High Blood Pressure
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HealthyStartsHere
Posts: 126 Member
So my dr. told me yesterday that I have high blood pressure and it's like almost stage 2 hypertension level. He recommended that I change my diet (decrease sodium, more fruits and veggies etc) and exercise, plus quit smoking and to follow up with him. He said if it doesn't lower by the follow up than I need meds. Has anyone reduced their blood pressure and if so how? I mean other than what he recommended is there extra stuff I should do; vitamins, teas etc. I'm worried. Any advice can help. Thanks.
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I reduced mine enough to get off meds by doing exactly what your doctor recommends- lowered the sodium in my diet to under 2,000 a day, and exercising (walking is great). Sadly, I haven't gotten to the quit smoking part yet :-(
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Hi I had previous pregnancies one with eclampsia and both hypertension that did not go away after pregnancy. Once I got serious, and now have now lost 40lbs (just hovering on the healthy/overweight borderline on bmi ) have I reduced this condition. I hope to continue to keep my bp down without meds.
It is achievable , lower salt will definately help as well as losing weight.
The other things - I personally haven't tried to know x1 -
A 1 hour walk every day and losing 30 pounds got mine under control. Sodium hasn't been that much of a factor for me, I've found. I definitely recommend buying a good home BP monitor and checking it often to see what affects yours, good luck. Good to take care of it early before the bad stuff develops.3
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best things you can do for hypertension are to lose weight, exercise (strengthens the heart so that it doesn't work as hard) and QUIT smoking (yes its hard, I know from personal experience, but I also know that it is totally worth the effort).
There really aren't any magic bullets that will decrease your blood pressure besides pharma (at least that I know of) and most of the pharma 'cures' have some serious side-effects in the long term.
FWIW, when I started this journey, I was much heavier, smoked and was a total couch-potato. I was also on 2 meds to control my BP. Now, 50+ pounds lighter, non-smoking and active every day of the week, I take a minimal BP control medicine and should be off that after my next check-up.
It is doable and it is totally worth the effort!
(eta for spelling)2 -
Both sodium and smoking can increase your blood pressure.0
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I would personally stay away from herbal supplements as some can actually increase blood pressure.1
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Potassium is supposed to help lower blood pressure, that's in potatoes, bananas, dates, apricots, salmon, mushrooms, yogurt, avocados, nuts.1
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I recently got off high blood pressure meds because of some bad side effects. I've lowered my sodium, drink more water and exercise more. Since doing this the readings are better but still in the systolic prehypertension range. Some people use the DASH diet. It's a diet for people with high blood pressure. I wouldn't take any herbal supplements.1
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Before I started my journey just four months ago my blood pressure stayed around 135/87, my doctor told me that I needed to change my diet or I would have to go on BP meds. I am happy to say that with a diet change, drinking a lot of water, and cardio three times a week I'm down 42 pounds total and my BP stays around 118/72.4
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The best things you can to do to naturally lower blood pressure is lose weight, exercise regularly (get your HR up for an extended period of time), quit smoking. If you over consume alcohol, that can also exacerbate high blood pressure. Some people are salt sensitive and some are not...after much playing around, I determined I'm in the not category.
Keep in mind that often hypertension is purely hereditary, as is the case with me. I've been able to reduce the strength of my meds after losing 40 Lbs and with regular exercise, but I still have to take them...all in the family. Before I changed things around though I was at a higher dosage and they maintained my BP at an average of 134/85...after four years of goodish livin' a lower dosage keeps me on average at 117/73. I have experimented with getting off of them, but it jumps to around 142/90 without meds...which is way better than the 160/105 where I started...but still, need the meds. I also do notice that when I have a break from exercise...nursing and injury or whatever...I do notice it start to climb...so regular exercise for me is definitely a key factor.
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HBP has been chasing me for a long time, I keep making lifestyle adjustments but truthfully there isn't much left to adjust and it's catching up. Have avoided the drugs that my mom had to start at around 30 years old but thinking they are on the horizon.
First - I have never been fat, always worked out at least a few times a week, don't smoke, don't drink much, don't eat a lot of bad foods, so there weren't a lot of lifestyle adjustments available to me, but:
In mid-30s it got high, I quit birth control pills, that lowered it right away but then I got two more kids
Then at 40 it crept back up, I started eating nuts and fish (was vegetarian before) that helped
Then it crept back up, I was having extreme stress and losing weight, interpersonal drama and violence, split with the man and found a new job too, this helped.
Then it crept back up, I started taking co-q10 and the running and yoga instead of jazzercise, this did help some.
New man and less stress in life, but again now it is high in the afternoons at work, every day. Legitimately high. Not at home and not when asleep and not in the mornings after running, it's low at those times. My job is not unusually stressful, so maybe it is from sitting down too long? I do not know. I do know that my body is VERY stress reactive, mental stress freaks it out more than just about anything else.
The supplements that have helped drop it a few points
CoQ10
Tribulus (this is sandspur, ridiculous, but it's a vasodilator)
Olive Leaf
Celery Seed
The ones that did nothing at all for me
Hawthorn
Magnesium
Pomegranate
The ones I am not sure about
Vitamin D
Ashwagandha
I worry about medication because mine is low in the mornings and evenings, it's only high in the late mornings and afternoons. Really feel kind of stuck.0 -
I tried to reduce mine without losing weight, got a little improvement via regular/vigorous exercise, but nothing major. I was typically 140+/80+ most of the time.
Losing weight has me down in the 110/70 area, or thereabouts - went from 183 pounds at 5'5" (BMI 30.4, which is obese) to 120 (BMI 20). I've seen other folks on the Success Stories forum report similar results.
I do eat lots of veggies/fruits, but I have for a long time.0 -
Start cooking at home from scratch.
Take a defrosted chicken breast, add a pat of butter to a skillet. Cook 10 minutes covered, cook another 10 uncovered over med low heat. Add a side of veggies.
Just say no to anything highly processed, in a box or in a container.
Nothing with flour or added sugar (It always seems to come with high salt).
Chantix - I quit smoking in exactly 21 days with it. Call the office and ask for a prescription? Free with insurance (check to make sure since I think the price was $180).0 -
i lowered mine with better eating and exercise0
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I lowered mine with weight loss and exercise (just walking), no supplements (unless you count the occasional glass of low-sodium vegetable juice or red wine or bite of dark chocolate). I wasn't a smoker, and I already ate a decent amount of veggies and fruits, but I probably got a little more than I had been because I was paying closer attention.0
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My blood pressure was high before I started losing weight. It went down to borderline normal ranges after losing about 10% of my initial weight and continued to go down from there. I was never on meds, but it was normal up until I went to the doctor in 2014, I think. I kinda figured it was high, but that was the first time it was high over multiple readings in a clinical setting (160/90). My last couple of BP readings came back 110/60ish.0
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