Wednesday Whinge - 23rd August 2023
Wednesday Whinge - 23rd August 2023
Welcome to Wednesday Whinge.
A place for us all come together and get some stuff off our collective chest.
Fun fact; a grumble is the name for a group of Pugs. So what's had you grumbling this week?
Sorry it's a day late, it's been a bit of a rough week for me.
My Blood Pressure was up to 182/107, and I ended up in hospital having a round of tests to check I wasn't at risk of anything serious damage.
I've got it down since then, and am now in the normal range, albeit the high end, but I've given up caffeine, nicotine, salt and a few other vices.
And then I've spent to last day in bed with a really painful stomach ache.
It's awesome that you're quitting several vices, you're going to have a hard time cold turkeying caffeine, nicotine and salt all at once. Have you considered a taper instead of straight quitting three different substances which will all have a drastic effect alone, let alone combined? Also bear in mind you need a little salt in a healthy diet! So I hope you meant quitting excessive salt.
To be honest, it was probably an overreaction to what was going on, but yeah, basically cold turkey. I stopped putting salt on stuff, but will go back now but less than I used to. I do tend to put a lot of salt on stuff, so that's probably something I should sort anyway. I think I got a bit liberal after flirting with keto.
I'd already been tapering off of nicotine, and was vaping something in the range of 1-3mg, whereas those disposables are supposed to be 20mg for reference. I probably will vape again when drinking, but dropping the daily habit is a step towards quitting.
Caffeine's been the hardest. I've had caffeine headaches for days. I don't remember going a day without it, and would drink somewhere in the range of 2 - 4 coffees/cokes a day, sometimes a 2ltr bottle to myself. I've realised I relied on it to feel motivated and I'm kind of a different person without it. It's weird. Cutting it out has reduced my anxiety and over thinking though, so I think I'm going to keep cutting it out.
Nasty business - mine got high enough that I was threatened with hospital but it's on its way down now and Inam hoping my next annual (always a typo danger) check gives much better numbers, although the last lot weren't bad I was expecting worse after the lack of checks during lockdown and the shitty old time I had of it in the last few years. Comparing numbers with my cousins at my aunt's funeral and I reckon I'll outlive the lot of them.
Ugh high BP is the worst. I'm on two different BP meds, one of which has given me hideous cankles. I console myself that it's better than having a stroke, but it sucks that I felt better before.
If you're concerned about your blood pressure it's worth getting a blood pressure monitor (choose a type that's listed by the British Heart Foundation or the NHS). Just being in a doctor's surgery or hospital can cause "white coat hypertension" and it doesn't take tensing up much to add ten or twenty mmHg to your blood pressure (1mmHg isn't much pressure).
If you can test at home and take an average over a decent amount of time, then it will give you a much better picture of what your BP actually is, and whether there is a problem, and if there is a problem, if what you're doing is helping to fix the problem.
I've had one for a while, and have been measuring 3 times first and last thing in the day for the last 5 days. The GP's going to decide my fate based on that. It's been mostly sitting the cupboard collecting dust until now haha.
It's going to piss it down this weekend and not be particularly warm either
I'm going on holiday to Wales too. The weather looks really horrible :/
Ahh damn it. I thought summer was finally here. I was hoping to have a day out, as it's me and my partners 10 year anniversary (also, less importantly, our dogs 2nd birthday).