Blood pressure
 

Last night at work I was getting dizzy and felt like I was going to blackout. I thought it was maybe because I didn’t eat much.

Fast forward to today, I felt this way several times during my shift. My head would suddenly feel warm, I’d feel dizzy, and felt as if I was going to lose consciousness.

I went to see the company nurse. She monitored my vitals for an hour. My blood pressure readings were normal. Well, the diastolic reading was slightly elevated, but that has become the new normal for me.
The systolic readings were considered good, but for me they were lower than usual.

Laying down vs standing there was a difference of around 10 mmHg. I don’t recall which was higher, laying or standing.

The nurse stated that my heart was beating harder while standing, not faster, harder- as if it is trying to compensate for something going on in my body.

I had to fess up to slamming energy drinks during my shifts because I don’t get any natural sleep. The last 2 weeks have been pretty bad for me.

My supervisor came in to check on me. The nurse told him that she is not comfortable sending me back onto the floor, but she couldn’t make the decision to send me home because the difference in bp readings were not too extreme.
My supervisor allowed me to go home.

I covet your prayers while I navigate through this mess.

Re: Blood pressure
 

Sometimes being dehydrated can make you dizzy. Energy drinks are dehydrating. When I'm not sleepy, I listen to the Bible or an audio book till I fall asleep.

Re: Blood pressure
 

Praying for you. I had to quit all caffeine years ago. I used to drink 1 to 2 2 liters of Mountain Dew every day. Wound up in the ER thinking i was having a stroke. i had palpitations and felt dizzy, basic panic attack symptoms. Everything checked out fine except my blood pressure was through the roof (the traige nurse told me i need to calm down and relax or I was likely to have a stroke right there before I even got see a doctor). Anyway the doc told me a lot of guys my age were presenting with similar symptoms, and it was from overuse of caffeine.

Now, I can't even do decaf tea, I can feel the miniscule amounts of caffeine, makes me slightly jittery. (Either that or it's psychological.) Either way, after quitting caffeine cold turkey it took me about a year to get back to "normal". Kept having "episodes" of tachycardia, palpitations, dizziness, a feeling of increasing pressure in my head, heart skipping beats, etc. Things have calmed down quite a bit since then (this was like two decades ago). Stress also plays a BIG part in it all.

Now I box. For the last year I've been training about 5 days a week consistently, previously I would do like 2 or 3 days a week. Also went mostly carnivore (I still cheat every now and then). Since then, my health has improved dramatically. Not as achy and sore as I used to be. My energy levels are more steady and not up and down like they used to be when I ate a lot of carbs. Lost about 20 pounds since January (went from 160 to 140 something depending on when I eat and time of day etc). Still losing body fat while getting more toned and firm. Boxing works muscles I never knew existed lol. Lots of burpees , jump rope, and footwork drills also burn fat pretty good.

Of course, my thumb is a bit busted right now and I developed a corn on my foot from running, but hey such is life. :)

Re: Blood pressure
 

I don’t know how I will push through with a crash. When I say crash, I mean pretty much a walking corpse.

Re: Blood pressure
 

Why do you think you will crash? Because you can't sleep? Or because of caffeine withdrawal?

Re: Blood pressure
 

Both, but mostly caffeine withdrawal. I tried going without caffeine about a month ago. Not even half way through my shift I was a complete zombie.
It was very noticeable. One of the supervisors asked if I was ok.

Re: Blood pressure
 

Should you wean off it gradually? And drink lots of water to flush out your system and stay hydrated.

Re: Blood pressure
 

That’s probably a good idea.

Re: Blood pressure
 

Although I had to quit cold turkey, you may have to wean yourself off it. I had the same experience getting off cokes (Sprite, 7-Up, Fanta)and sugary drinks. if I just stopped and went to drinking water only, I had no energy and got lots of headaches. So I had to cut down over a period of several weeks to a month, until i could do without.

Of course I later decided a cold 7-Up or Gatorade every now and then was a good thing. :)

Re: Blood pressure
 

I can attest to the benefits of going carnivore.
Last year while deer hunting, my brother in law told me he had started it. I had not really heard of it, so I did some research, the pro and the cons of it. I decided to try it for 30 days, and I was feeling better, so I thought I would try it for 90 days.

I was feeling much better as I was sleeping much better, less groggy in the morning, my energy level was much higher, and my mental clarity had improved substantially, not to mention, so excess weight was being shed.
Oct 16th was 1 year since I started, and at this point, I can see no reason to going back to the high-carb, high-sugar diet of a "normal" diet.

I went from 241 pounds and now I am holding at 190 pounds, and feel great. I am 6'3" so I went from slightly plump, to slim, and on this diet, I didn't go hungry to get here, as I eat all and as much as I want during my meal.