard to reduce stress in my life.