Increasing BP and stress

Last evening, as I was returning from work, I felt weird. My head was heavy and my heart was pounding. I was feeling unbelievably stressed. I had never felt that way before. I sipped some cold water when I reached home and lay on my bed for some time taking deep breaths. I also turned off Wi-fi and 3G on my phone.

I felt better in about half an hour. I had dinner and when Zia the guy who helps with my dialysis came home, I got him to check my Blood Pressure. It was about 30 points more than my normal blood pressure.

About ten days back, I had gone to visit my nephrologist. I told him about the recurrent coughs I was having. Every two months, I would get cough and would try to treat it with simple home remedies without any luck and then would need antibiotics. He asked me to stop Ramipril, an ACE inhibitor I was taking. He said that often causes cough.

Ever since, I have been having some symptoms of an elevated blood pressure like headaches and a feeling of stress. Yesterday, it happened to be a very hectic day at work. Tons of things to do and lot of urgent stuff to finish. Nothing extraordinary or unlike some previous days however. I guess stopping Ramipril and the stress at work probably combined to cause the symptoms.

Another thing that possibly added to the problem was that I did not dialyze the night before. So. fluid had also accumulated (I was up about 5 liters!) and this also caused a further increase in the blood pressure.

I called my nephrologist last night and checked with him about this. He asked me to start another drug - Coversyl. Hopefully this should help alleviate the symptoms soon.

I usually keep the Wi-fi on my phone one at night. The first thing I do in the morning when I wake up (even while still on dialysis!) is to reach out for my phone to see what email I have! This is one of the most disgusting habits I have which I must learn to give up. It is email, for God's sake! Not a call! It can wait until I have properly woken up and settled into the day! I kept the Wi-fi off last night.

Since I was pulling off a lot of fluid, I woke with cramps twice at night. Both times, I stood next to my bed for a few seconds and the cramps subsided.

This morning, I am feeling much better.


Comments

Avinash Ghimire said…
this new med-its the same type of medication though.won't help you if you indeed had cough on an ACEi.Ask him about ARBs.
besides the ACEi,you indicated being wet.likely you had pleural effusion too resulting in cough(and HTN)
Kamal D Shah said…
Thanks for the tips! I will check with him about this.