The Hidden Toll: When Work Makes Writers Sick

Medical issues, stress, and diet for writers and other screen people.

You don't get ulcers from what you eat. You get them from what's eating you.

Vicki Baum

Like everyone who shows up in an emergency room, I was sure I was dying.

This is it. I’m dead. I don’t know why, but I’m just a hairs-width from death!

As you can tell, I wasn’t dying and, to the best of my knowledge, am not now.

It was high blood pressure that drove me to the ER. For a week solid, my heartbeat thumped in my neck and in my ears, turning them (and my cheeks) a constant shade of scarlet.

This is highly unusual, as my BP trends low. So low that I have to stand up carefully, lest I get dizzy and pass out.

The numbers weren’t anywhere near heart attack territory, but I knew something was wrong, and my PCP couldn’t get me in til September. So I went to the ER, ready to be told I was having one of those “silent heart attacks” women are prone to.

But I wasn’t. I had an ulcer.

Who knew an ulcer could raise your BP like that? In severe cases, it can give you rapid heartbeat and other cardiac problems…