Sunday, August 9, 2009

What's Up With My Blood Pressure?

I was so looking forward to taking my sister on a cruise to Barbados. Though I cannot pay her for all that she does to take care of our aging mother (who is 96 years old and suffering from Alzheimer's), I thought that this would be a nice gesture...She always does things for others--never anything for herself.

Well, as luck would have it, my mother took a very bad fall the day before I was due to fly to New York, so---All bets off--Cruise cancelled.

OK, so dealing with doctors, nurses, hospital administration, in-home aides, etc. shot my blood pressure up to 144/85. Though I have hypertension, it is controlled with medication which I take religiously and the week before I went to New York I had a physical. Everything checked out well and my bp was 117/69. Great!!! So, now I know why my sister's blood pressure is 155/85. Dealing with all of this stuff would make anybody's head explode.

Okay, so I figure, when I get home my bp will go back to normal. First day home, it's 138/70. Better. The next day I wake up with a raging headache, take my blood pressure and it's 145/80. What in the world is going on?

OK, I remember something from yoga and I lay down on the floor, put the heels of my hands on my eyes (fingers pointing towards my hairline) and breathe deeply. Several minutes of this makes me feel better. Then I get my aromatherapy oils (Peace & Calming). Rub some on my pulse points and underneath my nose and breathe deeply while sitting on the porch watching the birds flit around. Ahh - after 10 minutes of this, the headache has subsided. I have a 2-hour massage scheduled for 3 pm this afternoon. I will take my blood pressure when I come home and report in.

I do believe there is much that we can do ourselves to keep ourselves healthy. It's just important to stay in tune with your body so that you know when something's going haywire.

Wow....

2 comments:

  1. I bet the massage helped lower your bp!! Can't wait to hear the lower number tonight! Love, your daughter

    ReplyDelete
  2. It did help, but not as much as I'd hoped. Read the post

    ReplyDelete

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