da_667Mar 28

Well-deserved vacation this week, along side my wife, who is on spring break.

I'll be meeting the new nephrologist on Tuesday, and on Monday, talking about re-adjusting one of my medications with my primary doctor.

One of the pills I take for blood pressure management, Losartan, has some powerful side effects. If I stand up too fast, it causes mini-blackouts/disorientation that takes a few seconds to recover from. Also there's some recorded side effects of the pill causing muscle fatigue.

However, it may also be one of the things protecting my kidneys and preventing an even more rapid downward slide with CKD so, I guess we'll see what comes on Monday.

Show threadFxChiPMar 28

@da_667 they just put me on losartan too

are you me, dude? (no, you can't be; you seem to be sticking to it much better than I am 😄 (intended as compliment))

Show threadda_667Mar 28

@fxchip its unfortunate that its taken so much damage to my body to motivate me to finally do better.

I also can't say that I'm a fan of getting micro blackouts/disoriented every time I stand up, but... I was on minoxidil about a month or two ago as well, and they finally told me to discontinue that.

that was really causing my muscles to fatigue really quick.

Show threadda_667Mar 28
@fxchip it gets better as you progress, but I honestly believe that they'll probably be adjusting my dosage because my average BP is like... 90/100 is over like 55/56 on a given day. It feels like its too low at this point.
Show threadFritz AdalisMar 28
@da_667 @fxchip
This happened to me too, I was on three different bp meds and barely controlled. I lost ~30 lbs on GLPs, and if I bent over and stood up i'd wake up on the floor. Now I'm on the minimum dose of one and it's mostly controlled.
Show threadda_667

@FritzAdalis @fxchip yeah, that was my struggle. I have no idea how bad my BP was and for what amount of time. All I know is that I got a concussion last February, my BP spiked to somewhere over 200+ over 100, they confirmed that the concussion was mild, then kept me for like 4-5 days trying to figure out what combo would work to get my BP down.

I ended up on about 4 medications, and also did some sleep studies and found out I had REALLY bad sleep apnea. I got a c-pap machine in the hospital, and between the meds, and that, my bp finally started going down. then 10 months later, my primary doctor got access to my kidney filtration numbers, and told me I got CKD. At last check that was at stage 3. Which, is manageable with extremely careful diet and exercise.

Between GLP-1, diet, and a consistent workout routine, I'm 61lbs down as of this morning.

I wish you luck in your journey. Losartan is a motherfucker.

Mar 28 at 3:13amWeb
Show threadFritz AdalisMar 28
@da_667 @fxchip
61 pounds! You're a hero.
Show threadFxChiPMar 28

@da_667
@FritzAdalis

Admittedly Losartan doesn't feel like it has actually affected me all that much -- but then again, knowing about this side effect kind of puts into perspective why me walking around a museum felt rougher than I thought it probably should have. (Although I did also make my body a microbiome thunderdome with 4 vaccinations the day prior)

I do gotta start walking and eating right again. But my blood levels seem generally better at least!

Show threadda_667Mar 28

@fxchip @FritzAdalis I don't want to be a nag or tell you what to do, but I promise you. Getting into the routine is the absolute worst part.

I work out six days a week, write down everything I plant to eat for the day, me and the wife plan out what we're cooking for dinner each week now. Getting into that routine was a pain in the ass.

I use Obsidian to take my daily notes, and what's nice is that once I know the macros (mainly concerned with sodium and calories right now), Obsidian has a searchable index of your previous files, so I can look up any item I've eaten before much easier.

Having access to online grocery sites like walmart, and whatnot is super convenient for planning what foods are doable and which ones are straight up nope/blue moon items.

I started with like 20 minutes of activity a day, and after 15 minutes I would have to pause because my back and calf muscles would lock up. Got up to 35 minutes, then 45 minutes, and just cut the workouts up into a 20 minute, 15, and 10 minute block. If you're curious, I use leslie sansone's cardio walking youtube videos, mute the volume, put on my music, and just work out at my desk, just following with the visual cues. Its very light and manageable cardio and lets you experience a wide range of motion when you're doing the routine.

A lot of people will tell you that you have to do the cardio all at once, but you really don't. Getting any of the activity is better than doing nothing. Fuck the haters.