Friday, March 18, 2011

Health Issues Follow-up

A few weeks ago I posted that I had some health issues that were going to limit my postings for awhile. I wanted to give you a quick update.

I've been diagnosed with a condition called orthostatic hypotension (OH). When you stand up, it is normal for your blood pressure to drop a bit as your blood tends to pool in the lower half of your body. You might even experience a bit of light-headedness. Your heart will compensate quickly. When you have OH, however, your heart doesn't compensate quickly. You can get very dizzy, perhaps even pass out. In my case, I also have an unusual symptom, in that I'm also experiencing some numbness on the right side of my body, from my face down to my foot. This scared me enough to go to the hospital. They thought I'd had a stroke, but could find no trace of it.

They finally subjected me to the OH test. This is where they strap you to a table, stand the table upright and wait for you to pass out. If you do, you have OH. It took me about 5 very unpleasant minutes to pass out. My blood pressure dropped below measurement levels and my heart rate slowed to about 20 beats/minute.



I'm on medication now which is controlling it pretty well. The first few weeks, I felt lousy all the time, now I feel pretty much normal. I'm still getting episodes but they are minor. I see the doctor in a few weeks and I'm hopeful he will clear me to go back to work.

In the meanwhile, I'm stuck at home with orders to take it easy. So I'll probably be posting more frequently for awhile.

Thanks for your support.

7 comments:

Rod (Padrographs) said...

Cliff, Thoughts and prayers winging your way.

night owl said...

Glad you figured out the problem.

Good luck to you and you're in my thoughts.

Anonymous said...

Good to hear you seem to have gotten a hold of things with medication. I was having head/neck aches after exertions, and now that I'm not light high blood pressure medicine, I'm back to pretty much normal, so I know what it must be like for you to be able to get back to doing things again.

Anonymous said...

"on" insted of "not"

oops

Hackenbush said...

Sounds like scary stuff. Glad they figured it out and have you feeling better.

BASEBALL DAD said...

I had my first heart attack at 48 and I was pretty nervous.With the modern drugs and procedues, I'm now 60 with no serious after affects.Just do what they say and hang in there ! You'll be in our thoughts and prayers.
( Thanks for giving me 80 "followers" !!)

Steve Gierman said...

Thankfully, it was something that could be properly diagnosed and can be controlled by medication. I'm glad things are starting to get back to normal.