Have you ever watched your health deteriorate? More like watching your life dwindle right before your very eyes. If you haven't, well... welcome to my world!
Image is mine
It was on a certain evening, I lay in the bed in my hostel apartment. Some of my friends came around performing medical examinations on me. I was used as a patient as we had our forthcoming MBBS examinations not to far away. Time wasn't on our side.
Along the line, every one of them took turns to check my blood pressure during a cardiovascular examination.
"Bro, your blood pressure is high" Steve, my roommate and a close friend of mine said with a smile that spread round his face.
This prompted everyone to laugh, including me. Well, it was all fun until the second guy came over and assessed my blood pressure using a sphygmomanometer.
"Hmm, it's actually high." He voiced out, his face wore a serious look, the kind that made everyone step closer to take a look at the reading on the machine.
Whispers and side talks could be heard, and this was when I knew the real deal had begun.
My blood pressure was 140/80. If one has a b.p of this level, it's around the first stage of hypertension. It's much easier and safer to control at this point.
I felt weird, almost as though I was going to slump dead the next day. I had the mindset that I was going to leave the Earth very soon. My eyes couldn't close, sleep ran far off from me. I felt apathy for literally everything in life, perhaps it's because I've witnessed what hypertension has done to patients, or perhaps it's just one of those things that excessive knowledge comes with, whichever.
I called my mum over the phone and she couldn't believe her ears, I was quite young to have been experiencing such—i was barely 23 years.
"Emeka, go to the hospital. Eat well and..." She went on and on like every parent would.
Well, it wasn't long before I got to the hospital to see a doctor. I entered the hospital, meeting a large number of patients waiting to see the doctor. I was like: jeez! But then, I remembered that I was a training medical student in the same hospital so why not use that to my advantage.
I wore my lab coat, walked past everyone with confidence and entered into the consulting room. The female doctor who was attending to a patient paused and took a glance at me.
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Ma, I'm a medical student I..."
"Alright wait, I'll see you next." She gestured, pointing to the seat just close to the corner of the wall. The listening ears she gave me was because I was a medical student else... You know what would have happened next.
I sat and waited for her. She eventually asked me a lot of questions, and sent for a series of tests which all came out negative.
The case was a tough one to crack. She eventually advised me to take appropriate rest, avoid football, and eat plenty of fruits containing potassium—banana's mostly.
Well, I heeded to her advice though I found it difficult at first, but over time, I mastered the act of adequate rest and fruit therapy. I deliberately took fruits especially bananas. As the time then went by, I noticed the blood pressure began to normalize.
A certain day, when I came for check-up with the doctor she told me that I should keep up with the lifestyle I was living. In her words...
"Reduce salt intake, drink lots of water and take excessive fruits."
I did all the above but it's a busy world out here and to succeed, you have to be on your toes, mitigating your sleep time and channeling that energy into other aspects of your life to be productive. So let me just say, I couldn't maintain the 'enough rest' part, but I reduced my salt intake and I ate fruits, and I mean lots of fruit.
I'm okay today, but when I'm severely stressed I notice an increase in its value but at least now, I know what triggers it—stress. And I do take precautions to take to avoid a rise.
Now, its no stale news that most of you don't know your blood pressure status. Please it's really important to be aware of little things such as this. Head over to a local pharmacist nearby and get that done. It's not hard, doesn't take up to two minutes. And also, lifestyle is really important. If you have a plan of living in good health, the come on! What are you waiting for? Place yourself on fruit therapy—fruits are more beneficial than we think. Eat fruits as often as possible and you'll thank me later.
I might have gone through a lot then but I'm happy I went through those processes else, I would be like a walking zombie, walking around with one of the most dangerous risk factors for sudden death, hypertension. I learned how to eat healthy, and yeah, I definitely don't take my sleep for granted anymore.
Know your blood pressure status and feel free to thank me later. Least I forget, an incessant rise in blood pressure can lead to kidney failure, heart failure, and stroke —i see a lot in the clinics and trust me when I say...
You don't want to be in these shoes!