I’m 24 and dealing with high blood pressure. I’ve seen five doctors, had countless tests, and they all say the same thing: “Take these pills and try to reduce pressure in your life.” It’s as though my blood pressure and heart rate have minds of their own, fluctuating freely without any reason.
For the past six months, I’ve felt like I’m on borrowed time. Every morning, I gulp down my pills, hoping I won’t have a stroke or end up disabled. Once, I dared to think I was better and skipped my meds for two days. Unfortunately, on day three, my blood pressure shot up over 150, bringing me crashing back to reality.
I’m not an nihilist, I’m the opposite of that. But facing my own mortality every second of life has hit me hard. Maybe I’m just like a “24 years old kid” tasting life’s bitterness for the first time. I hate to compare myself with others, but seeing friends partying, doing drugs, and sipping coffee just makes me hate this fate of mine even more.
I’m an artist, I studied music and wrote lots of songs (only keep them for myself, not trying to be a celebrity or anything like that…), and music has always been my escape. Lately, though, my songs have been pretty dark.
I’m sharing my story not for sympathy, but to connect with anyone else who’s going through a same journey in their life. If you’ve been there and made it out, please tell me how you did it. Any advice, hobby, or habit would help! And if you’re still stuck in the trenches like me, just know you’re not alone.
P/S: This post has been improved by ChatGPT since I’m not confident in my English.
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OP you sound exactly like me at that age. I was diagnosed with kidney disease at 16 and got a transplant after one year of dialysis at age 27.
Things were amazing after that but now I’ve got terminal cancer at age 41.
Make the most of everything you’ve got while you still can.
Wow. You’ve been through it. I’m sorry.
I am also an artist and musician who suffers from high blood pressure! I don’t know your whole medical history so I can only tell you what works best for me.
The biggest two things I’ve done to keep it under control are quit drinking and change my diet. It’s helped me lose a lot of weight and lowered my blood pressure significantly! I’ve always played my guitar when I’m feeling stressed and that helps a lot but lately I’ve also taken up cross stitch which has been IMMENSELY helpful to me! It’s relaxing but it also requires quite a bit of focus so I can get out of my own head and calm down. The other thing I do that’s even more helpful is just going out walking! I started out just walking around the block but now I go 4 or 5 miles with no trouble lol!
I do take a very low dose of blood pressure medication, but my doctor has told me if I lose about 15 more pounds I won’t have to keep taking it anymore!
I hope this was helpful!
yep. diet is huge. lower salts, eliminate sugars, eliminate processed foodstuffs
Being an artist with a sensitive mind might make me prone to overthinking, which in turn can raise my stress levels. Your story really resonated with me, so thank you for sharing it!
You just gotta try to hang on. Life as you get older is a total question of wtf is going to happen next.
I’m in one of those cycles.
- Covid
- Walked in on my dad almost dead from undiagnosed cancer and my childhood home trashed because everything fell apart when he was looking after my mom who has early onset dementia
- 2 weeks later my dad dies & I am visiting the hospital during the height of Covid. My mom has to live in the hospital and doesn’t know who I am anymore. She doesn’t know her husband died.
- Cancer scare. I think it will be fine? They’re still testing.
- Husband lost his job. I am the only breadwinner.
- Sister in abusive relationship with a severely mentally unstable husband who is spending all of their money. I fear every day he is going to kill her and their kids. She can’t kick him out of the house because he is on disability and can’t afford his own place.
- Substantial changes at my job leading to feelings of mega insecurity for me.
Oh yeah and my mom isn’t even dead yet!
But I’ve also had some really great experiences during this time that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
If psychedelics are safe for you and you have no history of mental illness in your family I would strongly suggest that.
Jesus! Please accept my virtual hug? I’m really proud of you, how strong you are to be going through all that and have such a healthy outlook. I’m so glad you shared, setting an example for all of us, myself included.
Wrt sister’s husband… That’s not her problem. But if she’s concerned fur everyone involved, maybe subsidized housing is a possibility? Maybe with minor children, she’s able to get free or low-cost legal counseling? I know you didn’t ask for my advice, I’m sorry if I was out of bounds. Thank you again for showing us the power of grace, gratitude and humility. You knock it out of the park.
Everyone has their stuff and their time to go through it.
Looking at what others are enduring too helps for inspiration and strength - frig someone I know has a parent dying of ALS and doesn’t even show it in their day to day. That’s a rough situation, they’re in their early 30s like me and they’re handing it with so much grace.
Someone else I know, late 20s, just severely injured themselves in a foreign country to the point where they are in a medically induced coma and may never walk again. The medical bills are going to be at least $100k to evacuate them out, and they can’t leave the country until it’s paid. That’s awful for them and their family.
I wouldn’t trade either of these situations for my own.
I’m not saying OP should look down on people who have it worse or that they can’t be mad/sad with their current situation. Just that hearing others’ stories can help with the strength to move forward.
In terms of my sis, one of the greatest lessons in life I’ve learned is that you can’t make another adult do anything even when it really is the best thing for them. I think there’s a strong criminal harassment case but she’s gotta get there - I just have to support her until she does. This gets him out of the house, makes it safer for her, and then they can divide assets. She’s trying to deal with him rationally and keep harmony but it hasn’t sunk in that no matter what she does it will boost the tension and she’s just gotta rip the band aid off in the smartest and safest way. In divorce law, it can be used against you if you “abandon the home” and their home has tons of equity so she can’t go anywhere. And any subsidized housing for him is several years’ wait. Hard to convince a mentally ill person who needs treatment of that when he flip flops between his new GF, breaking up with his new GF, can him and my sister get back together, wait no my sister is the devil and me and her are both cheating on our husbands (lol not cheating in her case because they’re separated), emailing my husband these lies and then in a separate email admitting they are lies, believing her birth control IUD is actually an abortion and she’s a baby killer, then wait no GF and him are back together.
Fuuuucking hell. Sending you positive energy. You’re right that reading others trials and tribulations really helps put one’s own shit into perspective. And there’s always so many people having a worse time of it especially right in the world. Thank you for sharing your experience and I hope it gets much better for you soon
You’re 100000 times stronger than most people I know, including myself. I’m so sorry for all you’ve had to endure. It’s strange how hearing about others’ struggles can sometimes make us feel better, but it truly does.
practically everyday.
Hug
Thank you.
Welcome.
May your fortune turn in your favour soon
Thank you, and the same to you too, and each and everyone of us.
I had an uncle who went on bp meds at 16. It kept him from being drafted and he passed at age 82. Sometimes it’s just genetics. The concern with high blood pressure is what it does to your body over time. Take your meds - keeping it down will help prevent/limit damage and risk. Check your bp regularly to share with your doc. There are several different types of meds and it’s not unusual to need more than one type to keep it steady. 150 is high for your age, but not usually emergency level, especially if you’re asymptomatic, unless your doc has given you other guidelines.
Thank you for the information! I’m sorry for your uncle, his strength in battling hypertension for that long was truly remarkable!
Tuesday. Ended up in the ER with a massive pain in my side, felt like I had ruptured something.
Turns out it was “Epiploic Appendagitis”, which is kind of like appendicitis but on the other side. I call it “Table of Contentsitis”.
Not dangerous, just hurts like fuck so they loaded me up with hydromorphone.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4644543
“hydromorphone is five to ten times more potent than morphine”.
Thank you for sharing your story! I’m sorry to hear about your experience, hope you recover soon and never have to endure anything like that again.
Ever had food poisoning on top of IBS? I wasn’t wanting to swap war stories, apologies if it seemed minimizing.
War zone in your gut? Yeah, feels like that…
Countless hours a day with the anterior in the trash can and posterior on the toilet.
I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and tachycardia as a skinny teenager, and I’m healthier than I’ve been since childhood now, in my late 30s. You’re not automatically doomed!
I went thru 4 or 5 meds initially, and finally settled on a beta blocker, which i love because it has anti-anxiety effects. I was also on a second med for a long time, but my numbers are finally getting better as i get older.
I know it sounds lame, but yoga helps me so much. I haven’t had an easy life, I’m queer and sorta lived in my car here and there, but yoga helps me feel less out-of-control.
Last time I felt helpless was a little less than a decade ago when I was in active heroin addiction. I knew I had a problem, I really wanted to quit, and I tried hard to quit… and I kept ignoring myself and using anyway.
I ended up finally succeeding in staying clean after like 5 or 6 relapses, with each clean period lasting longer than the previous. Now I’ve been clean for a little over 8 years.
I haven’t felt powerless or helpless since.
Here’s my advice. Put one foot in front of the other and walk forwards. Just take it a day at a time and worry about what’s immediately in front of you.
Wow, that’s hard. Great job!
I’m sorry you’re dealing with a mystery health condition, and especially so young. I’ve been through much the same. Eventually, gradually, you come to get used to how your body works now and health(/death) isn’t always at the forefront of your mind. Hobbies and distractions do help, even something as simple a reading, watching movies, listening to audiobooks, bird-watching, whatever works best for you.
I would also recommend that you measure your heart rate and blood pressure while lying down versus while standing up. This is how I found out that I have postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) – which is a long name that means, essentially, my body cannot properly regulate my heart rate, causing it to skyrocket when I’m not laying down. It’s not an uncommon condition, but it is one that most medical professionals will not think of to test for.
Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I’ll take a look at POTS!
If you’ve had covid, it’s done a number on some young people’s cardiovascular systems. I know a person in their 20s who was very healthy, got covid, and was shortly after diagnosed with POTS. I’ve heard of several other people being diagnosed with POTS after getting covid.
All the alcoholism in both sides of my family, and I’m fretting about my liver, when I’m taking less than the recommended dose of a prescribed medication that could change my life if I could take more.
And I’m on a COPD inhaler and I’ve never touched any death sticks at all.
Life isn’t fair, I 100% feel you.
I also literally felt you when they put me on amitriptyline and that gave me hbp and they kept trying to act like it wasn’t that big a deal- that with all my other health problems, my blood pressure would start getting off, and I’d have stress, yadda yadda.
It really does feel physically horrible, especially the headaches and sleep issues.
My biggest advice is to never be afraid about a second- or third or fourth opinion with your health, and be gentle but persistent with your goals.
Its the art of pushing without breaking.
Now, this is the experience for me and some unhealthy overachievers, so take the following with a grain of salt:
A lot of times people with underlying health issues actually function their whole lives by pushing until they crash, but hide their crash, and just assume everyone else hides the meltdowns/16-hour sleeps/weekly puke sessions/etc too.
If that happens to describe you, then you’re going to need to get comfortable with giving just 25% effort in a lot of things until you can safely figure out how to actually not hurt yourself.
I’m serious.
Step out of your skin, and treat yourself as you would your precious little sibling or something. Dote on yourself.
Aaand I’ve typed too much. It gets my own stuff going. But good luck.
Thank you for your honest advice and straightforward approach, it’s really helpful. I’ll definitely take a moment to reconsider things that might have slipped my mind but affect my health.
Typing to much means you really care about others! Thanks a lot for that!
And as for hobbies, try needle felting if you feel dangerous.
stabbing is fun, and its not about precision, just the aggregation of effort.
Now. For the last decade, honestly.
I’m not an nihilist, I’m the opposite of that. But facing my own mortality every second of life has hit me hard.
My sibling, You are not alone in living in constant terror of medical maladies that doctors have no interest in pursuing further than symptomatic treatment.
I am in the same boat. I have seen half a dozen doctors, all at great personal expense cause I dont have insurance, and been in the ER dozens times in the past 10 years.
and all I have is a handwave and “its probably anxiety”. Sure, I have anxiety. I have anxiety cause my heart rates over 200 for no reason. because my chest feels like an elephants sitting on it. because it feels like a flaming fist has Kali-Ma’d its way into my chest and is squeezing down in my heart. The anxiety didnt cause that shit. That shit caused the anxiety.
As proven when they stick that big beautiful syringe of Ativan or other powerful anxiety med in my IV and I go off to no-fucks given land, yet all my symptoms stay. Just now I dont care anymore cause I’m floating on rainbows amidst femboy angels.
But hey, my cardiac enzymes are good, and my EKG is clean (despite the 200bpm) so it just must all be in my head.
Now I’ve had a flare up of ulcerative colitis for most of the year and I was in hospital about a month ago and discharged after 6 days which was a month ago. I’m now back in hospital because my disease didn’t improve at home and now it looked like I was responding to the treatment in hospital but things are going they way they went after I was discharged so fuck knows what they’ll do. I’ve a specialist nurse in charge of my general care and a consultant who calls the shots on the treatment. The nurse wants me on a medication that’s taken as an IV ASAP and the consultant wants me to take the previous prescribed medication that hasn’t worked despite working in 48 hours according to the manufacturer. So as the current treatment probably won’t work I fucking hope that the consultant don’t just decide “eh fuck it, let’s just open up his bowel and give the fucker a stoma bag”
I’m not in the US by the way I’m the UK and the NHS where I live is actually pretty good and the staff in general is great I’m the hospital I’m in and my nurse is great. I just don’t really like my consultant as any time he’s seen me in hospital it’s only for a minute asking how I’ve been and then he fucks off. It’s like he’s not interested in really finding out things in depth whereas the nurse and I will discuss things and she’ll explain why certain foods are harmful for me during a flare and how to work around that and she’ll explain the medication I’m on.
Yuck. I’ve had gastric issues for so long. I wish you a speedy and full recovery.
I wish I just had gastric issues. IBD is basically inflammation of the bowel that’s caused by the immune system being in overdrive so basically the immune system is attacking the bowel. So it causes frequent need for the toilet in my case between 10 times to 20 times a day, I’ve had a temporary form of arthritis that caused swelling on my feet, I regularly suffer anemia and all the symptoms with that, I’ve lost weight, I was a UK large in clothes and now they’re baggy as fuck on me so I could be a small now, I end up with no appetite so I end up going days without eating or only eating a sandwich, I regularly haven’t slept for a months because I have to get up every hour for the toilet and with IBD when you need to go you need to go no, there’s no such thing as holding it. It’s also a chronic illness/disease so I’ll have to live with it the rest of my life.
Not to be one of those guys but have you tried cannabis for your symptoms? I have a friend with what you describe who I know treats all the symptoms effectively with a small bit of cannabis (vaped, pure) that means mostly he’s fine day to day. Also it’s legal in the UK, as you would be eligible for a medical prescription; it costs a bit and isn’t the best quality from all I’ve seen but you can always get whatever as long as you keep a prescription pot on you.
Marcus Aurelius was helpful to me - don’t be sad about the things you’ve lost, be grateful about what you’ve gained. He was specifically talking about the loss of a child. Some people are angry at God because he took away their child to soon. We should be grateful for even the short amount of time we had with that child. I have been able to apply it to so many other situations as well. Just living in constant gratitude can make your life so much better.
I also believe that philosophy could be invaluable during times like these, offering us new perspectives on life’s challenges. Thanks a bunch for your suggestion!
Lately I’ve felt helpless in that I can’t seem to get out of this rut. Other times in my life that I can think of was when I was getting paid minimum wage and couldn’t pay the debt I was dumb and racked up many years ago. Another time was when I was in an abusive relationship that I didn’t understand that I could end.
I’m sure there are many others but those stand out to me at the moment.
Hey, look at all you’ve come through! Sometimes life is just "meh " The important things is, you’re showing up. That’s glorious!
