You got me under pressure…
Just when you don’t expect it, things take a surprising turn.
You will recall that I blogged about fainting a couple of hours after that half marathon in Glasgow. At the time the causes seemed quite clear, however I went to visit my doctor last week for a follow up to find out that my blood pressure is very high – and way, way too high for someone who doesn’t smoke, only drinks a couple of beers on a Monday night and is fit enough to run half marathons and a couple of 10ks a week as fitness/training runs. Although my BP appeared fine after the half marathon, it is possible that it had dropped to that level as a result of (or part of the cause of) the faint. I have had five BP readings over the last few days and it remains high although it is slowly dropping back (from frightening to worrying!).
What is not clear is why it is so high. Most likely there is no direct cause except aging and genetics and it’s “just the way it is”. But, of course, I made a fatal and irrevocable error – I Googled “high blood pressure” and am now trying to recover from a state of what I am calling severe IIH or “Internet Induced Hypochondria”.
IIH is not a completely new disease of course; it is not a creation of the digital age but is an evolutionary descendant of HMEIH – “Home Medical Encyclopedia Induced Hypochondria”. It is, though, more virulent because of the ease of traveling even deeper down medical rabbit holes through html enabled tunnels. There are some very good sites out there but also a remarkable amount of dross peddling urban myths and pseudo-science, usually in the context of a marketing pitch. Some of this may even be genuinely heartfelt stuff rather than the cynical selling of snake oil. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the marketing sites appear higher in the search rankings than boring old science.
The serious note is that I shall move pretty quickly to a no salt diet and such like and I’m waiting for a blood test result which ought to give me some more information. I have also tried to look into whether there is any family history of this. We need to sort out whether there is a dietary factor, whether something else is going on and whether some kind of control medication is required. I will receive a clear piece of advice from the doc. this week about whether it is sensible to run the Loch Ness marathon in 3 weeks time as well. Presently the medical advice is that shortish runs to maintain muscle tone and cardio-vascular benefits are fine but no long training runs.
I think the more immediate effect is on my confidence – a week and a half ago my self image was of someone who had dropped a couple of trouser sizes, had been doing cardio-vasular workouts for three years and was quite fit enough to run a respectable half-marathon and that image has taken a dent. Mind you, I was talking Dr. Lys at rapper practice on Monday night and she was a bit surprised but also very clear that if the BP is actually high rather than a passing reaction to something else, then it is great that it has been caught now.
I get to eat a lot of bananas though.
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