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Blood Pressure Meds

LOL. I try to walk three times a week. Drink a little alcohol removed red wine. Cook with olive oil. Seldom eat red meat. Retirement did the most good; no stress. But yeah, you just inherit some of these problems.

If you smoke, quit yesterday. If you drink, do so in moderation. Eat your greens. If your boss is a jerk, look for a new job. Get some exercise, even if like me you are not a fan. Shave daily. See your Doc. :)
 
My professional opinion: change nothing. You picked your grand parents well.
I don’t plan on it lol. I also like my beer, very much. Not that just anyone can get away with it but, my dad smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish at 70 yrs old and is only on a low dose BP pill. Every six months his chest X-rays are fine and has no cholesterol issues. My brother and I often joke that he’s imbalmed himself over the years and is immune to health issues.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Genes are strange things. My dad died at nearly 80, had smoked unfiltered smokes since age 7, quit alcohol at 42, which drove the rest of us to drinking, lol. His Marine brother was arrested for drunk driving his Amigo back to the old folks home from the bar in his 80's, finally died at 92, having smoked since before WW2 would be my guess. Cancer never touched them, but even as well designed a pump as the human heart must eventually burn out.
 
When I felt a pulse in my ears. I said this is bad. I ate nothing but raw vegetables until I dropped 45 lbs.
I do not remember what is was about the medicine that was bothering me but it was enough to give up everything. It was only a 10 lb. drop from 235 that my pressure returned to normal, but I kept going.
Scary.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
When I felt a pulse in my ears. I said this is bad. I ate nothing but raw vegetables until I dropped 45 lbs.
I do not remember what is was about the medicine that was bothering me but it was enough to give up everything. It was only a 10 lb. drop from 235 that my pressure returned to normal, but I kept going.
Scary.
Fear can lead to wisdom. You are living proof.
 
I'm reading a lot here about symptoms when stopping BP medicine, but no one has said anything about checking their BP at home. Checking home BP isn't a substitute for a doctor's visit, but can give you a head's up on things. You have to be careful about some machines and placements, particularly cuff size - something to keep in mind.
 
Gents - go view the ketogenic thread and read. Doc was going to put me on some meds to control my high numbers and I then transitioned to a ketogenic way of eating. Blood pressure is perfectly normal now. Check it out. Might keep some of you off the meds.

Agree on the Keto way. I've been on meds for over a year now and recently started doing Keto and Intermittent Fasting. Is amazing that after 3 weeks, all my neck and headaches virtually disappeared. I'm even starting to regain my sense of smell, that I lost almost completely since I quit smoking 5 years ago.

Regarding HBP, I strongly suggest you get a home monitor. And do check yourself often. I was reading and viewing a lot of videos on the subject, and some doctors say that in America, over 60% of all HBP patients are being overprescribed. With the simple fact that, out of nervousness, many people have their BP jump up to 30 points just by walking into the doctor's room. So they recommend to check your BP at home, and take note of it, and bring it to your doctor. And see if there is any difference between what you get at home and at the doctors'

So, certainly, checking BP at home doesn't substitute for a doctor's visit, but helps greatly to get a proper diagnoses and prescription.
 
I agree. Stick to the meds. I had high blood pressure but didn't know it until I went in for a hernia procedure. As soon as they put me under anesthesia apparently my blood pressure spiked very high. Apparently I was lucky I didn't stroke out. Anyway, I went to the cardiologist and they put me on a couple BP meds. Losartan Potassium, Amlodypine Besylate and Hydrochlorothiazide. I now go to the doctor regularly and recently needed to see a nephrologist for some elevated creatinine. He determined that my kidney function was diminished beyond what my age would suggest is normal. I am now only taking the Losartan, Amlodypine and now taking Bystolic which has stabilized my kidney function and brought it back up a bit. He did say that he attributes the reduced kidney function to scar tissue from the undiagnosed high blood pressure. So don't mess around. I should really be making some changes to my lifestyle as well such as working out more regularly and watching my quantity of caloric intake. But until that happens, I'm on the meds. You don't want to mess around with this stuff.
 
Gents - go view the ketogenic thread and read. Doc was going to put me on some meds to control my high numbers and I then transitioned to a ketogenic way of eating. Blood pressure is perfectly normal now. Check it out. Might keep some of you off the meds.
on keto I lost 20 pounds in 2 months. I'm on 2 BP meds and my BP dropped to 100/70.
With consultation with my doc AND regular home monitoring, I dropped one of the meds already.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
on keto I lost 20 pounds in 2 months. I'm on 2 BP meds and my BP dropped to 100/70.
With consultation with my doc AND regular home monitoring, I dropped one of the meds already.
Excellent. I'm a freak. My BP meds are only for heart function, so I'll be on them until the War Department decides she needs the life insurance check.
 

BigFoot

I wanna be sedated!
Staff member
If I exercise like crazy I can keep mine on the high side of normal. 120/80. If I slack off a bit it goes into pre-hypertension. I am 52 and started taking the lowest dose of Losartan their is, it has 0 side effects and I don't have to watch my BP like a hawk anymore. To me it was a no brainer.
 

simon1

Self Ignored by Vista
Don't be hesitant about getting a second or even a third opinion from a Doc if you're still not quite right on the meds. I didn't start taking bp meds until last winter when I went in for chest congestion out of state. BP was 200/100. The Doc there put me on meds with a diuretic. I still wasn't feeling right a week later after I got back home and went in to an ER here. BP was 200/104. They ran blood tests, twice, and told me to keep taking the meds I was on.

Two days later I passed smooth out at home. Went to a different ER and bp was 200/100 again. Blood work showed my blood sodium level was at 115 instead of 135...way down into severe seizure risk levels. The ER Doc from the previous visit missed the sodium level drop, even after two blood tests. I was in the hospital on a saline solution IV for two days. Docs said it looked like the diuretic had caused the sodium level to drop. Took me off of the diuretic and my personal Doc put me on a second bp med, take two now, and a cholesterol med. Last night my bp was 129/73 (I have a home bp unit) and it's been about that level for quite sometime now. Much better. Next time I'm at my Docs I'll see if I can slack off the bp meds a bit now.
 
If I exercise like crazy I can keep mine on the high side of normal. 120/80. If I slack off a bit it goes into pre-hypertension. I am 52 and started taking the lowest dose of Losartan their is, it has 0 side effects and I don't have to watch my BP like a hawk anymore. To me it was a no brainer.

Just be careful of the losartan as it can impact kidney function. I was also using a low dose, and went to Bystolic instead. Better on the kidneys.
 
Take care of your heart while it is healthy. It's easier that way. I now take 8 drugs for heart related issues, including one for high cholesterol and one for low vitamin D. The others are directly for heart treatment. When I've talked to the cardiologist and his associates about getting rid of some of them, I get a resounding NO! The best solution is healthy diet, exercise, and take your pills. I'm not good at either. Under no circumstances quit taking heart meds without talking to your doc first. The keto diet interests me, but my daughter, with whom I live, favors a vegetarian diet. My daughter-in-law follows a strict vegan diet. Bottom line, though, is still if you have a healthy heart, take care of it. Keep it healthy.
 
My wife was on blood pressure medication and cholesterol medication.....until I pointed out that one of the side effects of the cholesterol medication was high blood pressure. She had to make a choice and she chose to stay on the blood pressure medication. Her blood pressure spikes erratically. My point is that if you are also on cholesterol medication, check it out and make sure that the cholesterol medication isn't contributing to your high blood pressure.
 

simon1

Self Ignored by Vista
Bottom line, though, is still if you have a healthy heart, take care of it. Keep it healthy.

You got that right. Luckily, after several X-rays and three CT scans all the Docs said I had no spots on my lungs, no sign of heart disease, and kidneys, thyroid, prostate, liver, etc. were all good. Just have copd, but I've had bronchitis in the winter every since I was a kid so nothing new.

I still like my beer, steak, eggs, and bbq. I seem to be doing fine now. :)

Yup...keep it healthy or lose it. Used a push mower to mow a lawn on some property I have out of state and realized how out of shape my legs are now. Need to work on that.
 
As a pharmacist my advice is never stop BP meds with input from your physician, as mentioned it can be very dangerous. For some unknown reason my mother had extremely high blood pressure, so I have watched it over the years. Almost 20 years ago she was in the hospital with heart & kidney damage problems due to bp and I asked her physican, an internist/nephrologist what I could do to help prevent or delay such problems. He had never seen me but knew from my parents my background in the medical sciences, and he suggested a low dose of Altace, saying it would also reduce my bp I then asked if he would feel ok with writing me a prescription and he whipped out his pad and did so. When I got back home I checked with my personal physician and he said go for it. A few years later I was having some early problems with benign prostatic hyperplasia, ie enlarged prostate and did some research and got my physician to let me start Cardua, and titrate my own dose to a level that worked. I have been on that combo and bp is great, checked it a couple of days ago, 116/62 at age 72, and prostate is nice and relaxed so urine flows freely.

When I started a the VA for physician visits a few years back the doc looked a the combo and asked if I had anything to do with it, and said after a few minutes it was a good combo.
 
Don't be hesitant about getting a second or even a third opinion from a Doc if you're still not quite right on the meds. I didn't start taking bp meds until last winter when I went in for chest congestion out of state. BP was 200/100. The Doc there put me on meds with a diuretic. I still wasn't feeling right a week later after I got back home and went in to an ER here. BP was 200/104. They ran blood tests, twice, and told me to keep taking the meds I was on.

Two days later I passed smooth out at home. Went to a different ER and bp was 200/100 again. Blood work showed my blood sodium level was at 115 instead of 135...way down into severe seizure risk levels. The ER Doc from the previous visit missed the sodium level drop, even after two blood tests. I was in the hospital on a saline solution IV for two days. Docs said it looked like the diuretic had caused the sodium level to drop. Took me off of the diuretic and my personal Doc put me on a second bp med, take two now, and a cholesterol med. Last night my bp was 129/73 (I have a home bp unit) and it's been about that level for quite sometime now. Much better. Next time I'm at my Docs I'll see if I can slack off the bp meds a bit now.

Most diuretics cause a drop in serum potassium levels, rarely affecting sodium, but not impossible.

For those of you in your 40's & 50's my recommendation is that you start monitoring your bp, not necessarily daily weekly or even monthly,but occasionally. If near 125/75 and above watch closer. As you age more your arteries will slowly harden and become less elastic and your bp will rise, how much, no one knows. Keep it under control, high bp can cause serious organ damage.
 
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