Blood Pressure Meds Mystery
Posted , 4 users are following.
First of all, thank you for taking the time to read this, it is very long and I apologize for that. Much appreciated.
I am terrible with dates so forgive me. Roughly I don’t know about 4-5 months ago I went into my gynecologist for my yearly exam. While I was there I mentioned to her that I was having some weird side effects from my birth control pills (I’ve been on the pill since I was 15, I just turned 30 and am a healthy weight) She suggested I try another type of pill and I was happy to do so. So, I start the new pill, all is well. I go in for another visit, just a checkup on how the new pills are going. I tell her they are awesome and I’m very happy with them. She takes my blood pressure while I’m there and it was stroke level baddddd. I have never had an issue with blood pressure and it was fine at my yearly exam prior. The only thing that had changed was the new bc pills so she suggested we do some blood work to rule some stuff out which I did. My blood work came back fine and she put me on some calcium channel blockers to try to get it down while we figured out what to do. A month goes by I’m still on the bc and bp pills, my bp was not going down so she added a beta blocker and diuretics. At this time I’m taking 2 diuretics, 2 calcium channel blockers and a beta blocker a day. I finally decide okay time to quit the pill, so I did. She told me to stay on the bp meds and let’s wait and see if it goes down. I went in for weekly visits to monitor it as well as checking it myself at home. It did start to go down to a reasonable number. Here I am currently off the bc pills for a month, still taking all of these bp meds. I’m monitoring my bp like a crazy person because I’m so desperate to get off all these pills. Yesterday I totally forgot to take them and out of curiosity I checked my bp and it was perfect! I haven’t seen it that low since before all this started and it stayed low and awesome all day and night. Well today I decided to not take the pills on purpose so I could see what my bp did and it was great and normal again! However, I’m a good patient and wasn’t able to get ahold of my doctor today for advice so I decided to go ahead and take my pills like I’ve been told to. After I took them my bp has pretty much stayed the same and on some readings it’s actually higher then when I didn’t take them. My doctor wants my top bp number to be at least 90 before I stop taking the pills but it just is not lowering anymore. Can anyone give me some advice here? It seems so crazy! I plan to call the doctors office tomorrow in an attempt to explain this but I’m just so confused. ANY advice or help would be SO greatly appreciated you don’t even know. My family and friends are so over hearing about this and I’ve googled until my eyes hurt to no avail. Thank you so much for reading this book LOL
0 likes, 6 replies
jx41870 leeluhduh
Posted
Top BP ..90????
Systolic 120 over diastolic 80 has been the long-time standard.
You sure don't need Systolic of 90!
110/70 is OK, but much lower than that on either reading would be crazy.
leeluhduh jx41870
Posted
I dont undertand much about all this stuff but i agree, I dont see it getting that low nor do i want it to be! Yesterday when i didnt take any of the meds it averaged about 115 over 82. It was the same this morning, waited a few hours, tested again and it was still the same. After i took the meds today i waited a few hours and have been checking my bp all day since and its gone up to 130 over 90. SO weird...
jx41870 leeluhduh
Posted
@leeluhduh, 115/82 is fine. Even 130/90 is fine, nobody is likely to give you meds for 130/90. BP varies during the day, with activity, meals, etc.
leeluhduh jx41870
Posted
i get what you are saying and i appreciate your replies im just confused as to why my blood pressure would consistently stay the same or be higher then when i skipped the bp pills instead of making it lower since thats the whole purpose of the bp meds, to lower my bp. its just weird. my doctor is closed tomorrow unfortunately but ill hopefully get some answers from her by thursday. thanks again for the replies.
jx41870 leeluhduh
Posted
Well, they may not always do that.
Of course what we'd all like is for drugs that return you to normal, and if you're already normal they just let you be!
But you'll find all sorts of weird stuff happens in medicine - and I guess outside of medicine, too. Just be glad when it works, without causing more problems than it fixes!
mike92384 leeluhduh
Posted
leeluhduh...jx41870 is right when he says bp fluctuates throughout the day. In fact you can take your bp reading & get say 115/80, then in just a few minutes it can jump to over 120. This is normal. You wouldn't believe how the different things that go through our minds can alter bp readings. Do not take your bp readings if you're anxious, angry, unwell. You'll get inaccurate readings. Also, don't become obsessed with taking your bp. That causes a rise as well.
Don't take readings for at least 30min. after drinking tea, coffee, or anything with caffeine..
within 30min of exercise, bathing or showering, & eating.
Your systolic (upper) number of 90 is a low, I'd say. You don't want it any lower than that,which is the same as jx41870 said.
It is weird that your bp readings are higher when on the bp meds. Truly, you need to get back to your doctor about this whole thing.
In the meantime try your best not to stress over this. It's easier said than done I know, but stressing over it will serve no purpose but to drive the numbers UP. Please let us know how you get on. Best of luck! 😃