March 11, 2013

So I went to my PCP today

PCP:  Do you have hypertension in your family?

Me:  Both parents.  My maternal grandmother also died of a stroke.

PCP:  Are you adopted?

Me:  No.

PCP:  Darn it.

Me:  Yeah, I know.

The blood pressure is back up, and my PCP is not pleased.   I am, in his words, too young to have a pressure of 140/95.  I explained my past history of HTN, which I was able to resolve on my own with the help of some Norvasc.  I also told him about my family history of HTN, which as you have probably guessed, was not what he wanted to hear.

The game plan is a low dose of labetalol, frequent monitoring of my BP, losing some weight, dietary changes, and once I get the go-ahead from my OB, exercise.   If the weight loss, diet changes and exercise don't do it, it may be that my HTN is genetic and like it or not, I may have to live with being on an antihypertensive for the long term.

I know all of this, which is why I want to fix the HTN now.  My goal is to not to have to be on an antihypertensive now...or if I am going to have to be on one, to just keep it at one and not two or three or seven.

Since I had a feeling that this visit would result in a prescription, I did a little research on what medications I could take.  Labetalol was chosen as it's one of the safest for breastfeeding:  it doesn't interfere with milk production and there have been no serious effects reported in infants.  I've never taken a beta-blocker before.  Its not 100% safe, but no drug is, alas.  The other safe drugs were propanolol (another beta-blocker) and hydralazine (vasodilator).  All the others were either unsafe either for milk production and/or for the infant, or had unknown safety.

As for the burn, my PCP says that it's healing very well--I've been taking excellent care of it.  On Wednesday I can stop the ointment and gauze, though I may want to put a light dressing on if I'm wearing any clothing that may irritate it.  It still looks horrible though.

In other news, my PCP's new medical assistant looks like a supermodel.  This would have been depressing had it been a she, but it was a he.  Very easy on the eyes, and sweet to boot.  Every doctor's office should have one of these.  I'll let him draw my blood anytime.