Do you know your blood pressure? Right now, mine is 121/79.
I know this because I own a blood pressure cuff. It’s not the sexiest purchase I’ve ever made … but it may have saved my life.
Back in 2016, I was seeing a variety of specialists who were attempting to determine whether I had an autoimmune disorder. I had a lot of unexplained fatigue and some other symptoms. There was a common thread among nearly all my doctor visits: My blood pressure reading was high. On average, it was in the 150/110 ballpark. According to the American Heart Association, a healthy blood pressure is 120/80 or lower.
Like clockwork, the nurses who checked my blood pressure insisted that I share my elevated numbers with my family doctor. After four such occurrences, I decided to do what those nurses suggested. My then-doctor’s response was a little shocking.
“Everyone has a little high blood pressure,” he said. “You probably just have ‘white coat syndrome’ – you know, you get nervous seeing a doctor.”
Having been a TV medical reporter for nearly three decades, at the time, I knew high blood pressure was not something to ignore. How many times had I written about “the silent killer?” It is called that because high blood pressure rarely has symptoms – that is, until someone is suffering a heart attack or stroke. The stakes were too high to ignore the numbers. It was time to go rogue.
I did the thing that health care providers always insist patients avoid; I went to Google for answers. I wanted to know what I should do. My search led me to a suggestion to buy a digital blood pressure monitor and track my numbers consistently, like a few times a day. After recording my blood pressure readings in a diary for a month, there was no denying it – I had high blood pressure.
Through my reporting career, I know several cardiologists. I called one of their offices and shared the details of my diary with the receptionist, who got me in for an appointment right away. The cardiologist and I talked about my weight, my slightly elevated cholesterol and other risk factors. I had a stress test and an EKG. He put me on a blood pressure drug. Since then, with few exceptions, my blood pressure has been normal.
Two years after I had that first cardiologist visit, my mother died suddenly of an apparent heart attack while vacationing in Las Vegas. Not long after her funeral, I had a routine visit with my cardiologist. My mother’s death meant I had a serious new risk factor for heart disease: family history.
My doctor ordered a calcium score test, which is a CT scan that shows how much calcium is in your arteries. That helps determine how much fatty buildup, or plaque, is in your arteries. Plaques are the main cause of heart attack because they can block blood flow to the heart. I was shocked to learn I had some plaque buildup in my arteries. My cardiologist put me on a statin drug to help get my cholesterol under control.
I share my story because May is High Blood Pressure Education Month. As scary as it was to find out I had so many risk factors, it was not nearly as terrifying as what might have happened had I ignored my inner voice and listened to my family doctor.
Be an advocate for your own health! Know your numbers and if you have questions, listen to that voice inside that tells you to keep looking until you get answers.
