HER Bloodline (HBP)
Discovering Her Predisposition To High Blood Pressure
As I stated in the HER-STORY page, my journey stems from my organic research into healthful topics that would aid me in combating or warding off some known genetic predispositions—one of which is high blood pressure (HBP). Unfortunately, this one is an actual “battle” that I began fighting during my college years. I was not a child or youth that was prone to headaches, so when I started getting occasional headaches while at school, I took note. As most people would, I initially went to the drug store and purchased over-the-counter pain medications, like Tylenol. When the headaches seemed to persist—not daily, but enough for me to take more notice—I visited the campus health center. It was there that I learned my blood pressure was elevated. Apparently, I was “symptomatic”—meaning that when my blood pressure would elevate, I would get a headache. Not surprisingly, I connected these occurrences to exam times. Because the symptom seemed to be stress-related, the doctor did not prescribe a blood pressure medication for me at that time.
I remember family members discussing the ailment of HBP—specifically, as it related to my maternal grandmother—but I never gave it much thought back then. As I moved from college, into my young adult life, I continued to occasionally have these symptomatic bouts with HBP. I wasn’t particularly overweight (or so I thought). I didn’t eat too unhealthily (another personal opinion). Yet, the dreaded HBP continued to shadow me.
I married two years after college and became pregnant with my first child two years following. Somewhere in those post college years, when I had established a relationship with my own doctor—independent of school health centers and parents—my doctor started to seriously monitor my blood pressure issues. He would admonish me to eat better, reduce the salt intake (hmmm, I thought I ate pretty well), etc. Then, of course, during my pregnancy, yet another doctor was monitoring my blood pressure as well. During the pregnancy, the HBP continued but was not worsening. My doctor did not want to put me on medication, due to the baby, and I was having more trouble with “morning sickness” and gestational diabetes (but, that’s another story, for another time). After my beautiful daughter was born, I lost all of my baby weight, and was actually smaller than I was prior to pregnancy, and at this smaller size, my blood pressure seemed to stay under control. However, this did not last forever. My weight crept up just five pounds too much, and BAM! the HBP was back. This is when I was first introduced to a low dose of prescribed blood pressure medicine, which was so discouraging, as I did not want to be forever tied to any drug.
As a side note, it was also during this time that I started working for the insurance services department of a large organization that advocated for health care for seniors, amongst other things. It is here that I interacted with many mature adults regarding their ability to maintain health insurance and prescription drug coverage, after retirement. Sadly, as much as we tried, at the time, many were either denied coverage or were quoted unattainable rates, if they were on medications for chronic illnesses. This was yet another reason that I wanted to manage my blood pressure without having to take medication.
I began to faithfully exercise, and keep my diet under control, but my weight continued to rise, and so did the HBP. I switched doctors to see if I might get a second opinion on how to bring the HBP under control, but was continually frustrated, when I would get the same mantra. “You have to exercise,” “You have to cut out salt!” I thought I was doing all of this – UGH! I even went on a three-week fast (water and herbal tea only), with one of my friends. I lost a lot of weight, and may have even brought the blood pressure down, but I can’t really remember; because, as many know, weight comes back fast and furious when you go back to your usual eating habits after your body thinks that you were starving it for three weeks. When I say fast and furious, I mean it! Over the next few years, I gained more weight than I ever had in life—even during my first pregnancy! Also (this may be TMI but), one thing that I recognized, during this time, was that the HPB medication caused constipation. So, think about it… How can you lose weight—regardless of how much you’re exercising or not eating—if you can’t eliminate waste? This only added to my frustration.
Five years after my first, I became pregnant with my second child. Although I didn’t suffer morning sickness with this one, I still had the gestational diabetes, and add to that an exacerbated case of HBP. My numbers were off the charts! Because of this, I had more frequent visits to the doctor than a typical pregnancy. While I don’t recall the doctor ever diagnosing it, I’m pretty sure I was preeclamptic. By the end of my pregnancy, I was extremely swollen and had pitting edema—an occurrence where any touch to the skin will leave an impression for an unusual amount of time, sort of like pressing your finger into play dough. Once again, after my beautiful baby girl was born, the weight dropped off, and for a short period of time, I was as small or smaller than I was after the first pregnancy. For the next few years, my weight again crept upwards, and so did the HBP. I kept wishing that I had the resolve to fast for three weeks again. This time, I wouldn’t go back to my former eating habits, I thought. But what eating habits would I turn to? Like I said before, I thought I ate fairly healthy. I was at my whit’s end!
Then came the summer of 2000. Come back next week to find out what’s next!
