a good start is important

"Doktor, you pun boleh sakit ka?"

"I pun manusia juga"

When concerning meals, a good breakfast (or really, just any breakfast) would do you good to survive the day.

Friday mornings means Internal Medicine. There was much standing as we interviewed patients and was shown how to perform aspection/percussion and palpation on patients.

I failed to have a proper breakfast last Friday and that morning, after some standing, I started to feel cold and weak. I knew they were signs of fainting so I asked to be seated, which didn't work so I dragged myself to a nearby bench to lie down.

The good thing was, we had blood pressure measurement on the last lesson and so, our doctor was well informed about my hypotension. He assured me that I wasn't dead; "don't worry, you still have pulse. " and later, I was led to the room where patients would first enter when admitted. (It was an ICU; JIP in czech, jednotka intenzivni pece, but I wasn't an ICU patient of course.)

The nurse measured my blood pressure. First measurement was a failure, so the machine was set up another time. Guess what came out...

75/44

Yup, that number and the machine beeping away. (If you've had your medical practice, machines usually beeps away when there's abnormality with the patient or in some rare cases, malfunction of the machine).

What happened next was a series of procedures to elevate my blood pressure.

Remaining in a lying position, lift legs above heart level with the help of pillow etc. (Promote return of blood to the heart, hence increasing preload, cardiac output and blood pressure)

Drinking lotsa fluid. (Directly increasing fluid volume, and so, blood pressure).

I felt a lot better when the blood pressure was to my normal range. Guess what was my normal range...

95/66

I missed about quarter of class but Alhamdulillah for the experience and the recovery :)

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Time to build some knowledge! While we're at it, here are some things about blood pressure:

Blood pressure refers to the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and constitutes one of the principal vital signs.

The pressure of the circulating blood decreases as blood moves through arteries, arterioles, capillaries, and veins; the term blood pressure generally refers to arterial pressure, i.e., the pressure in the larger arteries, arteries being the blood vessels which take blood away from the heart.

Blood pressure is always given as two numbers - systolic pressure (when the heart beats) and diastolic pressure (when the heart relaxes). When the measurements are written down, both are written one above or before the other with the systolic being the first number.

Normal Blood Pressure - Blood pressure reading below 120/80 is considered normal.

High Blood Pressure - Blood pressure of 140/90 or higher is considered high blood pressure. If one or both numbers are usually high, you have high blood pressure.

Low Blood Pressure - Blood pressure that is too low is known as hypotension.

High Blood Pressure Range

Systolic pressure (mm Hg)	Diastolic pressure (mm Hg)	Stages of High Blood Pressure
210	120	Stage 4
180	110	Stage 3
160	100	Stage 2
140	90	Stage 1

Normal Blood Pressure Range

Systolic pressure (mm Hg)	Diastolic pressure (mm Hg)	Pressure Range
130	85	High Normal Blood Pressure
120	80	Normal Blood Pressure
110	75	Low Normal Blood Pressure

Low Blood Pressure Range (me!)

Systolic pressure (mm Hg)	Diastolic pressure (mm Hg)	Pressure Range
90	60	Borderline Low blood Pressure
60	40	Too Low Blood Pressure
50	33	Dangerously Low Blood Pressure

Yipes. The layout seems to cut off most of the table but no worries,you can read more on this article here. :)

Till next time, eat adequately, be healthy and peace be upon dear readers!