From: steelhelix	Date: December 20th, 2007 01:13 pm (UTC)		(Link)

The military and government service jobs have a similar leave system... but it works in your favor if you know how to play it. Our leave is lost/expires on 1 Oct, but the system tells us how much of our leave won't carry over (we're allowed a certain amount).

The catch is this... when you normally apply for leave or time off, your boss can just shoot it out of the water for no reason at all... but if you check the little box marked 'use or lose', he has to send a letter in writing to the commander to explain why it's denied. As such, use or lose is almost never denied, allowing you to take time off whenever you want to, not when your boss will approve it.

From: duncandahusky	Date: December 20th, 2007 01:14 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Well, I'm here to tell you that there are worse things than taking daily meds for hypertension. For moderate/borderline cases like yours, the most common thing is to start out with a low dose of a diuretic, typically HCTZ (Hydrocholorthiazide). Besides being dirt cheap (seriously, 30 tablets will run you about 75 cents) they have the benefit of relatively few side effects, aside from having to take a leak every damn hour on the hour.

Seriously, though - talk to your doctor sooner than later. You want to deal with this ASAP.

	From: ya_wot_aver	Date: December 20th, 2007 02:24 pm (UTC)		(Link)

True, hypertension is diagnosed over a period of time.

Under the newest guidelines a systolic pressure of 120 is pre-hypertensive!

I vote in favor of the other caller's suggestion, talk to the doc now and start watching it. IF you're diagnosed as hypertesive after high BP over several months time, first mode of therapy is usually diet and lifestyle modification, before meds.

I knew hypertension wasn't good, but until I recently got edumacated, I never realized just how much it can fud you up.

Go. Go now. Or at least sometime soon, ya?

	From: wolfbrotherjoe	Date: December 20th, 2007 03:06 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Talk to a doc.

After Friday, I'm also on vacation till the second of next year. Perhaps you can come up our way and we can hang out a bit?

	From: jingle	Date: December 20th, 2007 09:22 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Let's hear it for "use it or lose it" vacation policies!

Hurray!! That's how it's done here at my new job, too. Actually, when I got done with Thanksiving (used 3 days to get a nice 9-day holiday out in the Pocanos), I thought I only had one vacation day left to use. But after my manager reviewed everyone's vacation time, it turns out I still had 3 (!!!) vacation days left to use. And when she came by to offer up what days would be available to use them on (since I have to coordinate with a colleague to make sure one of us is here when the other isn't), she suggested the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday after Christmas. I had to do a double-take.

I get to use 3 vacation days, 2 more than I thought I had, and create an 11-day vacation?!? O_O

So I'm in the same boat with you. 50 minutes left to go today, a full day tomorrow, then I'm rockin' the vay-kay until 1/2/08. ^_^
As far as the blood pressure, I hope you're not consistently coming in with elevated numbers, though with the kind of stressful work you're doing, I'm surprised you're still walking the earth. I, unfortunately, pretty well come in consistantly with elevated numbers. I stopped going to the kiosks months ago because I don't think the machines can count high enough. O_o