Author Topic: attaining a balance  (Read 12681 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline franksolich

  • Scourge of the Primitives
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 58679
  • Reputation: +3057/-173
attaining a balance
« on: September 28, 2016, 08:34:22 PM »
Okay, so I'm no medical professional, nor do I pretend to know much about medicine.

However, I've been engaged in a long disagreement with medical professionals about something.

In May 2015, I had a heart-attack, an "atrial flutter/atrial fibrillation," which if I understand things correctly, means the heart-beat was skyrocketing out of control while the blood pressure was dropping into the basement and even lower.

I especially remember the first part, the racing heart-beat that got faster and faster until I was sure the heart was going to explode.

So anyway, over the next several months there evolved this idea, this notion, that having a "good balance" between the heart-beat rate and the blood pressure was a good idea.  And so I strove to attain that.

For about five or six months, with substantial medication, it didn't seem like I was ever going to make it; the heart-beat rate was always in the high 80s, low 90s, and while the lower number (the important one) of the blood pressure was usually circa 80-60, the upper number (the lesser important one) usually hovered around 180-190.

Things just wouldn't go any lower.

I was told not to worry about it; these were my new "normal"s.

But I did worry about it, and over a long period of time became greatly heartened that this so-called "new 'normal'" seemed to go down, a little bit by a little bit, at about the same time the physician lowered my intake of pharmaceuticals.

For some months, I've been down to 25mg chlorothalidone, 20mg lisinopril, and 50mg metoprolol, every day.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect this is pretty minimal medication, probably not likely to **** up my head and turn me into a caricature of a person.

This morning, the heart-beat rate was 66 bpm and the blood-pressure 120/62.  It's been like this with only slight variations since about spring of this year.

And now my question.

To me, this seems like a "good balance" between the heart-beat rate and the blood-pressure.  But I'm constantly told that a "good balance" between the two is really, not that important, perhaps not even negligibly important.

I however steadfastly beg to differ; a "good balance" is important--especially when one remembers all too well being way out of whack, with a heart-beat rate in three digits and a blood pressure plummeting down to near 0/0.

Am I being an idiot?  If I am, well, I guess I'll happily continue being an idiot. 
apres moi, le deluge

Offline RobJohnson

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8876
  • Reputation: +332/-109
Re: attaining a balance
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2016, 12:17:55 AM »
How are you feeling now?

Offline franksolich

  • Scourge of the Primitives
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 58679
  • Reputation: +3057/-173
Re: attaining a balance
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2016, 02:06:28 AM »
How are you feeling now?

I've been doing fine, extraordinarily fine, apparently having achieved an equilibrium some time ago.

The "usual" blood pressure's around 110/60 and the heart-beat rate 66 bpm (everything checked twice a week; not because it has to be checked, but because it's all convenient).

That is remarkable, I think, considering my family history, those 37 years (now nineteen months past gone) chain-smoking cigarettes, and the heart attack (nineteen months ago).

I'm very fortunate, but at the same time I'm not one of these people who think it's all luck.  ("One can't fight genetics;" "One can't control blood pressure," &c., &c., &c.) 

I'm pretty sure that luck and genetics have had a great deal to do with it, perhaps most of it, but at the same time, I'm equally sure that sheer force of will has had something to do with it.
apres moi, le deluge

Offline RobJohnson

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8876
  • Reputation: +332/-109
Re: attaining a balance
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2016, 04:35:59 AM »
I've been doing fine, extraordinarily fine, apparently having achieved an equilibrium some time ago.

The "usual" blood pressure's around 110/60 and the heart-beat rate 66 bpm (everything checked twice a week; not because it has to be checked, but because it's all convenient).

That is remarkable, I think, considering my family history, those 37 years (now nineteen months past gone) chain-smoking cigarettes, and the heart attack (nineteen months ago).

I'm very fortunate, but at the same time I'm not one of these people who think it's all luck.  ("One can't fight genetics;" "One can't control blood pressure," &c., &c., &c.) 

I'm pretty sure that luck and genetics have had a great deal to do with it, perhaps most of it, but at the same time, I'm equally sure that sheer force of will has had something to do with it.


Great news!

Offline FunkyZero

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2758
  • Reputation: +674/-35
  • ha ha, charade you are
Re: attaining a balance
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2016, 06:45:19 AM »
I've been doing fine, extraordinarily fine, apparently having achieved an equilibrium some time ago.

The "usual" blood pressure's around 110/60 and the heart-beat rate 66 bpm (everything checked twice a week; not because it has to be checked, but because it's all convenient).

That is remarkable, I think, considering my family history, those 37 years (now nineteen months past gone) chain-smoking cigarettes, and the heart attack (nineteen months ago).

I'm very fortunate, but at the same time I'm not one of these people who think it's all luck.  ("One can't fight genetics;" "One can't control blood pressure," &c., &c., &c.) 

I'm pretty sure that luck and genetics have had a great deal to do with it, perhaps most of it, but at the same time, I'm equally sure that sheer force of will has had something to do with it.

So did you manage to totally quit smoking?
something I've been struggling with for a while now. I managed to quit and was off them for a year, then I got to hanging around with those wankers at work and fell back into it again, now putting away twice as much as I was before. Meh... it's shameful what I've done