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Heart of my heart
In the blink of an eye you find yourself asking Google about the shortness of breath you experienced when you were in the grocery store this morning. It has never happened before. Well, it happened a few times before, but it never stopped you in your tracks. It happened before before, but it never made you fearful and sweaty. It had happened before, but you never felt dizzy and disoriented. Because there was nothing wrong with you and you managed to finish your shop. Thank goodness it was just milk, bread and fruit. You made it home, but the event preyed on your mind for the rest of the day. You’d been exhausted before, but never like this. You were still sweaty and frightened. Maybe you needed a coffee or a cigarette or a nap. Maybe you needed all of those things, but first, Google and then WebMD for those symptoms. Deep in your “heart” you knew you wouldn’t like what you were about to read. In the dark recesses of your mind, you were going to look for something other than “heart attack” or “hypertension”. You were hell-bent and determined to make those symptoms fit some other mould.
The most common signs of a heart attack are pressure, tightness, pain or a squeezing sensation in your chest or arms, which may spread to your neck, jaw or your back. Nausea, indigestion, heartburn or abdominal pain are experienced by some. Shortness of breath, cold sweat, anxiety, fatigue, lightheadedness or sudden dizziness happen to many folks when their heart is struggling. You’ve got a cell phone, right? Call 911, immediately. Don’t worry about being a bother. Don’t entertain the thought that it might be a false alarm—because it might not be. Step away from the grocery cart, get help. If you have nitroglycerin, take it as prescribed while awaiting emergency help. If you have an aspirin, chew on one, or two if you have two, while you await emergency help.
Hypertension: If you aren’t a doctor—and let’s be honest, most of you aren’t—you can’t treat or diagnose yourself by Googling your symptoms. The facts about heart disease are pretty straightforward, in some respects. If you’re a male over the age of 45 and a female over the age of 55, you are more likely to have a heart attack than younger men and women, statistically speaking. Many people, subconsciously, think if they don’t know there’s a problem, there isn’t a problem. And that’s a problem. Many of us have high blood pressure, but because we haven’t been told as much, it’s easy to pretend it’s not a problem. Hypertension can damage arteries. Uncontrolled hypertension is your first class ticket to a heart attack. For many, hypertension is without symptoms. Go ahead and tell yourself you don’t have hypertension because your face isn’t beet-red, or you don’t have a headache or you look fit or you don’t smoke/drink/cavort. Go on. As long as you don’t know, you’re going to be just fine. Right?
Stop being such a wuss. Even if you have your blood pressure checked at the local pharmacy, get it checked. And, let’s be perfectly clear about this, prehypertension is a measurement of 120 to 139 mm Hg systolic or 80 to 89 mm Hg diastolic. Stage one hypertension is 140 to 159 systolic or 90 to 99 diastolic. Stage two hypertension is 160 systolic or greater, or 100 or greater diastolic. There isn’t any universal terminology to describe severe stages of hypertension. Just so you know, I was diagnosed with hypertension on February 14, 2018. I was/am fit. I am a plant-strong eater. For the most part, I was without symptoms. That ironic day, February 14, 2018, I was beyond hoping “this” would go away if I just cut out coffee. Too often at Blood Donor Clinics I was refused because my blood pressure was too high. I kept telling myself it was white coat hypertension, because that’s what Google told me. On that day I felt nauseated. I felt dizzy. I was anxious. My “at home” BP was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 176/98. I knew I was “this” close to a heart attack and LOML rushed me to our local hospital. Within four hours, I was home with BP medication. I felt like a failure because I couldn’t control my blood pressure without medication, but I was grateful to be alive. I take my hypertension medication every day and check my blood pressure regularly. I’m not a doctor. I’ve learned my lesson.
In this month of love, hearts and family, be a love and listen to your heart.
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