Monday, November 29, 2010

Work as a Cure for High Blood Pressure

I have high blood pressure, which is hereditary in my family. As I'm completely opposed to taking any kind of medication, I treat my high BP with a change of diet, weight loss, long walks, and giving up on coffee. This summer it was so hot in the area where I lived that my BP spiked to the point where I was almost completely incapacitated for over a month. So I changed my lifestyle dramatically and managed to get to a perfect BP without any medication.

Unfortunately, this semester has been so tough for me that I was forced to give up on all my good habits. I went back to guzzling coffee like a crazy maniac, eating rubbish, not sleeping, and gave up on my walks. Of course, my BP, responded immediately and shot up over the last week. This morning, I felt so sick that I thought I wouldn't be able to get myself to class. I even considered cancelling classes, which is something I never do.

The funny thing, though, is as soon as I started teaching my first class, the BP dropped. I thought about it and realized that the only time I felt great during our Thanksgiving break was the day that I spent in my office working. Have I finally found a cure for my high BP? And does it mean that I will now have to give up on rest and keep working all the time to feel healthy?

5 comments:

Pagan Topologist said...

Wow, this is fascinating. My blood pressure tends to be low, though once in a while it can be elevated for an hour or so. But, whatever works. I also refuse to take drugs for any chronic conditions. I am of the opinion that the so-called screening tests that we are urged to get are nothing more than drug company marketing gimmicks which have very little to do with maintaining our health.

Clarissa said...

I agree completely. I think that there are many non-drug related ways of addressing most medical conditions. For instance, I improved my failing eye-sight to the point where I was able to throw away my glasses. My ophtalmologist couldn't believe it. It's been 6 years that I'm at the 20/20 eye-sight and spectacle-free. :-)

Pagan Topologist said...

I would love to learn how you improved your eyesight. I am 66 years old and I also do not wear glasses. I have never been fitted for them at all. But, my vision is not as sharp as it was 40 years or so ago. I understand that our eyes are sufficiently adaptable to offset almost any problem like this, but I have not found exercises, etc, that work as well as needed. I know the problem is not with my retinas, since looking through a pinhole makes my vision as sharp as it ever was.

cringe-all said...

BP is a minor pain to live with. I believe I have some genetic risk factors and once my BP shot up for no good reason at all. Then I got into running and swimming and now I have magically low teenager BP. :-)
Hope you work out an alternative solution to work too. And however did you manage to heal your eyes? I haven't heard of too many myopics getting cured.

Clarissa said...

I didn't want to answer this question because I believe in psychosomatic reasons for most non-hereditary conditions, and in my experience, North Americans don't respond well to that at all. I once mentioned how I improved my vision to my colleagues (smart, educated people) and they reacted with a derision that was scary in its intensity. I think they would have been more understanding if I said I practiced voodoo.

In terms of psychological reasons for a failing eye-sight, it is considered that your eye-sight fails if there are things in your life you don't want to see. If you can't see things that are close to you, it means that you are unhappy with the smaller details of your everyday life. If you can't see objects that are farther away, it means you are unhappy with the "big picture" of your life.

So when my eye-sight started failing, I determined what those things that I didn't want to see in my life were and worked on that.

People can laugh all they want, but the end result is thaht I did, indeed, throw away my glasses for good.

As for high BP, psychologically it's cause by repressed anger. In my case, that's exactly what it is. That's why blogging helps reduce it. :-)