I went for my annual medical office visit yesterday. Things are doing fine, but I wanted to change my blood pressure medication to something I can take once a day instead of twice a day. I have been on a twice-a-day regimen for Univasc, and to be honest, getting that second dose in is a hit-and-miss sort of deal for me. I've tried everything -- setting alarms on my watch, keeping medication at work -- but I still miss that second dose about 1/3 the time (my first dose I take when I get home from work in the morning, which is a highly ritualized time for me and so I rarely miss this one).
So now I'm on Benicar (omesartan medoxomil). My doc told me it was an ACE inhibitor, but I looked it up and it's actually an ARB (antiotensin receptor blocker). I've been on both, the last ARB I was on was Diovan and it did OK, no idea why I talked someone into taking me off of it. So I'm on one again. It'll be nice to be on a once-daily dose again.
We went to see Batman. It was great, but if you're considering bringing a kid under 13-14 years, I'd suggest you go see it yourself first. It's not at all as campy as the previous installments have been. In this movie, there's a lot of punching and fighting, and the foley artists cranked the volume so high, I felt each punch, kick and slap. There were quite a few kids (around 5-6 eyars old) in the theater, and I think the movie was a bit much for them, and I don't consider myself all that prudish about such things.
Otherwise, the movie was excellent. Liam Neelson reprises his role from Star Wars Episode I, and Christian Bale is his new padiwan (sp?) learner. Of course, since the Matrix movies, you just can't have an action movie without martial arts, so there's plenty of that going on. Michael Caine as Alfred is very believable and likeable. Bruce Wayne has a love interest, Rachel, that I don't remember being in any of the comics. There is a lot of characer development (I'm not really big on that) but it supports the story. Morgan Freeman plays Batman's gadget guy, and reminds me of the "Q" character from the Bond movies. Go see it.
Our next movie should be War of the Worlds, but all this craziness between Tom "I-Need-To-Relive-My-Teenage-Years" Cruise and Steven "I-Want-To-Be-Like-George-Lucas-Because-Watching-My-Movies-Is-A-Privilege" Spielberg is really turning me off. Tom's next girlfriend (there will be a next one, oh yeah...) will land him in jail for pedophilia. And if Spielberg really wants to limit what people have to say about his movies, he should just show them on a sheet nailed againt the side of his house and not distribute them. Whatever.
Oddly, dieting and exercising can aggravate my blood pressure, at least in the short term. I'm sure when each workout is less of a life-threatening event, maybe my blood pressure will change and I won't have to be on any meds either. I'm up to 4-5 meds per morning, and I feel I'm too young for that mess...
Posted by: Eric | June 30, 2005 at 10:14 AM
An excellent point on the BID thing. I have that same issue myself. I take Lopressor, and, while the first dose of the day is a sure thing, (with my daily vitamin and other med) the second dose is a 50-50 proposition, at best. It sure saves me money on the refils, but, maybe that's not as good a thing as it initially sounds.
I was also on an ACE inhibitor (Norvasc) but had it stopped, since my blood pressure has fallen off significantly since my weight loss (Its amazing what losing 176 pounds will do to your blood pressure). I started to get a little orthostatic in the mornings, so the Norvasc went away. Hopefully sometime soo, the lopressor can go away, too...
John
Posted by: DisappearingJohn | June 24, 2005 at 09:17 PM