Blood Pressure/Medical (longish)

June 2007. I failed my 3rd class medical exam and was grounded. I am 50
years old, 5'9", 158 lbs. No family history of hypertension. But due to a
number of current stress factors in my life, mother in law and father in law
both passing away recently and suddenly, the work of disposing of the
estate, a promotion at work entailing additional duties and
responsibilities, a consistent lunch menu of Chinese food, and white coat
syndrome, my blood pressure was elevated over the FAA acceptable limits.

When a second visit to the AME the next day resulted in even higher
readings, he was forced to send the paperwork to Oklahoma City with his
findings. Note to self, don't drink coca-cola for lunch right before your BP
test.

I scheduled a visit with my personal doctor and he did the whole 9 yards,
EKG, blood and all. The only thing he found wrong was high blood pressure of
course, and that my cholesterol can be lowered a bit. But the BP was enough
to have him start me on 5 mg Lisinopril and 25 mg Hydrochlorothiazide daily.

I don't like taking drugs. I don't smoke, drink and never have. I push
through pain of headaches when I get them, which is pretty rare anyway,
thinking it's best to let my body rely on it's own coping mechanisms. Sorta
'what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger' mentality. This is not making me
happy, on top of not being able to fly. I grumble and fuss.

I begin to run. Long ago, before 30 years of monotony, er, monogamy and
kids, in the Land of Fruits and Nuts, I ran. 10 miles every other day at the
beach. I loved it. If I couldn't run for a few days for whatever reason, my
legs would get twitchy and the pent-up energy would explode the next time
out. If you've never had a runner's high, I can tell you it's amazing. You
feel as if you can run forever.

But now... now it's a bitch trying to get those 18 year old legs back. My
lungs are back after 2 months of slogging 3 miles every other day in the
heat and humidity of North Georgia, but the knees and ankles are still
protesting quite loudly. A good pair of running shoes help, but on some days
they help too much. I begin to feel comfortable with small glimpses of the
ol' high and end up pushing it too much, paying for it the next day with
very sore Achilles tendons.

Two more checkup visits to my personal doc, a new one this time, and he
feels the need to change the meds to 10 mg Lisinopril and 12.5 mg HCTZ.
Sigh. At least it's combined into a single pill now, so I don't have 2
prescriptions that run out alternately. But the doc says now he has enough
info to write the FAA a letter and let them know my medical status. So he
did. And I waited, not knowing how long the paperwork would take to work
it's way through the system. Surprisingly it isn't that long. Ten business
days after the letter was mailed, I received a medical certificate back from
the FAA.

I can fly again.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino

Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.wizardofdraws.com

More Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

Nice post, thank you.

I am sure it will help many people facing similar events.

John



Wizard of Draws wrote:
June 2007. I failed my 3rd class medical exam and was grounded. I am 50
years old, 5'9", 158 lbs. No family history of hypertension. But due to a
number of current stress factors in my life, mother in law and father in law
both passing away recently and suddenly, the work of disposing of the
estate, a promotion at work entailing additional duties and
responsibilities, a consistent lunch menu of Chinese food, and white coat
syndrome, my blood pressure was elevated over the FAA acceptable limits.

When a second visit to the AME the next day resulted in even higher
readings, he was forced to send the paperwork to Oklahoma City with his
findings. Note to self, don't drink coca-cola for lunch right before your BP
test.

I scheduled a visit with my personal doctor and he did the whole 9 yards,
EKG, blood and all. The only thing he found wrong was high blood pressure of
course, and that my cholesterol can be lowered a bit. But the BP was enough
to have him start me on 5 mg Lisinopril and 25 mg Hydrochlorothiazide daily.

I don't like taking drugs. I don't smoke, drink and never have. I push
through pain of headaches when I get them, which is pretty rare anyway,
thinking it's best to let my body rely on it's own coping mechanisms. Sorta
'what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger' mentality. This is not making me
happy, on top of not being able to fly. I grumble and fuss.

I begin to run. Long ago, before 30 years of monotony, er, monogamy and
kids, in the Land of Fruits and Nuts, I ran. 10 miles every other day at the
beach. I loved it. If I couldn't run for a few days for whatever reason, my
legs would get twitchy and the pent-up energy would explode the next time
out. If you've never had a runner's high, I can tell you it's amazing. You
feel as if you can run forever.

But now... now it's a bitch trying to get those 18 year old legs back. My
lungs are back after 2 months of slogging 3 miles every other day in the
heat and humidity of North Georgia, but the knees and ankles are still
protesting quite loudly. A good pair of running shoes help, but on some days
they help too much. I begin to feel comfortable with small glimpses of the
ol' high and end up pushing it too much, paying for it the next day with
very sore Achilles tendons.

Two more checkup visits to my personal doc, a new one this time, and he
feels the need to change the meds to 10 mg Lisinopril and 12.5 mg HCTZ.
Sigh. At least it's combined into a single pill now, so I don't have 2
prescriptions that run out alternately. But the doc says now he has enough
info to write the FAA a letter and let them know my medical status. So he
did. And I waited, not knowing how long the paperwork would take to work
it's way through the system. Surprisingly it isn't that long. Ten business
days after the letter was mailed, I received a medical certificate back from
the FAA.

I can fly again.

"Wizard of Draws" wrote

Ten business
days after the letter was mailed, I received a medical certificate back
from
the FAA.

I can fly again.

Happy days!

I have no idea of what your weight situation is, but I'll pass along one
thing from my experiences.

I was having some BP problems, and went on medication.

A year or so later, I decided to lose some weight, but I resolved to do it
without a diet, but just eat smaller portions of everything.

It worked. 5 months later, I had gone from 195 to 175. No exercise
increase, no cutting out certain foods. Just less.

Guess what. No more BP medicine is necessary, now.
--
Jim in NC

On 9/25/07 8:06 PM, in article , "Morgans"
wrote:


"Wizard of Draws" wrote

Ten business
days after the letter was mailed, I received a medical certificate back
from
the FAA.

I can fly again.

Happy days!

I have no idea of what your weight situation is, but I'll pass along one
thing from my experiences.

I was having some BP problems, and went on medication.

A year or so later, I decided to lose some weight, but I resolved to do it
without a diet, but just eat smaller portions of everything.

It worked. 5 months later, I had gone from 195 to 175. No exercise
increase, no cutting out certain foods. Just less.

Guess what. No more BP medicine is necessary, now.

I'm 5'9", 155 as of this morning. I asked the doc what BP he was looking for
in order to stop the meds: 100/60.

As of the last visit, I was 132/90. This may take quite a few miles, but I
will not be on meds for the rest of my life, no way.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino

Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.wizardofdraws.com

More Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

Wizard of Draws wrote:
On 9/25/07 8:06 PM, in article , "Morgans"
wrote:


"Wizard of Draws" wrote


Ten business
days after the letter was mailed, I received a medical certificate back
from
the FAA.

I can fly again.

Happy days!

I have no idea of what your weight situation is, but I'll pass along one
thing from my experiences.

I was having some BP problems, and went on medication.

A year or so later, I decided to lose some weight, but I resolved to do it
without a diet, but just eat smaller portions of everything.

It worked. 5 months later, I had gone from 195 to 175. No exercise
increase, no cutting out certain foods. Just less.

Guess what. No more BP medicine is necessary, now.


I'm 5'9", 155 as of this morning. I asked the doc what BP he was looking for
in order to stop the meds: 100/60.

As of the last visit, I was 132/90. This may take quite a few miles, but I
will not be on meds for the rest of my life, no way.

I would have thought that 100/60 is pretty bloody low. Is the Doctor
getting kickbacks from the drug company? I get told my BP is pretty good
when it is 115/70. Genrerally I am 120/80 and the highest I know about
is 130/80. I did get a reall high reading after cutting myself badly,
152/95, but that does not really count!

James.

James wrote:
I would have thought that 100/60 is pretty bloody low.

I just had mine renewed last week. My BP was 102/62. They just said it
was "good", nothing whatsoever about it being low.

James wrote:


Wizard of Draws wrote:
On 9/25/07 8:06 PM, in article , "Morgans"
wrote:


"Wizard of Draws" wrote


Ten business
days after the letter was mailed, I received a medical certificate back
from
the FAA.

I can fly again.

Happy days!

I have no idea of what your weight situation is, but I'll pass along one
thing from my experiences.

I was having some BP problems, and went on medication.

A year or so later, I decided to lose some weight, but I resolved to
do it
without a diet, but just eat smaller portions of everything.

It worked. 5 months later, I had gone from 195 to 175. No exercise
increase, no cutting out certain foods. Just less.

Guess what. No more BP medicine is necessary, now.


I'm 5'9", 155 as of this morning. I asked the doc what BP he was
looking for
in order to stop the meds: 100/60.

As of the last visit, I was 132/90. This may take quite a few miles,
but I
will not be on meds for the rest of my life, no way.

I would have thought that 100/60 is pretty bloody low. Is the Doctor
getting kickbacks from the drug company? I get told my BP is pretty good
when it is 115/70. Genrerally I am 120/80 and the highest I know about
is 130/80. I did get a reall high reading after cutting myself badly,
152/95, but that does not really count!

I'm guessing that is the BP the doc is looking for while taking the
meds. It needs to be unusually low with the meds if it is to stay low
enough without the meds.

Matt

Wizard of Draws writes:

June 2007. I failed my 3rd class medical exam and was grounded. I am 50
years old, 5'9", 158 lbs. No family history of hypertension. But due to a
number of current stress factors in my life, mother in law and father in law
both passing away recently and suddenly, the work of disposing of the
estate, a promotion at work entailing additional duties and
responsibilities, a consistent lunch menu of Chinese food, and white coat
syndrome, my blood pressure was elevated over the FAA acceptable limits.

You can't be sure that any of these caused the hypertension, although it's
certainly plausible that some or all of these factors may have played a part.

When a second visit to the AME the next day resulted in even higher
readings, he was forced to send the paperwork to Oklahoma City with his
findings. Note to self, don't drink coca-cola for lunch right before your BP
test.

Coca-Cola wouldn't have much of an effect. However, white-coat syndrome can
be pretty extreme, and could produce higher readings simply because you worry
more on the second pass.

I scheduled a visit with my personal doctor and he did the whole 9 yards,
EKG, blood and all. The only thing he found wrong was high blood pressure of
course, and that my cholesterol can be lowered a bit. But the BP was enough
to have him start me on 5 mg Lisinopril and 25 mg Hydrochlorothiazide daily.

I don't like taking drugs. I don't smoke, drink and never have. I push
through pain of headaches when I get them, which is pretty rare anyway,
thinking it's best to let my body rely on it's own coping mechanisms. Sorta
'what doesn't kill me, makes me stronger' mentality. This is not making me
happy, on top of not being able to fly. I grumble and fuss.

I agree with you. Physicians treat hypertension with drugs because they don't
know how to treat it any other way. Diet and exercise helps some people, but
not others. The assumption is that hypertension is bad because it seems
clearly linked to so many other medical problems, and so it must be lowered by
force if it doesn't go down on its own. I think it would be better to find
out why bodies raise blood pressure in the first place, and correct the cause
rather than treat the symptom, but nobody knows how to do that, and there
doesn't seem to be a great deal of interest in finding out.

Did you ever have any ambulatory BP monitoring? BP that is elevated at the
doctor's office might not be anywhere else, if it is all due to white-coat
syndrome. If it is only moderately elevated this is a possibility. If it is
greatly elevated it is probably at least a little high even away from the
doctor's office. But you don't know if you don't measure it.

But now... now it's a bitch trying to get those 18 year old legs back. My
lungs are back after 2 months of slogging 3 miles every other day in the
heat and humidity of North Georgia, but the knees and ankles are still
protesting quite loudly. A good pair of running shoes help, but on some days
they help too much. I begin to feel comfortable with small glimpses of the
ol' high and end up pushing it too much, paying for it the next day with
very sore Achilles tendons.

Are you overweight?

Wizard of Draws writes:

I'm 5'9", 155 as of this morning. I asked the doc what BP he was looking for
in order to stop the meds: 100/60.

In other words, he never plans to stop them. Unfortunately, there's no way of
knowing what your "natural" blood pressure is while you are taking medication,
and doctors don't like to risk taking you off medication if it will raise your
blood pressure above normal. But since your doctor wants you to have BP below
normal, the implication is that he doesn't ever plan to take you off the meds.

As of the last visit, I was 132/90. This may take quite a few miles, but I
will not be on meds for the rest of my life, no way.

Famous last words. Are you overweight?

James writes:

I would have thought that 100/60 is pretty bloody low.

It is.

Is the Doctor getting kickbacks from the drug company?

He is just being extremely conservative. I suspect he just doesn't want to
take him off medication.

I get told my BP is pretty good when it is 115/70.

It is.

Genrerally I am 120/80 and the highest I know about
is 130/80. I did get a reall high reading after cutting myself badly,
152/95, but that does not really count!

Injury and disease can temporarily raise BP. So can dozens of other things.
Unfortunately, there aren't too many things that lower BP, besides medication,
so if you have a lot of things raising it, and you can't identify those things
and eliminate them, you end up on medication. Diet and exercise are very
important, although some people might prefer medication without diet and
exercise requirements rather than be required to diet and exercise in order to
avoid the meds.