Blood Pressure meds forever?

Do you know if you have sleep apnea? The health effects were discussed at a w/c seminar I attended -speaker stated sleep apnea often causes high blood pressure, low energy levels, weight gain, causing more sleep apnea, high blood pressure, low energy levels, weight gain and so on

Consider taking on a plant-based diet. Please don't cast this message aside, as countless studies have shown that eating meat and animal produce is one of the leading causes in all of these 'modern' diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer etc. At least consider reading 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition'. If diabetes can be reversed by taking on a plant-based diet then i'm pretty sure it'll fix your blood pressure problem.

I probably should have asked this when I was at the doctor eariler but are they something I'll have to take indefinitely? I have stage 2 hypertension and am only 24 and slightly overweight, not even obese and my bmi is 26 (measured, not estimated with calculators). I have gone under lots of testing to try and determine a cause but everything is normal. I am working on losing 10-15lbs so perhaps that will lower it a bit, but are these medications something I'll just always have to take if it doesn't go down on it's own? I'm hoping some weight loss and my new vegan diet will help, but I also don't like the idea of being on medication for it forever, though I do know the dangers I risk of stopping it

Definitely a good question for the doctor. Sometimes high blood pressure is just a genetic thing and nothing but the meds will help. My husband developed high bp at age 20 while in the Marine Corps. He's now 44, fit, runs competitive races and still has to take a small dose of pb meds. Hopefully you'll be able to come off it.

In my experience, my doctor(s) have never put a "time constraint" on the BP meds. I've had the dosages adjusted based on my BP (and she typically checks liver functions once annually since I've been on the meds for about 5 years now). I am "pre-hypertensive" when not medicated (about 130/85) - with meds I've typically bee at about 115/75. I was diagnosed in 2007, while still active-duty militray and pretty physically fit - now that I've been exercising regularly again and have lost some weight, I'm hoping to either have dosage reduced or eliminated later this summer when I got for my next visit.

I was first put on BP meds at age 17. Went to a ton of doctors about hypertension in youth, with no results. At that age I was very involved in high school athletics, like football and wrestling. I took the meds evey day until earlier this year, current age 42. With my weight loss and greatly improved level of fitness I was having dizzy spells. After a checking and recording my BP over several months and showing that data to my doctor it was determined that the meds were probably no longer needed. I went to half rate for a while and have been completly off for right at a month. Time will tell, but my BP checks have been right in the range acceptable.

This is my story, and like everything each person will react differently to a given medical condition. I posted this hoping to encourage anyone to keep up the work, it is a worth while battle, and good things can happen.

You are still young, so odds are that weight loss and a proper diet will eventually bring your BP down to the point where you wont have to take meds. If you smoke, quit now. Putting that off is only going to hurt you when you finally do quit. And cut back on salt.
Im 48 and have had high BP since I was in my late 20's. (family history) Until just 3 years ago I rarely if ever took meds. I smoked, ate salty and fattening foods. And didnt exercise too often. Then I had what my doctor called a mild stroke. And I've been taking meds daily since. I also lost 60 pounds, but since my bp isn't coming down on it's own, I am probably gonna be taking lisenopril for ever. It sucks, because I have noticed that when I take my meds, I have a harder time getting my heart rate up. So I end up working out almost twice as hard to achieve the same results when using a heart rate monitor.
To top that off, I am still not used to taking pills. So I forget 2 to 4 times a week. It's at those times when the back of my eyeballs begin to ache, and I feel like someone is shoving a knife thru the back of my head that I remember the pills. So take those meds and hopefully you don't reach this point.

Consider taking on a plant-based diet. Please don't cast this message aside, as countless studies have shown that eating meat and animal produce is one of the leading causes in all of these 'modern' diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer etc. At least consider reading 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition'. If diabetes can be reversed by taking on a plant-based diet then i'm pretty sure it'll fix your blood pressure problem.

That is 100% ludicrous. There are plenty of cases where eating a plant HEAVY diet help, cutting out the grains and other processed crap, but to discount meat in such a way is folly.

My sister was in the same boat, overweight most of her life and she turned to being a vegitarian, because everyone thinks it's healthy. Over the course of 10 years being a vegitarian and another 5 being a very strict vegan, she gained 100+ lbs. She had VERY high blood pressure, cholesterol was through the roof and was approaching type 2 diabetes as a permanant fixture in her life. She had mysterious aches and pains constantly and got injured everytime that she tried to loose weight through exercise.

She has since gone to a low carb/paleo style diet and has reversed ALL of these symptoms and also lost 80+ lbs in about a year. Her blood pressure went from 145/97 (!!!!!) to a solid 118/70.

My mother has similar issues, while not overweight, she has higher than normal blood pressure and cholesterol. She's been a vegan for the last 2 years. I've been low carb for over a year, and have cholesterol about 100 points lower than her and my last tested blood pressure was 112/66. Genetics may give a predisposition to have certain issues, but that does not mean that you have to settle for that being normal.

You can be a strict vegan and still eat all the wrong foods, such as refined 'white' foods which are just empty calories. Please read around what meat, animal produce and refined foods do to our bodies before calling this 'ludicrous'.

Ok. Here we go. I have essential hypertension. That is hypertension where they cannot find the root cause, it's just the way you are. Sounds similar to yours but don't take that for granted. Your doctor should have ordered bloods (don't know which ones) but also renal ultrasound, cholesteral and 24 hour BP monitoring.

If they have not done this there could be a further cause.

When first going on meds for hypertension your doctor should be regularly monitoring your BP. This is essential to make sure you have a cocktail that is right for you. Use these appointments to set limits for your exercise. Once your BP is fully under control and has been for some time, provided you have no other health issues you should be good to go with whatever you want. BUT always check with your doctor.

Some BP meds have side-effects that may affect your desire to train or work hard anyway. These do pass and if they don't then get your doctor to change the med. There are plenty out there and they work in slightly different ways to a different extent person by person.

BP meds can take time to work effectively. For the first few months it is going to be difficult to tell whether any drop in your BP is going to be from diet or weight loss.

Following stabilisation of your BP (staying on the same medication) hopefully you will see a reduction in your BP from your lifestyle changes. I have. It's been slow going but it is creeping down. I lost 2 stone before joining MFP and it has taken a while. I'm getting to the point where my GP is happy to consider reducing the dosage on my meds. It will be a bit of trial and error, but like you I am keen to get off them if I can.

Monitoring your BP will be essential. I invested in a portable BP monitor, took it to the doctors to calibrate it against theirs to be sure of the results. Best thing I ever did. I suffer a little from white coat syndrome and know my BP tends to be lower than in the surgery.

Too low a BP can be as lethal as too high, but you are aware of the risks. Never cut your meds without monitoring and control with your doctor.

Oh and one other thing the absorption of BP meds tends to be severely slowed by grapefruit juice. Don't know why but they are. Make sure you read the documents that accompany yours.

As for diet, that is a personal thing but there are certain foods I was advised to cut back on. mainly to do with fat and salt. No surprises there, my diet at the time wasn't great. I haven't tried any special diets, just calory counted, used moderation and cut out those bad fatty, high sugar foods as well as starting on an exercise regime.

Good luck and feel free to friend me if you think I might be able to help

People have forgotten what it means to eat 'naturally' because about 75% of the food in supermarkets are chemically altered foods. There is a massive difference to being a 'vegan' and living on a plant-based diet. You would absolutely NOT have high cholesterol if the correct foods were being eaten.

Who has high cholesterol? I thought this thread was about high blood pressure / hypertension.