Doctor followup and new meds (maybe)

This past Monday (11/6) I had my followup with the doctor after my blood pressure had been so high on this visit. I also had my annual health screen (blood test) done between the two visits. This one went a little better. Mostly.

My blood pressure was like 185/100 on the October 9 visit, so he started me on 10mg of Amlodipine in addition to the 10mg of Lisinopril. Over that time I checked my bp twice a day every day. The 10mg Amlodipine brought it right down, and then it got a bit too low for my liking. So I monkeyed around with a half pill, and also tried halving the Lisinopril and some different things. And... I pretty much quit drinking alcohol (other than an occasional glass of wine when we go out). 

On the 11/6 visit my bp was 142/84 in the office, but had been 125/71 at home that day (which is what it had been or lower on most days prior). It seemed the full dose of Lisinopril and half Amlopidine was working well enough.

I also asked about anxiety, and mentioned I'd been on Sertraline years ago. He said it might be worth trying a low dose again just to see what happened. He said he was going to give me 50mg, but my script was only for 25mg. Whatever.

Then he brought up my health screen results. I wasn't aware they were ready yet, so I hadn't seen them. He said he would really like me to start on something for my cholesterol because it was higher than usual. He didn't say how high, so I just said okay. He called in a script for 10mg Rosuvastatin.

However, when I got home I looked up my health screen results online. I have a record of the last 7 years, and while my overall cholesterol was over the 200 recommendation again this year, it was no different than it's been since I've been getting it checked. It was 231 on this test, but the previous years it's been 221, 226, 229, 248, 233, and 240. My LDL was also over the 130 mark at 151, but previous years it has been 147, 144, 144, 165, 157, and 143. Those were my only two markers that were outside the standard range, and neither of my previous doctors thought I needed medicine for it! So... I may do like my friend whose doctor told him to just start taking it 3 months before his next visit and see if it makes a difference. We'll see.

Overall though, the visit went smooth enough - other than having to wait 90 minutes before he finally came in - and I left there feeling much better about things.

So now my morning pill routine is...

• 1 Lisinopril 10mg (for bp)
  
• 1 Amlodipine 5mg (for bp)
• 1 Sertraline 25mg (for anxiety)
• 1 OTC 50+ men's multivitamin

I guess it could be worse. At least my weight was only 159, and the rest of my blood work was normal. As long as things tick along nicely I don't have to go back for another year (though I do plan to keep my eye on the bp... I'm still not sure why it jumped so much).