RAE
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
OK, I'm sure this topic has been discussed before, but here's my situation. Age 54 (almost), not overweight (5'11", 168 lbs); never have smoked; get a moderate amount of exercise (walk 4-5 days per week, 60 minutes at a fast pace, plus other exercise); eat a pretty healthy diet, lots of veggies and some fish, with moderate amounts of red meat (no salt at all from the shaker, read labels on canned/boxed foods and avoid those that are too high in sodium); consume about 2 alcoholic drinks per day (mostly red wine with dinner). Despite all that, my BP has been creeping up over the last couple years, and is now pretty consistently around 140/90. No matter what I do, I can't get it much lower than that. I really, really don't want to go on BP medication, and am afraid that is what is going to happen if I go to the doc and have this checked out. Yeah, I know that hypertension is nothing to mess around with, and I need to get it under control, but is there any other lifestyle approach I can take before I have to go on meds? (Rich - any advice?). One of the nurses that my wife works with knows my situation pretty well, and seems to think that some folks (maybe I am one) are genetically predisposed to hypertension, and no amount of lifestyle changes are going to bring it down, without meds. Any truth to that? How safe is HCTZ, the diuretic that is most commonly prescribed for BP? I am reading about some of the possible side effects......dizziness, headache, fatigue, muscle cramps.....doesn't sound like much fun! Any advice from those who have been in a similar situation would be much appreciated, thanks.