2 months ago my Losartan 50 mg was reduced to 25 mg much to my delight as I hate taking pills.

It the swings that bother me really and also some of the high diastolic numbers which I'm told are more serious that the systolic although not sure if that is right. i mainly take readings before breakfast and before bed and to go from systolic numbers like 180 then down to 100 a short while later is alarming.Likewise with the diastolic, numbers in the 60's and next time in the 90's. Puzzling.

I reluctantly thin a GPs appt is inevitable, assuming I can get one !!

The consultant I saw recently at the Hypertension Referral Clinic is of the opinion that fluctuations are not dangerous though much I have read says otherwise. Talking of home readings he said that you can never take your BP to often!

Last year they they said that my BP was much reduced from previous times.

The day before having the monitor fitted I had injured my knee and could not bear my weight on it. The following morning I had to have the catheter fitted after my prostate operation removed. We took a taxi to the hospital and my wife wheeled me to urology. We then had  three hours to sit around until time to get the monitor fitted. Home by taxi and not moving around much and the same next day. My wife took the monitor back for me. My BP average was 134/74, I wonder why?

I am to have another one soon. 

This past week I have taken it at night instead of morning. My readings are no less in the morning but still come down to acceptable levels as the day progresses.

It's the swings of high and low that bother me.  I really hate being on medication !

Last night before taking the losartan my BP was 133/65 43. This morning my  BP averaged 186/87 42 and was 154/84 61 this evening at 6.30.      

I previousy had a kidney X-Ray in January of last year when trying to get on to the now 'on hold' renal denervation trials program for hypertension that did not show any problem.

When I have an ultrasound scan on my aortic aneurysm it also shows up my kidneys. A few years ago I was told that I had a non harmfull Bosniak Type 1 cyst. This year the report said several kidney cysts without any explanation that the hypertension centre want more information on.

When I had a follow up after that the aneurysm  consultant did not have my notes or a copy of the scan and said that they are probably harmless.

 I was told in 2003 that I also have a lot of cysts on my liver that were said to harmless but the hypertension specialist says that some types of liver cysts can affect BP. Time will tell.

The first scan was done by a doctor the ones since by a series multinational technicians. I think from what is on the screen that just the part showing the aorta is all that goes to the consultant rather than other areas they have gone over.

I was once diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer when having a barium swallow X-Ray and treated for it. When I had another barium X-Ray with similar symptoms I did not have an ulcer and the doctor doing it said that I had not previously had an ulcer as there was no sign of its scar. Who does one believe?

I think ~I mentioned before, a friend of mine has a daughter who has recently finished medical training & now works in operating theatre. When she mentioned to her that I seemed to be having trouble with fluctuating readings & not getting consistent acceptable readings whilst on various medications she suggested that from what she had learnt & experienced, benign growths on the kidneys could be the reason, one example she quoted was a woman had been unsuccessful on meds for 3 years with the above symptoms & not responding to the meds, when they scanned her kidneys she had these benign growths which once removed reinstated her healthy BP readings. I mentioned this to one of the gps' I saw at our surgery & she said that is usually only the case in young women????? & it was rare, that was the end of that!! the mind boggles. Maybe it's rare because most cases are not investigated enough & so they go unkown therefore making it RARE. I do believe beetroot & celery may help, as for 2 days on the trot recently I had quite a bit of both in my salads & the following 2 days I had identical readings of 131/76 P80 & P83,  A couple of days later 3 rdgs on same day were 96/69 P87, 3 hrs later 186/61 P89 & 5 mins later 166/75 P89. The next day was 110/73 P78???? I must admit I'm trying not to get too hung up, if after a year my BP's not sorted I will consider a private consultation, hopefully where it won't be trial & error for months on end. Good luck to everybody.

Trouble is his hypertension clinic is only one afternoon a week and his appointments are long and thorough so he does not see that many patients. My next appointment is not until mid January.

A locum I saw once said that everyones BP fluctuates throughout the day. He got a healthy nurse to take her own BP often throughout the day and she was amazed her her fluctuations.

When I had a couple of days in hospital for my prostate operation several of the quite young nurses taking my BP said that they had high readings themselves... that they were ignoring.

In my grandmothers day doctors believed that a persons systolic BP was 100 plus their age. Perhaps they were right

She did actually have a colon polyp when she was six. Nowadays she would would have had regular checkups after that.

Re. in your grandmother's day - I've heard that said before but my GP said once that fewer people died of cardiac failure these days and she didn't really know why that was. Maybe because more people are picked up with hypertension than was once the case? Diabetes too. Was this always picked up as early as it could have been I wonder. Obviously I'm talking of type 2 but in my grandmother's day type 2 was known as an old persons disease although that is not the case today. You win some and lose some. 

What does amaze me these days is how little the drs actually DO know. You constantly read of them admitting that 'little is known on ....' etc.  Trouble is you then get the bossy, arrogant ones [Sir Rory Collins and his statins springs to mind !!] who sweep any criticism away insisting only they are right. If they shout loudly enough then people will believe them.

I doubt if many people were checked for diabetes or hypertension again those we knew with high blood pressure seemed to be a type, stout and red of face.

Perhaps doctors know less because they have more to cover now and are not taught some subjects in depth. People complain now that doctors are afraid to touch them or examine them and modern nurses are taught more theory and little in the way of hands on .

On statins my GP says of a cardiologist at our local hospital, He would put statins in the water supply if he could. I stopped statins because of muscle pain.

After going into AF after my having my aortic valve replaced the surgeon said that I could stop amiodarone and warfarin six months after a sucessfull cardioversion and go back to aspirin. The cardiologist threw up his hands in horror and asked if I wanted to have a stroke.

I have a lovely elderly neighbour who has just been diagnosed with bowel cancer.  She asked the consultant if it was connected to the polyp which was diagnosed some years ago but which she didn't hear anything more about.  The consultant said there was nothing in her notes about a polyp!!!  Makes us wonder if that's where the cancer started.

With our daughter, a finger like thing poked out of her bottom when she went to the toilet. We were on holiday and took her to the local A&E. By then they said that it had popped back in. When she was admitted to hospital after we got home they did a colonoscopy to remove it but could not find it so said that it must have detached itself, I still don't know if they can dtacth themselves or if they missed it. Presumably others then  formed over the next fifteen years but she had no symptoms until one day she passed wind and some blood.

She went straight to her GP who sent her to A&E who gave her an appointment for three days later. They did a sigmoidoscopy but did not find anything apart from piles as the tumor was just beyond its sight. More visits to GP and another hospital visit six weeks after passing more and more blood and in pain. They (rudely) told her as before, constipation and piles.

Five weeks later in desperation her husband took her to another A&E who immediately knew what it was and admitted her two days later