{"id":9814,"date":"2018-07-09T05:45:43","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T09:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newvinegrowing.wordpress.com\/?p=9814"},"modified":"2019-06-07T13:37:55","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T17:37:55","slug":"my-doctor-points-to-salt-and-booze-as-culprits-in-my-elevated-blood-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/my-doctor-points-to-salt-and-booze-as-culprits-in-my-elevated-blood-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"My first elevated blood pressure reading has me reluctantly cutting back on salt"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, when my Eastern European nurse took my blood pressure at my annual physical, she would fix a serious gaze and murmur in her thick accent, “Perfect.”
\nIt’s a strange thing to be proud of, but for an A student, every gold star is worth celebrating. I would say thank you, like this was an accomplishment I had worked to achieve.
\nWhen John and I switched primary care doctors, I knew I would leave behind my annual praise. But I just thought that was because someone new would be running my insurance-mandated tests.
\nInstead, after years of “perfect” 120\/80 blood pressure, my new primary care provider pumped up the cuff once, then again, before saying in a concerned voice: 130\/88.<\/strong>
\nWe talked about my medical history and she said this could just be an anomaly. I eat well, I exercise, I’m not overweight, I don’t smoke. It could just be a blip, she soothed, suggesting I use the free blood pressure machine at CVS in a week or two to see if I was back to normal.<\/p>\n

As we age, she explained … and I already did not like where this was going. I just started needing reading glasses in the last year. What other decline was she prepping me for?<\/h3>\n

Apparently, another joy of midlife is that our blood pressure might creep upward<\/a>. Sort of contradicts that cliche that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result?
\nMy doc also casually suggested two culprits to consider — salt and alcohol.\u00a0<\/strong>
\nBusted.
\nI love salt. Given the choice between chocolate and French fries, I’ll have fries in my mouth when I answer. It’s a running joke that when John asks me to taste something he’s cooking, he anticipates my answer: more salty, more sour.
\nMy husband is a bartender who just wrote and illustrated a book about bars. <\/a>We live a block from one of the best cocktail bars in the country. I’m fine going a few days sans alcohol, but I’ve developed both my tastes and tolerance from hanging out with bartenders and booze writers.
\nI waited a while before my follow-up reading. I wanted my do over to erase my “as we age” deterioration. My blood pressure was still 120\/80, my vision 20\/20, my eyes free of dark circles and crow’s feet, my hormones steady and even … since I knew the rest of that was fiction, I didn’t want a machine crushing my hope.<\/strong>
\nOne morning when my to-do list was low stress, I skipped my morning coffee even though we make just third-caffeinated\u00a0at home and ambled to the drug store. I slipped my arm into the\u00a0machine and took slow, calm breaths, hoping my meditation practice could straighten out the misunderstanding.
\n

\"blood
Photo of a blood pressure reading used under Creative Commons license, courtesy of\u00a0Carl Fredrik.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe good news was my numbers were lower. The bad news was that 126\/86 was still above perfect.<\/strong>
\nThis probably wouldn’t have been much of a worry even a year ago, but recent guidance lowers the threshold for what’s considered high blood pressure. As of November, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association recommend treatment\u00a0at 130\/80 rather than 140\/90<\/a>.
\nWith my two readings, I skipped the new elevated category straight into stage 1 high blood pressure:<\/p>\n