Last night I managed to get some sleep. Not a lot, but sleep nonetheless. This has meant that I have not felt quite so awful today and have managed to do a little bit of knitting and some reading.
This afternoon I have been to see my GP. This was for my monthly visit so that he can ensure that I am okay and to get a prescription for my antidepressants. He is not very good at keeping to time with his appointments, but today I was seen five minutes early and gave us something to laugh about when I went in. Usually his opening remark is an apology for keeping me waiting, but today it wasn't necessary.
He asked whether I had received a letter for my appointment at the hospital to see the consultant about the little (actually not so little) problem that makes sitting down uncomfortable. I told him that I had been a couple of weeks ago and I'm now waiting for an appointment for the surgery that is necessary.
Then he told me that it was necessary for me to have my blood pressure taken. As luck would have it, I was wearing a short-sleeved top under my fleece so attaching the cuff to my arm was easy. As this was being done he checked that I had taken my blood pressure medication this morning and I had to think about it. Had I taken it? I have to take four different medications every morning and for the life of me I couldn't remember whether I had taken them this morning. Then I remembered. I take aspirin, and this morning when I had put the various tablets in my mouth and taken a good swig of water, four tablets had gone down but the aspirin had stuck to the roof of my mouth and had started to dissolve there. A second swig of water had taken care of that. Anyway, I was told to sit back in the chair and relax. I needn't have worried; my blood pressure was fine, perfect.
We talked about my depression, the support that I was getting from my consultant psychiatrist, and my psychotherapy. Then it was just a case of printing off the prescription for my antidepressants and I was done.
Since I have been back from the appointment (and collecting the medication from the chemist) I have managed to do two rows of my knitting (I have started knitting a lace shawl) and read a couple of chapters of a book that arrived from Amazon today. The book is The C-word by Lisa Lynch and is based on her blog which is one that I have been reading for more than a year now. For any of you who haven't read the blog, I would recommend it to you all and if you can't be bothered to work your way through the blog, then get the book. It is the amazing story of how Lisa found herself suffering from breast cancer at the age of 28 and her fight with 'The Bullshit' as it was to become known.
I shall get back to the book when I go to bed tonight, but I shall pick up the knitting after I have finished this post and written an email to There and Back.
Showing posts with label blood pressure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blood pressure. Show all posts
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Friday, 11 September 2009
Almost A Black Eye
This morning I had an appointment with my GP to review the ambulatory blood pressure test that I had a few weeks back. When he greeted me he commented on my hospital appointment and I related the story of only finding out about it by chance, and then the letter giving details of the appointment arriving a couple of hours after I got home after the appointment.
He asked me how long the plaster had to stay on and I said that I had been told that it could come off today so he decided that then would be a good time for its removal; I'm sure that the only reason that he said this was so that he could have a look at the wound. After a quick inspection we got on with the real reason for my appointment this morning.
It seems that I may have started to suffer from 'white coat syndrome' because being hooked up to the monitor for 24 hours showed that for much of the time my blood pressure was normal, or a little below normal, although there were some quite high spikes at times. Anyway it averaged out at 123/84 and he decided that a change in medication was not necessary. I then said that I thought that I was due for a blood test, and on checking my records it turned out that I was right so I now have an appointment for a fasting bloods test in a few days time.
One of the problems of having had the plaster removed from my nose is that my glasses are causing me some problems on the wound. I suppose that this was only to be expected considering where it was, but I need my glasses to see to do just about anything other than walking along the street so I knew that I was going to have some difficulties.
I was first taken to see an optician when I was about five years old. I have no idea why I was taken, but I do vaguely remember going and some aspects of the tests that were carried out. The optician didn't find anything to be worried about so I carried on without glasses until I was about 13. My mother decided that another trip to the optician was required when she found me trying to thread a needle with the thread and needle both being held at arm's length and my still not being able to get either object close to the other. Being somewhat older than I was on my first visit, I could answer the questions posed of me a little better and it was found that I was extremely long sighted; in fact, so long sighted that it would be more usual for someone in their 70s or 80s to have eyesight like mine. So glasses were necessary for me to perform any function near at hand such as reading, knitting and embroidery.
Like many youngsters, and particularly teenage girls, I didn't like wearing glasses and I was constantly being told off for not wearing them, but I continued to go to the optician regularly and invariably a change of prescription was necessary. About six months after my husband died, I went for an appointment and said that one of the things that I had noticed recently was that I was having difficulty reading road signs when I was driving. As a result of this examination it was found that my near sight was starting to become a problem. I was going to need to wear glasses when I was driving but if I had a separate pair for driving the lenses in them would mean that I would no longer be able to read the instruments in the car. The only solution was going to be either bifocals or varifocals. I decided to opt for varifocals and that is what I have had ever since.
One of the problems with wearing varifocals and having a wound on your nose at the exact spot where your glasses should sit is that unlike single vision glasses you cannot slip them down your nose a little. Varifocal lenses are ground so that perfect vision will only be possible when the glasses are positioned correctly in relation to your eyes and this means that at the moment I am having a few problems. I can't wear my glasses in the correct position because of the wound, but without them I am unable to do just about anything, so I have compromised a little and I'm wearing them a little further down my nose than I should and accepting that things are not quite as in focus as normal. Hopefully this state of affairs shouldn't last for too long.
So what about the black eye? Well, I rarely look at myself in the mirror (I generally don't particularly like what I see) but I wanted to have a look at the wound for myself. This proved to be a little difficult because without my glasses everything was out of focus but with them on the wound was not visible. I found a magnifying mirror (I use it when I attempt to put eye make-up on because I can't see otherwise) and tried for a view. Have you ever tried to look at something on the side of your nose with a mirror when your eyes don't actually move round far enough to allow you to see the object you want to examine? I struggled, but all I could see was a huge area of bruising on my nose and extending up towards my eye. It's taking aspirin daily that does it. Bruises are more common and are usually larger than would normally occur and the problem is that they get larger over the first few days rather than receding as would be the norm. My 'almost a black eye' could very well turn out to be the real thing tomorrow so I think that I will steer clear of mirrors for a few days until the bruising starts to dissipate.
He asked me how long the plaster had to stay on and I said that I had been told that it could come off today so he decided that then would be a good time for its removal; I'm sure that the only reason that he said this was so that he could have a look at the wound. After a quick inspection we got on with the real reason for my appointment this morning.
It seems that I may have started to suffer from 'white coat syndrome' because being hooked up to the monitor for 24 hours showed that for much of the time my blood pressure was normal, or a little below normal, although there were some quite high spikes at times. Anyway it averaged out at 123/84 and he decided that a change in medication was not necessary. I then said that I thought that I was due for a blood test, and on checking my records it turned out that I was right so I now have an appointment for a fasting bloods test in a few days time.
One of the problems of having had the plaster removed from my nose is that my glasses are causing me some problems on the wound. I suppose that this was only to be expected considering where it was, but I need my glasses to see to do just about anything other than walking along the street so I knew that I was going to have some difficulties.
I was first taken to see an optician when I was about five years old. I have no idea why I was taken, but I do vaguely remember going and some aspects of the tests that were carried out. The optician didn't find anything to be worried about so I carried on without glasses until I was about 13. My mother decided that another trip to the optician was required when she found me trying to thread a needle with the thread and needle both being held at arm's length and my still not being able to get either object close to the other. Being somewhat older than I was on my first visit, I could answer the questions posed of me a little better and it was found that I was extremely long sighted; in fact, so long sighted that it would be more usual for someone in their 70s or 80s to have eyesight like mine. So glasses were necessary for me to perform any function near at hand such as reading, knitting and embroidery.
Like many youngsters, and particularly teenage girls, I didn't like wearing glasses and I was constantly being told off for not wearing them, but I continued to go to the optician regularly and invariably a change of prescription was necessary. About six months after my husband died, I went for an appointment and said that one of the things that I had noticed recently was that I was having difficulty reading road signs when I was driving. As a result of this examination it was found that my near sight was starting to become a problem. I was going to need to wear glasses when I was driving but if I had a separate pair for driving the lenses in them would mean that I would no longer be able to read the instruments in the car. The only solution was going to be either bifocals or varifocals. I decided to opt for varifocals and that is what I have had ever since.
One of the problems with wearing varifocals and having a wound on your nose at the exact spot where your glasses should sit is that unlike single vision glasses you cannot slip them down your nose a little. Varifocal lenses are ground so that perfect vision will only be possible when the glasses are positioned correctly in relation to your eyes and this means that at the moment I am having a few problems. I can't wear my glasses in the correct position because of the wound, but without them I am unable to do just about anything, so I have compromised a little and I'm wearing them a little further down my nose than I should and accepting that things are not quite as in focus as normal. Hopefully this state of affairs shouldn't last for too long.
So what about the black eye? Well, I rarely look at myself in the mirror (I generally don't particularly like what I see) but I wanted to have a look at the wound for myself. This proved to be a little difficult because without my glasses everything was out of focus but with them on the wound was not visible. I found a magnifying mirror (I use it when I attempt to put eye make-up on because I can't see otherwise) and tried for a view. Have you ever tried to look at something on the side of your nose with a mirror when your eyes don't actually move round far enough to allow you to see the object you want to examine? I struggled, but all I could see was a huge area of bruising on my nose and extending up towards my eye. It's taking aspirin daily that does it. Bruises are more common and are usually larger than would normally occur and the problem is that they get larger over the first few days rather than receding as would be the norm. My 'almost a black eye' could very well turn out to be the real thing tomorrow so I think that I will steer clear of mirrors for a few days until the bruising starts to dissipate.
Friday, 21 August 2009
What A Relief
I have spent all of this morning in GP's surgeries. First thing this morning I went to my GP's surgery to see if I could get an appointment to see a doctor because I had a very sore area on my nose exactly where one of the nose pads on my glasses sits. I was lucky and managed to get an early appointment that fitted in well with my other task of the day, going back to the GP's surgery where I had been fitted with the ambulatory blood pressure monitor.
I found that I coped pretty well with the machine operating every half hour yesterday. The bleep would alert me that a reading was about to be taken so that I could stop what I was doing and make sure that my arm was still when it was being taken. At 10pm hourly readings started to be taken. The change in timings is because normally at night you do not experience the wide fluctuations that you do during the day, and it is also so that you stand the chance of getting some sleep.
Unfortunately, I have been have a bad week and sleep has not been easy. I am heading towards what is for me probably the most difficult week of the year. It is the week that includes my birthday followed a few days later the anniversary of my husband's death. Even though I have a nice treat (my trip to the theatre with There and Back) programmed into this period, and a day at the Department of Health talking about the benefits of patients having access to their medical records, and in particular for this seminar their pathology results, without consciously thinking about the two difficult dates, my mood has slumped and I am experiencing a severe depressive period. Last night I didn't manage a minute of sleep, although I did lie down and tried to relax as best that I could so as to not slew the blood pressure readings too much.
So after a sleepless night, and with a nose that is so sore that wearing my glasses is almost impossible even though I am blind as a bat without them, I went to my GP's surgery and got a prescription for an antibiotic cream for what appears to be an infection in the skin on my nose and another for some anti-depressants that have a sedative effect to be taken at night (I normally have some at home but I used the last of them up a few weeks ago and I am now so desperate for sleep that I had to get some more) in addition to the others that I take each morning.
After seeing my GP, it was off to the chemist to get the prescriptions filled, and then of to the bus stop to get the first of the buses that I needed to catch to get to the surgery where I had been fitted with the blood pressure monitor so that I could return it for the readings to be downloaded. I was lucky because I didn't have to wait long for either of the buses, and the final reading was taken shortly after I had got off the bus and was walking down the road to the surgery. Five minutes after the last reading, I managed to disentangle myself from the arm cuff, the belt holding the monitor itself, and what seemed like miles of rubber tubing that connected the two together, and then hand it back in at reception.
What a relief to have that thing off my arm. Almost two hours later the marks from the cuff are starting to disappear and I am getting full feeling back in my left arm. Now I have to wait for the results to arrive at my GP's surgery so that we can look at the results and see whether I do indeed have a problem with steadily rising blood pressure, whether my very high pulse rate is a regular occurrence or just an occasional thing, and decisions can be made about what treatment, if any, is necessary.
And I may have a nap this afternoon.
I found that I coped pretty well with the machine operating every half hour yesterday. The bleep would alert me that a reading was about to be taken so that I could stop what I was doing and make sure that my arm was still when it was being taken. At 10pm hourly readings started to be taken. The change in timings is because normally at night you do not experience the wide fluctuations that you do during the day, and it is also so that you stand the chance of getting some sleep.
Unfortunately, I have been have a bad week and sleep has not been easy. I am heading towards what is for me probably the most difficult week of the year. It is the week that includes my birthday followed a few days later the anniversary of my husband's death. Even though I have a nice treat (my trip to the theatre with There and Back) programmed into this period, and a day at the Department of Health talking about the benefits of patients having access to their medical records, and in particular for this seminar their pathology results, without consciously thinking about the two difficult dates, my mood has slumped and I am experiencing a severe depressive period. Last night I didn't manage a minute of sleep, although I did lie down and tried to relax as best that I could so as to not slew the blood pressure readings too much.
So after a sleepless night, and with a nose that is so sore that wearing my glasses is almost impossible even though I am blind as a bat without them, I went to my GP's surgery and got a prescription for an antibiotic cream for what appears to be an infection in the skin on my nose and another for some anti-depressants that have a sedative effect to be taken at night (I normally have some at home but I used the last of them up a few weeks ago and I am now so desperate for sleep that I had to get some more) in addition to the others that I take each morning.
After seeing my GP, it was off to the chemist to get the prescriptions filled, and then of to the bus stop to get the first of the buses that I needed to catch to get to the surgery where I had been fitted with the blood pressure monitor so that I could return it for the readings to be downloaded. I was lucky because I didn't have to wait long for either of the buses, and the final reading was taken shortly after I had got off the bus and was walking down the road to the surgery. Five minutes after the last reading, I managed to disentangle myself from the arm cuff, the belt holding the monitor itself, and what seemed like miles of rubber tubing that connected the two together, and then hand it back in at reception.
What a relief to have that thing off my arm. Almost two hours later the marks from the cuff are starting to disappear and I am getting full feeling back in my left arm. Now I have to wait for the results to arrive at my GP's surgery so that we can look at the results and see whether I do indeed have a problem with steadily rising blood pressure, whether my very high pulse rate is a regular occurrence or just an occasional thing, and decisions can be made about what treatment, if any, is necessary.
And I may have a nap this afternoon.
Thursday, 20 August 2009
I'm Wired For Sound
I'm not really, but I am hooked up to an ambulatory blood pressure monitor for 24 hours. My blood pressure has been a bit on the high side recently when my GP has checked it even though I am on medication for it, albeit a low dose. However, what was more worrying was the fact that I seem to have a very high pulse rate even when I am at rest. The net result of this is 24 hours hooked up to this machine which takes my blood pressure every 30 minutes.
Unfortunately my GP's surgery does not have one of these machines so I had to go to another surgery in the area. The reception staff there were very helpful, both when I phoned to make the appointment and again today, and the practice nurse who fitted me with the monitor was very friendly and helpful too.
So for the next 24 hours I will hear the occasional bleep, the cuff on my arm will inflate, I will undoubtedly get pins and needles in my hand, and then the cuff will gently deflate once the reading has been taken. In the meantime I am supposed to carry on with all the normal things that I would be doing, which this afternoon will include a little bit of crocheting because I had a new delivery of yarn this morning and I am going to make a shawl out of granny-style squares, although these are a little different in that they have the appearance of a flower at their centre and the yarn is variegated in colour so the shawl is called the Flower Garden Shawl (but I'm not doing it in the colours shown on the pattern). Once I have a few squares finished I shall photograph them and add them to the blog so that you can see how each of the squares looks different to the others even though they are all being made from the same yarn.
Unfortunately my GP's surgery does not have one of these machines so I had to go to another surgery in the area. The reception staff there were very helpful, both when I phoned to make the appointment and again today, and the practice nurse who fitted me with the monitor was very friendly and helpful too.
So for the next 24 hours I will hear the occasional bleep, the cuff on my arm will inflate, I will undoubtedly get pins and needles in my hand, and then the cuff will gently deflate once the reading has been taken. In the meantime I am supposed to carry on with all the normal things that I would be doing, which this afternoon will include a little bit of crocheting because I had a new delivery of yarn this morning and I am going to make a shawl out of granny-style squares, although these are a little different in that they have the appearance of a flower at their centre and the yarn is variegated in colour so the shawl is called the Flower Garden Shawl (but I'm not doing it in the colours shown on the pattern). Once I have a few squares finished I shall photograph them and add them to the blog so that you can see how each of the squares looks different to the others even though they are all being made from the same yarn.
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