Instead of walking a mile on a flat plane, yesterday I did my walking on the incline of our property. I walked down to the lower pasture and then all the way up to the top pasture and then down, down again to the woods where the pasture begins and back up. I wasn't alone as both goats and my little duck joined me. Since ducks aren't made for walking and being a small breed, his legs are very short so he waddled along. My pace was slower than normal, but I did get my exercise and I had no shortness of breath.
Today was exciting because I had my first day of cardio rehab. This is a three month program where I will attend three days per week for an hour each day. It's like going to a very well equipped gym, except I have to wear a heart monitor and am supervised by a registered nurse who instructs, directs, takes my blood pressure frequently and monitors my heart rhythm. I am so looking forward to rebuilding muscle and gaining fitness.
I had another discouraging setback this afternoon. I was overcome with shortness of breath while walking a short distance from our car into a grocery store. This was the first time I experienced this since Saturday. The shortness of breath is the most debilitating factor of all the varied symptoms I've had. Darryl pointed out that I stopped taking the beta-blocker on Saturday and had no shortness of breath Sunday and all this week till now. Because of my high blood pressure I went back on the beta-blocker Wednesday night. You don't have to be a super sleuth to determine that the beta-blocker could be the culprit. I need to find another way to control my blood pressure. This time I'll slowly wean myself from this medication instead of going cold turkey to avoid the rebound effect. To add to the problem, the antidepressant I'm taking can increase blood pressure. Oh, how I wish I could just get off all these drugs. They may have saved my life, but they're now killing the quality of it.
Meds: Coumadin, Bupropion, Multaq, Metroprolol, aspirin 81mg, multivitamin, vitamin D,
I-Caps, Omega-3 fish oil, 2 bananas (potassium)
2 comments:
May I suggest that you ask to change your antidepressant? One of the side effects of it is weight loss. Perhaps that change could help your blood pressure too.
You are doing so good considering all you have been thru..I have read your Blog daily and D's.updates during the first phase..He has done an outstanding job carring for you..You both deserve a brake after this ordeal is over..Keep going you are almost there...
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