So, who here has high blood pressure?

[prolesunited]

It's something I've been fighting for the past few years now, but apparently I've just lost the battle. It was elevated so I quit smoking, lost weight, became a vegetarian (cut sodium as well) and began exercising regularly.

I was still a little high but they let me get away without meds. This weekend, though, I got into some serious trouble and my bp went off the charts and I was having really bad headaches. Thankfully, the CT scan showed no problems.

So, here's some questions:
I'm already doing diet and exercise, what else could I add?
What meds are you on?
What side effects have you had?
Were you ever able to go off your meds?
How much does this suck?

[mac56]

1. I've taken Atenolol (beta-blocker) for 20 years.

Works great, minimal side effects, helps with migraines too.

[CO Liberal]

10. I Used to Take Atenolol.....

...but it has sexual side effects. So my doctor switched me to Prinivil.

It's holding steady now at 120 over 75.......

[MissMillie]

17. I take Atenolol

And although my libido is nearly non-existent, I don't think it has much to do w/ the low dose (25 mg) of Atenolol. (There are a lot of reasons why I have no interest in sex these days.)

It has kept my pressure in check pretty well.

You could decrease your sodium consumption. That might make a difference--processed foods are the worst.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

33. I found something better than Atenolol.

There is another beta blocker with much milder side effects called Toprol (metoprolol). I will never go back to that nasty Atenolol.

[papau]

2. accupril for years - no sides - and NOT getting it down is certain

to cause problems (unlike high cholesterol)

Every major organ dies/wears out much faster with High BP

[benddem]

3. Some people are genetically programmed for high bp

You've tried everything...get some meds. Just like cholesterol. I have sis in law who doesn't eat wrong foods...she just can't control hers. See a doc. No point in having a stroke.:hi:

[prolesunited]

5. I did see the doctor

Monday and this morning, in fact. That was exactly what she told me.

My mom had high blood pressure as well, so there's probably a genetic link. She used the same analogy with cholesterol, too. Mine used to be high, but all the changes I made brought it down significantly and without meds. I thought I could do the same thing with the BP.

I don't know why, but I feel like it is some sort of failing on my part. I know that's stupid and untrue, but I guess I just need a few days to wrap my mind around this.

BTW, she put me on Benicar (olmesartan medoxomil). She said she picked that because it is fast-acting and the results are sustained. It's not on my formulary, so I have to pay more out-of-pocket, but she said she thought it was best for my situation.

[BiggJawn]

12. Gotta train your doctor...

They just LOVE to sript you stuff "Off-Formulary", bigger "bonus" from the pharm rep for them...This isn't so bad until you're on FIVE "O-F" pills and your out-of-pocket expense climb over $150 a month...

Tell her you have NO problem taking a few more pills a day to save a lot of $$$$

Do NOT let her script you for Thiazide diuretics! They can elevate your cholesterol and blood glucose, and DE-ELEVATE YOUR LIL' BUDDY!!! My sawbones had me on them, and I stopped taking them. I am on a calcium channel blocker as well as the Avilide, and I don't know if my cholesterol is down any, but my diabetes is under control finally, and I'm getting "function" back down below....The CCB and exercise is keeping me around 110/65. Ask your doctor about Verapamil or other calcium channel blockers

I have HPB, My dad has it, my grandpa had it. stop beating yourself up over it. It's not like you're a drug addict or have tertiary Syph or anything like that...

[prolesunited]

13. It's not so bad

because it's just this and stuff for my allergies. She gave me a month's supply in free samples and if I wasn't able to pay for the script, they would just give me the meds. It's an unbelievably patient-oriented small practice.

I'll just see how this works out. The only side effect I've had has been a little nausea and I don't have a lil' buddy that I have to worry about. ;-)

[BiggJawn]

21. Oh...I forgot!

Silly me! Well, stay off the Thiazide anyway, unless you like waking up to pee ever 90 minutes ON the minute.That's some BAAAAAAD medicine...
sounds like a great practice you go to. I'm in a HMO (OK, so they call it "Managed Care") and they try to get the max money for everything. I tell my doc "I can't afford this" and he just gives me the Ivan Dennisovich look ("how can a man who's warm understand a man who's cold?")

I have been on almost everything.
The calcium channel blockers are the best thing for me.
ACE inhibitors like Zestril made me cough all the time ("little tickle" my ASS!)
Avilide made me pee a lot and really didn't lower the BP that much. Then I started have trouble with my cholesterol and blood sugar and the "other" thing I mentioned...
Never tried Beta-blockers, but my dad did and he didn't like them.

[bmbmd]

48. Avalide

contains 12.5 mg of hydrochlorothiazide. Just thought you should know....

[BiggJawn]

49. I know, that's why I stopped it...

I didn't make that clear earlier, sorry....:-)
It was to the point that the NIST was setting WWV's clock by my bladder at night....
Now I only wake up once...(Hey, I'm an old man, OK?)

[bearfan454]

46. Darn right we are.

Both parents and all 4 grandparents had it. You cannot escape genetics.

[slackmaster]

4. Another Atenolol user here

Also a milligram of Cardura to get me going in the morning.

And no, it hasn't affected my sexual appetite.

I've tried dietary changes and they've had no measurable effect on my blood pressure or cholesterol problems. The latter are under control with Lipitor. I seem to be genetically programmed (family history and all) for both high BP and lipid problems.

I just say the doctor this morning. She told me to go see a shrink.

Oh, if you do go on a beta blocker like Atenolol you are likely to notice it if you skip a dose. I'm pretty high-strung as it is, and when the pharmacy and/or doctor screw up communicating my scrip refills I tend to get a little crazier.

[cyr330]

6. Mine has always been low till this year

I work out and run 4x weekly and am not overweight. For some bizarre reason, my bp went way, way up and started running 160s-170s systolic, so I had to start taking Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ). It's not bad, but it makes me pee like a horse, but it's working. Atenolol is a good drug, and Lisinopril is too. I work in healthcare, so I'm familiar with about every bp med out there. One of the better ones to take is "Losartan", because it doesn't have some of the ugly side effects of other Ace Inhibitors (like coughing, etc.).

[geniph]

7. I have the opposite problem

Mine's so low they sometimes make me stand up when they take it - they apparently think I've died.

Makes me faint sometimes when I stand up too quickly.

[Mr. McD]

8. I take Hyzar

It has had the least undesirable side effects for me.

[Serial Mom]

9. Slightly high here . . .

Everything was normal until:
I quit smoking (almost 5 years ago), then gained weight - then BP was a little high and stayed that way.

I try to exercise (4-5 times week) but that always seems to last only 4-6 weeks, then I quit cause I never see any results (although it does make me feel better generally, but I have a hard time with the motivation to do it every day). Then I begin again 2 or 3 months later (which is probably really bad).

Can't seem to lose the extra weight I put on since quitting smoking. That really f'ed my metabolism all those years!

I take Zestorectic with a diuretic in it. Dr. tried me on Atenolol but that dropped my heart rate down way too low (about 47 bpm) and I always had cold hands/feet with that.

Dr. told me I could go off meds if exercise, diet and weight loss lowered by current BP on the Zestorectic. So far, no luck.

[Booberdawg]

11. I do right now!

[underpants]

14. I did 4 months ago but I excercised and got it down to 140/80

but then I had just been slothing so I don't think I really had high blood pressure.

[prolesunited]

15. What is your BP now?

When is the last time you had it measured?

And that is a dangerously false assumption. You do/did have high blood pressure, however, you were fortunately able to control it with exercise. I bet since you stopped exercising, it's back up.

My problem was that vigorous workouts five and six times a week wasn't enough. However, my doctor did say I could resume my routine.

[underpants]

18. It was 130/90 in May -- then 3 weeks later 130/80 -- Oct.17 140/80

The doctor said it was fine.

[prolesunited]

19. Glad to hear that!

I'm jealous, you know. :D

[Serial Mom]

16. That's still a little high according to new standards

- have it checked more often now just to be sure.

Pay attention to blood pressure before it’s high.

The new classification – “prehypertension” – describes people with blood pressures between 120-139 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) systolic (the top number in a blood pressure reading) or 80-89 mm Hg diastolic (bottom number).

“We have thought of blood pressures under 140/90 mm Hg as being okay,” says Daniel W. Jones, M.D., the American Heart Association representative on the JNC VII committee and the incoming dean of the school of medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Jones is currently the executive associate dean. “The evidence is now clear that those in the prehypertension range are at higher risk than those with lower blood pressures and are much more likely to move into the hypertension range where medication is required. But lifestyle changes can help those with prehypertension.”

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3011728

Mine was consistently around 140/95 where the diastolic (sp?) lower number was too high and the systolic (upper) slightly high. With meds, I am about 120/77 or so.

[Beer Snob-50]

20. I am on Prinival

that and some serious exercise and I was down to a normal range at my last checkup.

[kathee]

22. I LOVE diuretics!

Here's why..

Had HBP since I was 29, got pregnant five years ago, had slight hbp. 140/90, PUt me on diuretic, problem solved for about four days. Then it shot up. So they put me on more meds. Just before delivery, seven weeks early, I was on four different meds, plus the HCTZ.

Turns out doc forgets to put me back on em all, after birth, and I see double, and bp is 220/140.

I literally weened myself off the damn things, and am just on the diuretics now. bp is generally 130/88 or so. I can deal with that. I also hear that some of the stuff out there can do MORE damage to the heart. Not to mention, they had me give birth, because she wouldnt gain weight, then I find out later, its BECAUSE of the meds that she didnt, not the high bp.

Just my two cents.

[ChickMagic]

50. Just be careful

Be sure you're getting enough postassium. Diuretics cause you to leach potassium which could cause heart problems. Take a potassium supplement.

[Karenina]

23. When I found my son at the Uni-Klinik

after he suffered what they have now diagnosed as a secondary generalized epileptic seizure, I had a staff member check my bp which was 177/110 at that moment. I had him do it again when they released J-Man and it was 140/93. So at his appointment today I asked for a once-over-lightly. Dr. gave me a beta-blocker (metoprololsuccinat... anyone else had fun dealing with health care issues in a second language? :-)) but made it clear he'd prefer to manage it without medication, as he thought the L.A. fires (brother and son both 12 miles away) might have just pushed one too many of my buttons (mother s-l-o-w-l-y dying and demanding I be disowned for refusing to take over her house, underemployment, cramped quarters, bad habits...)

I was happy to see this thread. Brought my bp down. ;-)

[ronzo]

24. Atenolol, Hydrochlorot, Enalipril

Runs in my family on both sides, but these meds control mine.
Gotta keep that BP down.

[Nikia]

25. Take atenenol, should I ask about going off of it?

I've been taking it for almost two years now. After three months of taking it, I haven't had high blood pressure. My blood pressure has been at 120/80 or lower for over a year and a half every time it been taken. I also have an anxiety disorder, but it has gotten better than it had been when I was first diagnosed with it and my high blood pressure. I have also lost almost 25 pounds since then also. I am only 25. Should I ask about going off of it or cutting back to half tablets? Do people usually stay on it for the rest of their lives? I want to have a baby in a year or two and know that it is not good to take drugs when pregnant if one does not have to.

[prolesunited]

26. I think you could certainly talk to you doctor

about it, especially if you want to have a baby, although that sometimes causes healthy women to have hight BP.

With the weight loss and less anxiety, you might be able to, but I certainly wouldn't do so without being under your doctor's direct supervision. Your post does make me feel better in that I thought I was too young to have this problem and you're younger than me.

Good luck, and let me know how it works out for you.

[kutastha]

27. ...

Usually a good idea to stay on the beta-blockers (they're the reason your BP is down).

The beta blocker is probably also helping your anxiety.

Aldomet (methyldopa, inhibits the release of norepinephrine, sort of a "backdoor beta-blocker") is okay as an antihypertensive during pregnancy. Ask your doc about it.

[marigold20]

28. All my siblings and I have high blood pressure

Runs in the family obviously. I take nadolol (beta blocker) and Norvasc.

[grasswire]

29. I wonder....

....why ace inhibitors cause a cough. I wonder what the mechanism is for that.

[BiggJawn]

30. It's not a cough, it's a "slight tickle"...

Just like how the doc says "You'll feel a little disfomfort now" just before the room spins around and everything turns black.

I call it "Kennel Cough" because it sounds just like that bronchitis dogs get. It's horible! you can't control it. My daughter told me I even coughed in my sleep...All day, all night, couldn't go to a movie, couldn't be in the studio during taping (the few times I had to be on set, it was MISERY!!!)Made me hoarse....

Yeah, a "slight tickle"....And how do we try to get rid of those tickles? We cough.

[grasswire]

31. I don't think.......

....I want to take the stuff my doc just prescribed for me, then. I want NO part of a chronic cough.

[prolesunited]

32. Not all meds

have the same effects on people. You could at least give it a chance. And you certainly need to talk to your doctor.

[grasswire]

34. I hate meds....

...and don't trust most doctors. I worked in an ICU-CCU for six years, in an ER for two, and did telephone triage for a group of physicians for three years. The effect is that I will never consent to being anesthetized, and am very reluctant to start any meds. I hadn't researched this new Rx yet. I have trouble with chronic ear and throat inflammation already in the winter, and certainly won't want to add a cough! Back to the drawing board, Doc!

[HEyHEY]

35. Never been checked but I'm sure it's high

I just have a feeling. ARRRRHHGHH!

[prolesunited]

36. Well, recent

political events is enough to raise anyone's blood pressure.

[matcom]

37. Zestril 10mg

its a generic for 'something'.

yeah. i should quit smoking, drinking, etc... but it seems to do the trick until i get off my ass and do those things

[Serial Mom]

44. Zestril brand name

Lisinopril is generic name

Zestorectic (what I am on) is a combo of Zestril with diurectic Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ).

[bearfan454]

47. I used that for a while.

I needed higher diuretic.

[xJlM]

38. Reading LBN can send it through the roof

Mine normally runs 125/88 or so. But a day of reading bullshit news and looking at the "progress" of our nation can easily put it at 165/110. My dad died from the results of a stroke, so the bottom number is what worries me. I really, really don't want to have a stroke.

[nuxvomica]

39. See a classical homeopath

When I was treated for migraines by a classical homeopath last year a side effect was the lowering of my bp, which had previously been high-normal. High bp is a symptom, not a disease, and treating only that with pharmaceuticals won't correct the underlying systemic imbalance.

[prolesunited]

41. I'm not that familiar with homeopathy

What did your treatment consist of? Was your doctor supportive of it?

I'm sure part of the problem is the outrage I feel on a daily basis about the state of our country and our world. Feeding that anger here probably does nothing to help.

[nuxvomica]

42. I had to give a detailed list of all my symptoms and personality traits

Based on that, the homeopath prescribed a remedy. I was actually trying to correct a problem with my neck vertebrae but a homeopath takes all symptomology into account and if the right remedy is used, conditions that aren't part of the main concern are corrected as well. Curiously, the remedy in my case was natrum muriaticum, which is derived from ordinary table salt.
My doctor wasn't concerned because my bp wasn't life threatening. For the migraines, he had prescribed caffergot and later somatriptin but both had reduced effect with subsequent uses. He had suggested beta-blockers but I said I'd like to try the homeopathic route first.
I've never met my homeopath, who lives in Europe. He treated me for over a year via weekly e-mails where I described my current symptoms and he "prescribed" remedies that I purchased myself. It cost me $300 total for his services. But I did it that way only because there are no practitioners near where I live.

[pmbryant]

54. Here's a skeptical look at homeopathy

http://skepdic.com/homeo.html

Here's an excerpt:

In short, the main benefits of homeopathy seem to be that its remedies are not likely to cause harm in themselves, and they are generally inexpensive. The main drawbacks seem to be that its remedies are most likely inert and they require acceptance of metaphysical baggage incapable of scientific analysis. Homeopathy "works", just as astrology, biorhythms, chiropractic or conventional medicine, for that matter, "work": i.e., it has its satisfied customers. Homeopathy does not work, however, in the sense of explaining pathologies or their cures in a way which not only conforms with known facts but which promises to lead us to a greater understanding of the nature of health and disease.

I know the pharmaceutical route is a bit intimidating, at least to me. I have a cholesterol problem, myself, and I hope I can control it without going that route. The side-effects (and the cost, of course) are not something I want to have to worry about.

I hope you are feeling better than you did earlier this week and also hope that whatever course(s) of treatment you pursue for your high bp works for you. Good luck, proles!

--Peter

[nuxvomica]

55. Rubbish!

I'm not going to take the time or space to refute that propaganda here. Post it in the meeting room and pm me when you have.

[pmbryant]

56. Just posting so that both sides are present here

I don't really feel like getting into a debate on this at the moment, either here or in the Meeting Room.

Perhaps at a later date.

:-)

EDIT: Of course, if you want to post your rebuttal in the Meeting Room, I will gladly read it. I'm interested to learn more about this issue.

--Peter

[spinbaby]

40. I take a calcium-channel blocker

Norvasc. I love it because I haven't had a migraine since I started taking it three years ago. I'd had lifelong killer migraines and even into my 40's I was missing work every few weeks because of a migraine. Since I started taking Norvasc I haven't had a one. Love the stuff--I'd take it even if I didn't have high blood pressure.

[cmd]

43. Thanks for reminding me. Forgot my meds.

Enalipril and Indapimide. 116/67 on Tuesday. However, give my system a little virus and it can shoot right up to 140/90 even with meds. I have no side effects with this combination.

[bearfan454]

45. NEVER go off your meds.

I take tenormin, zestril, lipitor, wellbutrin, nexium, and a diuretic and have been for over twenty years. I lost 80 pounds in the last year and a half. I smoked a carton a week for 25 years + ykw. I quit smoking 4 years ago. Zyban worked for me. Kill all salt. Food tastes shitty but you can either have shitty tasting food or die. Your choice. Generic never has worked for me. Take a potassium pill or a multi vitamin also. Once my eyeballs hurt because my pulse was pounding in them so bad. I went to the Dr. and my reading was 195 over 140. That is stroke level. He put something under my tongue and it kicked my ass. You really have to watch it. I have one of those weekly pill holders like the old people use. (No offense intended anybody). If I forget to take a daily dose, my fingertips are tingling by noon. PM me for more info.

[pdx_prog]

51. I have had it for 20 years also....

Taken just about all of them over the years, but now take Toprol (100mg), and Verapamil (240mg).

Also took a baby dose of xanax for a very long time (.50mg nightly to help me sleep). Quit smoking and didn't need the Xanax any more.

[grannylib]

52. Had to stop meds - no insurance

NAFTA sucked my job and my bennies off to Canada so I have no job and no insurance, and there is no WAY I can afford Indurol and my Imitrex without insurance so I have been the QUEEN of Migraines lately...
And the more I read about Shrubbie and his lies and spies and deceit, the higher my BP soars....

[prolesunited]

53. That's awful!

There aren't any state programs for you? Are there less-expensive alternatives for you that might help? What does your doctor say? Mine plays games with all the pharmaceutical reps, gets tons of free samples and then just GIVES them to the patients in situations such as yours.