I don’t know about you but I know my body pretty well. It appears to create quite a stir with the medical and emergency response people that I can tell them my blood pressure without them taking it.
My doctor has a great sense of humour so I kept away from telling him this until today! My blood pressure has been giving some concern of late. For the past couple of years I have caused some laughter from the EMT that volunteers at one of the events at which I speak. He was amazed how accurate I was. So today I told my doctor. “Oh, yes,” he said without a hint of conviction “…so what do you think it is today?” I said, “I would guess around 130”. He took my blood pressure and then looked me dead in the eyes and smiling said “ok smartiepants, but can you give me to LOW end reading?” I burst out laughing because, of course, I couldn’t.
Now a sight believer, my doctor asked, “ok, how do you do it?”. “Quite simple” I said “I can tell by the colour of my pee!” That was too much for my doctor. “By the colour of your pee?!” Well, it took a little time but I explained it to him and I think he wanted to believe me even if he didn’t. The same as the EMT. The EMT said he had never come across someone who could “guess” their blood pressure as well as I could. Mind you he also said he had never come across someone who could lower their blood pressure by 30 points overnight. Now THAT is a whole different story that Jess would totally understand (hehehehehhe).
So here is how it works, for me. My blood pressure is “good” (e.g. around 130 or below) if it is nearly clear in colour. It is around 140 when it is fairly solid yellow. If it is dark yellow, turning to slightly orange it is getting nasty… 150+. If it turns dark amber, which it did while I was away in May, it is dangerous. When I guessed it as 180+ my EMT raised his eyebrows. He took my blood pressure and confirmed I was absolutely correct.
I asked my doctor if it was possibly a case of “the cart before the horse”. Was is possible that my kidneys were driving my blood pressure. He said that it was not the case because every time he did tests it showed my kidneys were fine.
Go figure! Anyone else have an interesting situation like this?
