High Blood Pressure? But I came here to check on my vitamin D levels

I have been feeling tired lately, waking up as if I did not get enough rest and on few occasions had to go back to bed and lay down for 15 minutes because I started feeling worse and that’s just after I have been up from sleep for about 10 minutes!

I recalled a chat I had with one of my colleagues at work where he was telling me that after feeling very tired at all hours of the day he went to his doctor and after a battery of medical tests it turned out that he had vitamin D deficiency. Once he started taking his vitamin D prescribed supplement, all of that tiredness had gone away and he even noticed that his mental mood have improved and his sleep was very satisfying.

Since I was feeling tired lately as I said before, I made an appointment with my doctor planning on asking him to get me checked for vitamin D levels.

I did not see my doctor for almost two years which means I had skipped a couple of my annual checkups. Waiting in the exam room sifting through the numerous magazines placed their to reduce waiting bordem, a nock on the door and here comes my doctor and as always he excused himself from shaking my hand for my own safety.

He started off by saying how long it has been seen I last came by and that I should not skip the yearly checkup especially that I am now in my forties. I thought to myself, medical doctors including dentists are the only ones outside of your parents and significant others that feel comfortable in chiding you about your personal choices. But of course they do it because they care and you still feel like they are treating you as a child

Well, I did not want to waste time listening to him give me advice about how I should stick with the annual checkup so I proceed with saying I am here so I can get my Vitamin D levels checked. He said we can do that but you have a bigger problem! Say what?

He said let me take your blood pressure again. I know the nurse that led you to this room already took your blood pressure but I will take it again since you have been now sitting here for about 30 minutes and that is enough time for your heart rate to rest and for me to take a second reading. He did and my blood pressure reading was 172/109. That of course meant nothing to me since I do not know what these numbers mean so I asked him what would a good number be? He said around 120/80

He sent me home asking me to purchase a specific brand of blood pressure monitor that he recommends because of its accuracy, an Omron blood pressure monitor, and he said the type that I should get is one with an upper arm cuff and to start recording my blood pressure measurements twice a day (one in the morning and one at night). I headed to Amazon and bought this one:

Few days later, I received a call from my doctor’s office that he had referred me to a heart specialist that I should make an appointment with and to bring with me my blood pressure numbers that I have been recording.

Sure enough a week of measurements confirmed that my blood pressure was staying high above the 120/80 normal range (least was 141/93 and highest was around 174/116).

As you can see in table below, the weeks that followed along with medication I was given have significantly reduced my high blood pressure. They kept changing medication and dosage because as my heart doctor explained, every person responds differently and they need to calibrate medication type and dosage for optimal results.

Since high blood pressure is really a silent killer because you could have it with no observable symptoms until it causes your death (can lead to coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, etc), I did not expect to feel anything different once my blood pressure was back to normal. But I did feel differently and I did observe changes and I am not sure if it is related to my blood pressure but here they are:

• I no longer have the frequent headaches I was guaranteed to have at least twice a week. I cannot even recall anymore when was the last time I needed to take a pain medication to stop my headaches
• I feel much better on a personal mental level. I used to have some sort of racing thoughts in my head that made me dizzy especially in the morning and they were concentrated around my work day and its challenges. My job and its challenges did not change but the racing negative thoughts and feelings of stress are almost 99% gone
• I used to really feel old (tired and sluggish) and I attributed that to my age and missed feeling better and normal. Now I feel normal and feel like my age but definitely not older
• No more waking up tired even if I had less that 8 hours of sleep. I wake up feeling good.
• I used to get agitated and frustrated fast. Now I am more relaxed and more patient.

I dont know if all of these good things are scientifically related to lowering my blood pressure but I am very glad that I went to my doctor. Oh, and my vitamin D levels were normal. Its just my heart that needed attention. And by the way, high blood pressure is not limited to overweight individuals or smokers or people in stressful jobs; you can have it due to genetics. So please check yours.