Friday, August 24, 2007

Using drugs to get off drugs

Tolvaptan is my methadone. When I started this trial my limited brain made a connection to my even more limited medical knowledge. If I'm taking a gigantic diuretic, then maybe I can get off my hideous ace inhibitors (that lower blood pressure). After all, diuretics were the old fashioned way of lowering BP, and I'm taking massive dose. Why not? (I'll explain why not later). So I did it, I dropped the little blue pills and withing two days I felt fabulous. I was back. No more mental fog, no more having to sit down, no more yawns. Now, we all know that following one's "feelings" is not exactly a mature, responsible way to live. I "feel" like pitching the kids out the window sometimes, but try to restrain myself. But this time, I "felt" that if I can get my heart rate up through daily exercise, lost the extra pounds, and ate like a caveman, I can stay off those nastys. So far - it has worked. I'm back to religiously taking my BP a couple times a day and can track the spikes/valleys. I can relate them to a little too much soy sauce, a lack of action at the gym. I'm running at an average of 124/82. Not ideal but I've got another 16 pounds to lose and can bump up my trips to the treadmill to daily.
No, I haven't' discussed this with my neph. I'm still pissed at him for not reading my Tolvaptan info. He'll probably say that I'm missing out on the other benefits of ACE inhibitors - prevention of the thickening of the heart walls, and that while 124/82 is good, its not the ideal 110/70 that we should all aspire too. But I'm almost there. I need the time to shed the pounds and rev up the heart. I need to be myself again, for a while.