Stress attack?

Monday afternoon, I had a bit of a stressful day. In fact, at one point, I got so agitated that I practically fell back into my chair and couldn’t breathe (hyperventilation? I dunno). My colleagues were a little worried about me. I caught my breath and went home.

Tuesday afternoon, I didn’t feel very well at work. I left around 5pm and, on the way home, started having chest pains and dizziness. In fact, I considered pulling over and calling 911, but decided that would be an overreaction and got home. But I pulled into the driveway, honked a few times until my wife came out of the front door, and asked her to help me inside, where I immediately lay down on the couch to rest.

After a bit, she and my sister-in-law (a nurse) decided to take me to the ER, where they ran an EKG, blood work, chest X-ray, etc., all of which came up clean.

Wednesday, I had a stress test, which didn’t show anything particularly worrying although I lasted nowhere nearly as long as they would have liked.

I think my core issue here is stress. My job puts a lot of pressure on me by its nature, and I need to deal with it better physically and mentally. That obviously needs to include exercise and for me to continue to improve my eating habits. Those have gotten significantly better but I wouldn’t yet call them good.

Not sure yet what this will mean.

Continuing health improvements

As an update to last month, I wanted to note that at this point I have lost fifteen (15!) pounds. I exercise regularly and have changed what I eat. My cholesterol is down to 182 (HDL 38, LDL 123), and my triglycerides are at 105.

I’m feeling better, wearing clothes I haven’t been able to wear in a while, and seeing myself differently. The death of a dear family friend at the age of 49 from a heart attack on New Year’s Eve has affected me in a number of ways, and this includes cementing my motivation to counteract the effect of my sedentary job by exercising regularly.

Weight loss kicked off

It started when I had my life insurance medical exam in November and came in eight pounds heavier than I expected (which was already heavier than I need).

Then, a few weeks ago, the 47-year-old father of a friend had a heart attack and ended up having a double bypass this week.

I need to lose weight, to get healthy. I don’t really care about looking good, but rather feeling good. I want to be around for my grandchildren someday, to set a good example for my kids so that they learn healthy habits, to feel like I should feel. So I joined a gym this week and started eating better several weeks ago. I’ve lost four pounds already; my short-term goal is 24 (to get back to 200 pounds), then to get down to 175. I probably should lose more from there but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

Caffeine usage edging back up

Against my doctor’s wishes and my own better judgment, my caffeine usage is edging back up. It started before this job, but commuting earlier in the morning has had an effect on me. So where I was down to one or two cups a day, now I’m regularly drinking three or four. While this is still a lot lower than before, it’s more than I should be drinking. Caffeine has a significant impact on stress levels and such, but fundamentally I just like to drink it. The afternoon pickmeup is also really helpful and sometimes even semi-necessary.

So now I need to come up with some strategies to deal with this. Thoughts are appreciated.

This post written on my mobile in Starbucks.