"Fight or flight"...how long for BP and pulse to return to normal?

[dmeyer153]

I've had a bad day in terms of adrenaline pushing my BP and pulse to the max. I had a wicked therapy session this morning that left me with major high BP. Then 2 hours ago, a 350 pound black bear was at my front screen door inviting himself to my dinner. BIG adrenaline kick as I screamed at it and then eventually chased him out of my yard with a big shovel(we have constant bear problems but never trying to get into the house).

Even after 2 hours, my pulse is still over 108 and my BP is 143/99(on meds). At what point should I start to feel this all going down? I've started to get a wicked headache and have had 5 small strokes but no stroke symptoms. At what point do I start looking for help as I'm all alone here?

Any idea how long this will take to subside?

Jenny

[beckyf09]

That was quite an experience, one that most of us NEVER have. Down here in South Florida we seldom see any form of wild animal life, other than birds and termites.

Did your pulse and BP come down overnight? How are you doing and feeling today?



I can just picture a large 350 pound black bear sitting in an analyst's recliner with tears in his eyes, telling his analyst: "and..... and..... and..... and then she came at me with this nasty weapon screaming at me, as if I don't have any feelings at all..... sob..... sob.... sob!"

I do realize that this was/is a serious problem for you, and I hope that your BP and Pulse is now down to where it should be. Buts.... I figure that a little humor wouldn't hurt.

Take care......... :wave:

[O A]

okay machaon, you just soo totally cracked me up heremseriously,lol. i never thought of things from the "wildlifes" side?

hey jen? what were you feeling like after your PT session and right before this bear decided to pop in(way to go with the shovel girl!). i am thinking that what you are feeling is not really being still 'in' F or F, but just possibly more to do with your insane medical history and what was involved with the pinpoint pupil stuff like a month ago and all the other weirdness there too? what did they actually find on that MRI you had done hon?

believe me jenny, my body has been stuck in F or F ever since 2003? right after they managed to hit my symp outlet IN my cord kind of right where it starts to go out of the cord to join up with the other outlet and create that outter symp chain that then runs down the spinal column? i constantly have adreniline pumping but no high BPs, i am actually more at the HYPO end with my BPs? even from the beginning? everything else has accomodated itself over time? but unless your symp actually has been impacted from some of the rather crazy things that have occured there within your spinal levels(wayy too much there) things just 'should' have pretty much normalized after that much time passed, ya know what i mean? i am just thinking that this is more just 'your' own bodies situation(along with the TYPE or actual 'fright' you had and running too?), esp if you also already had high blood pressures, than the F or F thing? JMO. what would be considered 'your' norm for a resting BP?

more importantly, how are you feeling today? hope things are better, marcia

[David John]

Thanks guys...yeah, that cracked me up to.

It took about 4 1/2 hours to finally get my pulse down to 99 but my BP was down to 120/84 so despite the bad headache, I decided to just go to bed. I took my muscle relaxer and a couple of Benedryl and knocked myself out and I haven't even checked the BP or pulse today. I feel very mellow today.

My earlier problem in the day was not from physical therapy but psych therapy. FB, I know you know I'm in therapy for my past history of abuse....I've talked about it on Spine because the abuse caused a lot of the injuries. Last Thursday I got back a really bad memory, so bad I started to throw up on myself on the way home...it came after I left his office(of course). We had talked by phone on Friday but I could barely tell him the memory so Monday morning was the first time I actually told anyone what had happened...has a lot to do with my lumbar spine issues. I know my BP was through the roof all weekend and yesterday morning it was even worse. Felt faint. But got through it.

I was finally relaxing when the bear showed up. This bear is a regular to my yard...has a 12" paw print and when standing and stretching up a tree to use it as a scratching post, can reach up to 8'. In spring he's a good 350pounds but by fall he's 400-450pounds. He is huge. Could kill you with one swipe of his paw but is generally passive and runs off if yelled at. But last night he was hungry.

So when he came to my door, I didn't know if he was going to walk right in...could have taken down that door in a second and I was 2 rooms away. So a screamed and lunged at him to make him run. It's your only defense....be bigger and larger and more scary than they are. You have to become the apex predator, not them. If you're afraid, they will do whatever they want. They know they are top dog so to speak.

So the adrenaline that had just come down surged big time. I could get the BP down with meditation but the pulse was not budging. And I had no idea how long it takes to get out of your system. And having had 4 small strokes just last year(and a slightly bigger one 10 years ago), I didn't want anymore so I watched for any stroke symptoms until I was so tired I couldn't stay awake and I took my chances.

So I'm okay today and called the therapist and told him I got out any anger I had inside associated with the memories by chasing this stupid bear. Now I'm just plain tired. Been sleeping a lot today. Mentally and physically exhausted.

If the bear needs a good therapist, I'll give him my therapist's name and number. Somehow, I don't think he was too scared...just pissed he didn't get more than 1 feeder full of bird seed.

Thanks again................Jenny