Last Wednesday, I attended the pre-op' assessment and failed with a BP of 154/100. I explained that I had a very important meeting with Social Services on my mind and it was causing me much stress so I was told to get a re-test at my local surgery on Friday. As the meeting on Thursday didn't go quite as I'd hoped (case closed), my BP on Friday was 160/100. My GP upped my Amias dose from 8mg/day to 12mg/day and told me to get a re-test on Monday. I had to get my diastolic reading (the lower of the two numbers) below 90 or my op' would not take place today.
On Monday morning I tested my BP at home using my £9.99 Lloyds Pharmacy automatic BP meter (which usually gives the same reading as my GP's sphygmomanometer) and the lowest reading I could get was 135/99. Uh-oh! Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I hardly ever drink alcohol, but I had a bottle of Blossom Hill Californian Red in the cupboard for *ahem* special occasions, so I had a 250mL glass of it on an empty stomach. Woo-hoo! It went straight to my head and I felt slightly flushed. Ten minutes later, I was in the doctor's surgery having my BP tested. It was 140/86. Result! I told my GP what I'd done and he was O.K. with it. So, red wine for the win!
Before you all rush off and get hammered, here's an article from the Harvard School of Public Health about Alcohol: Balancing Risks and Benefits. The article used to contain a graph but it's been edited-out in the latest version. Luckily, I had a copy of it on my hard disk which I shall upload here.
As women have smaller livers than men, the cirrhosis graph shoots up faster for women as alcohol consumption increases beyond 1 drink per day.
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