I’ve been a bit quiet on the posting front of late. There is a reason…
A bit of background. I used to play a lot of squash – once a day, at least, but sometimes twice. Squash is quite a demanding sport, and I played it to a reasonably high level for teams in both the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire leagues. This stopped on 1 December, 2001.
I was playing a doubles match that Saturday, and I went for a dropshot. I felt something give in my leg – it was somewhat more uncomfortable than a normal sports-related sprain or tear, but not agony or anything. I had a job walking that night, but although it got a little better over about 6 weeks it was obvious it wasn’t going to get properly better. I went to see my GP and he immediately discovered it was a torn Achilles (almost – but not quite – a complete tear). I won’t go into all the details of the operation and subsequent infection, but from the moment I did it I went from doing all that exercise to doing absolutely no exercise at all. I wanted to start playing squash again, but having moved into this job there was no way I could risk doing it again and not being able to drive. So I just stayed lazy – and sedentary.
I also get occasional bouts of eczema and slight early-season hayfever (from tree pollen). To help alleviate some of the symptoms I had been taking Sudafed (pseudoephedrine hydrochloride) capsules.
Anyway, just over a week ago I had a mild headache. Paracetamol and Ibuprofen didn’t do much to help, and the headache persisted for 3 days. That’s not especially unusual, but for some reason I decided to measure my blood pressure for the first time in about 2 years. I nearly had a heart attack there and then: the machine displayed “EE” (error), but it worked perfectly when I tried it on other people. My blood pressure was basically off the scale!
The next day – Friday, which I’d booked off work, planning to get some other stuff done – I called my GP and went in to see the surgery nurse. She couldn’t get a reading either – eventually, one was recorded at 210/120 or something like that. For anyone who doesn’t know, that is bloody high. She called in one of the doctors, and I was immediately referred to the Acute Medical Unit at the hospital. I spent the whole day there having blood tests, ECGs, and x-rays.
My GP’s worry was that I might have malignant high blood pressure, or that damage might be caused to my vision. However, he was also pretty sure that it was the pseudoephedrine to blame (I’d looked it up the night before, which was why I told him I was taking it). He was even worried about letting me drive!
Fortunately, I didn’t need to be admitted to hospital and all the tests proved negative. I was given some tablets and the next day my blood pressure was back down again (albeit slightly elevated). It gave me a bloody great scare, though – so I am now on the Mother Of All Diets and getting back into exercise again (although I was told NOT to exercise until my blood pressure was down, which it is, so I’m all right).
So, the advice there is:
- keep fit
- keep your weight down
- don’t take pseudoephedrine as if it were M&Ms
Having got all that sorted, I was out on a lesson on Sunday afternoon when the car made a rumbling sound and refused to go anywhere. It was either the clutch or the gearbox, but either way I had to cancel the rest of Sunday’s lessons and arrange a replacement car. I eventually got it first thing Tuesday – but not before it had cost me in the region of £200 in lessons (admittedly, I moved two of them into a couple of free slots over the following few days, so it wasn’t as bad as all that).
So anyway, that’s why I haven’t added any new stuff for a few days.