Ann-Marie’s Anatomy

I was making a grilled cheese on Monday night when I felt a weird sort of bubble just burst in my heart. It just went “blip” and then it was over. But it freaked me out, since I was on blood pressure medication.

I got in to see the doctor on Wednesday and recounted some of the weird things that have been happening to me since I started the medication. Besides the heart “blip” (which I later learned is called a “heart spasm”), I had been short of breath and experiencing heart burn. When the doctor took my blood pressure again, the numbers were 164/100, even higher than it was before I started the medication. She looked at my chart and just kept shaking her head. “Bad. Bad. Bad. These numbers are all bad. There is not one god number here,” she told me.

Then, when I asked if it was okay to conceive (hey, it could happen!) on this medication, she was like, “Oh, no! I’m so sorry. I totally forgot about that. This medicine is not a good thing to be on if you get pregnant!” So, that was the last straw. She took me off the old med and put me on a new beta-blocker med that it is okay to conceive on and should stop all the ill effects of the previous medication. She thinks my body just had a negative reaction to the drug.

So, now I’m on a beta-blocker (blood pressure), heart burn meds (until it eases up), and glucophage (helps with PCOS and pre-diabetes). I feel like an old woman to be on so many meds at 28! I’m hoping my foray into Weight Watchers will help with the pre-diabetes, but my doctor says the blood pressure medication is probably here to stay permanently!

The good news is that I’ll probably be feeling better on this new medication. Oh, and today, some well-meaning volunteer brought in three boxes of luscious Dunkin’ Donuts, and I told myself to “make a healthy choice” and I didn’t take one! I’m so proud of myself! Also, I’m trying to give up caffeine in all my drinks – so sad, since I LOVE Diet Coke! And, I’m trying to eat better by using some American Heart Association cookbooks I checked out of the library.

I’m trying, and that all I can do! The rest is up to God!