Looks like I'm headed to the doctor.....

A couple of weeks ago, while shopping at Walmart, I tried the little blood pressure machine thing. And it said my blood pressure was 137/86. A little higher than I would like. I think the machine said that was "pre-hypertensive." And last night, same Walmart, I tried it again. 143/93. "Hypertensive." Hmmm. So, to make sure my local Walmart had a working machine, at work today, I walked over the clinic (I work in a cardiology office) and had one of the nurses take my blood pressure. 150/101. Not good at all. So, I got back to my desk and called to make an appointment with my doctor. (And I went back to Walmart again tonight - 145/94).

I'm guess (or maybe just hoping and praying) that this blood pressure issue is because of the Effexor that I take. I knew that high blood pressure was a possible side effect when I started taking it. Which means, of course, that it's time to stop taking Effexor (don't worry, I'm not stopping cold turkey or without seeing my doctor). She and I will come up with a plan.

Here's my plan:
Reduce dose of Effexor down to 0. (I will probably keep getting my BP checked by one of the nurses at work to see what it does as my dose goes down). Continue diet and exercise. I'm doing good so far. Not as much exercise as I should be getting, but I'm working on it, and I was so proud of my grocery cart full of health food at Walmart yesterday! Between the two of those, I assume that my blood pressure will return to the "normal" range. I don't want to even think about if it doesn't. I'm a little young to have a blood pressure problem. So, I assume I'll be getting some bloodwork done (I have a feeling that my cholesterol is elevated too since that's also a possible side effect). So, I think I'll have her check my thyroid while we're writing orders to the lab.

If you want to see genetic in action, you can look at me and my family. Anxiety and depression? Check - right on down through my dad's side of the family to me. Heart problems? Check - bouncing off of every branch of the family tree. Hypothyroidism? Check - very much in my mother's family tree. Grandma, my aunt, my mom - all in their late 20s. Hmmmm.....guess what one "consequence" of hypothyroidism is.........can you guess? Hypertension. Wow. I swear, if I have hypothyroidism, I want to know why all the bad genes came to me!

So, since I will be stopping my current anti-depressant, that leaves, of course, the question of how to handle my depression problem. And I'm not sure actually. I seem to have an issue with every anti-depressant I've tried. Zoloft? Hives. Celexa? Very, very depressed. Paxil? Weight gain. Effexor? High blood pressure (look at me make that diagnosis like it's set in stone!). So I think I'll go back to nothing and hope that exercise has a positive effect on my moods. And I'll try to pay attention to the warning signs of depression (I get very sleepy and don't want to do anything at all).

I'll be going this week until Friday to the clinic to keep getting my BP checked. I don't have any hope at all that it's going to go down, but at least I have some reading to take to my doctor so she doesn't think it's all in my head.