Wow so I can't donate blood again

beebee0925

So about a month and a half ago the Red Cross had a blood drive at my job. I was unable to donate because I was slightly over the 350 lb weight limit that they had. And today they had another blood drive at my job. So I figure, I'm under 350 pounds today it should be no problem. Well they take my blood pressure this time and they say that it's too high that I can't donate. I tell you when I was younger the whole desire to lose weight was about vanity but as I get older it's about health as well. Do any of you great MFPers have any advice in terms of lowering blood pressure naturally. I definitely need to lose weight and cut down on the salt. Do you know of any other helpful tips. Thanks.

bradphil87

Here are some great tips that I used to lower mine 1:if you smoke, quit. 2: if you drink, quit. 3: reduce your sodium intake. 4: exercise! That's it, you do those 4 things and it should come down.

beebee0925

Well I don't drink or smoke and I exercise regularly. So I guess I need to pay more attention to my sodium. Thank you.

BobbyDaniel

and be careful what you do before you go to give blood too. I got turned down not long ago when I went to donate blood...it was after a hard weight lifting workout and chugging a couple of big mugs of coffee. Duh!

beebee0925

No I don't exercise before giving blood. LOL

happyfeetrebel1

The unfortunate thing about blood pressure is that it's sometimes high for NO reason

I've lost 76 lbs..I eat cottage cheese, greek yogurt and protein shakes. My BP is higher than it's ever been in my life.

I have a low sodium intake, I exercise daily (sometimes 2x). I don't smoke. I don't drink. I consume NO diet soda or caffeine. No chocolate. I drink a bare minimum of 64 oz of water per day, usually more. I'm a paragon of clean living. Yet my BP unmedicated is often 170/110...or higher.

My Drs..both of whom I've seen simply say that some people are genetically disposed to this..and as long as I can tolerate the meds, to just deal with it. Losing weight was supposed to help..but by all means has not.

I'd be happy too, to hear any other ideas..my Dr.s basically said I'm stuck and to deal

PinkEarthMama

1 ) drink more water

2) cut out caffiene

3) watch your sodium

treetop57

The unfortunate thing about blood pressure is that it's sometimes high for NO reason

That's what the essential in "essential hypertension" means!

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/essential


Definition of ESSENTIAL . . . .
3 : idiopathic <essential disease> <essential hypertension>

Definition of IDIOPATHIC
1 : arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause : primary <idiopathic epilepsy>

Buettner22

I know its kind of drastic but I swited to vegan to reduce my risk for cancer and heart disease since both run in the family. 3 months later I can happily say im more healthy and happy now then i have ever been and when i went to the doctor 2 weeks ago my blood pressure alone dropped 30 points! My doctor is so excited that ive chosen this path for my life that shes going to monitor me for the next 6 months and retake my blood and everything to see exactly how much I have really improved my health! Ive even got my parents considering to switch since its helped me so much!!!

meshashesha2012

exercise!

i had HBP at the beginning of the year (which was the main kick in the pants i needed to lose weight). my doctor wanted to put me on meds but i refused so she my doctor pretty much gave me the choice of either losing weight to get my [pressure back to normal or 3 months getting rechecked and going on pills if it were still high.

i dont like taking medicine, not even aspirin so needless to say i took the weight loss route. i cleaned up my diet and started going to the gym 6-7 days a week. i had previously been going twice a week but i still had trouble walking up a flight of steps (ONE LOUSY FLIGHT) without breathing hard, sweating, my chest would hurt and i'd continue to breathe hard for a few minutes afterwards.

in 3 months i didnt lose a lot of weight ( maybe 18 pounds) but i made HUGE improvements in my heart health.
i did it in a few stages

stage 1: focus on cardio and improving my endurance until i could keep my heart rate at 130 or above for 30-45 minutes without any discomfort or feeling like my chest was hurting.

stage 2: adding in strength training with free weights and adding in 3-4 21 minutes interval sessions on cardio where my heart rate would go to 150's during the intervals and back to 130s.

stage 3 : continue with strength, increase the 150/130 interval sessions to 30-45 minutes and add in a few 6-12 minute HIIT sessions where my heart rate would be in 170's then back down to 120's.

by the end of that, i had significantly increased my cardio capacity so that when i went back to the original workout that would get my heart rate to 130, i was only at 100. also my blood pressure dropped back to normal state. last time i checked i was even a bit below normal


also blood pressure is never high for no reason.. dont kid yourself into thinking that. it's high because

TheFunBun

Stress is a big one. I know you can't just -reduce- it, but making an effort to calm the eff down can be helpful.

Also, if you work out a lotlotlot, wonky blood pressure and easily affected restiing heartrate are signs of overtraining (overstressing the cns)

beebee0925

Thanks for all of the great feedback you guys. You've given me a lot to consider. I'm going to definitely cut down on my sodium and I don't drink that much diet soda but I should cut it out altogether.

@meshashesha - I do a lot of cardio and I do some weights. I do lots of Zumba and I'm in week 4 of couch to 5k training. I think it's more dietary with me. I think the frustration of exercising like crazy and health not improving is enough for me to adjust my eating habits.

@buettner22 - Actually when I first starting losing weight before I actually got on MFP I was reading Joel Fuhrman's Food for Life and Caldwell Esselstyn's Preventing Heart Disease and I followed a lot of weight it said and it was working but I fell off. I just contacted the volunteer coordinator of the hospital that I work at and she said that the next blood drive here is going to be on July 24th so I'm going to go back to what I learned in those books and see what the results are. Kind of my own non-clinical trial.

@treetop and @happyfeetrebe - I've known someone else who said no matter what they do they can't seem to lower their blood pressure. And I'm not disagreeing with them but I want to make sure that I've done everything I can to lower my BP before I resign myself to saying that's just the way I am. And I know me I'm so noncompliant when it comes to taking meds.

Thanks again for everyone who responded. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

ColleenAtherton

My 33 yo husband is prehypertensive (his BP is consistently in the high-normal range but doesn't need meds...yet) and we started the DASH diet about 6 weeks ago. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension. There's a couple of pretty reasonably priced books that I found quite helpful. One is "The DASH Diet for Hypertension" by Dr. Thomas Moore, and the other is "The DASH Diet Action Plan" by Marla Heller. I was able to find both books and a DASH diet cookbook on amazon for less than $35 including shipping.

beebee0925

I think I've heard of that. I have to look into that. Thanks.

artbkward

I don't know if this actually works, but I've heard that drinking a couple tablespoons of unfiltered apple cider vinegar can help blood pressure. No harm in trying that along with exercise though.

MarincicS

Do you use MFP to track sodium? I was shocked one day at my sodium intake and when i tracked it back i was even more shocked that the culprit was salsa! It seems like a perfect food, fresh, low calorie, excellent as a flavor enhancer. But seriously crazy sodium. Now sodium is one of the things i pay attention to. If i want salsa, i make it myself and salt only after making it.

I also use MFP on my iPhone to scan any canned goods i buy. There are a few brands of canned tomatoes with very little sodium and even less sugar. I have switched to those.

Packaged and processed foods are crazy, so the cleaner you eat, the better. And you can add plenty of salt for flavor after cooking or preparing. It will still be tons less sodium than packaged and processed foods yet add the taste you're looking for.

Good luck!

beebee0925

Yes I do have it tracked but I didn't pay it any mind till I realized how high my blood pressure was. It's definitely something I will be paying attention to from now on.

treetop57

I was shocked one day at my sodium intake and when i tracked it back i was even more shocked that the culprit was salsa!

Well, the Spanish word salsa does from directly from the Latin salsus, "salted." (As does our word "sauce.")