More Fun With The TSA

Having successfully met the challenge of disinterested TSA employees carefully reading from prepared, and dreadfully dull, scripts, I went in for the required physical.

Now, I've been told by more than one doctor that I have high blood pressure, and I also have white coat induced high blood pressure. That is, my slightly high blood pressure skyrockets when I go to the doctor.

So: the nurse takes my blood pressure. 140 over 100. She's disturbed. Some time later, the doctor takes my blood pressure. 160 over 110. She's terribly concerned. Aside from that white coat induced HBP, I couldn't help but think that my experiences during the physical -- for example, when the nurse shut me in a booth for a hearing test and forgot that I was there -- made a significant contribution to that horribly high reading. The doctor thought not.

It should be noted that medical professionals saying, "Now, relax," as they strap that cuff around your arm for the fourth time and once again inflate it 'til it's so tight your fingers tingle, are not contributing to a relaxed state of mind.

Now I have medication. Three different pills to take each morning.

I realize the warning was placed on the label to reassure the consumer, but when I read a reminder about how my doctor prescribed the medication because the threat to my health is greather than the effects of the side effects, well, it doesn't exactly make me feel at ease.

When I read the potential side effects (dizziness, headaches, blurred vision, slurred speech, uncontrollable vomiting -- oh, and/or vomit that looks like coffee grounds, weakness, less urine, more urine, dark urine, yellow face, yellow eyes... to name a few) I'm left wondering about how worthwhile these drugs are.