A Man's Got To Know His Limitations

I hit my birthday this month and I got a little taste of aging and athletics.  After hitting the bumps hard skiing on Sunday and getting a little run down I got up the next day feeling a little bit light headed and had to hit the matress or feel like I was about to pass out.  In medical term it's called postural hypotension.  Not enough blood is getting to your head and you feel light headed. Only problem was unlike the past where it was a done deal after the episode this time I felt like I was walking on an unsteady boat at work.  Suddenly I was starting to feel like those sci fi characters in Logan's run that had an expiration date at age 29.  So to make sure nothing else was going on because I have a family history of heart disease I went to get seen by a cardiologist before lunch. The exam revealed what I thought.  I learned a little cold virus I was fighting can also lead to lower blood volume. Just to be sure an EKG was done which showed a mild mitral valve prolapse which can cause a heart sound called a murmer but I have had that as a kid and that has nothing to do with the postural hypotension. The doctor advised me to hydrate and to increase my salt or take an electrolyte replacement drink and use some type of compression on my legs even though I  had no swelling in my legs.  The compression helps the pressure going back up to your head.  By lunch time I was feeling much better.

Well it's a little hard to accept that you are not 29 anymore but dealing with your health is important versus thinking something will just go away on it's own.   Betty Davis once said getting old is not for sissy's and she was right but it's how we deal with things that makes all the difference.