the small, small world of cecily

My world has shrunk to the size of a blood pressure reading, which is a very small world indeed!

The other day I measured 160/100, which was rather freaky. If I was one of my patients I would have hit panic stations and called the doctors for a speedy review. As it is, I'm not one of my patients, so I kept on doing what I was doing. (It would seem that I would be better off if I was one of my patients!)

Where has this come from? What have I done to evoke such pressures? (Robyn, please don't answer that question!)

The more I think about it, the more my head spins; the more my head spins, the more I think about it. A vicious cycle if ever there was one.

So piece by piece I am deconstructing my life to identify any incriminating cause of high blood pressure.

• Ditch the pill. 5% of women develop serious hypertension from the humble, freeing oral contraceptive pill, and this is more likely if other female family members also suffer from hypertension. Unfortunately it takes six months for blood pressure to return to normal!

• Water, water, water. Chronic dehydration can cause compensatory hypertension. I rarely drink enough and every morning wake with a gravelly mouth. I am now guzzling gallons.

• Celery. As little as four sticks of celery can reduce blood pressure by 10mmHg. I've eaten six so far.

• Sugar must go. Apparently, through a complicated hormonal cascade, sugar can cause hypertension. I'm totally addicted to the stuff. Totally. I try to kick it, but can't. So I'm cutting back slowly... and while we're thinking about sugar, does chocolate fall into the sugar category? I think it has more fat than sugar, so can I keep eating a little bit please?

• Relaxation, relaxation, relaxation. Usually when I get up in the morning I check everyone's blogs... most of you write while I'm sleeping, so there's lots to catch up on! No more. This morning I engaged in meditation and a relaxation exercise. The computer screen remained completely blank and my day got off to a better start. Not that your blogs are bad or anything...

• Quit the 'shoulds'. I'm driven by all the things I should be doing. Not only should I be doing them, but I should be doing them perfectly. I know it is ridiculous to demand this of myself, but I demand it anyway. I think somewhere along the way I read the little piece of information pictured below and swallowed it whole. Now I try and live up to some outrageous, unattainable standard in every arena of my life. Get over it Cecily. Let it go darlin'!
  

• STOP! Mostly I think I just need to forget about it all! I'm practicing thought stopping every time my mind spins off on another blood pressure cycle and I'm working on talking about it less. (That's a tough one - I love a good story, and this is a good one!) To that end, I will not write anymore blogs about high blood pressure - at least not until I think of something else to say about it!

OK, I'll leave it there. More good things to work on. Mostly I'm going to work on enjoying life. (Easier said than done - even coffee with friends is added to the 'to-do' list because I'm so busy!)

Relish the beauty. Treasure the richness. Love wildly. Live gladly. Rejoice freely. Cherish dearly. Delight in all that is me and the one who made me!