Community Discussions

Folks---I have been doing quite well up to about a week ago.  Now for some reason, about every other day I have to take a couple of emergency pills to control my blood pressure.  It just starts climbing and my regular medicine won,t bring it down.    It seems my regularly prescribed medicine , my Cardiologist prescribed, is not doing it,s job.   Makes me sweat it out for 2 or 3 hours until my emergency pill, Clonidine, starts working.  Please pray for me and ask the almighty God to help my Drs, and the medicine to regulate this problem.  I feel good and am gradually gaining my strength but I need some help---Thank you all and may the almighty God bless you and your family and keep you, now and always--Your friend Will

How's Devon, Scooter and Fluffy doing Will?

Will

 

Something else to think about.  Some sadness and “blues” can be a very normal part of the recovery process, especially when you have had to restrict some of the activities you so enjoy as you get your strength back, especially for people who are used to being active like you .  And I think knowing that feeling sad, sometimes seemingly for no reason, can be a very normal part of your recovery, helps ease things a little too….knowing that what you are feeling is very, very normal and that it will pass.  If you are struggling with it, talk to your doctor about it too….some doctors tend to focus so much on the physical part of recovery they forget about the other part (the emotional and mental part of recovery) which to me is just as important. 

 

Just something else to consider and so you know that what you are going through is very normal. 

 

Keeping you in my prayers Will

 

Paula

Paula--I think you are right and I appreciate your kind words---Will

take good care Will...

there are a lot of good people here wishing you the best.

Sherri and i are are hoping you will be better soon too.

later chris 

Hi Will,

You are in my prayers.

What you are going through (as Chris said) is normal. I bet that after you figured it out from Chris's post, your anxiety level dropped down quite a bit. So now it's less fuel for the fire. Just keep on top of your BP checks and you should be fine with the meds at hand.

Take care.

-Patrick-

pecanmanwill wrote:

I am glad my words were able to help you Will.  I can say this, I know our prayers will.  Even the American Medical Association (AMA) has admitted through studies that prayer helps people.  They don't understand how but they now accept that it does and many doctors today encourage prayer by patients and their family and friends. 

I have been following you as best I can Will and from what I have been reading you are doing simply fantastic.  Heck I am hard pressed to think of someone who has been through what you have been through and DID NOT have variations in their blood pressure at times. 

Again you relax and hang in there, your body is just figuring things out again.  You are going to be just fine.

C

Dear Will,
Our continued prayers are with you.
As you know far better then I, in unsteady times a good Bible verse gives us strength to keep pressing on.
Here is one I know you already know and love.....

"Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious in nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."   Philippians chapter 4, verses 5-6

Between Chris's good advice, your good Dr's care, and the prayers of those who you have been a blessing to, you cannot help but to have only good days ahead of you.

I pray that someday I could be half the man of God as you have shown yourself to be..........we are all enriched by your friendship, and you can bet you have our prayers.


Keep us posted Will,

In His grip of Grace,

Frank D.

I did not know that the AMA decided to accept prayer.  That's just plain great. 

Yes, the exact studies escape me now.  They don't understand it but they admit that patient's that have faith, pray, have family and friends pray for them have better outcomes, get better faster and have a more positive attitude than those that do not. 

C

These are just a few articles from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the first is just a portion, the other two are complete.  There are many more in this and other medical journals, these are just what I was able to quickly find tonight....I had to cut and paste them as three different posts as I could not get them to cut and paste together correctly.

Relationships between mental health and strong faith, devout prayer, and religious socialization may have consequences that are far-reaching and perhaps greatly underestimated. Religious involvement is associated with improved attendance at scheduled medical appointments,³⁸ greater cooperativeness,³⁷ better compliance,^39-41 and improved medical outcomes.^42-43 A number of well-designed prospective studies have found that those who are more religious or spiritual have lower blood pressure,⁴⁴ fewer cardiac events,⁴⁵ possible regression of coronary artery obstruction,⁴⁶ better results following heart surgery,⁴³ and longer survival in general.^47-48

Pathways exist to help explain why religious beliefs and practices like prayer could influence physical as well as mental health. Sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve tracks connect thoughts and emotions in the brain to the circulatory system, coronary arteries, lymph nodes, bone marrow, and spleen.^49-50 If religious beliefs and prayer help patients cope better with illness and result in less stress, anxiety, and depression and greater social support, then they may counteract stress-related physiological changes that impair healing. Preliminary evidence suggests that religious involvement may be related to stronger immune functioning^51-54 and lower cortisol levels.^{51, 53} Religious involvement is also associated with less substance abuse (98/120 studies), less cigarette smoking (23/25 studies), and more exercise (3/5 studies), which adds to the health effects of social and cognitive factors.¹ Although randomized clinical trials that demonstrate causality are lacking, such studies are now under way among patients with breast cancer and will soon be undertaken in patients with congestive heart failure.