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nagasaki 
Numbers this morning are: BP 92/55. Heart rate 77. Had my six-month checkup with EP this month. No change - continue with nebivolol, digoxin and aspirin same dosage. Encouraged more exercise (water aerobics?) and suggested a supplement called red yeast rice extract (which it turns out behaves like a statin) to bring down LDL (which was 118 in March - <99 being best). Upon emailing my naturopath I was dissuaded from taking it because of it having similar problems as statins. My blood draw for homocysteine was normal but the other one for hs-CPR was very elevated. Less than 1 is good. My level was 6.5. This is a marker for inflammation/infection which is used to correlate for risk of stroke or heart attack probably due to plaquing. The results came back also from the carotid artery screening I had a Lifeline Screenings. That had not changed from the past 2 years - mild to moderate plaquing not to worry. So the EP has referred the hs-CRP findings to his lipid specialist and I haven't heard back yet. I don't feel any unusual discomfort but I have been feeling somehow weaker lately. Less stamina. I see I need to schedule an ultrasound of my kidney to check the benign cyst that has been there for some years now. Also due for a dental cleaning. My back continues to be a daily challenge. I go back and forth between trying Flexeril at night for it or extra Calms Forte to sleep more deeply so the muscle spasm will relax.
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Regret I didn't take a Flexeril before I went to bed last night. My back has been acting up this week more than usual. Pain about a 6 right now. Lower left back muscle spasm. Now I'll have to wait till this evening for the Flexeril because it has the side effect of wiping me out. The one thing I can think of that might be contributing is that I've let myself pack more than one commitment a day into my schedule - that is, something that either takes me out of the house for an appointment or social event or someone visiting me at home. What happens then is I don't get enough done at home between cleaning type things and other projects and I start to feel overwhelmed. Other than that, no change in Afib. BP and heart rate this morning are 105/57 and 81. 81 seems actually a little high for this early in the morning but whatever.6-month checkup on the 20th. I'm going to have them check my homocysteine and CRP-hs levels this month too. They were borderline above normal last year. And I have a Lifeline screening for plaque coming up in a few weeks. Hopefully I'll have all those results before the checkup. The other big thing is the imminent weather change to grey and wet for months. Huge challenge for me. Have to dig down spiritually. That's about it for now.
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Sorry to hear about your back going Rush on you. I can only imagine what a 6 is in back pain. I've induced a couple extra levels with the painting, but ibuprofen and stretching are getting me thru. Is that a typical BP reading for you? I was 122/65, hr 65, this morning, which is pretty close to usual. I had some 140's over 80's recently, but mostly in the doc's office. Good idea on the homocysteine check. Every time I read a radiology report for abdomen and pelvis, I read about plaque in my descending aorta, and I mean to have my doc check, but ... The weather made a big change 2 days ago, and I've had to turn on the heat the last few mornings. I'm not ready for this.
A year ago I was about to have a major back work-up. It came to nothing really. Never even saw the actual doctor, as he was a surgeon and they don't care unless they can do some cutting. Currently, my back acts up every once in awhile and most of the time is just sore. It bothers me most in the morning when I'm bending down for some reason, so maybe there's some arthritis going on. Started going to a senior support group a month ago or so and one woman there has been recently diagnosed with Afib. They're stabilizing her warfarin intake and she doesn't seem to know anything about cardioversion. I expect I'll be hearing more from her in coming weeks about how it's developing. This is the month school starts again - my grandson starts college here in town and I'm hoping to stay in close touch with him and enjoy the excitement vicariously. This morning at 7 am my numbers are: BP 99/56. Heart rate 75. Pretty much the same as it's been for a long time now. The main thing about the Afib this past month is just feeling tired very easily. Climbing two flights of stairs does it, for example. Still about a month to go till the next checkup. We'll see how it is by then.
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Yikes. Too much stuff to have to think about.
bc2