Anyone out there able to lower their BP w/o meds?

Keran24
Keran24 Posts: 90 Member
in Motivation and Support
I have been told by two different medical professionals in the past two weeks that my blood pressure is high. So I dug out my old BP cuff from nursing school and have been taking my blood pressure. And... yes they are right. It is high, consistently and all of the time. I am pretty bummed out about it. It has never been high before.

I weigh less now and work out more than I have in almost 20 years so I do not think weight is the issue. I was working 2 new jobs for a few months and working out less, eating less than healthy, not sleeping, drinking alot of cafienne, and pretty stressed out. I have also had more stress than usual in the past 2 years. So I think my main issue is stress.

My plan is to try to get it down without meds. Hoping I can. Unfortunately high blood pressure runs in my family: 2 of my siblings and my parents have it.

I quit one job (the awful and stressful one that paid the most). My plan is to work out more, do more yoga, walking, biking, swimming, breathing exercises, and try to eliminate and stay away from as much stress as I can. I am also trying to lose that last 15 pounds to get me into the normal weight range for my height. I am changing my diet to no added salt and trying to increase my consumption of healthy food and foods that are supposed to bring BP down. According to the internet: hibiscus tea, bananas, and raisins can help.

Has anyone out there been able to lower their BP without meds? What did you do? What did you eat? I am willing to try anything to avoid pharmacological treatment.

Replies

  • barbara4599
    barbara4599 Posts: 114 Member
    High blood pressure also runs in my family and I have been high in the past, around 140/100 a few months ago. Like you stress was a factor, along with poor eating and no exercise (which of course makes me overweight).

    My stress level has reduced due to positive changes at work. I also have seen that when I eat better and exercise I have been able to keep my blood pressure in the healthy range. By eating better I mean cutting/reducing the fast food, reduce alcohol, cut out the salty, processed food, and eat lots of veggies. In the past few months I've dropped 10 pound (still have more to go) and my blood pressure is back to normal most days.

    Keep an eye on it and see if the reduced stress and diet changes help.
  • Keran24
    Keran24 Posts: 90 Member
    Mine has consistently been 150/90 - 150/100 for two weeks:( I was still working out in the past few months, just not as much. I eat a fairly good diet normally and am not into fast food at all but I do like salty things so I am trying to avoid salt. There are studies that suggest moderate drinking can actually lower BP. Sadly, moderate drinking for a woman means about 1/2 a beer or cocktail daily. Seriously, who drinks half a beer or half a martini?:)
  • pirron
    pirron Posts: 6 Member
    My blood pressure was 139 / 73 and I satrted on the DASH diet and lowered my sodium to 1500-2000mg per day. My blood pressure came down to 119 / 73. I'm also excersing alot and in the DASH diet you eat alot of fruits and vegies. I work in the field of Hypertension. The DASH diet is Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It works very well especially in women over 45 that are a litlle overweight..
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    Mine is back up again after being off the meds for ages. I am NOT going back on them but I'm going to get back to diet and exercise ASAP and sort it out, did it before and will do it again.
  • Gizziemoto
    Gizziemoto Posts: 430 Member
    I have high BP and am currently reading the DASH plan. Since severe digestive issue, unable to eat raw fruits and veggies. I just found I am able to substitute with juice. 100% natural no sugars added. Regretfully, I will never be off meds because before this I developed chronic migraines. So I take Inderal. Good news is it only 50mg per day where the recommended dosage is 80-120. So my exercise has helped now to get stress and sodium under control

    You can beat this with out meds. I recommend the DASH diet.
  • ncmedic201
    ncmedic201 Posts: 540 Member
    I was put on medication in November for my BP. By December I was on 3 different medications. I was determined to come off of them. I started eating a low sodium diet and drinking lots of water. By the end of January my BP was down enough to be able to come off all the meds. Unfortunately, I have been eating bad the last month and now my pressure is up again. I know I can bring it back down over the next few weeks if I eat healthy and cut out the processed foods. What I typically ate looked like this:

    Breakfast: 1 cup of coffee with french vanilla creamer (I couldn't give that up), either oatmeal or blueberries and strawberries or granola with skim milk and blueberries
    Snack: more berries and Kefir
    Lunch: Salad with chicken, cheese and lots of veggies- I made my own dressing...quick and super easy and very low in sodium. About 2 tbsp EVOO, maybe a tsp honey, lemon or lime juice and some spices (usually italian seasoning or mediteranean seasonings)
    Snack-Kefir and something crunchy (Trader Joes has some yummy Wasabi peas)
    Dinner-Chicken & veggies, quinoa or another type of grain

    I have found that if I don't drink enough water that it has the opposite effect on me and raises my BP (although when I was on the HCTZ it would make my BP pretty low)

    Feel free to message me if you want

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