Monday, January 28, 2013

Not doing so great.

Health wise, that is. I don't exactly know what is going on with me, but something is.

Last Monday, I went with my Mom and sisters to visit with Mom's brother who is battling stage 4 lung cancer. It is a 3 hour trip, so we stopped and ate lunch at Long John Silvers. Fattening, right? Yeah, I know.

Anyway, pretty much as soon as I ate, I started feeling like I needed to burp. All day long I just felt like I had pressure in my chest/back and that I needed to burp. This continued all night and the next day. Finally Wednesday after I couldn't take it anymore. I went in to see a doctor. I have no insurance, so you know I had to be feeling pretty bad to go. 'Cause it is going to cost me a boat load.

The doctor I saw was really nice and didn't comment on my weight. I figured that would come up, because clearly, I need to lose a lot.

I was concerned that I may be trying to have a heart attack. With the back/chest pain. Though I hadn't been weak, sweating, or sick to my stomach.

She ordered a bunch of blood work as well as an EKG. Everything came back perfectly fine. That was a relief, but she said if I wanted, I could see a cardiologist.  I haven't went. My reasoning is that I don't have the $$, though I know my life is worth more than a few hundred dollars. Also, I saw a cardiologist when I was pregnant with Dalton and they did an echo and all. My heart was fine then. Though that has been 7 years ago.

She suggested I take tums and gas-x in case gas was the cause. I've been doing so, but it doesn't really seem to be helping.

My sisters both think it is my gallbladder, Michael thinks it is anxiety, and all I can do is worry about having a massive heart attack.

I've never had issues with my blood pressure, but when I was at the doctor it was like 136/86. That shocked me because mine is never that high. I figured it had to do with nerves because I was so stressed out about all this. Since then I've been checking my blood pressure with our cuff we have here at home and it has been fairly normal if not low. 110/60, etc.

Well today I was at Moms and used her cuff. My BP was high. 138/90 and higher as I kept checking it. This scared me so bad. But my sister reasoned that Moms cuff was smaller than mine and that could cause the reading to be off. This made me feel a little better, but I am still worried. I've checked it here at home a few times this afternoon and it has been 126/84, etc. Nothing too out of control. Looks like I am going to need to buy a new cuff.

I also need to get myself back on track. I have got to do something to lower my blood pressure and that means a proper diet/exercise. I don't want to do too much at first to shoot my BP even higher. So I'll have to research what kind of exercises to do.

I've just been really emotional all week because I do not want to die of a massive heart attack. I want to go back to normal. Scary stuff.

If you do that sort of thing, send up a prayer for me and wish me luck.

Thanks,
Alana Jo

2 comments:

  1. Hey lady!

    When you get your blood results back, check out that HDL/LDL cholesterol range if you're worried about your heart. Have you been taking any supplements? Generally a fish oil cap will help that HDL (think Happy DL - the good stuff) level rise. Vitamin E is also a great heart helper (and skin helper!)

    Do you associate the pain with different foods? Are there different foods that trigger the pain? Gallbladder pain will increase with high fat intake.

    Stay strong lady. I completely understand what you're feeling. Be kind to your body and it will reward you.

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  2. Sorry that you haven't been feeling well. I know I'm a bit late commenting, so I hope that you're feeling much better by the time you read this!

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