Hypertension clinic
I went to the hypertension clinic today. My appointment was at 10:00, so I left the school at 9:00 and had to have two teachers cover the rest of my classes (it was a half day for students so we ended at 10:20). I had been late to the clinic one time so was quite worried about getting there on time, but I actually got there about 9:45. A lot of good it did me...I waited for an hour before I was seen. At one point, I thought I was going to pass out, so I ended up running down to the cafeteria and buying a banana and a chocolate milk to tide me over.
Finally, just before 11:00, I was called in for my first appointment..the nonstress test. She hooked up one monitor to my belly to listen for the baby's heartbeat. Then she hooked up another high up on the belly to gage contractions (I didn't have any), put an automatic blood pressure cuff on my arm and started it and then realized that I was lying on top of the pulsometer for my finger and had me moving and contorting myself to get at it while the blood pressure monitor was doing its thing...I suspect she is not too accustomed to the automatic cuffs to know how painful it is and that moving around, does NOT help LOL.
My blood pressure was good 126/68 or something like that. I expressed how surprised I was since it had bene so high at the other appointments...she decided to do it again. SHe turned on the machine and it did its thing, only this time it started beeping...I started panicking thinking something was wrong with the baby, but it was actually me..my lower number was 44 and the machine was freaking out...
The nonstress test continued..about 20 minutes. The baby was fine, but the nurse wasn't happy enough and decided to "wake" her with this loud thing on my belly...baby kicked back, made a big move, and then settled right down again. LOL. I guess the nurse gave up.;)
Then, it was back to the waiting room...for another 20 minutes. I was called in to do the ultracom/ultrasound of my heart/arteries etc. It seemed much faster than other times and my blood pressure was checked again...still in the 120s/60s.
Back to the waiting room...Luckily, this last wait was much faster. Another nurse called me in and we went over my numbers. My cardiac output, while still high, had come down from the last visit. She said that generally it should be peaking at its highest now and was seemed happy with the results. Another nurse came and took my blood presure for the last time...still in the 120s but over 70something this time.
Finally, the perinatologist came in. She seemed happy with all the results of my blood pressure, checked my legs (which weren't nearly as swollen as they are in the afternoon/evening), and decided that it wouldn't hurt to increase one of my meds, the diuretic. She also said that if I was consistently getting readings in the 130s at the OBs, that she would recommend he increase the other blood pressure med. On the diabetes front, she was not pleased with the switch to all insulin. She firmly believes I need the Metformin to help my body use the insulin and that increasing the amount of insulin is not going to help...but, she doesn't want to change it herself...she is going to write a letter to both my OB and the other perinatologist (her colleague) recommending this.
In the meantime, my OBs office has increased my fast acting insulin with breakfast and added some with supper in response to my phone call to them yesterday with my high high numbers. It appears that the perinatologist is right...more insulin does not necessarily mean better control for me...in fact, I was pretty well controlled before we switched to all insulin...my A1C was an incredibly 4.7, that is better than many(if not most) nondiabetics!
Finally, just before 11:00, I was called in for my first appointment..the nonstress test. She hooked up one monitor to my belly to listen for the baby's heartbeat. Then she hooked up another high up on the belly to gage contractions (I didn't have any), put an automatic blood pressure cuff on my arm and started it and then realized that I was lying on top of the pulsometer for my finger and had me moving and contorting myself to get at it while the blood pressure monitor was doing its thing...I suspect she is not too accustomed to the automatic cuffs to know how painful it is and that moving around, does NOT help LOL.
My blood pressure was good 126/68 or something like that. I expressed how surprised I was since it had bene so high at the other appointments...she decided to do it again. SHe turned on the machine and it did its thing, only this time it started beeping...I started panicking thinking something was wrong with the baby, but it was actually me..my lower number was 44 and the machine was freaking out...
The nonstress test continued..about 20 minutes. The baby was fine, but the nurse wasn't happy enough and decided to "wake" her with this loud thing on my belly...baby kicked back, made a big move, and then settled right down again. LOL. I guess the nurse gave up.;)
Then, it was back to the waiting room...for another 20 minutes. I was called in to do the ultracom/ultrasound of my heart/arteries etc. It seemed much faster than other times and my blood pressure was checked again...still in the 120s/60s.
Back to the waiting room...Luckily, this last wait was much faster. Another nurse called me in and we went over my numbers. My cardiac output, while still high, had come down from the last visit. She said that generally it should be peaking at its highest now and was seemed happy with the results. Another nurse came and took my blood presure for the last time...still in the 120s but over 70something this time.
Finally, the perinatologist came in. She seemed happy with all the results of my blood pressure, checked my legs (which weren't nearly as swollen as they are in the afternoon/evening), and decided that it wouldn't hurt to increase one of my meds, the diuretic. She also said that if I was consistently getting readings in the 130s at the OBs, that she would recommend he increase the other blood pressure med. On the diabetes front, she was not pleased with the switch to all insulin. She firmly believes I need the Metformin to help my body use the insulin and that increasing the amount of insulin is not going to help...but, she doesn't want to change it herself...she is going to write a letter to both my OB and the other perinatologist (her colleague) recommending this.
In the meantime, my OBs office has increased my fast acting insulin with breakfast and added some with supper in response to my phone call to them yesterday with my high high numbers. It appears that the perinatologist is right...more insulin does not necessarily mean better control for me...in fact, I was pretty well controlled before we switched to all insulin...my A1C was an incredibly 4.7, that is better than many(if not most) nondiabetics!
posted by Katrina | 1/26/2006 04:08:00 PM
2 Comments:
Sounds like a good visit overall. I'm glad your BP was down some, and I hope it stays down. Interesting that they think you should not be on all insulin - would sure be nice to ditch the needles, even just a few of them!
phew!
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