My Favorite Drink Almost Gave me a Stroke!
The same drink that my uncle used to fix cars
My uncle was a mechanic during the time when cars had carburetors.
It was a time when cars had to idle 10 to 15 minutes to warm-up, which is much different now, that cars have fuel injection — they don’t have to idle to warm-up.
Just turn-on the ignition, and after a couple of seconds, the car is ready to hit the road.
Back in the ’60s and ’70s, my uncle would raise the hood of the car he was going to repair.
The first thing he would discover was the battery.
The connectors on the battery cables were covered with corrosion.
He would disconnect the cables, take a can pop that contained phosphoric acid (for legal reasons, I will not name the soda pop he used — I want to prevent any potential lawsuits), and pour it onto the battery posts.
While my uncle was waiting for the soda to dissolve the corrosion, he would clean the cable connectors.
Afterwards, he would wipe away the ‘melted’ corrosion from the battery, reconnect the cables to the battery, and the car would start most of the time, unless there were more severe problems.
Now considering that same soda pop going into my body.
Sometimes, I would drink a two-liter bottle in less than eight hours.
For years, I would drink the pop, have migraine headaches, become bloated, and experience a ‘heavy,’ weighted-down feeling.
I didn’t have any momentum. I always wanted to take a nap.
In later years, my blood pressure began to rise. The migraines increased. My cholesterol began to rise.
On April 30, 2004, I had a routine appointment to see my doctor for a blood pressure and med check.
I went to work that day, and was scheduled to leave at 3:00 PM to arrive at my appointment to see my doctor at 4:00 PM.
Throughout my workday, I felt a bit ‘off.’ I just felt out-of-sorts.
Also, throughout the day, I sweated profusely.
Sweat was rolling off my face, as if someone had showered me with a water hose.
I told one of my co-workers that I didn’t feel good. But, I finished out my workday, not realizing what danger I was facing.
Once I arrived at my appointment, the medical assistant took my vitals. But, something different happened.
The medical assistant returned to my treatment room and took my blood pressure twice more.
Apparently, she still wasn’t satisfied.
I saw her and the doctor standing at the entrance of my room whispering.
I had been hospitalized enough times to know that something was seriously going on when the medical staff immediately gets into a huddle, speaking in very low tones.
Once my doctor and the assistant had ended the huddle, the medical assistant told me the doctor would come in and take my blood pressure — this would be the fourth reading!
The doctor came in and began asking me questions about how I was feeling. He took my blood pressure.
He asked, “Is anyone with you, or did you drive yourself? Are you experiencing any dizziness? Do you have a headache? How is your eyesight; can you see?”
Then, he said, “I don’t know if I should give you nitroglycerin and send you home, or keep you.”
At that point, the doctor told me that I was on the verge of a stroke — I broke down sobbing.
Then, he asked for my car keys.
I guess the doctor went with his better judgement and admitted me into the hospital for observation — at least until my blood pressure decreased to a healthy, normal range.
Once I was admitted and settled in my room, the phlebotomist came in and began drawing my blood.
It felt like he was sucking my body dry of every drop of blood I had in me.
Then, the cardiologist came to visit me.
He began asking me questions about my diet, exercise, meds I was taking, and possible stressors in my life.
On-the-spot, the cardiologist told me that as I get older, my blood pressure would rise, since my arteries would begin to constrict and become more narrow.
My narrowing arteries would make it more difficult for blood to pump from my heart throughout my body — hence the increase in blood pressure.
He also told me that the blood pressure medicine I had been taking, no longer worked for me.
And, to add to the mix, I had been on HRT, which I should have quit at the 10-year mark, but, I had been on the hormones for 13 years!
The cardiologist informed me that the type of hormone replacement therapy I was on was “making your blood thick.”
Then, he went on to save the worst for last — at least it was something I really didn’t want to hear.
The soda I was drinking was putting my blood pressure at stoke level, in addition to the type of hormones I was taking.
I think my blood pressure was 230/150 that day!
I told the doctor that was going to quit drinking the pop. But he told me not to go ‘cold turkey’ — I went cold turkey anyway.
That was frightening and sobering.
Once I removed the soft drink from my diet, I lost six pounds in five days — the bloat from the water retention, due to the sodium, which dissipated from my body was the reason I was able to lose the small amount of weight.
Basically, it was water weight.
There was the caffeine that caused the headaches, due to my addiction to it. The caffeine was the reason why the cardiologist advised me not to go cold turkey.
The sweet, satisfying taste of the sugar, which was turning my blood to syrup, was the ideal prerequisite for Type 2 diabetes.
I also began to think about the phosphoric acid, which took the corrosion from the car battery, what it was doing to my internal organs.
My joints used to ache, which was the inflammation overworking my immune system to protect and rid my body of foreign substances (literally poisons) which didn’t belong.
In addition to setting myself up for diabetes, osteoarthritis, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, weight-gain, sugar and caffeine addictions, and a multitude of other self-induced ailments, there was the ultimate price — premature death.
I’ve shared my story, with the hope that you and/or someone you know will be able to benefit from my experience — and perhaps, enhance your and/or their quality of life.
