blood pressure med, yes or no?

97guns

97guns

Full time employment: Posting here.
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are you on them or not? just curious, i really dont like to take any kind of prescribed meds . my doctor was quick to prescribe one to me in around 1995 with a reading of 140+/80+, i took them without hesitation but got myself off them a couple years later.

i tried green tea to keep it down and got results but havnt been drinking it regularly for a while now, i moniter my BP a couple times a week and its averaging in the 115/75 range until 2 days ago. i checked it and it was 143/99, kept checking it every 15 minutes or so and it didnt deviate much off those numbers, checked it again yesterday and it was 138/96. this morning i drank green tea and just checked it now and it was 110/72, dont know if its coincidence, just a couple of days of elevated BP due to a cold or if green tea knocked it down.
 
I've been on BP meds for about five or six years now. Normally at the time I was seeing my doctor about once a year or so for a checkup but that was about it. Then I had to get a physical exam for the job I was in and of course they checked the BP. I don't remember the low number, but the high was 230. Yikes, that's stroke territory!

I have no idea what caused such a drastic change in so short a time. Now I try and most days succeed in at least 30 minutes of physical activity, my gym workout is a bit over an hour, and I go for a 2 mile walk on days I don't go to the gym. And my diet is mostly plant based but once a month or so I have what I call a "day of dietary decadence" and eat anything I want.
 
Yes I'm on Hydrochlorothiazide. Are you impressed that I can spell it? Well, when you have to put it on your med list ever time you see a doctor you finally figure it out.

It's nice to say you lost some weight and it was better but I'm in very good shape and whether I was ten pounds up or down it did not affect my readings. My mother had high BP and cholesterol levels. I have inherited that so I just go with it. I'll never be a 120/70 guy no matter what I do.

Do you know what brought my BP down from 150/90? RETIREMENT!
 
Not yet. But I thought once you are on med, you shouldn't go off it. I've heard people died of heart attack or stroke if they do. Who knows?
 
12.5 mg of Chlorthalidone daily ....(a diuretic - 'usual' dosage is apparently 25-100 mg per day)....for borderline BP, (which is possibly genetic since my BP was higher than expected when I was in my 30s and running 70 miles a week).
 
OP Did you take ANYTHING for that cold? OTC cold meds, analgesics and herbs could have affected it.

Fedup the reason for not stopping bp meds is that the bp would be uncontrolled so if you lose weight, change diet and it goes down it is ok to be off meds though should be discussed with the doctor as some meds should be weaned and parameters should be set for acceptable numbers and monitoring
 
Sarah S said:
OP Did you take ANYTHING for that cold? OTC cold meds, analgesics and herbs could have affected it.

Fedup the reason for not stopping bp meds is that the bp would be uncontrolled so if you lose weight, change diet and it goes down it is ok to be off meds though should be discussed with the doctor as some meds should be weaned and parameters should be set for acceptable numbers and monitoring
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This maybe hearsay, but I've heard one guy got things under control like exercise and weight loss, he thought it was safe to come off the drug and he died when he did. His friend was telling the story. So who knows.
 
I take generic Lotensin. I was getting some shots for an overseas trip, and the BP was 200/110. No symptoms, but saw the doc and got meds before I left.

Retired. Lost some weight. Swim most every day. Now at 110/68. May actually reduce the meds at this point.
 
No telling. Even if true may have gone off cold turkey something that was not safe or was not really well controlled or maybe he just died.

I am an internist. I have had people come off meds safely and do well when they made changes. They needed to be monitored and sometimes had to go back on even when maintaining lifestyle changes However some people would endanger themselves by staying on meds after changing lifestyle because their bp would be low. I had a patient whose bp after weight loss was 70/40. She could barely stand up! Off the meds she was fine for at least 10 years ( then I ERd)
 
I haven't been on BP pills since about 6 months ago. Ever since I quit working it has done wonders for my BP. I just checked it again, 119/78. No more work pressure did the trick. But I check it almost daily. I quit work almost a year ago. I live in a very low pressure environment now.
 
Fedup said:
Not yet. But I thought once you are on med, you shouldn't go off it. I've heard people died of heart attack or stroke if they do. Who knows?
Click to expand...



I was on two BP meds a few years ago, amlodipine and Losarton. After 55 pounds weight loss and exercise and diet changes, I'm down to a half dose of losarton. Doctors are happy to take you off or reduce BP meds if you follow through with lifestyle changes. I do miss pizza though.
 
am i on them?

yes, 312 pounds, it doesnt matter im 6'6". im 312, im on two of them, i dont restrict my diet at all (as you can guess), i do not drink booze or beer or wine, except for holidays or celebrations, . i have been finding excuses to celebrate more often but its not more than maybe once a month. if i lost a person (as in 100 pounds im sure i would be off of them
 
I had a pretty stressful work situation in mid 2012. I was on an overseas business trip and started feeling a little weird...kind of a low grade headache, and the stress was palpable. When I got home, I checked and my BP, which as a runner, had been floating around 115/75, had shot up to 168/105. I kept checking it for 2-3 days, and when it hit 190/110, I went to see the doc. We both suspected it was from the stressful situation but he put me on Norvasc 10mg, with the intent to take it down to 5mg if it came down. Fast forward a few weeks...the stress had subsided, and I was at about 105/68, so the doc cut my dose to 5mg. He told me that if my BP stayed at 105/68 then he'd let me go off the med. So I went off the med in Jan 2013...shortly after I retired. My BP since then floated around 115/75 until mid last year when it started climbing again, and got up to 150/95 or so. New doc didn't want me to go on meds, so he had me come in again 3 weeks after the elevated reading for another check...still high, but just over 140/90. So they had me rest and breathe deeply for a few minutes then checked again. Bingo, 138/88. So they sent me on my way.

So it has been floating around that region plus or minus since then. I've noticed a couple of things:

1) when I run high intensity intervals, my blood pressure goes down to around 120/80 +/- for a 24-48 hours. The problem is that if I go too fast, my PF flares up, and I end up having to take a day or two off running altogether.

2) I started supplementing with Niacin and L-Arginine. I've tested one, then the other, and both. Both seems to help the most.

3) I've also noticed when I have properly tracked my food, that when I do not get my RDA of potassium, my BP seems to go up. If I'm careful to get 3500-4000mg per day, my BP tends to do better. I'm being careful, especially on run days, to eat more bananas, cantaloupe, and low sodium v8, and anything else I can that is high in potassium.

The strange thing about all of this is, that I upped my running game last year. My previous best year had seen me log 878 miles, but last year, I logged 1235, by slowly increasing in the early part of the year, and then running a lot in the summer. I had to back off just a little in the fall because of PF, but even though I had run much more than before, and lost 40#, my BP had gone up. I can't explain it. Doc can't explain it. Maybe that's why he doesn't want me to go on meds again. I have no doubt though, that I'll eventually have to go on the meds for good. My dad, at 81, had been on them since age 50.
 
I've been on lisinopril/hydrochlorothiazide since my mid-30s (genetic issues). Weight anywhere from "healthy" to "overweight" hasn't budged it much - the only thing that's brought my bp down has been extended vacations, so I'm hoping that RE and the reduction in stress will do it for me. If not, that's OK, I'm on a low dose and it's being controlled.

My grampa's parents both died in their mid-50s from uncontrolled hypertension. It's not something to mess with.
 
Sarah S said:
However some people would endanger themselves by staying on meds after changing lifestyle because their bp would be low. I had a patient whose bp after weight loss was 70/40. She could barely stand up! Off the meds she was fine for at least 10 years ( then I ERd)
Click to expand...

That was my situation. I was talking bp meds while practicing Dentistry; when I FIRE'd (early due to a severe visual impairment), I lost ~ 30 pounds and went from a high stress to low stress life. After feeling faint for a while (for me it was postural hypotension), I went to Doc and my bp was very low (I forget the numbers) so I was able to abruptly stop meds.

Rich
 
Sarah S said:
However some people would endanger themselves by staying on meds after changing lifestyle because their bp would be low.
Click to expand...

That's possibly where I am now. I really wish I had participated more in the decision to go on Lisinopril, which I have been on for about 15 years. I had a very pro-meds doctor at the time. I was a runner, not overweight, but my blood pressure was still high. I was eating a terrible junk food high carb diet. I don't even know how high my BP was b/c at that time I was a sheep who just did whatever the doctor said.

I've had normal BP since that time, but for the past 5 years I've been low-carb, weigh less and exercise more. Possibly it would stay normal all by itself at this point. Sometimes I get light-headed. But now I'm afraid even of weaning off it with a doctor's supervision. My current doctor will help but he thinks it's better not to mess with it.
 
Sarah S said:
No telling. Even if true may have gone off cold turkey something that was not safe or was not really well controlled or maybe he just died.

I am an internist. I have had people come off meds safely and do well when they made changes. They needed to be monitored and sometimes had to go back on even when maintaining lifestyle changes However some people would endanger themselves by staying on meds after changing lifestyle because their bp would be low. I had a patient whose bp after weight loss was 70/40. She could barely stand up! Off the meds she was fine for at least 10 years ( then I ERd)
Click to expand...
So true. I was on meds for 20+ years when I started losing weight. I see my PCP as I'm dizzy when I stand..... My BP was down around 50/80, doc says go off one med and monitor. Finally I am medication free!

Was off for over a year and had many Dr appointments with perfect BP. Unfortunately after moving to altitude I have had to go back on a beta blocker for now.
 
Fortunately have dodged high BP. Genetic I guess as parents didn't have it either. Do take a statin & glaucoma prevention eye drops & allergy shots, so if it's not one thing it's another.
 
Mine was great, nice and low despite being a little overweight (BMI a whopping 25!), until it no longer was so great and started to sneak into the "pre-hypertension" territory. I tried a few diet schemes, finally settled on Weight Watchers, lost the weight, and now my BP is 105-110/60s. My A1C went from 5.7 to 5.2% too.

The DASH diet will also lower BP. It consists of 9-11 servings of fruit and veg per day and 3 servings of dairy or equivalent calcium supplement per day.

I'm also a retired internist. I've stopped medication for lots of patients who lost weight.
 
No BP meds yet fortunately for myself or DW. (Ages 62 and 61)
 
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