Anyone suffering from high blood pressure?

I too think mine is partially inherited and partially lifestyle.

Here's a link from a medical center that talks about high blood pressure and aging:
Is It Normal to Have High Blood Pressure When You’re Older? | St. Vincent's Medical Center

And a link about the DASH diet they mentioned in the med center article:
DASH Diet

I am on hydrochlorathiazide (fluid pill) and I don't add salt when I cook or at the table because there is plenty of sodium in everything that I eat. I have also noticed that many fat free products contain more sodium than the regular products so I try to read labels to see what is gonna be best in general.
 

Been There said:
I use an Omron cuff also. I have had it since 2015. My doctor asked me to bring it along to the next visit to check it against the office’s BP machine. Mine was within a few numbers of their machine, which is acceptable, according to Doc.
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I have an Omron monitor also. One time, my BP suddenly shot up to the stratosphere, something like 210/160. But I felt fine. Scared to death, I grabbed the monitor and headed immediately for the doctor's office. He checked nmy BP with his own machine; it was perfectly normal. But my Omron machine does keep a "memory" of the past three readings, so he could see that it was real. Suddenly he saw what the problem was: a kink in the machine's cable line. He straightened it out, and bingo, my BP went right back down to normal.

So beware of home BP monitors!
 
I have just bought an Omron Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor; I just took my B.P. and its 125/66 - 69 pulse rate. I decided to buy it because every time my doctor takes my BP it's always high, sometimes 180/90 and that's because I get anxious before he takes it. He always asks questions while he's taking it and then I get stressed. I now make a list to show him what the readings are at home. I do take blood pressure tablets 8mgs. Atacand.
 
Sunny said:
I have an Omron monitor also. One time, my BP suddenly shot up to the stratosphere, something like 210/160. But I felt fine. Scared to death, I grabbed the monitor and headed immediately for the doctor's office. He checked nmy BP with his own machine; it was perfectly normal. But my Omron machine does keep a "memory" of the past three readings, so he could see that it was real. Suddenly he saw what the problem was: a kink in the machine's cable line. He straightened it out, and bingo, my BP went right back down to normal.

So beware of home BP monitors!
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I noticed that a few years ago when the same thing happened to me. Each time I use it now, I make sure the line between the cuff and the machine are straight.
 
Teacher Terry said:
Have you had your meter checked to make sure it’s working correctly? In 21 years I’m on my third one. They wear out after awhile.
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It's an Omron and is working. I used my husband's and my readings were similar. At hospital same. Truly frightening.
However, the tablets are working as I keep a twice daily record as instructed. Definitely coming down and I feel better and not as petrified of having a stroke!
 
outlander said:
I don't have high blood pressure. But if I did I would try beet juice instead of meds.

I think exercise, lower stress levels, and beet juice could potentially fix high blood pressure for a lot of people.
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I understand.
However, with high readings like this I will absolutely obey the doctors. I believe it is too dangerous to do otherwise.
 
Rose65 said:
I understand.
However, with high readings like this I will absolutely obey the doctors. I believe it is too dangerous to do otherwise.
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I spent my career working with people with disabilities and I saw people as young as 30 that had strokes so I absolutely agree with you. While high blood pressure can be lifestyle and weight for some people for others like me it’s hereditary and no one in my family, escapes it no matter how good of shape they are in or how much exercise they do or how healthy their diet is. Stress of course makes it worse.

You are very wise to take the medication and pay attention to your doctors. I’m really glad your blood pressure is finally going down. It is indeed scary.
 
I have had controllable BP problems for years and have been taking prescribed meds. Then my BP went up and was uncontrollably until I increased my doses.
I take my readings regularly if I think that there might be any changes.
I try to keep it 130/60 -58 to 60 pulse.
It gets slightly lower for a few hours after each of my regular doses and gets slightly higher shortly before my next dose.
I’m kind of in between cardiologists so my GP helps with regulating it.
I just read it 6.5 hours after my morning pills and it reads 137/64-57 so I will go with that.
Keep salt handy in case you accidentally take more pills than you are supposed to- overdose- and your BP gets dangerously low.
If it gets too low it can kill you so read it and if it shows low and you feel weak and shaky eat some salt and sip water and keep doing that until it quits going down.
I have had to eat salt, sip water and wait ten minutes and read it again over and over for two hours or more.
You can get tired while trying to bring your BP up but don’t quit until it stops going downward.
 
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outlander said:
I don't have high blood pressure. But if I did I would try beet juice instead of meds.

I think exercise, lower stress levels, and beet juice could potentially fix high blood pressure for a lot of people.
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I have been reading about Beet Juice and have just purchased the powder one. Let's see if it makes a difference to my readings.
 
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I'm measuring twice daily and it is amazing how it IS coming down each day. I'm feeling better too.
I will do all I can to get to a healthy level and stay at it. I have no idea how long I have been at those levels but tests show no damage yet.
I see it as a warning - do not ignore your high BP, get to your doctor and let them help you.
My biggest fear is not death, it is a disabling stroke that could leave me helpless and dependent on carers.
 
Babs2u said:
Mine has been controlled until recently. My cardiologist said to notify him if it remained high. Well it did and i have. Trouble is these things take time. I am hoping to hear something tomorrow.
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That is what happened to mine.
It was controlled for a long time and then just went way up.
Let us know what they think caused that to happen.
 
Since I react to my doctor taking my BP (white coat syndrome), he told me to come in 15 minutes early to relax. Only problem is that he’s highly efficient and is thrilled that I’m always early. I get called in right away. I do take the list of my at home readings and he’s happy with that.
 
Some people experience elevated BP when visiting the doctor's office, as mentioned earlier. I fall into that category. (I am a dyed in the wool hypochondriac) I used to experience excessive fear and anxiety before such visits for this reason, to the point where I would wake up at night with stabs of anxiety and racing heartbeats for days before my appointments. Kind of a type of hell I guess you could say. I started taking my readings at home and even then one can get anxiety driven readings. Eventually I was able to relax more and got good readings at home and keep a log so not as fearful to go to the doctor anymore (knock on wood, lol).
 
GP44 said:
That is what happened to mine.
It was controlled for a long time and then just went way up.
Let us know what they think caused that to happen.
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I will if I find out anything. These doctors are hard to pin down. In the meantime I will try Google.
 
Thankfully, diet and exercise work for me. January 2025 mine was up in the danger range. Cholesterol also.

I slammed on the brakes and made a hard right turn. Especially with diet. Soluble fiber became a large player on my team every single day.

Now I have absolutely boring normal BP and cholesterol.
 
MACKTEXAS said:
That's exactly what happened to me and I'm not at all happy about it. I don't mind experimentally doubling the Lisinopril part of my combination pill, but doubling the HCTZ part is overworking the kidneys and tendency for dehydration.
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I don’t know if the two meds that the doctors have me on have the HCTZ.
I take Amlodipine Besylate and Cardivilol both twice a day.
New cardiologist cut my 12.5mg of cardivilol in half because he thought that my pulse was running too slow.
Then he retired and my BP went way up and I had to go back to the 12.5 cardivilol and doubled my amlodipine besylate from 2.5mg to 5mg both twice a day.
That got my BP right again and my pulse is better too.
I will have to ask the doctors if there are any problems with that dosage.
I was born with only one kidney and am a CKD patient although not in bad shape or needing dialysis.
 

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