High Blood Pressure - recommendations!

[tris]

Well - I had to wear a blood pressure monitor for a day and low and behold I have high blood pressure and am immediately going on to the tabs

Its always been at the top limit, but not being a smoker and a light drinker only not considered a big issue. Now at the age of 58 it appears it is!!

As far as I was concerned I was fine - what are the obvious symptoms?????

Any tips, thoughts for the other suffers on this forum?


Cheers

Tris

[DAMMAG]

What is your current blood pressure?

[Peter949]

I have found that good outdoor exercise, and an excellent healthy diet works well for me. As for social  drinking ... I am now close to zero as well.  My family doctor is amazed, and may take me off of my blood pressure meds. Good Health!   

[tris]

What is your current blood pressure?

I can't remember The monitor checked every 30 minutes and when I stuck it into the NHS calculator it came out RED or said "dont be stupid, your Diastolic  can't be that high" 
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/blood-pressure-test/

Control by diet/exercise/weight reduction will be my preferred solution too P949

[Perazzimx14]

Low sodium diet, cut out caffeine and alcohol and get exercise. All the stuff we already know to do but don't.

Also sometimes diet and excercise aren't enough so implimenting a BP reducing med (there are several so don't be surprised to try a couple before you fine one that works) + possible a water pill for help flush out salt from the system.

Having high BP sucks but not knowing you have it is much worse.

[yogidozer]

The very best thing you can do is just walk. It's low impact on your knees, back, hips, etc.
It will not only help your entire body, it will help your mind.
I prefer to walk in the woods, but anywhere is better than not walking at all.
As Peter says, eat right. Oatmeal, banana, for breakfast, lay off the pastry/bagels.
If you have a person to walk with you, great. If not, a four legged companion will just add to the enjoyment.
Turn off the TV 

[tris]

.....Having high BP sucks but not knowing you have it is much worse.

And there's the thing.

I was only at the doctor initially as a good friend suggested that I should get a check up - as I rarely see the Doc

Hence I'm interested in the symptoms as whether it was something I should have noticed

[kingoffleece]

It's called the silent killer.

[yogidozer]

It's called the silent killer.

Very true, ALL meds have side affects.
You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain by exercise.
JMO, people lose interest in gym type exercise.
Nature walks are free, the companionship of a walking buddy is priceless.

[Aaron D.]

Besides regular exercise, cut out sugar-stevia turns out to have a lowering effect on blood pressure too, and it works well if sweet is your thing.

[Rough Edge racing]

 I'm thin active and have high BP...Started in my 50's so I did all the diet tricks and exercise despite being a constructive worker...None of it worked, I have been taking moderate BP medication and at nearly 72 is all fine...I also have in my generic turd bag a tendency for high blood sugar..I can control it with diet alone however..
   I had several friends who never went to doctors and figured their blood pressure was fine because they felt ok.....They are now dead...High blood pressure slowly destroys your internal organs and vascular system..

[egschade]

Mine was high and I took meds until I lost the belly fat with diet and exercise. I put 15 lbs back on last year and it's up again so the doc wants me back on meds if I don't take the weight off again. He's given me 60 days to get my act together.

Just started a new job where I'll be walking to/from the train so that 4 mi/day of walking should help. Figure out how to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Maybe park a mile or two away from your place of work or force yourself to eat lunch a good walk away. Eat some fruit or have a big glass of water BEFORE a meal so you'll eat less. Just do something to get more fit and trim and maybe you can get off the meds. 

[Gliderjohn]

You don't want your first s symptom to be a stroke. Unless super high or low there will be no symptoms. Something to be said for regular checkups. Diabetes is the other silent killer.
GliderJohn

[Perazzimx14]

And there's the thing.

I was only at the doctor initially as a good friend suggested that I should get a check up - as I rarely see the Doc

Hence I'm interested in the symptoms as whether it was something I should have noticed

Some folks get headaches or blurred vision but generally you feel nothing and no symptoms. The downside is after you get your BP under control you still may feel no differently. This is where people think that BP medication or lifestyle changes really aren't having an effect and stop doing what they are doing. It not like if you have indigestion you eat a Tums and feel better. With high or controlled BP you'll most likely not notice a physical or measurable change.

Years ago my father stopped taking his BP medication because he had no difference in feeling. He eventually had a heart attack and from that day until the day he passed decades later took his BP medication without fail. He got lucky and got a second chance to live another couple decades with no debilitating damage.

[Murray]

My old man has had high blood pressure from the age of about 25, the tabs do work less caffine more exercise, he's 79 and still active drives the bus for the old peoples home every week (I'm sure there are people on the bus younger than he is) so it can be managed, fortunately I didn't inherit it.

[antmanbee]

The top 3 causes of death are 1, heart attacks,  2, cancer,  3, strokes. Most of those who die from cancer have heart disease but the cancer got to them first.
Heart attacks and strokes are the same disease, the only difference is which artery got blocked, one to the heart or one to the brain.
Almost everyone has heart disease. High blood pressure is just a symptom. Don't treat the symptom, go after the underlying cause.
I was well down the same path in my 50's when confronted with heart disease in my parents.
I just started researching as to what could be done that was non-invasive and came across a couple of studies using lifestyle intervention. I thought, what have I got to lose?
I changed cold turkey about 13 years ago. within a few months my blood pressure dropped from 138 over 80 something to 110 over 70. Cholesterol went from 208 to 149.
Both markers have remained at these levels for more than a decade, all with no medication. My stamina has increased.
Sure it is difficult to eat and live healthy in this world. The alternative is having your chest split open for bypass or to have stents inserted and being on multiple medications for the rest of your life.
Still these are only patches and do not address the underlying cause. Re-stenosis usually happens in another 5-15 years and you are in the same boat but maybe with no veins to harvest for another bypass.
The things that are important to me are being able to be physically active like when I was young, ride my motorcycles, and be mentally alert.
I don't care much if I can't have a piece of cheese cake or a burger and fries or what ever rich fatty, sugary salty daily meal or snack.
Seems like an equitable trade.
   
I am 65 and need no medications. I can not think of a single person my age who is not on several meds.
This is what I do. I have for the last 13+ years.

https://www.amazon.com/Ornishs-Program-Reversing-Heart-Disease/dp/0804110387

https://www.amazon.com/Prevent-Reverse-Heart-Disease-Nutrition-Based/dp/1583333002/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XBWC62VRCRC4JCN5S4SJ

[AJ Huff]

I never felt other noticed and symtoms. I take my daily HCTZ pill and don't worry about it.

-AJ

[Groover]

Sometimes it's hereditary and just how your blood vessel system is built. I have high BP (controlled now), and have been on BP meds since my mid 20's and have been making deals with my doc to get off of them (or reducing the dosage) by going extreme almost in the health department then checking back in 6 months etc, I finally gave-in almost 20 years later that I can't really bring it down naturally to where the new norms are. For you/everyone, certainly try the stuff known out there to reduce it (good diet, weight, exercise, meditate, etc) first and see how it goes that will certainly help and give you a good reference point. However, you might have to get on meds, and sometimes two meds as they'll work in conjunction. Also, check BP and various times of the day and after different type activities or meals to get a good understanding and better average on where you stand. There are some nice BP machines these days out there that will send each reading to an app on your phone and chart it out and such (if you like that kind of tech), but that itself could raise your BP when it doesn't connect to your device

I still maintain a healthy lifestyle, we cook at home with best ingredients, diet mostly Mediterranean based and I take the pills with what I believe no side-effects. Definetly it takes a little time to find the right one/ones for each person, so don't give up. Once you find the right ones, then it's nothing taking them and you'll know that the peaks in BP will be suppressed.

[cliffrod]

Heredity trumps lifestyle & habits and I'm certainly no expert on health, but I am an expert on food & cooking.  If you don't cook your own food, you are surrendering a lot of health control.   

Natural fats can be managed by your natural body.  Among other things, engineered fat products help things stick- like flavor components to taste buds.  They also stick more effectively to arterial walls...  Engineered fats are often more shelf-stable in foods, may be hygroscopic to keep,food moist for longer periods of time, etc, etc.   Just because they are plant-based doesn't make them "better."  Cholesterol means animal-originated fat and that's all it means.  A small amount of animal-based fat is probably no worse and may be better for your health than many engineered fats.

So many purchased assembled-product foods have extra sugars to mask salt content or extra salt to mask sugar content.  Both are common strategies to boost flavor experience, especially in convenience product.  Lowering your salt and sugar intakes often has less to do with how much of either you add to a dish than the ingredients already in there.   By cooking it yourself, you address this issue effectively.

Gluten (somewhat peripheral here but...) is also greatly misunderstood and hyped/promoted.  Gluten is an elastic network or tangle of glutenin and gliadin (sp?), specific proteins common to wheat.  Other grain products may have similar proteins that create an elastic network of proteins, but if you are sensitive to a specific protein you need to know more than just calling it gluten.  Eating gluten free without specifc medical need is a fad.

By cooking your own, you can make a significant impact on what goes into your body.  It doesn't have to be all organic, fine dining fancy stuff.   Eating better to live better is a win-win.  Too bad washing the dishes isn't actually considered to be exercise..

[not-fishing]

Walking is good exercise ---- Butt:

bicycle is better when "you spin" No Grinding

Canoeing and Kayaking are better  work the belly muscles and better scenery

Rowing and Cross Country Skiing are best  more calories burned - less impact and the best scenery

And then there's motorcycle riding for improving your Zen.  also the Griso has actually helped my back a lot

[Sasquatch Jim]

 I used to be a diabetic but back in about 2011 I got tired of taking the pills and poking holes in my fingers so I quit being a diabetic.
 I began eating more carefully and exercising.  My sugar numbers have been acceptable
since.  When my leg paralysis stopped me from walking I went to the gym.

[Furbo]

Symptoms......heart attack, or stroke.  There are none really.

We know nothing about you so, generally the best thing you can do is Not Be Fat. I'm 5-10 and fairly muscular. If I keep it below 200lbs, I have no HBP.  Let go of it for a year and gain 30-40lbs, I'm on the verge of hyper tension.   But that's me.

[tris]

What a lot of great info and thanks for sharing

My old man has high blood pressure so I'm not over surprised that I have it too I guess

Walking has already started with a mate at work every lunch time

Also started a week or so back weaning myself onto decaffeinated tea

No more munchies at bed time

The tabs start in the morning, and let's see where I am in 6 months time

Thanks again all - I knew that this was the right place to ask 


Tris

PS I'm 5' 10" and 196 lbs

[Lcarlson]

As someone whose hypertension was discovered at my army physical at age 18, I have been taking medication for it all my adult life. There are some good lifestyle recommendations here, but make no mistake: they are likely not enough. There is no substitute for lifelong monitoring by a competent physician, who will determine what treatment you should have. You can’t do it by yourself.

The silver lining for me is that because of this, the Army didn’t want me, and I had a very low draft number — would likely have been drafted in a couple of months at the height of the war in Vietnam. I had no intention of avoiding service, but the decision was no longer mine to make.

SEE YOUR DOCTOR.

[Bulldog9]

Yep... Getting old stinks. like everything else your mileage may vary, but I found that a daily intake of apple cider vinegar (capsule) and that superbeets powder mix brought my blood pressure down.

I used to be very active and a competitive runner, but several injuries to my back hip and knee have taken that away. as a result blood pressure and cholesterol levels went through the roof.

of course the doctors wanted to take away caffeine and Copenhagen and that just was not going to happen :-)

Diet is important and exercise is as well, and I found that a combination of long fast walks and swimming with some bicycling have helped to get me more active, as well as weight training. bottom line 30 minutes of some type of exercise that raises your heart rate causes you to break a sweat is all you really need to maintain some level of activity and health.

But we only have one body all we can do is do our best hope everything works out for you brother.

[bigbikerrick]

My son is an RN ,and works at a dialysis center. He tells me that they have a large number of patients younger than 60 where high blood pressure, undiagnosed for a number of years damaged their kidneys.It would be wise for most of us to get a decent quality blood pressure monitoring machine for at home , and check our own, and family members BP as well. BP needs to be monitored for a number of days to get a real idea of whats going on.
Rick.

[tris]

And guess who had a blood test as part of the check up that showed a kidney function that was not quite as the Doc expected so have had a second to confirm!

I'm starting to see this as a big red flag to get my act together PDQ!

[Ncdan]

Be cautious about which type of the three three major BP meds out there. I was on a  beta BLOCKER for a while and it was BAD. This type puts a rev limiter on your heart which limits how fast your heart is able to beat. I am very physically active and it was way to restrictive for my life style. Right now I'm on Losartan 100-25 and it works good for me with few side effects. Do your research and don't let the doctor do all the thinking when it comes to this issue.

[canuck750]

www.dietdoctor.com

The Keto diet or as I now call it Keto Lifestyle will drop your blood pressure, will likely alleviate type 2 diabetes symptoms and you will loose belly fat. I started 6 weeks ago and have dropped 23 lbs and feel much healthier. I don’t count calories or restrict amount I eat but zero carbs, very little sugar or high sugar content fruit, no beer, lots of natural fats. I have much more energy and I am not hungry and I don’t have the urge to snack. Log into the website and watch the videos, it’s that simple.

[tpeever]

Well - I had to wear a blood pressure monitor for a day and low and behold I have high blood pressure and am immediately going on to the tabs

Its always been at the top limit, but not being a smoker and a light drinker only not considered a big issue. Now at the age of 58 it appears it is!!

As far as I was concerned I was fine - what are the obvious symptoms?????

Any tips, thoughts for the other suffers on this forum?


Cheers

Tris

Lots of good advice here regarding exercise, diet, weight loss etc. but fact is only 15% of people respond to a low sodium diet. A lot of it is simply genetics. My paternal grandmother had it, my father has it, and I have it. There are no symptoms and someone mentioned that this is why is called the "silent killer". Get yourself a blood pressure monitor so you can test at home. Measurements at doctor's office are useless due to anxiety and because they are single point measurements. Your blood pressure will vary throughout the day so you need to measure it yourself on a regular basis at same time each day. I had marginal high pressures (130-140 over 90) and am on low doses of amlodipine (calcium channel blocker) and lisinopril (ACE inhibitor - originally from Brazilian pit viper!) and it works great for me..........so far! These are generic meds and are very cheap. Lisinopril causes a dry cough for a lot of people but it has been fine for me.