Blood Pressure Miracle

About 6 weeks ago, I was at a routine doctor's appointment and the medical assistant took my blood pressure and it was 107/55. I smiled and said she must have made a mistake. Ignoring my comment, she smiled and left me alone in the inner office awaiting my doctor. It wasn't significant enough to even mention to Dr. Harvey and we continued with my examination. He ordered an IV Iron supplement for me and I began a 5 visit regiment. Each time I went for iron, my blood pressure was surprisingly low for me. My usual reading was somewhere around 150-160/80 and that was with medications. It had been that way since my heart surgery in 2005 and actually a contributing factor for the surgery. 

Next I decided it was just a lark or trend and soon it would go back up. Here it is 2 months later and I just took my BP and it was 107/52. With a smile on my face, I walked over to the computer to share my findings with the world, or at least the 10 people that read this. (mostly family and friends)

Right around the time that my blood pressure dropped down to almost normal levels, I did make a significant change in my lifestyle. I gave up coffee. Not because anyone told me to or because I was experiencing any negative effects from it, but because I was tired of being dependent upon it. It became more trouble than it was worth to me. I drank it for many years with milk and sugar and frankly, the only reason I ever bought milk was for the coffee. The milk would go sour before I ever got to the end of the carton and I was forced to go to the grocery store, a fate worse than death, just for milk for my coffee. Finally, I'd had enough of this dependency and quit cold turkey! Honestly, I never missed the coffee OR the high blood pressure. 

My first reaction was to research the effect of caffeine on blood pressure and there were no findings that indicated it should do anything to BP, other than a short increase with excessive use, but only for about an hour after consuming it. In other words, my reaction to the elimination of caffeine was a friggin' miracle! I called Dr. Harvey and he was seemingly elated too. He explained that coffee normally would not have that effect on BP, but everyone is different. With a smile on my face, I said, "I'll take it"!