Goodbye, Pills & Needles by Tom Jelinek

Author:Tom Jelinek [Jelinek, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: non-fiction
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2018-06-17T04:00:00+00:00

Summary: Supplements can bring down blood glucose, like drugs can. But what happens to the glucose after being taken up by cells? That’s an important consideration.

Blood Pressure

Several points need to preface what I will share about my experiences. First, low carb diets are widely acclaimed for reducing blood pressure, as lower insulin levels result in less fluid retention, leading to naturally reduced blood pressure. In fact, some detractors of such diets for weight loss claim that the rapid weight loss is entirely due to fluid loss. When I hear that accusation, I conclude that the diet is indisputably effective at reversing excessive fluid retention. And the feedback I received from several people I converted to the diet confirms that their blood pressure came down dramatically, within about two weeks. All reported blood pressure drops of twenty to thirty points (systolic), whereupon they discontinued their medications. But alas, type II diabetics will need to be a lot more patient, and we’ll cover that point a little later.

The second point is that men with muscular arms register higher blood pressure than their thinner counterparts. Blood pressure is defined as the pressure required by that inflatable cuff to squeeze the arm at the bicep enough to stop the flow of arterial blood. As such, it has to squeeze through muscle, to reach the artery. They always tell you to relax your arm, because they know that tensing it would fight the force of the cuff. But simply having more muscle mass on the bicep forces the cuff to squeeze through extra layers. Lastly, I discovered I have a severe case of white coat syndrome. That’s what doctors call it when blood pressure, and pulse, shoot up dramatically exactly when being measured. I experience immediate anxiety when I hear that Velcro on the cuff being pried apart, ready to strangle my arm. Even as I was editing this manuscript, I would become tense when re-reading the preceding sentence for the tenth time, or so. At home, I would find it necessary to put the cuff on, then relax for fifteen minutes or so, before I could get a good measurement. At the doctor’s office, the nurse charges into the room, and aggressively does the measurement, frowning the whole time. I don’t have a chance. All in all, I’m confident that the act of measuring my blood pressure is bad for my health. But of course, I did not know any of this at the time.

I expected to find my blood pressure elevated, but the first time it was measured, it registered 160/110. By waiting in the examination room until I had calmed a bit, we could get it down to about 150/100. It is uncertain whether that was still artificially elevated due to anxiety. Nonetheless, the doctor suggested in a persuasively understated manner that it would be really good to bring that down, sooner rather than later. We agreed that as my fitness improved, and my weight came down, it would also bring down my blood pressure, but in the meantime, it would be best to start some medication.

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