HYPERTENSION

It's now official. I have high blood pressure. When I first got to the doctor's office, it was 155/99. Ten minutes later, it had gone down to 150/90, but still way too high. With the history of high blood pressure in my family (3 of my 4 grandparents had/have high blood pressure), I should expect to be on medicine the rest of my life. Unless I lose a "signficant amount of weight (40+ pounds)" or "become a marathon runner", there's no point to even hope.

So, I took my first Enalapril (5 mg) today. Fortunately, a 30 day supply is only $4.00. That's good. Most likely side effects are sleepiness (since I'm tired all of the time anyway--I figure that will mean I might be almost comatose anytime soon), and a dry cough.

I have to have a blood test next week to test my potassium levels, and then I go back again just after Thanksgiving to have another blood pressure check and see if my medication needs to be adjusted.

On my pill bottle it says to avoid salt substitutes. Why is that? I thought I should be avoiding salt and using a substitute...What's the deal? Anyone know? Is it better to just have the salt?