2010 was an amazing year for me. It started off with failing a physical at the tender age of 33. My blood pressure was through the roof and my doctor wanted to give me medicine. I thought NO WAY! I'm 'arfin' 33 years old, that's crazy. Plus, I didn't want to take a pill where my symptoms would be masked giving me the perfect excuse to keep doing whatever stupid habit I was doing which caused the problems in the first place. Damn us humans, our "human condition" is unbelievably lame! I say that without looking from a distance, I say it being intertwined within it like everyone else.
So, I immediately began tracking my food intake. I realized that my diet had far too many calories and my sodium levels where around 4000-5000mg of daily intake! YIPES! Thus, I "woke up and smelled the cement." I started a regular exercise regimen and ate better. Go figure, diet and exercise. Did I mention "Human Condition?" LOL. My doctor and I also found out that my Vitamin D and Potassium was extremely low and my Magnesium was in the lower region of normal. So, I researched supplements and now take a very basic, but effective (and Dr. approved) regimen. I also changed my diet to include the nutrients necessary rather than, again, taking a pill and keeping my crappy habits.
Come September I had lost 40lbs, my BP was back to where it was since I was 17 and I was able to do things physically that I hadn't been able to in years! (Come to later figure out, it depends on the temperature what my knees can and cannot handle). I was actively dating and meeting great new people. I HAD ACTUALLY KEPT MY NEW YEARS RESOLUTION!! WOOT!
So, kick ass! I was having an amazing year so far. But, suddenly things became blurry. Not until the beginning of the New Year did things come back into focus. Not necessarily for a bad reason, but for a reason where those who came in and out of my life from September to December met the opposite of me.
Since birth, I have always had this heart thing where it would race, without warning most times, for no reason at all. Sometimes, I would throw PVC's. Both symptoms have always scared the crap out of me. This fear obviously would make it worse and last longer by causing an adrenaline rush. I went to doctor's and had numerous tests as well as landing in the ER where I was in trigeminy. All was found to be benign. But, I had found a medicine that really helped with the symptoms and lessoned them massively. It was a med that I had no problem taking everyday so as to not experience that hell. Plus, nothing else had worked.
Now, fast forward again to September/October 2010. Figuring out the levels of Potassium and Magnesium and changing my diet had virtually stopped all symptoms that I had with my heart! Plus, adding Vitamin D, I felt better than I had in a long time! I love my doctor and she and I had teamed up to make a life altering change for the better in me! I wish all those other doctor's had been keen to check my blood for those issues long ago. So, with all of this fantastic news and experiences, I thought "hmmm, maybe I don't need to take 'that' medicine anymore which helped with my heart symptoms in the first place!" To me, it made complete sense... and how awesome would it be to get off of a daily medication! Right on, right? ... Well, wrong. And I didn't realize it till very late. I went cold turkey off of this med. Little did I know that you weren't supposed to do that at all! I really didn't notice it as it was a gradual decline, but I went into a deep depression (yes, side-effect of cold turkey). I was jaded, pessimistic and overly-sensitive.
In the middle of December, It took a couple of friends of mine to sit me down and figuratively kick me in my head! I had left a trail of contempt behind me and wasn't fun to be around. So, I did my best to clear my head and realized they were right. I had stopped all of the beneficial health habits I had picked up and gained 5lbs back. I was eating crap, feeling like crap, and was numb to everything. I was feeling nothing at all. So, one of my best friends, Todd, and I talked and were able to ascertain the one constant was the medication. I was hopeful that conclusion was to solve this problem. But, I had to make sure. I realized that there were some amazing people I had met, some I dated, some potential good friends and some old friends I had burned. So, if it wasn't the meds and it was something else, I didn't want to make the situations worse by jumping the gun and starting my apologizing tour of 2010 too early. I knew that I had to be on the medication again for at least 2-weeks to a month for things to take affect and for me to ascertain whether it truly solved the problem.
Well, here I am within the time frame and the fog I had waded through in pain has lifted. Again, with the help from amazing friends, we had figured it out. And, with this perspective, I have learned an amazing amount about my actions and regrets I have from them. So, as 2011 has taken its reign, I know I need to try to put things right as much as I possibly can. Thus, onwards I will now go. Wish me luck!
UPDATE:
What is great about this post is I wrote the above in late December/early January. But, I had to wait until my Sam Beckett approach to trying to put right that which once went wrong came to a conclusion. Since then, I have been extremely lucky to at least put rights to many of those who I affected. Some, not so much... but that's life and in the scope of things, this is just a blip. It's funny, I think I did my own 12 step program! hehe. Again, I quote my great friend Kyle... "seconds after the darkest of nights, is the first of light."
So 2011 has started out pretty darn great as well! So, please raise a glass with me as I toast: "Here is to you, your passions, your plight, and human conditions. May they bring you faith, hope, love and inner-strength. May the rhythm of your hearts and music in your souls sing loudly and proudly. And, if they stumble or stutter, may those around you help to lift you back up as you would do for those around you!"
Blessings Abundant,
Chad
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Author: Chad Beall
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