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BPO Off Topic Forum => Anything Non-Dog Related => : GrumpyBunny September 30, 2005, 01:48:11 AM
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OK, so I thought would amuse you all with tales of my disastrous life...
The last couple times that I have gone to the doctor, my blood pressure has been high. This is unusual for me, but the doctor wrote it off the first time, seeing as a lot of people will naturally have a bit higher blood pressure when the are in the doctor's office, (especially seeing as this was one of those delightful yearly "girl stuff" visits). Well, I went back again recently, and it was still high. Delightful.Â
So the doctor asked me to monitor it on my own, using those free blood pressure montoring stations that you find in drugstores and such, and then report the results back to him. He said that if my results were high because of the stress of being in the doctors office, this would show that. However, if they remain consistently high, then there is an issue that we need to address.
Well, first off - HELLO, how is it LESS stressful to check your blood pressure in a public place than in the privacy of the doctor's office?? Those monitoring stations are always positioned right by the pharmacy where there a thousand people waiting for their prescriptions. Plus, since the cuff goes around your upper arm, you have to remove whatever camoflauging garment you have on and expose your uppper arm fat to the world. Having strangers view my dangly arm fat is NOT relaxing.
But, ok, whatever, I have a mission to accomplish. So, the first day I go down to the drugstore and scout out the blood pressure machine. It is kind of a crowded day at the drugstore, so I have to make a couple passes at the machine, and spend an inordinate amount of time pretending to be interested in, like, rubber gloves, but I finally get in there when there are only a couple people around. I tried to close my eyes (so that I couldn't see if anyone was staring at me) and relax, but then I thought "what if someone sees me with me eyes closed and thinks I passed out in the blood pressure cuff", so I did it with my eyes open. It was really high. Yuck.
So the next day, I go to a different drugstore, thinking maybe I can cheat the system and get a lower reading off a different machine. This is when disaster struck. The machine was one that took a reading from your lower arm and allowed you to stand up while the reading was being taken, so I thought that was good. But, it was also really prominently placed and there were a lot of people around. But I sucked it up and did it. I hopped up there and stuck my arm in the cuff, and the machine started TALKING TO ME! It said something like "Thank you for choosing to monitor your.....blah blah blah". Now EVERYONE is staring at me and my arm fat. Then it weighs me and announces my weight out loud to everyone watching!!!!Â
So, about then I decided to bail, and I hopped off the machine only to realize that the cuff had already tightened around my lower arm, trapping me. So there was like 30 seconds of me fighting with the machine, and jerking my arm around like an idiot trying to yank it out of the cuff, and the machine teetering back and forth, before I slunk back on and just hung my head in shame while it measured my blood pressure. Then to cap it all off, when I got the (understandably) obscenely high reading, I didn't have a pen or paper in my purse and had to record the reading on a See's candy receipt with a lip pencil.
This is my life, people. And you wonder why I have high blood pressure???  ;D
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LMAO... oh that was just way too funny.
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OMG woman! I hate you! You just made me laugh so hard I had drool coming out of my mouth! That's atrocious! I can't believe it's een legal to have a machine scream out your weight at the top of it's mechanical lungs to passer by.
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OMG woman! I hate you! You just made me laugh so hard I had drool coming out of my mouth! That's atrocious! I can't believe it's een legal to have a machine scream out your weight at the top of it's mechanical lungs to passer by.Â
I KNOW! What sadist thought THAT up? You know it wasn't a woman.....  ;D
Sorry bout the drool....  :-[
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Dangly arm fat and talkig machines are big reasons that my mother bought one of those home blood pressure cuff things.
They work really well, actually. Mom just gets comfortable in her overstuffed recliner chair, puts on the cuff, puts lays her arm on the chair arm on one side, and gets Max to come to the other side 0f the chair so she can pet him; then when she's all zenned out from petting the boy, she pushes the button to take the BP.
(Max, needless to say, knows that the blood pressure cuff actually belongs to him. He will get it out of the drawer it's kept in and bring it to people so he can be petted.)
Her blood pressure in dog-petting mode is usually between 140-150/70-75. In the dr's office it's always like, 190 over 110. Really bad. And it was worse in the pharmacy.
I recommend the dog petting method.
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Oh poor grumpy. I hope you figure out what's wrong with your blood pressure. That sucks they ask you to do that in public. I have the opposite problem. My blood pressure is really low and I get dizzy spells. Here's wishing you a good day!!!
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OMG!!!! I'm so sorry you had encounters with a satanistic machine like that! How horrible screaming out your weight in public and talking to you like it knows you sooo well. lol I'm sorry but I gotta laugh, I had a similar embarrassing experience with a blood pressure machine.
I was at Wal-Mart and I said, "HEY a blood pressure maching that looks like fun!" So I sat down and stuck my arm in there and turned it on. (Yes, it's out in the middle of no where so people are staring at me, but I didn't care at that moment.) THEN the embarrassing thing happend, the cuff kept getting tighter and tighter and it hurt like h*ll. I yelled for Tony telling him to get the dang thing off me cause it hurt, the cuff wasn't deflating! So he comes over and starts beating the crap out of the machine, I start getting light headed then finally it lets go of my arm after Tony's kicked and punched the machine like 20 times! LMAO!!! I can laugh at it now cause it's been awhile, but after I stood up and looked around I had about 30 people staring at me in shock, while Tony's still swearing at the machine! Oh..... good times.... good times!
I'm with ya on embarrassing moments, I've been through quite a few! And to think I wanted to take my blood pressure for fun, that's just CRAZY! ;D
Andi
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I agree that you should get a cuff to chaeck it at home. It isn't hard to do and you can even get automatic ones. Don't assume that it is just because you are at the Dr.'s. White coat syndrome does happen but most Dr's will retake it after you have been there awhile and settled down. Also consider that if you are stressed at the Dr's and that makes it go up, how often in your everyday life do you experience stress. When you have high blood pressure that is not treated it can effect your organs and vessels and cause many problems and can lead to heart disease and stroke. Ok I'm done preaching. Your story was freaking hilarious and I can picture every part of it because I can see myself acting the same way! :o
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Oh my GOD. I have tears running down my face. That is some funny, funny stuff right there.
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OMG, I have not laughed so hard in months!!!
I normally don't like laughing at other's expense, but I just pictured my mom in your story, and it made it that much funnier.
Anakalia, I had a similar experience with one of those machines. It just kept getting tighter and tighter. I thought I was too tense, so I tried to relax, and it tightened some more! Then of course it holds it tight so it can get a reading, and if you're moving, it will keep trying to get a reading. I tried holding real still to get it over with, and it was taking like 5 minutes. My arm was turning purple and starting to go numb when it finally released it to freedom. :P
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hahaha, it made me think that they should not put all that stupid writing on the machine but pain an awful face staring at you with big eyes an nose and a tongue sticking out. thanks for the laugh before bed.
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Hey you guys just made my day. Sorry but I just had the best laugh. And I really needed it.
Jenn
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lol - that is funny
Grump - gotta get it under control - I'm gonna lecture here - no salt (no fast food, processed food, canned food or diet food) in fact become a vegitarian. Decrease stress - become a yoga practicing vegitarian - lol
So now - I am gonna tell you ladies my thoughts about scales....they should be all trashed. I personally feel that they were created by Men to keep women opressed by being so overly concerened about their weight while the men take over the world...just a theory :D
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I have to agree about the scales...don't own one! I hate the blasted things! It's just another reason to love dogs...they just don't care about the extra 5 (or ten!) pounds. And one that talks to you??? Now why would THAT be a good idea???
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What?!?!?!? I can't have cake for breakfast?!?!?!?! What am I gonna do?!?!?!?1 ;D
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Yeah, I am definitely getting my doctor to prescribe the cake for breakfast diet! Unless there is a diet that also says you can have it for lunch and dinner too!  ;D
For a non-healthy person, I try to be relatively healthy. I do get at least some exercise (well, dog-walking), and I don't really eat much salt and all that. I admit that I am "pleasingly rounded", but I have always been so, to some degree or another without my blood pressure freaking out. Besides, I am pretty sure that I lost about 125 lbs. walking around San Francisco on my recent business trip!  :D
I really think that this is caused by stress. Can that happen? Without going into too many details, I have had and continue to have a lot of stress in my life over the past few years. I know, big deal, we all have stress. But I am feeling like lately it is really starting to add up and I am getting less effective at dealing with it. Normally I think of myself as a pretty easy-going, happy-go-lucky person (well, as much as you can be while being bitter and sarcastic at the same time!), and my blood pressure has always been on the low side, but lately I just feel like there is always SOMETHING that I am worried or stressed about. Even stupid little things that normally wouldn't bug me. You wouldn't know it necessarily to look at me, but it goes on inside. I do know that changing jobs would probably reduce my blood pressure a ton, and I am working on that. Does anyone know of job evaluating the way various types of underwear fit the male cast of Lost???
(BTW, speaking of stress.... Not one, but TWO, giant horseflys have somehow gotten into my house, and it is freaking Ranger out! He apparently wants me to do something about it, but I feel like getting up off the couch and chasing through the house with a flyswatter is just, really bad for my blood pressure.  :) I wonder how his is right now? Maybe I should take him down to the drugstore, shove his leg through the pressure cuff and let the blood pressure machine announce HIS weight to everyone!)
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HAHAHAA!! Grumpy you're too funny. For some reason I don't think Ranger would care if you announced his wieght to everyone, I think that's just a girl thing! lol
Now I hate lecturing people so I'm going to call it a caring little chat.... try to do everything you can to get the BP down without getting on any kind of nasty perscription drugs, please please please. I say this because my mom has high blood pressure and the drugs the Dr. perscribed to her are actually making her sicker, now she's having issues with her liver. I'm trying desperately to get her on herbal supplements that work and have NO side effects but her Dr. is a jerk and he doesn't want her to switch he just keeps prescribing more drugs onto what's she's already taking!
I'm going to look around to see if I can find a job opening for what you have requested. Who know's if I find such a job I might apply for that too! hehee Take it easy at your current job until I can find something having to do with evaluating the undies of the LOST guys! Oh and do yourself a favor and get a super hot guy to give you a message, with fragrant oils of course!
Andi
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Poor Grumpy!!
High BP can absolutely be caused by increased stress. If you have a type A personality you can almost guarantee high blood pressure if you aren't doing some kind of relaxation exercises.
I agree if you can get it lowered w/o taking drugs, that would be the best thing. Hubby has high blood pressure and high cholesterol (just recently diagnosed) and is on meds for them, and he hates taking pills. (men are such babies) I know this might be an odd request, but have you ever considered yoga? Or even meditation. Personally, I dont' do either, but I have heard they really help you relax, and if your high BP is caused by stress, it may help.
Or you could just go and get a full body massage from one of the LOST boys. ::) ::)
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Or you could just go and get a full body massage from one of the LOST boys.  ::) ::)
This is the best idea I have heard all day! Somebody have my people call their people....  ;D
I already got picked on by Nicole for living in California and not doing yoga - in fact I think the state may revoke my citizenship! I was already on their to-be-watched list for not being blonde...Â
Actually, I am kind of interested in yoga, and there are certainly enough classes around. Looks like it is time to do some research....
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Yeah, I was really pushed to try yoga when we first moved to CA. It's almost like a cult following. :o But I was told it would really help with my back problems. I doubt it b/c my back is actually out of place horribly, and I'm pretty sure they don't do adjustments in yoga class. :P
I am interested in it though, I just don't have the money. It all goes to the dogs. :-\
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That's funny that Ranger is freaking out about the flies. Kiah would just eat them. Stress is a big cause in high bp. Try to take it easy. If you have it use some vacation time. It helps to get away.