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positive information on high bloodpressure

Posted , 7 users are following.

hails63112
hails63112

Hello all, I thought that I would share some information with you, I went to see GP again last week and he is great, I have a phobia of having bp taken and panic about my high bloodpressure all the time! he spent ages with me explaining that high bloodpressure on its own is not as serious as we may think and they monitor bp as over a long period of time it can cause problems and can cause problems in older people, he said it is a risk like smoking and and high BP over a short period of time is what your body is made to cope with! High BP over years can cause problems but not really over days or weeks, often bp can be a sign of other health problems that is different but on its own can be reduced and we all will have times when it goes high it's normal for humans to do this. Please don't take this as medical advice but he made me feel much calmer, I wanted to share with you all as there is so much panic and worry

2 likes, 13 replies

13 Replies

  • derek76
    derek76 hails63112

    Posted

    A sensible doctor.

    You should buy yourself a BP monitor and get used to checking it yourself.

    The more you do it the more relaxed you will become about it and get true readings  at home that you can record and give to your doctor.

    • hails63112
      hails63112 derek76

      Posted

      Thanks Derek76,

      I have a monitor at home but my family banned It as I kept getting a high reading and panicking! Going to try again now though as feel better after talking to the GP

      Thanks for support

    • derek76
      derek76 hails63112

      Posted

      Possibly in that case you were not getting to take it when you felt relaxed. As the booklet with it probably says you should sit quietly for five minutes before taking it and then take it three times times with a couple of minutes between readings and use the average.

      As my GP proved to one of his healthy nurses by getting her to test her BP frequently for one day it varies greatly throughout the day. The body is like an engine and its pressure and demands change as required.

      Good luck with it.

       

  • Leighites
    Leighites hails63112

    Posted

    Yes that's very reassuring. Thank you for sharing.
    • derek76
      derek76 Leighites

      Posted

      Most people worry too much about it. The problem is that really it has different causes for different people that are not investigated and the meds prescribed tend to be that doctors personal favourite.

      I've had labile BP for 15 years without any treatment stabilising it.

      Probably the best reason I've been given was from the consultant at the hypertension centre who suggested that I'm not truly hypertensive but have spikes and that medication only serves to lower it too much and cause side effects.

    • Guest
      Guest derek76

      Posted

      Very interesting derek76, you sound like me - 'labile' BP for 15 years , with doctos getting concerned that mulitple medications are not effectively or consistently reducing the readings while I resist taking meds because of foul side effects!   

      How are you managing your BP?  I am trying various supplements and increasing my exercise but like hailes I panic when I take a reading at home if the reading is high

      I just want to get off BP meds, take control of my health as much as possible and get on with life.  I am thinking that we have been led somewhat astray by the development of BP medications which are just not very effective but which doctors keep insisting are the only methods of reducing the risks of stroke or heart attack. 

    • derek76
      derek76 Guest

      Posted

      Perhaps medications are the cause for us not the cure. Medications and changes of them may cause more fluctuations.

      I had my BP checked in November 1999 and it was OK. In February 2000 I had chest discomfort and indigestion and went to my doctor for a remedy for it. She checked my BP and it was 210/110 and I was sent to the chest pain clinic.

      I had an ECG and an Echocardiogram and was put straight on two medications. A later stress ECG gave a false positive as my later angiogram was clear. No one considered any wait and see in case it was a one off situation. Medication after medication caused side effects and were changed to no avail.

      One thing has not changed...my BP is high in the mornings and low at night. If I take a BP med in the morning it it can go to an extreme low after being out and about. If I take it at night it is still high in the morning and goes down during the day but not to such extremes. 

        

    • derek76
      derek76 Guest

      Posted

      Forgot to say that I now only take 50mg of Losartan compared to two other meds and a diuretic and it is lower than it was.
  • helen_07568
    helen_07568 hails63112

    Posted

    A very sensible doctor, its the way the nurses react when you get a high reading,  surely people need to be leaving the doctors with peace of mind,  I am sure this doc did that for you, shame a few more don.t.  many thanks for your post it does give people  the peace of mind what we all covet ...
  • jane243
    jane243 hails63112

    Posted

    Hi Hails. What a really interesting discussion - and what a sensible doctor..  Helen's comment about how the nurses or HCA's react to a high reading is so true, but then some drs are the same. When I had the NHS health check and my BP reading was 163/93 the HCA said patronisingly "Well, you are 70" as though I was ready to go into a care home The dr told me [on the phone] that I'd need meds and I wouldn't be able to sort it on my own - end of story as far as he was concerned:  I determined to try and prove him wrong cutting out salt and alcohol and exercising and losing weight, not that I was particularly overweight. It seemed to me he was the type of dr who just believed medication was the only way. Eventually i saw one of the other drs in the practice who had a different approach entirely, not that it altered anything it was just her approach and the time she spent explaining things. When she said that if I was her mother she'd be insisting I take meds I understood and have complied with her ever since. i bought a monitor and do as everyone else on this site does and take the readings to her when she asks. I recall right at the start the HCA said that home monitors weren't a good idea, I'm glad I ignored her.
    • derek76
      derek76 jane243

      Posted

      In our age group it is as often as not on yhe high side. Some schools of thought are that it needs less agressive treating and that we should not get as high drug doses as younger people as they affect us more.

      It used to be said that your BP should be a 100 plus your age! 

      Did your own changes have an effect? I cut out salt and sugar in the early 1980's and smoking in 1993 but it seemed not to have had the desired effect.... or is that why I am still here at 81? 

       

    • jane243
      jane243 derek76

      Posted

      I'm 73 now and have been on meds for 2.5 years. Ramipril to start with then changed to Losartan 50 mg. A year last July that was lowered to 25 mg as I was getting very low readings. It stayed the same for 14 months  then in September suddenly rose from 120<> to averages of 150<> which I found sickening.  I had a review in mid Sept and the dr was all for leaving things as they were but coming back in November until she took the BP in the surgery and it was over 200! She thought it better to raise it back to the 50mg and still go back for a check with a possibility of lowering it if September was just a blip. I've just had a relaxing holiday and returned to equally high readings. 

      As for whether the changes I made had any effect I would have thought so,  at least until now. I did ask the dr and she thought the same. Sadly not enough to deal with the problem. When I checked my health notes on line I found there had been random BP checks over the years and as far back as 2000 when I was 58 it was recorded as 200 yet nothing was ever mentioned. strange how nowadays they love to get you in their sights and keep you there.

      I had a full blood count done recently and notice that my cholesterol has risen from 5.4 [total] to 6.6 which is annoying. Also an AK1 alert level 0. Not entierely sure what that is but google says something to do with the kidneys. I probably haven't been drinking enough water lately so that could have something to do with it.

      One good thing was that the HbA1c had dropped from 42mmol to 39. I'm not diabetic btw but the original dr i had seemed determined that that number would rise and he'd have me on the metformin.

  • pamela87113
    pamela87113 hails63112

    Posted

    All these stories just go to show that there are no definitive answers to what is consider high/low BP.  I, like many, have "white coat syndrom," taking my own pressure for years I proved that whenever I had a doctor's appointment the levels rose dramaticalyt!!  I think you should look for a cause before tampering with the body chemistry.  I eventually did accept the docs advice, though compared with some of your stories my pressure was never that bad.  This year I have had several hospital investigations into other conditions but they have never found BP to be an issue.  I finally convinced my GP that the medication was doing more harm than good and it has been reduced to the lowest possible level while we wait results. Meanwhile I stopped taking my own pressure regularly as there seemd no point, but for reference I've just recorded 129/67.  Don't stress about numbers, listen to your own body.  
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