More Clear Days

It's pretty amazing to watch my mom day in and day out.  I notice everything, probably because I've been her Care Giver for such a long time.

Since she's been off Lisinopril and back on the Cardio HTN and Cordyceps, her blood pressure is coming down gradually.  It's averaging 150/70 the past couple of days, it sure is better than 200/90+!

I had been getting worried with her blood pressure rising the more Lisinopril that she took.  I had read about rebounding on OTC's and Pharma drugs; rebounding is when you take a pill and it stops working all of a sudden.  The drug does the opposite of what it's designed to do for the body.  An explanation of rebounding as I understand it, if you take over the counter (OTC) pain medications for headaches, they can all of a sudden bring on headaches to beat the band.  For my mom, the Lisinopril appeared to raise her blood pressure instead of lowering it.  Yikes!

My mom's hallucinations were becoming more prevalent and scary as her blood pressure rose.  I saw a connection between scary hallucinations and elevated blood pressure.  Hallucinations were so real to her that she began hallucinating that I did things that made her angry.  This change was not welcome...  I am capable of making my mom angry with out the help of a hallucination of me!

Since my mom's been off the Lisinopril for the last 3 days, her constant dripping nose has stopped.  We may not run out of facial tissue so quickly.  A side effect of Lisinopril is a runny nose.  My mom is thrilled to not have to blow her nose all the time or have it drip while she sleeps. 

Hair loss is a side affect that has bothered my mom the most.  I do hope her hair grows back.  Her hair was always lush and beautiful.; hair that my mom loved.  The drugs that she had been prescribed over the years has contributed to her hair loss, a loss that has affected her emotionally for decades.  

Today is a great day.   Her hallucinations are not scaring her.  My dad showed up last night in her dream and she was able to distinguish between the dream and reality this morning.  She told me how she had a dream of my dad.  This doesn't sound like a big deal but it is... just yesterday I had to pretend call Dream Master to chase the people out of her room.

Could my mom be getting better?  I don't know but we will do what we can to help her regain her lost cognition.  I am beginning to believe that if we can keep her blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol within the normal range, her body and brain will be able to heal.  She eats a nutritious diet with brain healthy foods. 

Some may think I'm out of my mind, but folks thought that people like Edison were nuts too... the best part of all is that we have more clear days and this is a step in the right direction.