Age 72 , Had normal to low BP until recently. What changed?
Posted , 5 users are following.
All my life my bp has been excellent or too low no matter what my diet was like. My diet is now better than ever, I'm vegetarian and cook my own food from scratch, don't even buy canned soup. I think I have the diet that doctors recommend, don't smoke and not overweight at all. But I've been a couch potato last few years so now I'm
getting out and walking 40-60 minutes per day. After 2 months of walking it went from 166/80 to 155/80. Not much improvement. I really don't want to start on meds. I've made it this long without needing any. I feel like I should address the cause.
Any ideas on why bp would shoot up just in last few years and any ideas on what I should try?
0 likes, 6 replies
jx41870 rebecca39043
Edited
Well, y'know, I mean, it could, just be - age! It happens. And sadly there's not much more than that in the textbooks today, sometimes it just happens, quite commonly with age.
Are you having an annual physical, so the doctors can see if anything else looks out of wack?
If either reading is OK, then an unusual gap between them might indicate something to a doctor - or that your meter isn't working great. Have you confirmed the reading with another meter, maybe one at the drug store, much less a doctor's office?
Any new reasons for stress - I mean other than pandemics and politics?
Still, if it stays that high, it should be discussed with a doctor.
rebecca39043 jx41870
Edited
I should have said that the doctor took my blood pressure at the last visit 2 months ago. I hadn't been in in about 3 yrs so somewhere in that time it went way up. So yesterday I had my blood pressure checked at the drug store and got the slight improvement. The dr said I should take meds for it but I have avoided any meds so far and don't want to start if I can think of a natural fix.
loxie rebecca39043
Posted
Have you had any kidney issues lately? My partner has had high BP all his life and at various points has also suffered from kidney stones. Had a kidney stone attack very recently and even though he's on quite high dose BP meds his BP shot sky high. Doctor told him that it's all connected, which we didnt know previously.
rebecca39043 loxie
Posted
Not that I'm aware of. Maybe I should have that checked.
jx41870 rebecca39043
Posted
There are millions of people on BP drugs and mostly without any side-effects. There are specific foods you can try that are effective enough, just like the pills, but unless you want to live the rest of your life eating nothing but eggplant, beets, shiitake mushrooms, and dark chocolate, the pills are really more convenient.
Though it doesn't hurt to supplement with the dark chocolate, LOL.
You can find more info on all of these online.
You'll also see a lot about the DASH diet, which is all fine, but that is indirect, no one food is credited with direct action, and it sounds like you're already there anyway.
VeeWat rebecca39043
Edited
the same happened to me at age 65 ...always low, then wham. im on a beta blocker now and ACE.