[whitecree]

A couple of years ago, the doc tells me my blood pressure is sky-high and he was really surprised I hadn't fallen over by then because of it. So he sticks me on these little teensy pills that reduced it to something approaching 'normal' - whatever the heck that is.


Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for sympathy or anything. I did this to myself through an inactive lifestyle and eating a ton of chocolate and chips and candy and fried foods and - well, you get the picture.

So, the point behind all this is -

When I started taking this medication, I was told it would make me feel kind of drowsy until I got used to it.
Oddly enough, it never did do that to me. Instead, it made me feel incredibly stupid. I asked the doc about this, but all he did was give me a blank look, then told me I was imagining things.

But, y'know, two years ago I was carving all the time. If I had even 10 minutes to spare, I had a piece of wood in one hand and a knife in the other. I was so compulsive about carving, I used to stand at the stove - supposedly cooking supper - while working on whatever project took my interest. Or I'd be sitting in the throne room and sanding. I'd take a piece to work (driving a cab at the time) and in quiet moments, I'd be whittling away.

Now, 2 years later, and even accounting for some time spent with the grandson, I don't think I carve more than an hour a week!

Now, I just read an article in Maclean's magazine about how blood pressure reduction medication can make you feel - not drowsy - stupid! And the doc doesn't tell you of this because the power of suggestion might make it worse.


So, to all you other carvers out there who might be on blood pressure medication, do you sometimes feel kind of stupid, or is this just me being me?

[santagibbs]

Well, Whitecree, my blood pressure is normal but if one feels drosey or when I feel drosey, I am sleepy and so tired that I feel stupid.. So maybe the drosey feeling goes along with the stupid feeling... Huh? just a thought..Charlotte

[santagibbs]

p.s. and because it is 12:15 a.m. I am feeling drosey or sleepy and now I am feeling stupid and better go to bed... Charlotte

[Thomp]

Whitecree,

you have hit it on the head,!\

i wouldnt make a good dope attic or i didnt..(prescibed dope)

guess im a real bad boy..

Ive been away from (PAID) work almost 20 years. in that time i was diagnosed as type 2 diabetic, and have been on meds for it, but to no avail the doctor keeps putting me on this medicine and that one, to lower my sugar,

3 years ago i took a nuclear or radiated stress test because i failed a office type miserably.... A short time later i sported a brand new zipper from 4 way bypass,

now understand all this time my resting heart rate and blood pressure was that of a 18 year old man, just blocked completely on the back side of the heart, but nature has a way of re routing the flow so muscle didnt get effected, the low flow restricted me in output of effort.
but i was given blood thinners and blood pressure medicine,
Talk about feeling stupid, 3 years i held on hoping the doctor would realize that i wasn't needing it and take me off of it,
lack of concentration was my biggest arguing point. lack of creativity and not caring about nothing,
now i may have some depression that effects me more than others,
but being medically retired and no hopes of anyone wanting a heart patient as an employee bums me out. so i got a reason

in the past 6 months i tossed all the pills, and fired my doctor (Im not advising anybody to do this )

but i couldnt take it any longer and the doctor wasn't doing anything more than writing more prescptions every time i fussed about being on 18 prescptions he added a few more .
the last visit i went he had me on 21,. i have tricare prime, so the most a prescption will cost is $9.00 and thats nothing to some of them scripts i was getting, but its still over $200 a month....

and i got half what i think im mentaly capable of back... not advised to do, but i couldnt live in a half drunken stupor any longer...

[snowcarver55]

thomp i know how you feel just last year i had to have a morphin pump put in and was put on ssi diss. and was told by my doc i would not be hired by any one because of this i would be usless to them. iam not able to drive much any more that really hurt to hear i was no good to any one. mark

[btree50]

whitecree, gotta watch that blood pressure. 6 years ago I had blood pressure that should have ruptured an artery. I did not know it at the time. I thought I had the flu. Went to the doc and was put in an ambulance to a heart center within the hour. 2 days later after bp was under control, 6 bypasses(got you beat Thomp). Since then have had 2 more heart procedures, all because of the bp. Thats why they call it the silent killer.
Today they keep my bp very low to take some of the load off my heart, 100/60 is an average. There can be some interesting side effects with bp this low. It takes lots of meds to achieve this. MOnitor your bp and your cholesteral(my total was 95, ldl 42) at least once per year. Heart disease is no fun, take care of yourself, its the only body you got!!!

[tnartist05]

3 yrs ago while at the VA for my 1st time here in East Tn,I didnt know I had high blood pressure it was 237 over something{cant remember the bottem number} Im on 40mg of Lisinopril & 25mg Hydroc{a water pill} My blood pressure is under control right now. I take several other meds plus all my emphysema meds & treatments plus oxygen. If I dont take a hrs nap in the afternoons I cant make 8pm at nights. Taken just a 1 hrs nap every day helps me alot. Plus refreshes my body and mind. I dont feel stupid but I can tell about myself,Im no where as sharp thinking as I use to be! I dont worry about the little things as much as I use too so that helps alot. The main thing is,when I wake up every morning,"its my day again and Im off to do the best I can at anything I do for that day"{till tomorrow} Hope this might help with this subject WhiteCree....TnArtist

[AlArchie]

Maybe I just got good docs, but they have me on small doses of meds for blood pressure, cholesterol, and high eye pressure (glaucoma). I'm sure there are some side effects, but none that I notice.

The options are stroke, clogged arteries and blindness......hmmmmmm....which option do I choose? Think I'll take the pills.

As far as cholestrol goes, I was put on a strict diet prior to any meds being prescribed and my numbers didn't go down enough to notice. Doc told me he could put me on a diet that would freak a rabbit out and the cholesterol would still be the same. My liver just keeps cranking it out. Initial monitoring was done monthly for a year, and meds were changed till things stabilized.

Same with the eyes.....she monitors both the pressure and the observable nerves at least twice a year, and for the past 4 years, with one drop a day, the ol' peepers are holding their own.

All my docs keep track of the 4 meds I'm taking and make sure there are no interactions. Good docs and good monitoring make a heap o' difference.

There might be other physical reasons for your lack of interest in carving. I had that for a while, and it was due to a shoulder injury that made it uncomfortable to hold tools and wood for carving. Had that fixed and things improved...now I'm just too busy with other intersts to carve much...but that happens, too.

Al

[Tom H]

At age 42 I was put on BP meds. Same meds for 10 years. All those 10 years I didn't /wasn't able to function the way I had always functioned. Yes I felt stupid, goofy, etc. Slept too much. I finally told the Doc. He said why didn't I say something sooner. There are many many BP meds available. People react differently to them too. He changed my meds and I got back to what I felt was normal. Recently the BP meds that I was taking began to lower my heart rate to the point that the nurse at the Doc office thought I was near dead. My heart rate at the time was 38. They changed my BP meds again, everything is OK again. Well you all know what I mean. My point is, if you are experiencing any side effects that you don't like tell the Doc. Chances are there is another BP med that is better for you. Oh by the way, my wife thinks I am still stupid and goofy. Tom H

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

For anyone thinking of tossing out their meds because they are "tired' of them......DON'T! My Aunt did that and had a major stroke! I am with Al, I would much rather take a pill than the consequences! I know in whom I believe and where I am going when I leave this earth....thats not the problem, what if you mess with your pills and DON'T leave this earth? like Al said, stroke? blindness? a miriade of other ailments....no thanks, taking a pill(s) "ain't no thang!" And....hummm causes stupidity? maybe thats why so many carvers are on BP meds? lol.......or is it another trick in the "dumbing down of America? geez so many things for a stupid man to ponder!