All in my mind

[fbhjr]

I had my check up with the doctor this morning. Although I am quite sure the pain in my chest is from the arm lock Tom and I do, I still brought it up, just in case. (Last year I went to the ER for it, had every test known to the hospital and it turned out to be the arm lock. This year I waited until my check up to ask.)

Much like last year, I had woken up in the night with my chest hurting.
Much like last year, despite knowing it is almost certainly from that arm lock; I worried and didn’t get back to sleep.
When the nurse first took my blood pressure, it was still fairly high (148/84).
Just to be sure, the doctor did an EKG on me and confirmed nothing seems wrong with my heart.
While setting up for it, talked with them about Phoenix, the upcoming trip to GCRF and sword fighting in general.
The doctor took my blood pressure again and it was down a lot. (132/78).
So, she confirmed that stress and worry are making it shoot up and when I relax it goes back down pretty well. While I knew that, I hadn’t seen the numbers change like that in 20 minutes before. Good proof she’s right.
And, there was the fail-safe method of telling my doctor thinks I’m OK.
She complained about my weight. So, she must think I’m doing OK.
She is keeping me on the Blood Pressure medicine at least until my physical this summer. By then I’ll be back to biking and will hopefully have taken more of the weight off.

Until then, all I have to do is avoid stress and worry.
Well, unlikely or not, at least I've got a plan.

Comments

[yebo.livejournal.com]

For some reason, they rush middle-aged heavy males right in when you talk about chest pains....

I'd be up for biking once the roads clear - I need to set up the workstand and give my bike a once-over, but I need to get back to it as well.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

You've got that nice park near you too.
But, the snow has to melt a bit more. I had my fill of biking through snow back in the 80's.
I'm very sure I could pedal the 2 miles down hill to your place. I'm not sure I could pedal back home...


You're right about ER's and getting in. Middle aged fat guy with chest paints? There wasn't any wait for me last year when I went. And, not much hesitation from my doctor today when she said "Let's get out the EKG and make sure."

[yebo.livejournal.com]

I know a bunch of other rides, and I have a pickup truck, so getting there isn't the problem (especially if you have a quick release on your front forks.

An accessory I'll probalby use when I start biking again (at least for a while) is a heart rate monitor. Much as I hate wearing a halter, I know that I can easily push myself way beyond what the tables consider safe....

[morgan-lafaye.livejournal.com]

Glad your heart is still okay. Maybe you should start to re-think the whole arm lock thing, or perhaps Minyon should be more gentle. After all It should look real, but not be sooooo real, thats why they call it acting.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

And I should stretch out more too...

[yebo.livejournal.com]

You and me both - my physical therapist said that my ankles had the lowest front-to-back range of motion she has seen, possibly ever.

I've improved greatly in a month or so, but not without a great deal of pain in the process....