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state of the fishie health
Apr. 5th, 2008 09:59pretty good overall. 3 weeks ago i noticed that my morning diastolic blood pressure was consistently below / in the low 120s, instead of around 140 and i was wondering whether i might be able to dispense with half the metoprolol. so for the last 2 weeks i've only taken the met and micardis in the morning. so far, so good; my overall blood pressure looks fine now, averages to 122/72, which is lower than dr P was shooting for, and with fewer meds.
i credit all the walking and exercycling i've done for much of this, though i've also made changes to my diet. i am _not_ dieting, i am trying to change my eating habits towards lowering my blood sugar, and retaining less water -- but i am not actually on a prescribed diet, nor do i want to be since that doesn't work for me. i've basically cut salt and sugar from things i prepare myself, though i am still eating them if they're in frozen foods, or when we eat out. i am also eating a lot fewer carbs, but i've cut only the foods that rank really high on the glycemic index. i'm slowly cutting down on artificial sweeteners as well, because i don't just want to replace sugars with artificial crap where in 10 years they're gonna find out it's bad for us after all; i want to develop less of a sweet tooth, and then switch back to using natural sweeteners if the blood glucose plays along. this has worked well with salt; i have a salt substitute, but i already use very little of it.
i don't want any change to be too onerous because then i will fall off the wagon.
the celexa doesn't make me sick anymore (well, i take it just before i go to bed, so i don't actually know -- but what i don't know doesn't hurt me in this case :). it's not doing anything to improve my concentration/memory, but it's done good in that it's helped me get over the horrible hump where i didn't even want to go outside. overall the many-pronged approach is providing enough oomph -- celexa, taking daily photos, walking everywhere even if i've been there before (now with the new GPS toy) so i can map trails and count kms walked, and riding the exercycle when the weather is too bad to walk, or i am worn out from the day before.
i weigh myself occasionally, just as a datapoint. lost 17 lbs since i started exercising (do not congratulate me -- this is not a goal of mine, and i don't care that both docs said i should lose some weight; i want to be healthier, not thinner).
the blood glucose thing still has me grumbling, but overall the values are alright; hovering around 6 mmol, and i am not stressing over it. we'll see what my next HBA1c says.
my ticker has felt very normal, just a few palpitations occasionally, nothing that lasts for more than a couple beats. i am very happy about that, i've hated most that i was always listening to my heart and that it seemed to do so many weird things; that was very disconcerting.
dr W (the internist) has referred me to an ophthalmologist to have my eyes checked thoroughly. appointment on may 22 @ 14:45.
i credit all the walking and exercycling i've done for much of this, though i've also made changes to my diet. i am _not_ dieting, i am trying to change my eating habits towards lowering my blood sugar, and retaining less water -- but i am not actually on a prescribed diet, nor do i want to be since that doesn't work for me. i've basically cut salt and sugar from things i prepare myself, though i am still eating them if they're in frozen foods, or when we eat out. i am also eating a lot fewer carbs, but i've cut only the foods that rank really high on the glycemic index. i'm slowly cutting down on artificial sweeteners as well, because i don't just want to replace sugars with artificial crap where in 10 years they're gonna find out it's bad for us after all; i want to develop less of a sweet tooth, and then switch back to using natural sweeteners if the blood glucose plays along. this has worked well with salt; i have a salt substitute, but i already use very little of it.
i don't want any change to be too onerous because then i will fall off the wagon.
the celexa doesn't make me sick anymore (well, i take it just before i go to bed, so i don't actually know -- but what i don't know doesn't hurt me in this case :). it's not doing anything to improve my concentration/memory, but it's done good in that it's helped me get over the horrible hump where i didn't even want to go outside. overall the many-pronged approach is providing enough oomph -- celexa, taking daily photos, walking everywhere even if i've been there before (now with the new GPS toy) so i can map trails and count kms walked, and riding the exercycle when the weather is too bad to walk, or i am worn out from the day before.
i weigh myself occasionally, just as a datapoint. lost 17 lbs since i started exercising (do not congratulate me -- this is not a goal of mine, and i don't care that both docs said i should lose some weight; i want to be healthier, not thinner).
the blood glucose thing still has me grumbling, but overall the values are alright; hovering around 6 mmol, and i am not stressing over it. we'll see what my next HBA1c says.
my ticker has felt very normal, just a few palpitations occasionally, nothing that lasts for more than a couple beats. i am very happy about that, i've hated most that i was always listening to my heart and that it seemed to do so many weird things; that was very disconcerting.
dr W (the internist) has referred me to an ophthalmologist to have my eyes checked thoroughly. appointment on may 22 @ 14:45.
