About ten years ago, a doctor suggested I start taking blood pressure medication (also medication for cholesterol and blood sugar management). My blood pressure was not high – I discovered at the time that blood pressure considered high in the U.S. is not considered high anywhere else in the modern world, where pharmaceuticals do not set health policy – but the doctor though it was wise to take medications in a preventive way, the same reason he wanted me on stamins.
It did not make sense to me to take medication for a problem that might occur but had not yet – I know this does make sense for many millions of people. I said no. I am not on any prescription medications, I do take some holistic medications for blood sugar and other things. Six or seven times a year, I go to see a naturopath and we go over my health and diet. This week, I went and as always, had my blood pressure taken. It was excellent, it was the lowest and healthiest it has been for five years, considerably less than when I was tested ten years ago.
I work to take care of my health, I am active, I have studied nutrition very carefully, I am very conscious of what I eat. My doctor frightened me ten years ago, he told me if I did not take this blood pressure medication – once you start, you can’t safely go off of it – I was likely to die of a heart attack or stroke. I had the presence of mind at the time to tell him that he was also likely to die of a heart attack or stroke, most people do. He did not answer me.
What is the point of this story? That I am wise, and the reset of the world is not? That doctors are evil? That all medications are wrong?
No, that would be arrogant and self-serving. The point of the story is I am responsible for my health care and my health care decisions. I am glad I gave myself the opportunity to learn, change my lifestyle, understand what health is. I read about blood pressure and the great confusion about what it is, what causes it and how to treat it. My doctor told me about none of these options or uncertainties.
I am glad I did not listen to him, that I gave myself a chance. I am on no prescription medications, I am not on statins either, and happy to be conscious of my health and taking good care of myself. My naturopath did some blood work and my cholesterol is not high either. I am happy to not be talking about my health all the time, not running each month or week to doctor’s offices and pharmacies. Not living in fear of all these tests, feeling the effects of all these pills, monitoring myself day and night. I spent a lot of time worrying how I was going to die, and I have decided instead to worry about how I am going to live.
I was terrified to defy these conventional ideas about what we must do, the blizzard of warnings and alarms and freights that many doctors employ to make us feel dumb and helpless. We live in a world of warning and alarm, there is little respect for the natural order of life and death. I am choosing how I wish to live and even beginning to see that it is wonderful sometimes to trust your own instincts. Sometimes I am wrong, but sometimes I am right.