Thursday, August 15, 2013

Doctor visit

I went to the doctor yesterday. I had been having some seriously severe headaches lately. I mean, like, twice I almost asked Jane to take me to the emergency room during the night. Jane suggested it might be my blood pressure, and sure enough, I checked it a couple times and it was in the 150s/90s. I had a seriously bad headache the night before, so when I got up yesterday I called the doctor and asked if they had any openings. They actually had one right then if I could get there soon enough. Of course Isaac still had the car, so I hopped on his '72 Honda and my first motorcycle ride in over 20 years was through the south side of town to the doctor with a pounding headache.

My weight was up a bit (though I had on extra clothes because it was cold) to 160 lbs. My bp was 158/100. I'm sure the motorcycle ride didn't help with that, but I figured it was high because of the stress. The doctor gave me a new prescription for the Lisinopril (20 mg) that I used to take for bp. He also gave me something to help calm me down for when I get over-stressed. It's the generic (Lorazepam) for Ativan (.5 mg).  He thought the headaches were from the high blood pressure which was from the stress - both of which he believes are temporary. He was very sympathetic to my situation and even said he would pray for me.

Then I had to get a paper signed by the church treasurer and take it across town to the bank so my pay could be changed. The motorcycle ride went ok, but I was pretty tense the whole time. It seemed I had to mess with the choke quite a bit while I was riding. When I wanted to go faster I needed to open it up a little more. Otherwise all went well. I don't know that I am ready to ride too far too fast though. Now I'm just hoping the meds kick in so I can quit getting these nasty headaches.

I guess after I got back home Carrie stopped by with the kids, then I got an old-style migraine. My eyes were blurred and everything. I hadn't picked up my prescription yet, so I just took some Advil migraine and spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch. Ugh.

Today I have a dentist appointment for a regular check-up and cleaning. I am ready to get past this stage.

ADDED LATER: After one night of the Ativan I woke up this morning and felt like I actually got a good nights sleep. I have taken 2 days worth of Lisinopril (which is supposed to take a couple weeks to start working) and checked my bp this morning and it was 133/82. I'm definitely thinking it was stress related.

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