Archives for January, 2008
Posted on Jan 24, 2008 under Health & Fitness |
Yesterday I returned to the Gym after being away for over a week due to my incident. Everything went well, and it felt really good to be burning those calories again.
Today I checked on the fitlinnx.com website and was curious about where my standings were. Last month I was 4th place at the Gym and I was aiming for the same this month. But since I was gone for a week, I thought that would be very unlikely.
However I was surprised to see this:
I am in 12th place currently and I think I can very easily move into 10th, 9th, or maybe even 8th place before the month is over. Now, I know that being in the top 10 list is not more important than my wellbeing. But I honestly feel fine and believe I can get those calories burned without sending myself to the hospital again.
So the competition is on again and I am aiming for at least the number 10 spot for the month of January at the Wellness Center!
Posted on Jan 21, 2008 under Health & Fitness, Life |
Today I had my ’tilt table test’. The hardest thing about this was the IV they had to insert as a ‘precaution’. And they didn’t need to use it for anything, other than to cause me pain and stress (which is what I think the real purpose of an IV actually is).
I passed the tilt table test without any abnormal blood pressure changes and no passing out! I even received a letter from the Cardiologist that says explicitly that I can continue working out at the Gym without any supervision or changes in my routine. (My Golden Ticket)
I went over my workout routine with this Doctor (Dr. Priest) and he believes that the Leg Press was somewhat the culprit in what happened. He thinks that since I had done 45 minutes of cardio that my blood pressure had dropped a bit (he said this is normal when you do cardio). I then went to the Leg Press and exerted myself, forcing blood into my legs. The exertion also caused the veins to restrict helping keep the blood in my legs. I then went to the Incline Bench and exerted with my upper torso causing blood to need to go there. But enough blood wasn’t able to get there so my blood pressure likely went very high to get the blood upwards, which then caused my vagal nerve to halt this process from happening which caused my blood pressure to drop rapidly and induced passing out. Now, had I been on the floor I would have probably woken up within seconds or possibly would not have passed out at all, but since I was sitting upright it took much longer for blood to get to my head so I was out for a few minutes.
This is basically the theory that I came up with while being kept at the Hospital that several doctors didn’t think was valid. But Dr. Priest thinks this could actually be the real cause for why I passed out. Which basically means I did some exercises in an unwise order, exerted more than usual, and have nothing to worry about.
As far as the lower blood pressure results I have seen since the incident, he said to just be happy with them. He said they are not too low, that they are very good numbers that I should be pleased to see. He also said that some blood pressure machines shouldn’t be 100% trusted so the numbers I have may be flawed from the blood pressure machine. He said I should keep tracking my blood pressure and keep my eye on it, but to not be concerned about my current lower numbers.
So tomorrow I will be back at the Gym trying to not scare everyone who works there once again!
Posted on Jan 18, 2008 under Health & Fitness, Life |
Today I decided to write about the one thing that I have found to be different since my ‘incident‘ at the Gym last Saturday.
That change is my blood pressure. My Blood Pressure is consistently and significantly lower than it was before the ‘incident‘.
I had been tracking my blood pressure over the last couple weeks as part of my health routine. These results are all taken about an hour after eating lunch.
1/2/2008 - 124/68
1/3/2008 - 128/68
1/4/2008 - 132/74
1/8/2008 - 123/69
1/9/2008 - 128/68
1/10/2008 - 134/76
1/11/2008 - 126/72
Then the incident happened and I was in the Hospital for a few days. I am now back at work and am checking my blood pressure at the same time, about an hour after I eat lunch.
1/17/2008 - 105/63
1/18/2008 - 109/71
Here are some numbers that I was getting while in the hospital and at home before coming back to work. These were taken at random times of the day so I am not sure how to compare them with the results above.
1/14/2008 - 97/68
1/15/2008 - 95/57
1/16/2008 - 95/68
I feel fine and if I hadn’t been tracking my blood pressure before the ‘incident‘ I wouldn’t be concerned. I would actually be glad to see that my Blood Pressure is so good. However, a 20 point reduction of my systolic pressure seems very strange to me. Especially since it did not lower gradually. Saturday is a clear marker for this lower number.
So any and all theories are welcomed. Even crazy theories that may involve alien abductions or that I am now a clone. (Those simply might be interesting to read).
Posted on Jan 17, 2008 under Life |
My wife has been driving my Honda Fit for the past six months, ever since we sold our Volvo. I have been driving my Mother-In-Laws old Ford Taurus. As of last night I am now driving the Honda Fit again. :)
My wife found a 2006 Ford Freestyle for a great price so we grabbed it up last night. It has Leather and everything that she wanted in a vehicle, including a third row back seat.
I know going to a car dealership to purchase an automobile a few days after being released from the Hospital is probably not the smartest thing to do, but oh well. I am not known for being the smartest person in the world.
Jaime and I have been looking for the right car for about six months and we finally found one for the right price, so we grabbed it up.
So here is a picture of my wifes new wheels.
Posted on Jan 15, 2008 under Health & Fitness, Life |
Yesterday afternoon I was discharged from the Hospital after my ‘incident’ at the Gym. So far the Doctors are not sure what caused me to pass out while working out. I am glad to be free from the confines of room 367, but it would be much better if I had some answers.
Just a few hours ago my primary Doctor called me and reminded me how serious this ‘incident’ actually was. He actually didn’t want me to be discharged last night, he wanted me to have one more night of observation. I guess the cardiologist discharged me. My primary doctor told me to not be active until at least after my next visit with a cardiologist for the ’tilt’ test. My Doctor is still concerned but is not sure why it happened. The concern comes from the length of time that I was passed out and that I was ‘blue’ when I was found.
So I am now living with a slight paranoia of…. living. I wonder if this will happen again, and I wonder if the outcome would have been different if nobody had been around to ‘wake me up’.
But other than some paranoia I am feeling just fine. :)
I am scheduled to have my ’tilt test’ done on February 4th, so I won’t be back to the workout routine before then. I am going to have to focus on my eating habits more closely if I want to continue to lose any weight during the next couple weeks. Granted losing weight shouldn’t be high on my priority list, but I don’t want to have any excuse to quit what I have started.
