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Over a year ago I was diagnosed with hypertension
Made some lifestyle changes and started taking Ramipril
Took about 6 months to get the dosage right and then everything settled down
Had a couple of BP tests in last 2 weeks and diastolic is right back up again
Anyone had similar and care to share their experiences? I know there are more serious illnesses but it's cheesed me off again and I keep thinking about my mum who had a fatal heart attack at 51
A few thoughts...
How high's the BP? Who is taking it? With what (manual or machine)? How often? Have you got your own machine and checked it at home at different times of the day? Have you had a 24 hr monitor? Have you had blood tests and an ECG? When? How old are you?
! Reading your series of questions has just given me hypertension !
And I deliberately edited it... there are many more questions to ask!
A friend of mine had/has white coat induced high blood pressure...
A friend of mine had/has white coat induced high blood pressure...
Itself probably not a condition without risk...
i've borderline hypertension, varying from 135/85 to 160/105. Doesn't seem to be affected by the drugs that have been perscribed in the past, had 24 hour monitoring as well as kidney\liver tests and full heart scans as I'm young (was 22 when it was first diagnosed), never smoked, healthy weight and lifestyle. I just choose to ignore it now - I got far more stressed trying (without aid) to control it. I was particularly unimpressed by the doc's assuming that one low reading was a proof of a course of treatment working, when the results seem to vary so wildly anyway.
chin up 🙂
Thanks all
I was 150/100 when first diagnosed, drugs and lifestyle changes got it down to about 120/80 but the other day it was back up to 128/98 - it's the diastolic that's the concern apparently.
I've had all the other tests - ECG, cholesterol, thyroid, kidney, 24 hour BP monitor
I don't test it at home, always at the same GP surgery with the same machine
I'm 40
You're doing well - try not to let a one off high diastolic get you down too much.
It's worth getting your own monitor and keeping an occasional eye on it at home - readings in the surgery aren't always a fair representation. Just don't get obsessive about it!
Don't get too hung up on the numbers - it's your risk of the nasties that hypertension is a risk factor for that matters and this will have reduced with the positive changes you've made and the ramipril (even if a drop in your BP hadn't been demonstrated by the limited monitoring it's realistic and practical to undertake in general practice).
Get a home monitor and check it 1-2 x week. If it's mostly below 140/80 on treatment it's ok. Try not to check it too often though!
i'd kill for 150/100!
My highest reading has been 196/128....and I was 21!!!
ive got it, diagnosed at 17....the easiest thing is to ignore it.
If you have made the suggested lifestyle changes (as I have) and you are getting exercise and you're on tabs...ask yourself what else can you actually do? Probably nothing...so stop thinking about it otherwise you'll giver yoursefl a BP spike and feel like poop!
my 2p!
Cheers all
100 plus your age for systolic and a diastolic below 100 and all is good IMO. I'm sure a doctor would tell you differently, but try not to worry too much. Test it at home with a proper sphygmomanometer and a cheap stethoscope. do it in the morning, at lunch time and before bed. get an average. This figure is valid and useful. Or go to your doctors, let them do it with a £20, uncalibrated POS electric cuff, panic about the result and watch those numbers go sky high. This figure is no more relevant than being afraid of dinosaur attack.*
*when the dinosaurs attack they will kill you instantly so you wont even know about it.
At the risk of getting the thread blocked or deleted what do you weigh? What exactly do you eat? How many hours of aerobic exercise do you do in a week? And what job do you do?
If you're a sedentary 85kg dentist that eats typical British food washed down with beer then there's lots you can do.
If you're a 70kg gardener that cycles to work and eats garden produce dowsed in olive oil washed down with a glass of fruit juice and an occasional glass of wine then you are just unlucky.
what annoyed me was the suspicion that was placed on me that I must be lying about something. I forget now what my original reading was when it was first noticed, 145/100 or something thereabouts. Went through the normal stuff, lifestyle checks (don't smoke, don;t drink to excess, eat mostly fresh food, exercise very regularly etc. etc) Had one of the cuffs on that smells of cigarette smoke for 24 hours.
Yep, you have high blood pressure, lets go through your diet again.
Anyway, stuff I'm on now has me down to about 130/90 on a typical reading. I take my pressure every couple of weeks at home. I sometimes forget to take the pills and my wife gets angry because she checks. That pushes it up.
I've been taking ramipril for about 6months, so far, so good. I monitor a couple of times a week at home, and always take 3 readings a couple of minutes apart. 1st reading is often higher than the others. It's quite common for the readings to be higher when taken at the docs, and mine varies a lot during the day ( +/- 20)!
I'd recommend getting a decent home monitor to get a better feel for what's going on, it might be things are ok.
...and moderate exercise makes a heck of a difference!