Do I have a problem?
I am 61 years old, about 5 KG (11 Lb) overweight, smoke far too much, and eat all of the "bad" cr@p because it tastes good. I don't drink, and walk about 20 Km per day, up to 40 Km in London. I usually don't exceed 20 Km in the deep Moscow winters.
My boringly typical and consistant resting BP is 115/78 with Pulse Rate 60. I take no medication.
With my 61st birthday and mandatory Stress ECG coming up, I expected a problem on the tread-mill because of a fairly badly strained ankle about 3 weeks earlier. I requested a normal medical with ECG, and a deferment of the Stress ECG for 1 week to allow for my ankle to recover - NO DEAL!
Recalling other earlier experiences, I drank 6 cups of coffee and smoked half a packet of fags prior to the "fun run". I was TRYING to raise my Pulse / BP.
Resting BP and pulse were as expected, LOW - Hell and Damnation!
After 30 minutes, at an ever increasing tread-mill speed, I enquired how were my parameters. My ankle was really starting to hurt.
"BP is 120/85 and Pulse is 139"
"What is the Target?, asked I, the victim of latter day torture.
"When your Pulse Rate is 180 we'll take the ECG and BP readings" answered Irma Griese reborn.
The torture machine was now at maximum speed. I thought of my ex-wife, arguing with my present wife, making love with my mistress, and concentrated fully on the pain in my foot. Maybe a bit of psychological stimulation would do it.
At 45 minutes I asked
"How's Progress?"
"BP is still 120/85 but your Pulse Rate has dropped to 136", replied Irma.
I put it to Irma that as I was obviously not out of breath as we were having a normal conversation, my Pulse and BP refused to rise any further, I hadn't raised a drop of sweat, and my ankle was now in
EXTREME pain, could we terminate the test without compromising the test result? We were at the 50 minute mark. A quick phone call to the Cardiologist (aka Josef Mengele), resulted in termination of the test.
Now, whilst I have written this post in a conversational tone, all of it is true.
My sincere question to those medically qualified respondants is "Do I have a problem? Maybe Hypotension?" It
DOES concern me, as I am at the stage in life where pre-emptive measures in approaching geriatric management make a lot of sense.
FYI, Torture in Singapore (caning) is legal (ask Amnesty International).
Regards,
Old Smokey