Adventures in the Emergency Room (Wednesday, June 01, 2016)

I've been thinking for weeks that I need to go to the doctor and get a long-overdue checkup. I've made some attempts to find a doctor, but never fully followed through.

For the last five days, I have felt TERRIBLE! Nauseous, dizzy, never-ending headache that has proven to be Advil-resistent... just bad.

Yesterday, I decided that I HAD to make a doctor's appointment, period. I was suspicious my symptoms could be blood pressure related, which had me worried.

I was feeling really bad today and got a blood pressure cuff to check my pressure. Holy ba-jeezus! 198/113!! Let me tell you: I. was. SCARED!!

I called the medical advice line and they told me to go to the Emergency Room immediately. Got to the ER and they were concerned. They ran a CT scan because they were concerned that I may have bleeding in my head. They also got a chest x-ray to confirm my lungs were okay. Fortunately, they were able to bring it down.

It's now 113/63, roughly. I still feel crappy, but only because the pendulum has now swung back the other way. My body is flipping out. Now that I know I've felt so bad because my pressure was dangerously high, I'm no longer irritated with myself for not having worked out for the last few days. I felt like I was selling myself short, but I just felt so terrible! I don't even want to imagine what could have come from pushing my heart rate when my system was already so taxed! Quite grateful it played out like it did.

All of that to say this: I got THE BEST compliment from the doctor! She had asked me if I'd changed my diet recently. I told her I had changed *everything* about my diet recently -- for the better! I told her how I was using SP and eating about 85-90% clean and had lost right about 50 lbs. She was impressed!

When it came time for discharge, she said she couldn't reprimand me, as she normally would a heavy person that came in with out of control blood pressure. She said I had already made all the right changes and was doing all the right things, I just had to keep doing it until my heart and blood pressure could catch up. That felt amazing!

I've always DREADED going to the doctor because I've always heard the lectures. To finally hear that I'm doing all the right things felt wonderful! I'm going to see the new doctor tomorrow afternoon and hoping for some more positive interactions.

Now, if only my body would catch up so we can get this train a'movin full-speed ahead! Choo! Choo!