Risk of high blood pressure :((

danicaone_101

Hello beautiful people,

Interestingly enough, each time I go to my doctor's office, my BP is borderline high. The nurses told me that I may have "white coat syndrome" because my diastolic is below/hangs out mid 80s, however my systolic is in the 130s. Also, I guess it does not help that I suffer from anxiety. Anyway, I asked my doctor about the state of my blood pressure and he said that I should take my BP throughout the day and record it to see if I consistently have high blood pressure. Well I started to take my BP at home and its higher than usual. I do not know if it is due to the placement of the bp cuff (i put it on my forearm instead of arm) or because of my anxiety.

I am freaking out big time because I am only 22 and it would suck to be on blood pressure pill.

Anyone on blood pressure medication? Any side effects?

yopeeps025

Well any medication has sick effect.

Do you exercise? Exercising can help with your blood pressure. I'm 120/80 for years and I am in the high body fat% for men. My genetics has high blood pressure. My older brother who had sickle cell anemia had high BP til he started doing cardio. He was and is still at least 40 pounds smaller than me.

Lizzy622

Losing weight and exercise works wonders for BP. I have also found that exercise helps with anxiety. Going for long walks outside or just dancing to some music in your room can relax you and help with your anxiety. I also love to dig around in my garden. The fresh veggies are just bonus points.

Francl27

Lose weight, exercise, and it will improve. Look at it as a wake up call.

Michelle8683

My sister has risks of high blood pressure, and her doctor said she would either have to be put on a blood pressure pill or go on qsymia and lose some weight. I say to start eating better and exercising, and maybe talk to your doctor about weight loss medication.

JTick

To begin with, yes you need to get the blood pressure cuff in the right place, and make sure you're using the right size cuff as well. I was send to a specialist when I was a kid because of high blood pressure...only to find out the my doctor office was using the wrong size cuff and making it read high.

Exercise and weight loss can help lower blood pressure.

skippygirlsmom

I have BP and take meds daily. I have no side effects from the medication at all. My doctor recommended a machine that takes my pressure from my wrist (it's a fitted cuff). It's this one here: http://www.amazon.com/Omron-Series-Wrist-Pressure-Monitor/dp/B004D9P1A8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404743357&sr=8-1&keywords=blood+pressure+cuff+for+wrist It's bascially idiot proof, it lets you know when it has found the perfect place to take your pressure so there is no guessing. It inflates and deflates on its own.

I agree with diet and exercise to a point, does high BP run in your family? It does in mine. I always had low pressure until about 15 years ago and boom it shot up. I ignored it for a long time until November 2013 when it was 225/110 at an appt. The doctor wanted to admit me to the hospital immediately he was afraid I would have a stroke in his office. With meds it's been a consistent 135/85 ish and everyone is happy. I was getting severe headaches and they are gone now too.

Follow up with the doctor, do what he says. Taking a little pill once a day is far better than dialysis daily or a stroke. Good luck.

ETA: I forget to mention, when my daughter (high school aged) had their sports physical this year I was shocked at the number of young kids with high BP. All the physicals are done in the gym so you kinda see the kids by the BP station laying on the mats on the floor. I mentioned it to the nurse and she said they are amazed at the number of HS aged kids with high BP, poor diet is huge she said. She said they especially she it in football players and wrestlers.

hookilau

In my experience, exercise & weight loss made a difference.

I take my BP several times during the day just to see where I'm at from time to time, so I've got a good deal of data to refer to.

For the life of me, not sure why anyone would suggest weight loss medication when a caloric deficit & exercise is in the long run, more effective. As in, meds prescribed for weight loss are not meant for a lifetime, let's not even get started about the side effects. Not saying there are'nt circumstances where they are appropriate, just that this doesn't seem like one :laugh:

I saw my BP go from 130/90 to somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-90/60-70. Low blood pressure runs in my family & the general consensus is that as long as you feel well with the numbers I have, there isn't a need to worry.

Anyhow, that's my take on it. Definitely log your BP's, note the time of day, activity etc. You'll get a good sense of the trend, but try not to get hung up on the numbers

briemyre

Hey girl - I was where you are about 15 months ago, (I was 23) I had been consistently having high blood pressure readings when I visited the doctor, and they ended up putting me on a water pill to help. While this was happening, I was beginning to make lifestyle changes, and started eating healthier and losing weight. Today, I'm 57 pounds down and last week when I visited the doctor - my blood pressure was normal without the water pill! It's important to take care of your heart. If you have to get on BP medication - then do it, but view it as a short term solution to help reduce the strain on your heart while you make more permanent, long term changes. Of course - there may be a more complex issue going on with you, but exercise and weight loss will definitely help the BP, if not totally fix it. It will also help with the anxiety - I had fairly serious anxiety attacks when I moved across the country to start grad school, keeping with my fitness routine was one of the things that helped keep my anxiety somewhat in check and prevent me from quitting the program and moving back home. If you'd like to chat more - please feel free to add me.

oneoddsock

Hello beautiful people,

Interestingly enough, each time I go to my doctor's office, my BP is borderline high. The nurses told me that I may have "white coat syndrome" because my diastolic is below/hangs out mid 80s, however my systolic is in the 130s. Also, I guess it does not help that I suffer from anxiety. Anyway, I asked my doctor about the state of my blood pressure and he said that I should take my BP throughout the day and record it to see if I consistently have high blood pressure. Well I started to take my BP at home and its higher than usual. I do not know if it is due to the placement of the bp cuff (i put it on my forearm instead of arm) or because of my anxiety.

I am freaking out big time because I am only 22 and it would suck to be on blood pressure pill.

Anyone on blood pressure medication? Any side effects?

Make sure you're using your machine correctly - put the cuff on your upper arm if that's what the instruction manual says to do.

I'm not usually one to get on board the "Doctors Don't Know Anything" bandwagon, but I once saw a doctor who said my BP was too high, and when I got a second opinion, it turned out that younger people can get away with having higher BP; my BP at the time would have been considered high for someone in their 40s, but as I'm in my late 20s, it wasn't a problem. It would be interesting to know what your BP typically reads as.

Another thing - are you on birth control pills? Some pills can cause BP to increase - this is what happened to me when I was on the combined pill, so I was switched onto the progesterone-only one and that solved the problem.

benaddict

My husband was pretty overweight when we were dating, he had high BP and had to go on blood pressure medication. He was only 24 and hated that he was already having health issues due to being overweight. He started eating better (before we got together he pretty much only ate fast food and ready-made meals) and we both started working out together and in less than a year he was off the meds. He still checks his blood pressure every now and then and it's in the normal range. It's much easier to get in shape and get your BP under control now than waiting till you're older. Good luck.

seltzermint555

I think everyone has given you great advice already but I wanted to add that for many people, controlling your sodium can REALLY help. My husband is fit and healthy with a good weight but he was tottering on the edge of high BP about 2 years ago. He has cut back his sodium, mostly by using MFP to track it, and now his BP readings are totally normal. Good luck!

juliemouse83

I have been on BP meds for almost ten years. I was slim when I started, ballooned up fifty pounds, lost all but one of the pounds and am still on BP meds. Apparently it's a family thing... I haven't had any side effects at all from my meds. My mom's rail thin and she takes them, too.

ldonahue74

i just recently (within the past month) was put on blood pressure medicine. i was always high normal, but now it inched up into actual hypertension. i take 1 pill at night, and at my follow up about an hour ago, i was down to "perfect blood pressure" the doctor said. the first week or so, i got head rushes if i stood up too fast, but that went away. also, and this is actually a good side effect for me, i was always one that only slept 3-4 hours, but i'm nodding off, falling asleep by about midnight. now i sleep a healthy amount. oh, mine is also an ace inhibitor mixed with a diuretic, so at first, it was waking me up to pee at night, but now that i've gotten used to it, i sleep all night.

themedalist

I think everyone has given you great advice already but I wanted to add that for many people, controlling your sodium can REALLY help. My husband is fit and healthy with a good weight but he was tottering on the edge of high BP about 2 years ago. He has cut back his sodium, mostly by using MFP to track it, and now his BP readings are totally normal. Good luck!

+1

Controlling sodium can have a huge impact on blood pressure. And so can boosting potassium rich foods (http://potassiumrichfoods.com/potassium-rich-foods-list). But please note that some bp medications do not mix well with higher levels of potassium, so as always, talk to your doctor.

I HAD elevated blood pressure. Reducing sodium substantially, increasing potassium rich foods, losing 50 pounds and regular, high intensity cardio are all I need to control it. (Last reading: 109/73 !!!)

MeganAnne89

As someone who also suffers from anxiety, I do want to point out that there is always a chance that (and let's say that you are using it correctly and what you're reading is accurate) the results you're seeing are mainly due to your anxiety level. I feel like maybe you're like me, I also suffer from white coat syndrome a bit. Whenever I go in my blood pressure is slightly raised, not to the point where they're concerned, but that's only because it takes a lot of effort on my part to control my breathing and make sure that I'm calm the whole time they're taking my blood pressure.

But anyways. Maybe you and I are a bit similar. I've started experiencing anxiety whenever my heart skips a beat. If it does it once, then I noticed it and then I think, oh god, is it going to happen again? And then of course it will happen again because 1) it happens to everyone and 2) the more I think about it, the higher the chance of it happening again is. It's a stupid cycle, because then I get increasingly concerned about it, and it's just awful.

So maybe you're a bit like me in that way. I assume you're worried about your blood pressure being high, so you're getting anxious about it, and because you're anxious about it, your blood pressure is raised.

Regardless, it's good that you're getting it checked out because having a good blood pressure is important, but just try to relax about it until your results are in. Thinking too much about it won't be a good thing for you.

themedalist

As someone who also suffers from anxiety, I do want to point out that there is always a chance that (and let's say that you are using it correctly and what you're reading is accurate) the results you're seeing are mainly due to your anxiety level. I feel like maybe you're like me, I also suffer from white coat syndrome a bit. Whenever I go in my blood pressure is slightly raised, not to the point where they're concerned, but that's only because it takes a lot of effort on my part to control my breathing and make sure that I'm calm the whole time they're taking my blood pressure.

But anyways. Maybe you and I are a bit similar. I've started experiencing anxiety whenever my heart skips a beat. If it does it once, then I noticed it and then I think, oh god, is it going to happen again? And then of course it will happen again because 1) it happens to everyone and 2) the more I think about it, the higher the chance of it happening again is. It's a stupid cycle, because then I get increasingly concerned about it, and it's just awful.

So maybe you're a bit like me in that way. I assume you're worried about your blood pressure being high, so you're getting anxious about it, and because you're anxious about it, your blood pressure is raised.

Regardless, it's good that you're getting it checked out because having a good blood pressure is important, but just try to relax about it until your results are in. Thinking too much about it won't be a good thing for you.

An excellent point! That's where at-home readings can really be useful.

A few year's ago my dentist's office started taking blood pressure readings as a health screening at the start of the exam. My blood pressure was always very high and they expressed concern. Yes, because when I know that people are about to stick sharp metal objects in my mouth and cause me some pain and discomfort my blood pressure IS going to rise. Good grief! Dental visits and bp screenings do not mix!!! :laugh:

amberj32

Hello beautiful people,

Interestingly enough, each time I go to my doctor's office, my BP is borderline high. The nurses told me that I may have "white coat syndrome" because my diastolic is below/hangs out mid 80s, however my systolic is in the 130s. Also, I guess it does not help that I suffer from anxiety. Anyway, I asked my doctor about the state of my blood pressure and he said that I should take my BP throughout the day and record it to see if I consistently have high blood pressure. Well I started to take my BP at home and its higher than usual. I do not know if it is due to the placement of the bp cuff (i put it on my forearm instead of arm) or because of my anxiety.

I am freaking out big time because I am only 22 and it would suck to be on blood pressure pill.

Anyone on blood pressure medication? Any side effects?

Not sure why your are placing the cuff on your forearm. I had to purchase a large cuff for my blood pressure machine. My blood pressure ran high for years. Usually 145/100. I'm on two(Lisinopril 20mg & Metoprolol 50mg) different blood pressure medications right now and they are keeping it at a safe level. I'm working on losing weight. I haven't had any side effects from the medication.

love2lift_85

Lose weight, exercise, and it will improve. Look at it as a wake up call.

^ This.

I developed Gestational Hypertension (sometimes called PIH) while I was pregnant. I was on 2 drugs for it by the time I was in my 3rd trimester. Since having the baby, I am no longer on any meds and my BP is not nearly as high - my highest systolic was 173 in the pregnancy - it has returned to much more normal levels. But... when the body is under stress it exposes its weaknesses. Pregnancy is a stress on the body. So, I took that to mean that I am at risk to develop high BP in future years if I do not take care of myself. It was a good wake up call. I don't have hypertension NOW, but in my 40s? 50s? 60s? Well that's up to me.

(I did make it to full term, and was able to go into labor naturally as opposed to being induced, thankfully)