Lately I've been noticing that my blood pressure seems to be rising. I check it once in awhile mostly just to practice taking vitals, lol. Unfortunately, I noticed back in September that it was creeping upwards, into the 130s...

and then yesterday when I went to donate blood, the nurse measured it at 153/83!!! yeeeesh.

Now...I know that I suffer from white coat hypertension...my systolic often rises to the 140s when I'm at the doc's, compared to when I take it on my own, or use one of the automatic ones at the pharmacy...but still. I've *never* seen my bp go that high before.

With a bit of doctoring, I've managed to clue into what may be causing the slow creep of the bp:

Stress: I'm a full time student working hard to carry a 95% average, I work part time in a busy little pharmacy, and I have kids and a hubby to throw into the mix as well. Finding "me" time is flat impossible.

Except clearly I need to.