25 with high BP

Hey thank you for your reply

So yes both my parents both have high bp but I it developed with them late 40s.

I don't smoke anything I drink maybe a couple craft beers on occasion I would say maybe once a week if that no drug use at all I'm pretty straight edge

As far as eating I'm married to a Filipino so our food is ally salty lol. So I've been trying to get that in check to hopefully help me out.

I have been to the er for just not feeling well and when I was there they ran everything from blood test to ekg with everything coming back normal kidney function and everything is fine.

I have been wanting to go and see a cardiologist just to check the overall Heath of my heart.

Would you suggest any other labs that I should get done?

Elimination of animal fats is now contentious. Medical opinion is moving increasingly to the view that animal fats are not the problem (provided they're eating in m o d e r a t i o n, of course) but that carbs, and particularly refined sugars are what we should be avoiding.

I actually think that "low fat" and "fat free" yoghurts, soft cheeses, spreads ( butter alternatives) are dreadful things. They take the fat out and fill them full of chemicals and sugar. As you say, most people eat too many carbs and poor quality animal protein. Chicken isn't even a fairly guaranteed low fat higher protein food anymore and I'm sure soem people eat chicken 2-3 times per week. Same with fruit juices. People have been conned into thinking that they're healthy , but they're high in sugars ( albeit fruit sugar) and often poor quality with additives We need to eat more vegetables with half eaten raw and a good variety of different clours, some meat. some fish (including oily fish 2-3 times per week) and small amounts of complex carbohydrates. And nuts and seeds too. I do think we've got to the satge where, unless we 've grown it or reared it ourself, we have no idea about the quality of the food that we buy, especially the vitamin content.

I've read that. I agree sugar is a problem too. But temporarily until some good results stick with Mediterranean diet maybe. Maybe an egg now and then

Yes - "low fat cheese" always sounds like a contradiction in terms to me. Quite apart from the fact that it doesn't taste of anything. Which is why, of course, they load it with sugar or artificial sweeteners, which are nearly as bad in my opinion. 40 years ago I worked for the food department of that US multinational (in)famous for its promotion of G M Os and a pesticide which probably needs to remain nameless if this post is to survive. As a result I never bought into the "lite" concept even when it was fashionable in medical circles.

I agree too that it's better to get the bulk of one's five-a-day (more like seven in my case) from vegetables rather than fruit. Fruit is great - vit C - but I limit myself to two, max. three, servings (the latter in the summer fruit season). I never drink fruit juices - can't, as for some reason they give me so much wind in such a short time I become a walking health hazard! I also think smoothies are a bit of a minefield. Obviously the commercial ones are out, but I gather even the processing of the home-made variety chews up the fibres to the point they're less effective at slowing absorption of the fruit sugars.

I think you'll find eggs have been given a clean bill of health too. After all that panic about the cholesterol in egg yolk, it was discovered that it was chicken cholesterol, which doesn't enter the human metabolism as cholesterol at all. It still gets processed as animal fat, of course, so it would be unwise to eat eggs for breakfast as well as meat at dinner time. But no need to be scared of eggs as a reasonable proportion of the weekly animal fat intake.

That being said, I'm suspicious of all this nonsense about adding omega 3 to chicken feed. I'd rather get my omega 3 oils from oily fish, nuts and seeds. It annoys me that my local supermarket has suddenly started promoting all its free-range eggs as containing omega 3... with a consequent price hike, naturally.

One of your medicines is an ace inhibitor. Another is a calcium channel blocker. And last a diuretic or water pill . there are other choices if these don't work. But a low sodium diet is the best start. And good plant oils like olive oil. Remember though you need some salt. Later you may only need one of these medications. Keep track of which one is working best. If taken separately.

A recent study associates women's high blood pressure to eating more than one serving of potatoes per week. Google potatoes and high blood pressure

Yes, "a recent study" has indeed suggested an association between eating potatoes and hypertension in women. More than one, I believe. But other studies have found this to be inconclusive.

The theory is based on the high glycaemic index of potatoes (white, not sweet) which provokes insulin resistance, one of the proven causes of hypertension. It's advisable to keep consumption of all high GI foods as low as possible, and this includes potatoes.

However, I wouldn't personally extrapolate from any of these studies that women shouldn't be eating more than one serving of potatoes per week, but rather that we should all be keeping an eye on our consumption of all high GI foods. (Lists of these can easily be found on line.)

I admit that potatoes are just about my favourite food and that I eat too much of them - usually boiled, mashed or baked in their skins, sometimes roasted in olive and sunflower oil, or fried as a very occasional treat. My problem is finding another starchy "filler" to replace them. I eat very little in the way of cereal products - including rice and oats - as my ageing digestion no longer tolerates them. I love pulses (various beans, chick peas etc.) and cook a variety of vegetarian dishes using them. However, I can't eat them more than once a week as the high levels of purine they contain provokes flare-ups of my rheumatic condition. In my mid-30s, when I was on a vegan diet, eating pulses four or five times a week, I had my first and worst-ever attack of rheumatoid arthritis. The rheumatologist I saw correctly identified my pulse consumption as one of the main factors, which has been borne out ever since.

I find the taste (or maybe the texture) of quinoa nauseating, and it's not much easier to digest than wheat products. I keep trying with sweet potatoes as I know they're a very good alternative to the ordinary kind, but am finding it hard to learn to love them. I guess I'll just have to try a bit harder with that one!

Incidentally my mother, who had alarmingly high BP in her latter years, had hated potatoes all her life and never ate them.

Hi, Your Lisinopril dose seems quite low. I've been reading around and seems that (from the research) optimum dose for combination of Lisinopril and HCT would be10mg/12.5mg rather then the 5mg/12.5mg you're on, but then you're also on amlodipine so IDK. Have you been on all 3 for 1 month?

Re exercise, don't stop! You have to remember that you're young and you only have one risk factor for heart attck, ie hypertension. If you had diabetes, high cholesterol and a high BMI then it would be a different story. Maybe don't do really high intensity stuff but cycling, brisk walking etc. Keep up with your fluids if its hot or you're exercising as HCT is a diuretic and you'll pee more and also lose potassium and sodium, although te lisinopril can sometimes increase potassium, so it should balance out (well that;s the theory anyway!) For that reason, don't stop salt altogether or you may end up feeling pretty icky and unwell when you exercise.

When you start Lisinopril ( or any ACE inhibitor) they should check your Kidney function after 4-6 weeks and 4-6 weeks after a dosage increase

Do you know what your resting heart rate is?

Have they told you how to do your BP correctly and how many times a day are you doing it and when?

When are you next due to see a Doctor?

You're way off the max doses of the drugs and i'm sure you'll get there in the not too distant future. Remember , your risk is still quite low, although I'm not saying you don't need to get the BP down. Just try not to stress about it, don't overdo the taking of the BP , and make sure you do it correctly. Did they give you the BP machine or have you bought it and is it an arm or wrist cuff?

Thank you again for your very detailed reply and taking the time to do that it honestly means a lot.

So as far as the medication I do believe he put me on the min dosage and feel he is just kind of testing the waters to see where this goes as far as the results.

I do want to take a higher dose of lisinpril maybe that would hopefully work.

As far as taking bp reading I usually don't have a set time to take I kind of just take it randomly it's a arm cuff one I purchased at a local cvs. I try not to measure a lot I do find my self getting depressed with my numbers being around 150-160/80-90 at my age. It kind of makes me wonder if there is an underlying condition that I'm not aware of.

I have a appointment with my gr in the next 2 weeks I will discuss our plans as I do want to see a cardiologist and do some labs to make sure everything is still in good condition. I also am very curious on a 24 hr bp reading cuff.

I am planning on getting on a workout routine as I'm still in pretty good shape around 165lbs and 25yrs I hoping that helps

All I want is to see 130/80 reading lol that's all I want lol

Hi, Thanks and you're welcome. Yes, I think they will increase lisinopril, and yes I think a 24 hr BP recording thing is a good idea. My Mother had one and it was amazing how perfect her BP was sometimes when  she was asleep!

When I said haev they shown you how to do the BP recordings I was talking about the things in this article here

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Homemonitoring/Howtomeasure

Best to do it at the same times every day and no more than 3 times.  Maybe first thing before you get out of bed, sometime convenient during the day, and before you go to bed? Otherwise you'll probably end up doing it when you're thinking about your BP and are anxious, so it's going to be up then.

Don't forget that at your age the risk of anything happening with just high BP  and no other risk factors is very low. Try and cut down on the salt. It will make a difference, but be careful if you exercise and/or it's hot and you sweat. Think about those electrolyte sports drinks. I used to by the ones from Aldi when we lived over there. Lot cheaper than Gatorade.