I had my periodical medical exam this week. It has been a somewhat stressful time as I needed to delay this – and my online exam (needed to be a track safety trainer/assessor) – due to the contract I’ve been working on taking up all of my time. So, it was this week or bust. And we had three vehicles to MoT along with a couple of days carrying out an internal verification for a client. So, yeah, stress, stress stress.
I did have some vague concerns about Mrs L’s car getting through the MoT (fine as it turned out – if you consider a £300 bill fine). What caught me completely by surprise was failing my own MoT. High blood pressure. The nurse told me to go and relax for half an hour to see if it would drop. Oh, yeah, right. That worked a charm – my diastolic reading went up and it was the diastolic that was over the allowed limit.
So, I’ve failed my medical and cannot do the online exam until I have passed it and the competencies all run out on the 21st. No pressure, then.
I did as instructed and went to my GP for a review. It was still up – again the diastolic was over the allowed maximum. So I have to have a blood and urine check along with an ECG. She also prescribed some meds. Unfortunately they made me feel so unwell, I stopped taking them after two days. In the meantime, I had an appointment with an acupuncturist who has helped me with the old enlarged bladder problem. During a twenty-minute period, my systolic pressure dropped by twenty points. The diastolic was still one point too high, but by the following morning that too had dropped. So back to the GP and a reading that enabled me to get my medical back.
The blood pressure is still dropping – although slightly on the high side of normal. In the meantime, I took and passed the online exam (with flying colours, of course…) – so back on target even though it was all by the skin of my teeth. Next year, I only have the exam to do, so less pressure.
What surprises me is twofold – firstly just how high my blood pressure had shot up with no obvious physical reason. Given how much it has since dropped, the only explanation appears to be white coat syndrome. The second is that acupuncture has no obvious scientific basis, yet it made a dramatic difference – and, no, it isn’t the placebo effect. I’m far too much aware of it for it to be that. It did work though – so how is not really too much of a concern. I got my ticket to work back, that is all that matters.
As for the reasons for high blood pressure – you list them on your blog almost daily: and they’re enough to make even the most mild-mannered consider barricades in the streets and AKs all round…
Regarding acupuncture, I had been suffering from a frozen shoulder for some 7 months in August 2012: I had thought this was arthritic in origin since I’ve had arthritis for over 40 years, since my mid-teens. My employer’s Occ. Health dep’t sent me (at their expense) to a physiotherapist who was also an acupuncturist. I tried to be as open-minded as possible, thinking that if it did no good, it would at least do no harm – but what a revelation.
After leaving her practice, I became aware an hour later that I was using my right arm almost normally, with no pain. About three repeated sessions and it went away – and hasn’t so far returned.
Like you, LR, I have absolutely no idea how or why it works but I do know that it does.
That’s good enough for me in future.
If it works, don’t knock it. One of the reasons I reject the placebo argument is that veterinarians use it on animals and it works. I’ve seen the results.
My OH has high blood pressure and it always skyrockets whenever he has to go for a check. He knows it’s because of “white coat syndrome” and has told his doctor as much. Last time he was due for a check he asked a friend of mine – a qualified nurse – if she would take his BP for him when she was round at mine for the evening, in a nice, friendly relaxed environment, which she did, and it was down by several points from his usual. He got her to write a note and took it in to the docs with him. Luckily she accepted the test as valid and didn’t increase his meds.
So, next time you need a test, just find a friendly (oo-er missus!) nurse to do it for you outside the stressful environment of the doctor’s surgery!
I’ve bought a monitor so that I can keep an eye on it. I can then give the GP a series of readings taken at home.
I do the same LR, take a weekly BP reading and record it. When I have a check up at my local surgery and my 2 yearly industry medical I give them a copy. They seem to be grateful for this. It also helps me keep my BP down, probably because I’m not worrying about it!
Whilst acupuncture does fix some physical problems, it’s not a panacea. It works for stuff involving muscles for instance, but for something like blood pressure, it’s more the placebo effect. And it doesn’t matter if you know it’s a placebo for the effect to work. The brain is a weird organ.