Are you making the mistake?
The mistake a college student, a professional, all levels of executives, a homemaker and most of the elderly make!
Uh! Wondering what could be a mistake that spans so many levels and age of people? Well it’s nothing but ‘Not drinking enough water! ‘
In my case this small mistake put my life at stake!
I am a multitasking guru, who likes to be engaged and takes extreme pressures and tensions with a pinch of salt! Right from my college days, I have been out and out into people and affairs management. Did my graduation in Business Administration in Chennai – a hot land with scarcity of water during those days. Nah! I don’t blame that scarcity for my habit of drinking less water. But then during the college days who bothers about these ‘small’ facets of life.
Then I got the first warning. One afternoon while at my friends dwelling, I got a sharp cramping pain near my back which then radiated towards my groin. I just can’t describe the pain.. It’s beyond imagination! I could neither sit nor stand, walk or lie down, straighten or bend. Damn! I just couldn’t do anything except cry out in pain!
At the doctors’ place we came to know that it was a kidney stone that was the root cause of my pain. He gave me a few injections and put me on a diet and medication and over a period or short span of time the stone passed out through urine. There are different types of kidney stones – get more details here. I had the uric acid stone. Nevertheless the pain is a major problem with all of them. The pain is most often compared with the pangs of natural childbirth. This is no exaggeration or wishful thinking. The stabbing and shooting pains that accompany a major kidney stone attack can bring you literally to your knees, unable to even drive yourself to proper medical attention.
Time passed and I moved on to a even hectic life at Bangalore. It was hectic but I loved it and learnt a lot on the realities and challenges of life. Three plus years in Bangalore and I was fed up of my job, felt that life holds more... I had the instinct that I could do something more worthwhile and make a mark in the world atleast in a small way! I shifted base to Trivandrum, Kerala. Over here during my stint of being a part time employee and an entrepreneur, I developed symptoms of Gout (in my left toe), the details of which are given in my previous blog(s). You may click here for detailed medical information. A gout is a painful situation wherein uric acid increases in blood and crystallizes in the joints. It was a sign that uric acid level in my blood was increasing. A Ultra sound scan showed that I had redeveloped the uric acid stones in my kidney. By now I was on diet and had moderately increased the water intake.
Life moved on, I ventured into corporate training, got married. Almost eight months down the lane I suffered another attack of Gout – this time on my right knee. One of the most common causes for gout is high protein intake. Since marriage I don’t consume much of non-vegetarian food (My wife is a veggie, so those occasional bite at hotels serve my non-veg appetite). I don’t smoke, not an alcoholic. I do love a glass of milk at night and yeah egg tempts me. But I really don’t think all of these have been in excess. Anyways I was constantly trying to reason out the reason of Gout attacks.
During the treatment of Gout, There was grave mistake done by the doctors which resulted in me developing high BP. At the stage of an acute attack of Gout the Gout is not supposed to be treated. Only pain killing and stabilising medications are to be given. But unfortunately they did give me a dose of the medicine for Gout that made my BP go berserk. I was on BP controlling medication for three months. I had to meet the doctor at the end of three months for a review and re-medication if required. I did not do that! I discontinued the BP medication at will and then one fine day – 23rd Feb ’10 I resumed it without proper check up. Possibly that was a mistake which contributed to my BP shooting up and ultimately led to rupture of cerebral aneurism on 24th Feb ’10 and the turmoil of an open brain surgery (read my previous blog for details).
After the surgery I made astonishingly fast and positive recovery (Thanks to all of my family and friend’s prayers). I spent a lot of time trying to put two and two together and find the reason for my aneurysm attack. People around me were blaming my baby – Parivartan CTA (my entrepreneurial venture) as the reason for high BP and my aneurysm. As expected the pressure to quit my entrepreneurial venture and get a job has started and it has became a necessity for me to prove that my work has not led me to any hypertension and high BP. I enjoyed my work and was never tensed about it.
I researched on the internet to crack the mystery and established a link between high level of uric acid and high BP (Most of the local doctors don’t know of this fact). So there it was - Low water in my body led to high level of uric acid, which resulted in uric acid stones in my kidney and ultimately high BP. All of these contributed to the dormant cerebral aneurysm to burst and put my life at risk.
Spare a moment to think about the fact that such a small mistake of not taking sufficient water led to such big trauma for my family and loved ones.
Simple Tips for keeping away from possible health risks:
Please don’t wait to learn it the hard way like I did. Health is wealth! True- Very True!
Uh! Wondering what could be a mistake that spans so many levels and age of people? Well it’s nothing but ‘Not drinking enough water! ‘
In my case this small mistake put my life at stake!
I am a multitasking guru, who likes to be engaged and takes extreme pressures and tensions with a pinch of salt! Right from my college days, I have been out and out into people and affairs management. Did my graduation in Business Administration in Chennai – a hot land with scarcity of water during those days. Nah! I don’t blame that scarcity for my habit of drinking less water. But then during the college days who bothers about these ‘small’ facets of life.
Then I got the first warning. One afternoon while at my friends dwelling, I got a sharp cramping pain near my back which then radiated towards my groin. I just can’t describe the pain.. It’s beyond imagination! I could neither sit nor stand, walk or lie down, straighten or bend. Damn! I just couldn’t do anything except cry out in pain!
At the doctors’ place we came to know that it was a kidney stone that was the root cause of my pain. He gave me a few injections and put me on a diet and medication and over a period or short span of time the stone passed out through urine. There are different types of kidney stones – get more details here. I had the uric acid stone. Nevertheless the pain is a major problem with all of them. The pain is most often compared with the pangs of natural childbirth. This is no exaggeration or wishful thinking. The stabbing and shooting pains that accompany a major kidney stone attack can bring you literally to your knees, unable to even drive yourself to proper medical attention.
Time passed and I moved on to a even hectic life at Bangalore. It was hectic but I loved it and learnt a lot on the realities and challenges of life. Three plus years in Bangalore and I was fed up of my job, felt that life holds more... I had the instinct that I could do something more worthwhile and make a mark in the world atleast in a small way! I shifted base to Trivandrum, Kerala. Over here during my stint of being a part time employee and an entrepreneur, I developed symptoms of Gout (in my left toe), the details of which are given in my previous blog(s). You may click here for detailed medical information. A gout is a painful situation wherein uric acid increases in blood and crystallizes in the joints. It was a sign that uric acid level in my blood was increasing. A Ultra sound scan showed that I had redeveloped the uric acid stones in my kidney. By now I was on diet and had moderately increased the water intake.
Life moved on, I ventured into corporate training, got married. Almost eight months down the lane I suffered another attack of Gout – this time on my right knee. One of the most common causes for gout is high protein intake. Since marriage I don’t consume much of non-vegetarian food (My wife is a veggie, so those occasional bite at hotels serve my non-veg appetite). I don’t smoke, not an alcoholic. I do love a glass of milk at night and yeah egg tempts me. But I really don’t think all of these have been in excess. Anyways I was constantly trying to reason out the reason of Gout attacks.
During the treatment of Gout, There was grave mistake done by the doctors which resulted in me developing high BP. At the stage of an acute attack of Gout the Gout is not supposed to be treated. Only pain killing and stabilising medications are to be given. But unfortunately they did give me a dose of the medicine for Gout that made my BP go berserk. I was on BP controlling medication for three months. I had to meet the doctor at the end of three months for a review and re-medication if required. I did not do that! I discontinued the BP medication at will and then one fine day – 23rd Feb ’10 I resumed it without proper check up. Possibly that was a mistake which contributed to my BP shooting up and ultimately led to rupture of cerebral aneurism on 24th Feb ’10 and the turmoil of an open brain surgery (read my previous blog for details).
After the surgery I made astonishingly fast and positive recovery (Thanks to all of my family and friend’s prayers). I spent a lot of time trying to put two and two together and find the reason for my aneurysm attack. People around me were blaming my baby – Parivartan CTA (my entrepreneurial venture) as the reason for high BP and my aneurysm. As expected the pressure to quit my entrepreneurial venture and get a job has started and it has became a necessity for me to prove that my work has not led me to any hypertension and high BP. I enjoyed my work and was never tensed about it.
I researched on the internet to crack the mystery and established a link between high level of uric acid and high BP (Most of the local doctors don’t know of this fact). So there it was - Low water in my body led to high level of uric acid, which resulted in uric acid stones in my kidney and ultimately high BP. All of these contributed to the dormant cerebral aneurysm to burst and put my life at risk.
Spare a moment to think about the fact that such a small mistake of not taking sufficient water led to such big trauma for my family and loved ones.
Simple Tips for keeping away from possible health risks:
- Drink 3 -4 litres of water to keep away from all such illness that I went through. There are more benefits- check it out .. Yeah! Blame my ‘water belly’ on the 5 litres of water that I take now a day.
- Don’t go overboard drinking alcohol. If at all you do, compensate with double the amount of water within 12 hours. Don’t ever indulge in binge drinking!
- Keep a tab on your BP routinely – atleast once a month (You can pick up automatic BP machine for the money that you would throw for two drinks at any five star hotel, check ur BP yourself at home!)
- Get a basic medical check up done every 3-4 months (Will cost you roughly the money you pay for two Levis)
- Get yourself a medical insurance!
- Don’t overlook any minor symptom and keep a track of your body and its functions.
Please don’t wait to learn it the hard way like I did. Health is wealth! True- Very True!
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