BP and brain hypoxia
Hi CountryGirl,
Maxine gave you some very helpful info.
I go against the grain on what they found though....I feel much more mental clarity and energy when my BP is slightly high. After all, there is a reason my body is raising the pressure....the blood is not getting to my brain. I need a little help! When my BP is as low as doctors want it, I am barely able to walk, let alone think. My best friend, who does not have CFS, stopped taking her BP meds because with her BP in normal range, she could not walk up and down the mountain she lives on to get to work, and had no energy. I share that feeling, and I can see why the very low BP so many CFSers have could be a major reason for the severe fatigue. I also think the recent lowering of the normal range for BP is a ploy by Big Pharma to sell more drugs. It worked for cholesterol (don't even get me started on this red herring!), so why not for BP? Ca-Ching $$$$$.
I'm slow, but I get there, and I just noticed you are in the UK, so the test I had for Lyme may not be available to you, even though there is a newer version. The IgeneX western blot is considered the standard here and you can call Igenex Lab in California, and see if blood can be shipped there, but I fear it could not get there fast enough. Their number is 1-800-832-3200.
After yrs. of dealing with Lyme and reading about it, I personally feel a trial of the appropriate antibiotics is a far better "test" than the actual blood testing anyway. The good news is that if your doctor will not give you high dose Doxycycline to see if it makes you "Herx" (symptoms get noticeably worse due to die-off of the bug), there is an herbal substitute which is just as strong and just as likely to make you "Herx", thereby confirming that some kind of pathogen is being killed. Of course, this way you don't know if it's Lyme or something else, but since doctors are not going to give you the chronic Lyme diagnosis anyway, it is my contention that it does not matter. If it makes you Herx, it can potentially make you well. I believe you can still order supplements from the USA if you pay a VAT, correct? The treatment for Lyme is called Samento, and it has the added benefit of killing a lot of other nasty things you might have as well, so even if you don't have Lyme it may help you. I took it for 4 years, and credit it with stopping my progression. You can get it from the maker's site, Nutramedix, or you can get the name brand much cheaper at
www.myherbs.net.
Incidentally, the reason my doctors accept my "chronic Lyme" is two fold. It is partly because my doctors don't know anything about Lyme and I dazzled them with my unusual test results, which actually showed pictures of Lyme L-forms in my blood under fluorescent light, a now defunct test once considered cutting edge, known as the Bowen QRiBb. The docs had no idea this was an "unproven" test and a picture was worth a thousand words to them. In addition to that, by the time I was diagnosed with Lyme, my immunity had been altered to such a severe TH2 dominance that I was highly allergic to all the antibiotics that work against Lyme, so I have never had any antibiotics, and even the dumbest doctor knows that untreated Lyme becomes chronic and progressive, so much so, that my problem has been finding doctors who don't treat me as if I'm already dead, and will still make the effort to help me, rather than doctors who don't believe my diagnosis. They do not consider herbals like Samento to be "treatment", so in this case, their arrogance works in my favor vis-a-vis their believing me.
I share your dislike of using BP medications and I did not use them when I was in what used to be called the "borderline range". When taking HRT at menopause sent me above that level though, I weighed the risk of stroke and went with medication. I hate to say it, but your readings are definitely in that neighborhood, and medication would be better than not being around to try and solve the problem, IMO. I understand your trepidation....doctors have a tendency to give meds, and if they work, they consider the problem solved, when in fact, they still have no idea what the problem is and are just covering up symptoms. You will have to be assertive to uncover why this has started happening. Kidney function should be checked, for one example, since problems there can raise blood pressure. Are you eating a lot more salt? Taking some new supplements that raise BP, like ginseng or licorice?
The Neurologist I was sent to for migraines is the one who insisted on the BEAM scan, after hearing I'd been declared dead of a brain injury in a car accident 10 yrs. earlier, but had never been evaluated for brain damage. He also did a QEEG, which was abnormal. Back then, I did not think I had CFS, only FMS, and I'd never even heard of Lyme. From what I've read, the SPECT is the best scan for us to have, if you can get someone to order it for you. If you look up Dr. Amen + brain you should find his website with amazing pictures of how SPECT can uncover all sorts of bran abnormalities, even including the patterns of criminal behavior!
Happy Birthday! I am your elder by a bit, since I will be 59 at the end of February.
klutzo