Weight Loss and Hypertension What is your Experience?

I am anxious to see any responses as I am dealing with the same thing. I did start the meds this morning but I am not happy about it.

I am 52...was diagnosed with high blood pressure 5 years ago. I did not know I had it...but I was having problems with my vision in one eye. Found out my bp was consistently running 180/120...and as a result, from all of that pressure, I suffered damage to that eye. I immediately went on bp meds.....at first, I had to take 2 different pills. I managed to lose some weight and now only need 1 pill. However, I still have problems now and then with that eye. My advice....take the medicine. There are sooo many different types of bp medications now, it may take some tweaking to find the one that works best for you. It is extremely important to have your blood pressure in a normal range, and to have it there consistently. There could be damage happening inside your body that you don't know about...until it is too late to help it! Luckily, I can still see out of my eye, but I also have a shadowy area in part of the lower right area of my vision that will never go away. If I do not keep my bp under control, there is a good chance the shadowy area will spread to the center of my vision. So....take the medicine is my advice.

I have had issues with my blood pressure and like you decided not to take the pills any longer because they were making me feel terrible and it wasn't actually fixing the problem. I do know that when I lose weight I do feel better but even more important, I think, is what you eat. I notice that when I eat a clean whole foods diet and drink smoothies and fresh pressed juices my blood pressure is MUCH better. Stay away from sodium. That is a big one.
The thing is, you know your body best and when things start to change you will feel it and you will know what it is you need to do.

Yes, I would recommend you changing your diet, as you can have this calorie counter track your sodium intake. Then, take your blood pressure medicine, because once you lose the weight, that will lower your blood pressure and they will probably take you off them because you will not need them any longer. My blood pressure was 140/60, now it is 111/65. I have lost nearly 50 pounds and my A1C dropped from 5.9, which was elevated blood sugar to 5.6. I still tend to go over my sugar, but at least it is not by much and I choose to now eliminate sugar from my coffee, as it is already some sugar in the creamer. I will also eliminate the sugar in my oatmeal, if my fruit is sweet enough, although sometimes my fruit is not sweet. With sodium, if my meat or protein is well-seasoned, then I will leave my side items plain, like my steamed veggies, etc. I will use butter with my baked potato, but I will substitute the sour cream for greek or plain yogurt in any recipe.

I work in emergency medicine, and every. single. day. I see patients in their 30s and 40s having strokes and heart attacks. One guy is 26 and has had two heart attacks. I see people stroke out before they are 40, pt's wheelchair bound for more than half of their life because of strokes. Dialysis? Not fun, but keep letting your BP run high and you will blow your kidneys.
All of this because of uncontrolled high blood pressure. Do you have kids, family that loves you? That will be stuck taking care of you because you refuse to take blood pressure medicine? Seriously, just one day of seeing the reality of uncontrolled high blood pressure, and maybe you would change your tune. It was a huge eye opener for me. Just take the meds while you are losing weight, then hopefully you can drop the meds because you will be in a healthier place overall. I don't say this to be mean, I say this to be realistic. It is very hard to see every day. And it is all so avoidable.

I have been on and off hypertension meds since the mid 1980s. My blood pressure closely tracks my weight; the fatter I am, the higher my blood pressure (salt doesn't particularly affect me; from what I understand, salt sensitivity has a genetic component). I developed paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in 2000, probably as a result of my years of hypertension. That means I'm on Coumadin to keep my blood thin, in addition to the hypertension meds. The doctors and cardiologists have fine tuned my meds, and I have been in the normal range for several years. As a result of losing weight and exercising, I've managed to go off one of the meds.

My family has a history of hypertension on my father's side ... most of them died of heart attacks or strokes. My father died of a massive heart attack at the age of 51; I am convinced working with my cardiologists over the years has kept me going. I wish I had kept the weight off when I lost it back in the early 90s, maybe I wouldn't have developed atrial fib. But that's water over the dam. My hope is that I'll be able to go off other meds as I get down to a more normal weight for my body size (though I'll likely be on Coumadin for the rest of my life). I see my doctor twice a year, go to the coumadin clinic once a week, take my meds religiously, and see my cardiologist only when something changes.

I would suggest thinking long and hard about the meds, and if you choose to take them, go off them only under your doctor's supervision. This stuff is nothing to mess with ... I buried my dad when I was 25, and I've now outlived him by 15 years. At least he went fast, I've seen people linger on for years after a massive heart attack or stroke, and they're never the same again.

Meds are a hassle, and some of them have side effects ... but do you really want to experience the alternative?

I was diagnosed with hypertension when I was in my early 20's and have been on meds every since with little side effects. I have attempted to lower my dosage or get off meds completely several times since then, and have had short periods of success. I exercised on a regular basis, really restricted processed foods, ate lots of fruits and veggies, had low cholesterol levels, and lower body fat. However, my blood pressure never really stayed consistently normal, thus I continue to take meds.

My friend who is in her late 30's and a mother of 3 beautiful children, just had a minor stroke. In fact shes still admitted in the hospital so they can run all types of tests. She was extremely lucky that it was minor stroke, and that her brain functions came back. She was diagnosed a few years ago for hypertension, but she had decided that she wasn't going to go on meds, but rather control her bp thru diet and vitamins.

High blood pressure is not something you want to take chances with. If you diligently eat well, exercise, and monitor your blood pressure yourself everyday, you may be able to manage it with a smaller dose of meds or no meds at all, but these are decisions that should be made together with your doctor.

I've lost weight, exercise regularly, and still have hypertension. Take two medications with no side effects. No big deal.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one! I hate that people assume just by losing weight you will lower your blood pressure, so not true!

I also vote for taking the pills as a preventative measure. You may be able to reduce your BP with lifestyle changes and come off the meds but also keep in mind that for some people, it will be purely genetic. Either way, the longer your BP is high, you will be damaging your arteries and heart and putting yourself at unnecessary risk.

Incidentally, I remember doing a uni assignment on the effect of lifestyle interventions on blood pressure and reading that exercise could potentially lower it by up to 35%, weight loss could lower it by up to 25% and reducing sodium could lower it by up to 5%. Of course, combining all 3 would have the best results.

Good luck

I too have high blood pressure and take tablets for it. I have lost over 22lb slowly over the last 5 months or so and now do an exercise class once a week - aquamed - I do other exercise such as the walking at home Leslie Sansome and walking outside when I can but as I also have psoriatic arthritis so it depends on how good a day I am having what amount of exercise I do.

However I went for my 3 month bp check up last week and fully expected it to be lower but in fact it was higher so loosing the weight and the increased exercise had made no difference at all.

I am trying cutting down on salt and foods that have high salt content, and drinking more water. The only side affect to the tablets I have noticed is the frequency of which I need to run to the toilet and the urgency too at times when I have drunk either coffee or a diet coke.

I have to admit that lowering my bp was not the primary reason for wanting to loose weight but I had hoped that it would come down as my weight came down. Having said that I still have a long way to go being 18st 2lb when I started so maybe in time I will see health improvements.