A Tale of Two Doctors.....

This is a tale of two doctors.... only they happen to be the same woman.

Subtitle: I love it when I'm right.

Three months ago, I had some paraphrased version of the conversation below with my doctor. She looks about twelve years old, is cute and perky, and has never criticized me for my weight. Those are some of the reasons I love her. I think I was one of her early patients, which meant in the early days I could talk her into anything. She has wised up over the years.

Me: At what point could we think about changing my blood pressure medication, possibly even discontinuing it?

Doc: Oh no, we don't usually do that. Once you start the medication, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. What makes you think you should change it? Or discontinue it?

Me: Well, my blood pressure has been pretty low recently. Plus I've lost some weight....

Doc [Interrupting, which I'm pretty sure they're taught in med school not to do]: You've weighed ___, ____, ____, ____, and ____. We don't like to make changes in medication based on a single reading.

Me [Resisting the urge to scream "That's what your colleague did when you were out on maternity leave for the gazillionth time!"]: Oh.

We went back and forth some, and she (reluctantly) agreed to split my combo medication into two separate ones and allow me to discontinue ONE of them if my blood pressure remained low. She also said I had to come back in three months instead of the customary six, which Hubby claims is just an attempt by medical professionals to pad their incomes. I discontinued the medication the doc told me I could, the dizzy spells stopped immediately, and I began tracking my blood pressure religiously. Some might even say fanatically.

Fast forward to today. I present the doctor with a printout of my recorded blood pressure readings for the last three months. She nods, murmurs a little bit, then says she'll be right back with my lab reports and some exercises for my (still) aching hips.

When she comes back, she is almost exuberant. "Wow, you've lost 11 more pounds since you were here three months ago. Keep this up, and you may be able to stop the blood pressure medication altogether."

Huh? Didn't I say that back in March? Didn't she almost castigate me for suggesting the possibility?

And then I discover the real reason for her exuberance.

"Your cholesterol is high," she says.

Butthead. Just had to have the last (negative) word.

The Blood Pressure Challenge......

I've been on medication to control my blood pressure since 2004. It started with an allergic reaction to chlorine, when I broke out all over, my eyes swelled shut, and I had blisters on my eyelids. I was concerned about looking like walking circus freak show; my doctor was worried about my blood pressure.

"Have you LOOKED at me, lady? Don't you think I have a REASON for my blood pressure to be up?"

I tracked it for a couple of weeks, then they put me on medication, and I have dutifully taken it for the last five years. Once when she was out on maternity leave (AGAIN!), one of her partners (whom I really can't stand and can't understand why Hubby is so fond of him) INCREASED my medication because he didn't like the reading they got on that particular day.

In the past couple of weeks I have had a few dizzy spells. (Hubby would say "What else is new?") Nothing major, not to the point of fainting, just feeling light-headed and slightly off-balance. Correction....more off-balance than usual.

When I had my blood pressure taken at the "Y" for my Team Lean competition, it was 96/64 or something. I chalked that up to the fact that Hubby and I had JUST finished walking in the park. (I like to go exercise right before I weigh, just in case.....) Then when I went to give blood two weeks ago, my blood pressure was 116/60-something. I said something along the lines of, "Well, the pills work."

But then it occurred to me that my blood pressure was running LOW all of a sudden. It was time to get my (blasted) medications refilled, so I asked my doctor about cutting back and perhaps eventually getting off them. She was a little condescending, dubious at best, and questioned my reasoning. I explained I had lost about 25 pounds (she wasn't as impressed as I wanted her to be) and increased my exercise. She was still not moved, but she RELUCTANTLY split my combination blood pressure medicine into two prescriptions. She said if my blood pressure consistently stays under 120/80, I can drop ONE of the medications.

She is probably blissfully unaware of how seriously I take a challenge.

It. Is. On.

Another thing the doc said - "We don't like to change medications based on a single reading."


ISN'T THAT WHAT YOUR PARTNER DID WHEN HE DIDN'T LIKE WHAT HE SAW?



Just since Friday I have taken my blood pressure numerous times, at all different times of day, before and after exercise, before and after eating, before and after my laptop has pissed me off AGAIN.

Here's what I've had so far:

110/67
114/73
94/58
102/59
114/79
97/56 (That one was about an hour and a half ago, and I've been feeling fairly light-headed.)

I'm not one to play around with my medications, and I'm going to take both pills faithfully for another week or so. If these low numbers continue, though, I'm going to drop one of them as she said I could.


And THEN we'll have an entirely new challenge. I would love to add #51 to my 50 Things to Do list - Get off blood pressure medication.