the body speaks

I have had quite a dizzy head for the last few days.

This isn't particularly unusual - it's been happening for a couple of years now, maybe even longer. Mostly I've put it down to low blood sugar levels. I tend to get the shakes if I drink coffee or eat too much sugar, and the two together reduce me to jelly-like mush!

I've become so accustomed to episodes of dizziness that mostly I don't think anything of it. I cut down on sugar, avoid coffee and get on with life. Occasionally I wonder if there is something seriously wrong with me, but I'm loathe to harass a GP about a symptom so vague as dizziness. And everyone knows nurses are hypochondriacs: got a headache? Could be a stroke about to happen! Heart burn? Careful, might be a heart attack, not just indigestion. And that pain in the knee? Hmmm, sounds like a tumour... I have to remind myself that I probably don't have every disease known to humankind, despite nursing nearly all of them at some point or other!

So there I was at work on Wednesday when I felt like I was going to fall over. I grabbed hold of a railing to steady myself, breathed deeply and then kept walking. Despite eating good food the dizzy head remained, so I took my blood pressure.

It was 140/90.

140/90? Me? High blood pressure?

I shouldn't be too surprised, it runs in the females of my family - but me with high blood pressure? I'm a healthy person. Really. I am!

The next morning my BP was even higher - and I'm sure a good dose of anxiety pushed it up even further after that discovery. No amount of deep breathing or relaxing did anything to calm my heart!

Time to harass the GP. High BP is not a vague symptom!

Of course my BP was lower when she took it - still high, but not as bad! I then sat and paid for 25 minutes of being informed that young people with high BP are not treated unless they have kidney failure. (We checked my urine - I do not have kidney failure) On and on she went, telling me everything I already knew, advising me to exercise more, suggesting I get a cleaner to reduce my stress levels (I admit my ears pricked up then), and generally making me feel like an idiot for being concerned that my BP has jumped enormously.

I came home with mixed feelings - she was so patronising and dismissive of my concerns that I couldn't help being annoyed. At the same time I figured I may as well stop worrying - high BP only becomes an issue when it is ridiculously high or goes on too long, neither of which is my problem.

But today my head has been dizzy since lunch time. I walked for 4o minutes and felt like I was going to pass out most of that time. I keep getting anxious chills running through me. I'm wound up like a top. I might need a second opinion!

Sigh... I think my body is telling me to slow down and relax more. I might have to stop blogging and striving for more readers... now there's a scary thought!