Learning, learning, and more learning

Have you ever woken up and just not seemed yourself?  Now keep in mind,  I had already had my morning meeting with the little yellow fellow,  and gave him plenty of time to complete one simple task.   Twenty minutes is the usual  amount of time it takes to kick in.  Apparently, this isn't going to be the case all of the time.  Forty five minutes after ingesting the first of five pills for the day, I began to loosen up. It's rather hard to explain to someone how it feels without the meds.  One of the doctors had told me, that once I started taking them, it would be hard to live without.  I agree.  Once I stood up, I felt really light headed.  I didn't fear passing out, it was more like a really bad hangover.  When I sat back down it began to feel better.  I did this whole up and down things probably ten times, before being able to function.

This book above has become a handy companion.  It is just what it says, questions and answers about Parkinson's.  It helped me this morning.  Apparently what was happening to me was that my blood pressure was dropping when I stood up.  Because of gravity, your blood tends to pool in the veins of your legs when you stand up. Your body responds to this pooling by increasing your heart rate and squeezing or constricting the blood vessels to send the blood to your brain and other vital organs. If you have orthostatic hypotension, something interferes with your body's response. Instead of increasing, your blood pressure falls 20 or more points when you stand up or when you sit up after lying down.
 Now,  I was very appreciative for my little hand guide to life for letting me in on this little tid bit of information.  I wasn't happy to read, that a simple solution to this is to wear support socks.  For fuck sake, I'm not even forty yet, and I need support socks?  Is anyone out there not familiar with these lovely little things?  Well, here's a picture for you.

Aren't those about the sexiest things you have ever seen?  I didn't want any of my friends to get jealous, but just so you know, I have an over the top black and blue boot that goes on my right foot as well.  Oh yea, I am rocking that post op boot.  I have visions of dressing these darling things up with the cutest little skirt I have had hanging in my closet for months. 

What, you don't think they come in other colors?  Oh, your worried about the heels.  Yes indeed, I would probably have to sport this with a cute pair of  flats.  Do you think Sarah has a problem with her blood pressure as well?
My pocket pal also gave me these suggestions.

 * Don't sit with your legs crossed.
* Stand up slowly after you have been sitting.
* Sit up slowly after you have been lying down, and sit on the side of the bed for a few minutes before standing to let your body adjust to the new position.
* Use blocks to raise the head of your bed about 10 to 20 degrees.

Well, the first one is not really a problem.  The stiffness is my right leg would never allow it to cross the left.
Second, stand up slowly?  Really, The last time I jumped up, I did a bellyflop on the floor of the hospital.
Third,  again jumping out of bed hasn't been a problem, and sitting there for a few, well that's a given.
Fourth,  I am not putting cinder blocks on my new bedroom floor.  I worked way to hard on that.
I did find where you can get risers for your bed.  They look something like this

Now that I could live with.  I keep picturing all the dogs sliding to the end of the bed. It would probably be wise to get accustomed to flannel sheets, I don't think satin sheets are in my near future.  Thanks to my little book, today has been an ok day.