A blood pressure emergency 215/139

Hi,

If you are a reader of this blog, you know that I am pretty much anti-medication. Well, three years ago during a check-up the “regular” doctor found out that my blood pressure was high. Since I am anti-med…I didn’t want to take any medicine. My alternative M.D. ….who has helped me wean of psych drugs….thought maybe it was stress. But I had no idea what the stress could be. He thought…”You’re job.”  “What job?!!” I asked. For I wasn’t working and didn’t want to.  Now I do have a cool part-time job.

But what I wonder about is: “Did all those psych meds I took for years cause this high blood pressure?  Is my high blood pressure genetic?  Or was it me trying to show the outside world how happy I was with my marriage…and trying to convince myself?”

You see, my dad did die at an early age….of several causes…but his heart was a big cause of it.

So, I told my “regular” M.D. about my history and distrust of pysch-meds.

His answer? “But those were pysch meds.”  That really turned me off. Because isn’t this mental illness business supposed to be a bonified psychical genetic illness?   Don’t “regular” meds have just as much room for error and selling by slick Big Pharma reps as psych drugs?

Well, I demanded that he give me a referral to a dietitian. I always thought I ate right, but through a visit with the dietitian I figured out that I really didn’t eat as many fresh fruits and vegetables as I thought I did. It was one of those crazy type things….like paying to go to Weight Watchers is kinda “silly.” You pay someone to give you some common sense and weigh you. Well, with this dietitian I was paying for her to tell me eat fruits and vegetables, stay away from salt, canned and processed foods, write down what I eat.

I also started taking some supplements that are supposed to be good for the heart and good for reducing high blood pressure. And the other thing I did was to order the Resperate machine.

Well, people are still sleeping here and I am traveling so I need to cut to the chase. We have ill people in the family, I always have an excuse not to join Yoga, or do my Resperate machine, or whatever.

Whenever I can, I have a nurse take my blood pressure….and they always chid me, Saying, “You better get that taken care of or you’re going to have a stroke.”

For a while, I was able to bring it down naturally. But yesterday…..I thought I was lowing my mind. I knew I wasn’t, but my hubby was so worked that he was losing his. And a nurse for a family-member had taken my blood pressure the day before. The reading? 200/100!!!!

So, as I was walking down the organic food aisle of an unfamiliar grocery store….I thought….”Okay, you have “cured” yourself of mental illness, but you are under extreme stress nowadays….do let yourself die of a stroke….or ruin your kidneys, or enlarge your heart.”

So I drove to the emergency room. Who knows what it will cost me?  The nurse said, “Let’s just take it and if need be we will admit you as a hypertensive emergency.

The first nurse there took my blood pressure. On my right arm it was 229/129, on my left it was 215/139.

In the ER they hooked me up to an IV of Lebetatol. Finally after about 2 1/2 hours my blood pressure came down to 139/87.

The doctor sent me home with a prescription for Enalapril Malete and told me to make an appointment with a doctor when I arrived home.

I had reveiled to a nurse their that I didn’t care for my “regular” doctor in at my home. She said, just go to him get this prescription filled and search for a new one. There are lots of doctors. I am sure you will find one you like.”

Okay, people are now up in my family, so I need to go. If you want to know what supplements I tried….and how they worked for a while to bring my blood pressure down….let me know.

If you know good or bad about Enalpril Maleate, also let me know.

I need to sign off,

Naturgal…taking meds so she doesn’t have a stroke.

Why we need medical freedom: 30 percent of patients’ conditions worsen with prescription medication

Have your medications for mental health issues cured your problems?

Reprinted by the author’s permission

To people who want to take psychiatric medicine: no one is saying that you cannot do what you feel is best.

What the general public does not know is that for every two people who are helped by these meds, one person is not helped. In many cases this person is even made worse. That’s one third of the population. These persons are labeled “treatment resistant.” Meaning that the poor souls just can’t find a medicine that works on them.  The truth is that no medicine will work for them.

In many cases their episodes or illness worsens on these meds. Many doctors recommend they just keep trying new (expensive drugs.)

If you are in the “lucky” 2/3… good for you! But let’s let the public know that there are other ways to get well.

The real person from the movie “A Beautiful Mind,” did not get better until he realized that no med would ever help him. He continued to suffer from his illness, but he learned to cope with it without the meds.

Many of the mental health theories are just that, theories. They have not been proven.

I don’t doubt that the two mental health professionals who have spoken up here truly believe that their clients (patients) have been helped.  And I don’t just mean believe….but that these particular individuals truly have been helped. But what has happened is that too many people who are not helped are prescribed these medicines for the rest of their lives.

There is a silence minority of people who have weaned themselves off these meds. They use other methods. It is hard work. They eat organic food; they take specific supplements. The read, the get counseling, they get support in other ways.

They don’t go public because of the stigma. And because, like you say, there are those out there who do not mind their own business. So these people who are now living productive lives, live in fear that someone will find out that they have not gone the traditional route. Someone will not mind his or her own business… AND THIS IS WHERE POLITICS GETS INVOLVED. There are people who want to create laws to test the general public and then require certain people to take meds. There are doctors who will put the person right back on the med or up a low dosage until these people can no longer hold down a job. These doctors and others believe that it is not possible that people who have ever received a psych diagnosis can ever be better enough to quit there meds. They do not believe they can ever get well.

This doesn’t mean that people who don’t take the meds have a perfect life. They may still suffer from an” episode” from time to time.  But they are managing without the awful side effects of the meds.

Frequently, I hear about someone’s niece, or aunt or friend who life was turned around by psychiatric meds. What you don’t hear is the person who life was destroyed by psychiatric meds.

People taking the new psych drugs have a host of new physical illnesses.

There are other facts and figures I could cite. There are blogs written by people who have recovered and who are now doing amazing things.

Just remember; NEVER quit psych meds cold turkey. You will get sick.

For those who have adequate resources and support, there are alternatives to getting well.

If anyone wants I can supply you with links to explore alternatives way to cope with mental illnesses.

Two sites I recommend are Discover and Recover http://discoverandrecover.wordpress.com and

Beyond Meds http://bipolarblast.wordpress.com

By Carl L.

Staying well through stress and pain

Omette with whole wheat toast and herbal tea

Whole wheat pancakes

Hmmm,

I hope I can stay healthy.

I am under so much stress.

I forgot to take my supplements last night.

For breakfast I had coffee (I know I should cut it out), oatmeal and a banana.

For lunch we splurged at an organic restaurant. I had an omelet and whole wheat toast, with herbal tea. My daughter had a pancake with fruit in a cup. It was expensive, but we stayed for hours working on our computers.

Daughter need to get back home, but was worried about me so she “made” me go to the organic grocery store to buy a little food.

We got bananas, bison meant, an orange, ice-cream, energy chunks…and some organic soda.  I guess some of the food is really  “treats.”

When I got home I ate some bread and drank my soda.

The pain PJ and I share

This summer I began reading PJ’s blog SpinOrginal

She and I sharing a similar pain.

And yesterday she wrote something that touched me. Made Clear,  read it here.

For the past week and a half, I haven’t known how to feel. I’m stoic. Not happy, not sad, and pretty much numb. I don’t know how I’m supposed to be feeling; sad that my husband and I are seperated, or happy that the kids and I are out of that situation and that we are getting the help we need.

It was late last night and I just wanted to go to sleep. Before closing my eyes, I wanted to read something from the Bible, so I prayed and said, “God, I’m tired. I’m going to open the Bible, and I pray that You will show me what I need to see.” When I opened the Bible, I saw THIS DEVOTIONAL. It made everything clear. Thank You, God!

I have been very careful about revealing too much of myself. My blog is about sustaining good mental health with alternativeve treatments. I never want to betray a family member, husband, etc.

But I am hurting. Isn’t life weird? How can two people help each other out of an abyss of the dark side of traditional mental health treatment and yet be so unhappy with each other?

How can two people help each other get well, look out for each other, stand up for each other and protect each other for the world and yet hurt each other so much?

I feel like I escaped from a torture camp with a fellow prisoner. We both navigated the world, helping each other out of the Hell we experienced. The Hell of the fog of the psych drugs and  the disrespect the professionals was a much worse Hell of the dysfunction of or relationship.  I have read about these types of marriages….the type where both parties help the other succeed professionally, financially and otherwise…but the give and take of truly sharing each others deep  feelings….the respect for each other…that wasn’t or isn’t there.

When I tell my husband his words hurt and cause as much damage as a slap or a kick, he doesn’t understand. He says I misinterpret the reality of the situation.  He doesn’t say, “Oh, I am sorry you are in such pain. Tell me how you see it.”

I see that we have “passed” for normal human beings with a normal life, a normal marriage. We have jobs, friends, a cool place to live and respect in the community. Something neither one of us had 10 years ago when we were in the abyss of the mental health system.

I think my husband is sick….but he doesn’t have a genetic, biochemical disorder. The mental health industry did him much more harm than good by doping him up….and fogging the reality of the situation.

But now he says, that he doesn’t have a problem.

He says that I have a problem accepting the realtity.

The reality is….his words reduce me to tears.

I have asked him to stop.

Instead of stopping, the hurtful words have escalated.

I am so disappointed.

I am out of the pain of being labeled “mentally ill.” We gave each other a short respite. I am not mentally ill. I know what I hear. I am strong. God loves me and he doesn’t want me to spend my life like this.

This is from PJ’s blog.

(PJ, I hope this is okay.)

I read in my Women’ Devotional Bible tonight, this devotion, written by Anne Christian Buchanan. The passage that this devotion is centered around is Job 14:7-9:

For there is hope for a tree,
If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that its tender shoots will not cease.

Though its root may grow old in the earth,
And its stump may die in the ground,

Yet at the scent of water it will bud
And bring forth branches like a plant.

Here’s what she writes:

Can’t be fixed: A child’s face stares bleakly up at me over the plastic shards of a shattered toy.

Can’t be fixed: the giant oak lies among the hurricane’s debris, its roots upended helplessly.

Can’t be fixed: the man and the woman stare across the distance between them, shocked into silence by brutal words finally uttered.

Some things in life can be patched up, shored up, repaired or redone. But some words are too grievous, some blows too shattering, some rifts too wide to be pulled back together. Some experiences – a divorce, a betrayal, abuse, neglect – leave us permanently wounded, our psyches disfigured. We live, we go on, but we’re not really fixed.

Yet I believe there is an alternate plan for things that can’t be fixed. It won’t work for shattered plastic, but this plan can make an astonishing difference in living, growing things like trees and people. I’ve seen it in a new shoot growing from a shattered stump, in the faces of a couple whose counselling sessions are finally showing some progress. I’ve seen it in people who have hit rock bottom and admitted their own helplessness, only to begin growing again from there.

As far as I can see, God’s strategy for broken trees and limbs and lives and souls is not repair but growth; not being patched up but being granted the gift of starting over:

Can’t be fixed – but can be reborn.
Can’t be fixed – but can be made new.

Life is looking up

Some things are better.

What to eat when you on the road. How about 1/2 side salad and 1/2 of a nice sandwich, along with a glass of water?

I did break down and get a Coke at McDonald’s.

I saved the ice for my organic apple-cider spritzer.

NG

“This too shall pass”, is the only way to stay sane

Yesterday I thought my world was falling apart. My family…then my work…which I love. By afternoon my co worker let me know that she had been thinking of quitting for long, long time…and the only reason she had stuck it out was a sense of loyalty to me an the organization.

See what stress does to you? You know, a lot of times I don’t have any self-confidence, but on the other hand I think I am the cause of things, bad things. How can a person think they have so much power and yet not think they are worth it?

Her timing was a little bad….

But then, there is never a good time to do some things.

I remember over 13 years ago when I wanted to leave a boyfriend…I couldn’t because it was Thanksgiving, then I couldn’t because it was Christmas, then I couldn’t because it was his birthday….then it was because…..

A friend of mine say, “No time, is a good time.”

When it rains it pours

I am having lots of hard times in my life. Family members are sick and in the hospital, and I have hurt a coworker who I supervise and she resigned. 

I am exhausted. 

I just read Gianna’s post about what happens when we listen to mental anguish.

I keep telling myself. I am competent. I am not mentally ill. I am smart. I am nice. But  a nice person doesn’t talk mean to a coworker…which is what I have done.

My husband can talk mean to me. He does it a lot. And now here I have done it to someone else.  I was told stress doesn’t excuse him….so how do I excused myself?

Bison meat is healthy

Bison

Sometimes my friends think that I am a vegetarian. But I am not. I just want to know where my meat comes from and how the animal was raised.  So often I take the vegetarian option. Bison is a red meat that I eat and is delicious.   Last night we had bison meat. It was good. I especially like it prepared as a hamburger, but you can use ground bison however you would normally use ground beef.

Bison are handled as little a possible. Most are grass-fed and don’t spend time in the feedlot. They are not given drugs, chemicals of hormones. Research has shown that bison meat is highly nutrient dense. There is a lot of protein and not much fat.

Read more about bison meat at the National Bison Association.

Hummus

Hello readers,

I have two family members who will be having surgery. I will try to post when I can, but I am not sure when that will be. 

Currently I have been living off of humus wraps. I didn’t even know what they were until two years ago.

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Also, for Halloween, I did dig a little into the chocolate candy, but I have been good. Beside hummus, I have been eating bananas, apples, oranges.

And probably a little bit too much coffee.

What foods do you eat when you are trying to be healthy, but don’t have any time to prepare anything?