High blood pressure

Two and a half months ago, I wrote "Of course, I also have to monitor my blood pressure: if it starts rising then I will have to see my GP who will recommend new medication. It will be very easy to see whether his [the cardiologist] opinion is correct.". Well, the swelling in my legs disappeared after a few days but my blood pressure shot up and these days is around 160/100, which is far too high!

I have seen my GP a few times and she has been trying out different combinations of medications in order to reduce my blood pressure. So far, nothing seems to have worked, including the previous medication that I was taking (apart from the one that caused the swelling). In return, I've been suffering from bad headaches about every other day; sometimes my migraine medication works and reduces the headache, but more often than not I am stuck with a headache for hours. 

As a result of the combination of headaches and blood pressure, I have noticed that my level of patience has been reduced to about zero, which is making my daily work problematic. I can no longer accept the failings of my fellow workers, whether it is the noise that they make (when I am in the factory) or their inability to think for themselves.

In order to reduce this stress, I decided (along with the advice from my manager) to work a few days from home. Last night, the Israeli government decided on another lock-down to start from Sunday evening (just when I'm about to be vaccinated!) so in a sense I'm simply starting the lock-down a few days earlier. The only real advantage that I have in working in the factory is that I have easy access to a printer, but as I rarely print documents, this sole advantage is completely outweighed by all the disadvantages.

Not only that, yesterday it started raining and hasn't really stopped yet (although the rain is far from continuous). As a result, I am once again sitting by the dining room table surrounded by computers and looking out of the window at the view of the kumquat tree which is currently flowering.

Here is a picture of my view: very autumnal. At the moment, the only thing that I want to is to get rid of these headaches that might be a function of the high blood pressure (this is folk wisdom; it hasn't been proved that high blood pressure causes headaches). Once the blood pressure is lowered, there is a good chance that I will become more patient and more able to suffer the niggles of everyday life.

Of course, we will still be locked down, high blood pressure or not, so I will be saving myself the annoyances connected to my physical workplace in the factory.