Category Archives: High Blood Pressure

Migraines?


Posted by katiebird

For the past several years what I think are migraines have been kicking my butt.s Anywhere from mildly annoying to the eye jabbing bouts that FamilyMan described so well … but always accompanied by a quesy stomach, extreme fatigue, and sensitive eyes. The bouts last anywhere from four hours to two days and occur at least twice a month.

t At first I thought it was hormone related since both my mom and younger sister suffered from them during hormonally stressful times. But then I went a year without periods [hoping I was done with the horrible cramps and PMS ... only to start having them again two months ago ... SIGH], but the headaches continued the entire time and when I mentioned it to my doctor he said it was unusual for migraines to start at menopause and then ignored it.

Then I thought maybe the Sleep Apnea was the culprit and asked my doctor last year. He made me take a sleep study even though I knew it really WAS Sleep Apnea and I’ve been using a CPAP machine as much as can be tolerated, but the headaches continue … having a mild one right now.

Not wanting to take pills for the rest of my life that may cause more problems that what they are supposedly curing, I just take Excedrine Migrane and try to sleep through it whenever possible. The last time I had a bad bout I thought to stop in at Osco on my way home to check my blood pressure after reading on the Internet that there may be a connection between Sleep Apnea, migraines, and high blood pressure … and discovered it was, indeed extremely high for me.t Having always been kidded by nurses that I was dead because my blood pressure was so low and it was so hard for them to get a pulse, this terrified me. Once I felt better, it went way down, but is still high for me.

c I think this just qualifies as a rant since there really isn’t any point to this entry other than passing on my pain. Going to take a nap now, if I can, since I can’t eat lunch.


Ode to the Lettuce Wrap: A Tip for Busy, Hungry People with Diet Issues, contributed by DuctapeFatwa


Posted by katiebird

If you cringe at carbs, quake in the presence of calories, sulk at sugar, and fear fat, but still want something good to eat, the lettuce wrap is designed for you.

As the name implies, a lettuce wrap basically involves a lettuce leaf wrapped around some other food. tHis other food can be literally anything you can stand to eat wrapped in lettuce, so it is a maximum flexibility concept.

Traditionally, lettuce wrap fillings include some kind of lean meat, cooked in a spicy sauce. So if you want to be traditional, you can use any leftover lean meat in the house, and saute or microwave it with any of the already prepared spicy sauces available at the supermarket, or garlic and ginger paste, or just mustard or salsa, if you want to strip your calories down to the bone.

If sugar is a concern, add soy sauce to a small amount of the sweeter sauces. But there’s more good news! The amount of sauce of any kind you are going to put on your lettuce wrap is so small that it doesn’t matter too much how sweet it is – or how fattening, if you want to put hollandaise on there, with a chopped up boiled egg, nobody’s stopping you. Continue reading →


Eat 4 Today – The Commitment: Is it selfish to think about myself this much?


Posted by katiebird

I’m not going to eat between meals and I’m not going to take seconds. Just Today. And I’m going to try this for a year to see what happens.

I was thinking about this chronic illness thing (for me, diabetes for other people, high blood pressure or high cholesterol — and don’t forget obesity and other weight issues) and how much thought and effort goes into their management. We’re dealing with diseases that don’t have a magic pill. We’ve got to spend at least a little time everyday thinking about our disease.

We’ve got to do it no matter how frantic our lives. And that’s why I invented The Commitment. The Commitment is a way to build the basic element of what I’ve got to do first (controlling what I’m eating) into my life in a way that it doesn’t take too much energy or focus away from all the other things I’m trying to do.

But, my kids are grown and not living at home (the middle boy moved out the month I started this). My fella has been doing The Commitment (well, actually — that’s just the way he’s always eaten)

So, I don’t really know how it would work with the hubbub of an active family. Does it work?m How challenging is it?


Do you have Diabetes or High Blood Pressure?


Posted by katiebird

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the permanent loss of kidney function. CKD may be the result of physical injury or a disease that damages the kidneys, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. When the kidneys are damaged, they do not remove wastes and extra water from the blood as well as they should.

CKD is a family affair because you may be at risk if you have a blood relative with kidney failure.

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CKD is a silent condition. In the early stages, you will not notice any symptoms. CKD often develops so slowly that many people don’t realize they’re sick until the disease is advanced and they are rushed to the hospital for life-saving dialysis.
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Kidney and Urologic Diseases Clearinghouse (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health)

I’ve been thinking about kidney disease lately. One of the things that made me snap-to and seriously take care of my blood-sugar was when I realized that I’m barely 10 years younger than my uncle (father’s brother) was when he died of kidney failure related to his long-mismanaged diabetes. I know that 10 years can go by in a blink and to think that I could be on my deathbed at the end of that period, was a serious wakeup call for me. Continue reading →


Thermomechanical Message for Type II Diabetics and Hypertension, or, “Hot damn, does this thing work?”


Posted by katiebird

Have you heard of Migun massage?

It started in South Korea, it’s a mechanical massage bed, it’s free, and it purports to alleviate a lot of different ailments, including hypertension and diabetes.

Does it work?

Beats the hell out of me, but it sure feels good.

Here is what researchers from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, the Undergraduate Biological Sciences Students at the U of C, Irvine, the Sherman Chiropractic College, Spartanburg, S.C., and the Charles W. Scmidtt college of Science, Boca Raton, Fl. have to say about it in a summary paragraph of the abstract they wrote following their study of it:

“Hypertensive subjects exhibited significant decreases in systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressures after commencing Migun thermomechanical massage. Type II diabetic subjects exhibited significant decreases in both fasting and 2hrPP blood glucose levels after commencing Migun theromechanical massage. Hypertensive/type II diabetic subjects exhibited statistically significant reductions in systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressures after commencing Migun thermomechanical massage. A possible mechanism of action is proposed for the pathways affected by Migun thermomechanical massage relative to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal cortex axis.”

Okay, but what is it, really?

Continue reading →