The sinus-infection background, from yesterday’s posting “Chair-ridden”:
The [long-running, like for weeks] sinus infection isn’t contagious, and I don’t run a fever, But it’s fiercely painful, produces prodigious amounts of disgusting junk I cough up constantly, and is, alas, not much affected by nasal saline sprays. Mostly, it’s unbelievably tiring. Hence, my being chair-ridden (the analogue of bed-ridden).
Now I’m going to amble discursively through the rest of this story. Walk with me.
The declining blood pressure. On a separate track, over many weeks, my morning blood pressure has slowly been dropping, from its original target of around 125 systolic down to 100 to 115 and then hovering around 95. I attributed this to diet changes that reduced my salts intake, among them replacing twice a day bottles of zero-sugar Gatorade (with meals) by zero-added-sugar fruit juices (orange, cranberry, and mango). I actually craved these juices, and thought I should listen to my body.
Then, this morning, I hit a new low in blood pressure.
Now, a much-edited exchange between me and my daughter, Elizabeth Daingerfield Zwicky; since I live alone, I report to her on awaking each day and just before going to bed, to reassure here that I am more or less ok, certainly still alive.
— AMZ: slept 7:30 to 4:45, in bed, not sitting up in the chair. First morning vitals stunning, maybe worrisomely so (should I worry about a bp of 90/51? — a record low for me;I need to stand up slowly).
— EDZ: yes, you should absolutely worry about that, especially with an infection. You need to go to Urgent Care if it doesn’t improve with a cup of coffee.
(It then turned out I had no coffee, having given it up because of the expense, and having no way (it’s a complicated story) just to go out and get a cup. I vowed to drink a lot of green tea, which I do have, and report back.)
Advice from the Mayo Clinic website. Meanwhile, I went to read up some on low blood pressure,
The Mayo Clinic site suggests that the lowish bps (they define low as under 90/60, so I was right at the borderline) might be a consequence of the infection. The fatigue then follows from the low bp. It also noted pallor and mental fog as symptoms of too-low blood pressure, but those are totally not problems for me; people compliment me on my healthy complexion and, yes, I whip out these postings despite everything. Meanwhile, there’s some evidence — like my being able to sleep lying down in bed now — that the infection is moderating. So I wasn’t ready to ring alarm bells.
Now for something completely different: the guest gift. Then, just yesterday, George Reilly and Emma Bartholomew did the San Francisco peninsula (motss-lunch in the city, mid-afternoon visit with me in Palo Alto, dinner with other friends in San Jose) — bearing a guest gift: something small, decorative (a few fresh flowers are a standard choice) or useful or edible, that’s customary in some social circles as a way of thanking your host for inviting you into their house; I have friends who’ve never heard of such a bizarre custom and others for whom it’s absolutely obligatory.
Emma and George appeared bearing a small box of Cranberry Sticks (“pure fruit jellies dipped in premium dark chocolate”) from Cranberry Sweets & More in Coos Bay OR. Yummy indeed.
Putting things together. Then, this morning I remembered an important fact: dark chocolate is loaded with caffeine (from all the cocoa powder in it). Though I had no coffee, I did have a source of caffeine. So in addition to drinking a lot of green tea (dehydration is another cause of low bp), I tried a preliminary dose of two Cranberry Sticks, waited 20 minutes, and took my blood pressure again. 125/75! Thanks to the fortuitous guest gift.
I reported this success story to EDZ. Alarm over.
The after-story. EDZ was still concerned that I had no therapeutic coffee on hand. So she got an 8-oz bottle of Peet’s Ultra Coffee Concentrate and had my grand-child Opal bring it to me. From which I can make my own dark cold brew coffee whenever I want. Just add a tablespoon to 6 oz of cold water.
And I was taken back to Adalbert Stifter’s luminous 1845 novella Bergkristall, which I read in a German course at Princeton about 65 years ago. Two children are caught in a fierce Alpine snowstorm, and survive with the aid of a bottle of powerful coffee extract (among other things). Now I have my own bottle. In case I get trapped in an icy cave in the bitter winters of Palo Alto. Be prepared!
December 16, 2025 at 7:08 am |
Those Cranberry Sticks do sound yummy – a perfect combination of sweet and tart.
December 16, 2025 at 10:39 am |
The cranberry jelly provides sour and sweet tastes and a jelly texture; the dark chocolate provides a rich, slightly bitter sweet taste and a crunchy texture. Really nice juxtapositions.
December 16, 2025 at 4:38 pm |
All three of us here, David, kitty Tammuz and I are doing this balancing act of “enough blood pressure to keep the kidneys rolling” and “not too much to stress our hearts and such”. Crazy.
December 16, 2025 at 4:48 pm |
Yes, in the background of my story is advanced kidney disease — that’s what I’m dying from. Then along comes this monstrous sinus infection (which has now, finally, retreated to troublesome rather than crippling).
December 17, 2025 at 7:09 am |
My father and his PCP went through something similar during his last year or so – trying to find the right balance between the medications for his kidney failure and his congestive heart failure, since apparently the meds that alleviate one tend to exacerbate the other. (It was the heart that eventually got him, at 94.)