Hey Phil,
I suppose that you're going to end up getting tons of advice
on what to do, so I will try to be brief
and not boar you with my life, but I truly hope that I can
encourage you a little.
Last June, I was diagnosed with boarder line
hypertension and was put on a mild medication to deal with
it. Partly, it runs in my family, so there isn't much that can be
done that way, but I was starting to drift into being overweight, by
about 30 pounds and, even though I thought I knew what a healthy diet
was, I obviously didn't know enough to be as healthy as I should
be. Greg and I did walk about three miles a day, when we could, but
that wasn't enough, obviously, because my blood work, while not quite
like yours, wasn't great. I became dedicated to 30 minutes of
vigorous exercise a day and I started to really change my diet for
life. I've lost 20 pounds and last month, I had my blood work done
again and my good cholesterol was 50, my bad was 124 and my
triglycerides had made another drop from 164 to 92 without
medication. For me, what worked there was a teaspoon of cinnamon a
day. I put it in oatmeal. The doctor actually recommended that I
try that sence she knew that I really didn't want to be on medication
anyway. Fortunately, I'm one of those people that responded to
it. I personally like a lot of the food suggestions in the South
Beach diet, but they may not float your boat. We've started eating a
lot more fish and salads and, I do eat eggs at least four times a
week, but always with lots of vegies chopped up in them. I guess
that you'll have to poke around to find for yourself, what changes
you can live with. What works for me might be really constraining
for you, so sorry that I can't help more there.I just wanted to
encourage you that there is a lot you can do to improve your
numbers. You may need medication for a while, but if you are willing
to make some lifestyle changes and some changes in your eating
habits, this is really doable!
Be grateful that you got the news while there is still hope
instead of after a stroke or heart attack, or worse, when the damage
is permanent. I'd consider this a blessing in disguise. I'm still
taking blood pressure medication. I used to hate it, and I'm still
not crazy about it, but at least now, I thank God, when I take it,
that it's available, and that it was caught early so that no damage
was done, instead of later when, who knows what might have happened.
God bless,
Kathy
At 12:10 PM 3/10/2007, you wrote:
>I had my annual physical this year. Everything, but my weight was normal
>but the blood work wasn't too good. A year ago, I was at the low/high
>triglyceride level of 239. I was placed on some medication for it but this
>week it had jumped to 452 which is out of the high range all together.
>Super high is 300 so I jump the gun on that one. They also believe I am
>now type 2 diabetic. So next week, I get to go back again and talk with the
>doctor about what he wants to do about it. He also doubled my cholesterol
>medication immediately so perhaps he'll put me on some other, or additional,
>meds. Wonderful. I'm really excited about it. I'm guessing I'll end up
>taking a multi hour glucose intolerance blood test, too. I've had them
>before many years ago but at least they'll know more by then.
>
>Phil.
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