A little more info would be helpful. We are not medical professionals but there is a lot of history and experience. What is your age, weight, history with high bp, what does your physician say? Are you currently taking any bo meds and what other measures have you used or planning to use? Thanks
Hello @foladeb, I would like to add my welcome to Connect along with @gravity. Like @gravity3 mentioned, members are patients like yourself and can share our experiences but we are not medical professionals. It's great that you are focusing on getting your blood pressure back into the normal range and it's important to work with your doctor or care team on treatments as they know your medical history.
My recs are to leave the medications to the professionals unless or until you have reason not to. Work on yourself meanwhile. Think about diet (keep a food journal if you like that includes salt intake), exercise, weight, alcohol intake. Do u have a family history of high blood pressure, high cholesterol or other risk factors for heart attack or stroke? Are you in a racial group prone to hypertension? Consider checking your own blood pressure a few times a week at various times during the day and recording it for your doctor. How long did it take your BP to get so high? Have you been checked for kidney and heart disease? Try to look at your stressors and see if you can lower them. Try things like meditation, yoga, deep breathing, tai chi, mindfulness, emotional regulation, stretching.
Treating hypertension is not one stop shopping. Treatment must be individualized and honed into those things listed above.
Discuss with your doctor taking a baby aspirin daily.
There are studies linking high blood pressure to BPA in plastics. Never put plastics in the microwave.
Know the red flags of heart attack and stroke. If you think you are suffering one of these, call 911.
There might be other health reasons that triggering actual blood pressure.
If it is food part, I will share my experience:
sodium part: salt and spicy foods adjustment.
salty chips package - replace with no salt chips or fresh chips and gaucamole or salsa( somewhat healthy)
fries/country potatos/hash brown - add salt at the end of cooking which it takes less since it will directly hit your tongue and you don't feel less. (instead of cooking in lots of salt)
Sour foods cooking takes more salty, more spicy.. so watch if you are eating more of sour foods.
(example: pre packaged food,pickles,marinara sauce, few cheeses, buffalo sauces & other sauces, soya sauce, sri racha sauce,biryanis, curries, etc.,)
few meal combinations cross salt limit of the day. So, it will spike the blood pressure. Continous eating of that combination is not good.
And also buffets will have loads of food, we unnotice and eat too much salt.
Check your frequent meal combinations and see if it's because of the food.
About a year ago when I left Mayo Methodist my BP was acceptable to me. Also I was advised to stop taking amlodipine and Losartan. I did that and stayed off and BP stayed ok. sometime after that I started on a research project at Mayo with something called Metyrapone to normalize my high cortisol output. Around the first of this yer my BP readings got high. After a time I consulted with my PCP and I am now back at 75% of my prior dose of Losartan. My readings in his office are generally good. My last 2 trips to my pain doc I had high readings. A few weeks back I bought what is supposed to be the most accurate home unit available and readings are still high. I usually check it in the morning after I have had ample time to calm out and it's still high. So now I have 3 cuff type home units and all read high. So for now I will wait until my next research visit in late November and see what the 24 hour monitor shows. I also watch my salt and sugar intake and don't use alcohol. I drink plenty of fluids which includes most of a pot of coffee in the morning. I cut my regular coffee about 25% with decaf. FWIW DNA testing showed that I get little or no "kick" from caffeine.
Hello. First, I would like to congratulate you for taking charge of lowering your blood pressure. You can do it. I will simply list a few things that I changed to lower my blood pressure. These are things that I had to do since I am allergic to so many medications. The main thing that I worked on was to KNOW THY SALT. Yes salt. Its everywhere and yet very difficult to count daily. I keep my intake under 1200mg a day. Mrs Dash Seasoning is a good friend in the kitchen. Read labels and do not eat processed foods, especially those with nitrates. Examples are all deli meat even if it is low salt, pre made anything that is savory, most frozen foods and most cheeses. Dining out is another story since restaurants love to add lots of salt to their dishes. Hydrate, drink your water. Soda is very high in salt, so I avoid that. Last but not least EXERCISE AND WALK. Good luck!
I wanted to add an interesting outcome regarding my concern about a quite high bp reading. My physician told me that it is not only important to have the nurse use the correct size cuff but in my case have it done manually. I have a slow heart rate and that the automatic bp cuff has trouble adjusting to a slower than average heartbeat and will read high. Now I am at a normal bp for my age. Interesting.
I bought a cheap home, blood pressure machine and I use it when I suspect my blood pressure is up. The one thing the simple thing that helps is putting more exercise in my day. It always lowers my blood pressure back to where it should be. When I don’t exercise when I get too much stress when I eat too much salty foods When I put on too much weight my blood pressure goes up. End of story working on all those things brings my blood pressure back down. It can be as simple as taking extra walks every day. I’m sure most of you are retired. So get in an extra walk or two get on a stationary bike And ride, look at your diet, limit the salt and caffeine, drink more water and you’ll bring your blood pressure down.
Is this one reading? As I understand it, blood pressure changes throughout the day. If you are relying on the doctor's staff for reading, make sure that you are given adequate time for calming, both feet sould be on the floor and make sure that neither you or the nurse are talking while your blood pressure is taken. I regularly tell the nurse that the first two are usually high. They are usually quite accommodating when asked to do three.
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A little more info would be helpful. We are not medical professionals but there is a lot of history and experience. What is your age, weight, history with high bp, what does your physician say? Are you currently taking any bo meds and what other measures have you used or planning to use? Thanks
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Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsHello @foladeb, I would like to add my welcome to Connect along with @gravity. Like @gravity3 mentioned, members are patients like yourself and can share our experiences but we are not medical professionals. It's great that you are focusing on getting your blood pressure back into the normal range and it's important to work with your doctor or care team on treatments as they know your medical history.
Here are a couple of articles from Mayo Clinic that you may find helpful:
-- How Can I Help Keep My Blood Pressure in the Normal Range?
https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/self-care-steps-can-help-keep-blood-pressure-in-normal-range/
-- 10 ways to control high blood pressure without medication:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/high-blood-pressure/art-20046974
Have you discussed your blood pressure with your doctor? Have they suggested any treatment or lifestyle changes to help lower your BP?
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Like -
Helpful -
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2 ReactionsMy recs are to leave the medications to the professionals unless or until you have reason not to. Work on yourself meanwhile. Think about diet (keep a food journal if you like that includes salt intake), exercise, weight, alcohol intake. Do u have a family history of high blood pressure, high cholesterol or other risk factors for heart attack or stroke? Are you in a racial group prone to hypertension? Consider checking your own blood pressure a few times a week at various times during the day and recording it for your doctor. How long did it take your BP to get so high? Have you been checked for kidney and heart disease? Try to look at your stressors and see if you can lower them. Try things like meditation, yoga, deep breathing, tai chi, mindfulness, emotional regulation, stretching.
Treating hypertension is not one stop shopping. Treatment must be individualized and honed into those things listed above.
Discuss with your doctor taking a baby aspirin daily.
There are studies linking high blood pressure to BPA in plastics. Never put plastics in the microwave.
Know the red flags of heart attack and stroke. If you think you are suffering one of these, call 911.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 ReactionsThere might be other health reasons that triggering actual blood pressure.
If it is food part, I will share my experience:
sodium part: salt and spicy foods adjustment.
salty chips package - replace with no salt chips or fresh chips and gaucamole or salsa( somewhat healthy)
fries/country potatos/hash brown - add salt at the end of cooking which it takes less since it will directly hit your tongue and you don't feel less. (instead of cooking in lots of salt)
Sour foods cooking takes more salty, more spicy.. so watch if you are eating more of sour foods.
(example: pre packaged food,pickles,marinara sauce, few cheeses, buffalo sauces & other sauces, soya sauce, sri racha sauce,biryanis, curries, etc.,)
few meal combinations cross salt limit of the day. So, it will spike the blood pressure. Continous eating of that combination is not good.
And also buffets will have loads of food, we unnotice and eat too much salt.
Check your frequent meal combinations and see if it's because of the food.
Stress part:
I am still trying to learn 🙂
If u subscribe to the The NY Times, here’s a great article
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/well/live/high-blood-pressure-lower.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
About a year ago when I left Mayo Methodist my BP was acceptable to me. Also I was advised to stop taking amlodipine and Losartan. I did that and stayed off and BP stayed ok. sometime after that I started on a research project at Mayo with something called Metyrapone to normalize my high cortisol output. Around the first of this yer my BP readings got high. After a time I consulted with my PCP and I am now back at 75% of my prior dose of Losartan. My readings in his office are generally good. My last 2 trips to my pain doc I had high readings. A few weeks back I bought what is supposed to be the most accurate home unit available and readings are still high. I usually check it in the morning after I have had ample time to calm out and it's still high. So now I have 3 cuff type home units and all read high. So for now I will wait until my next research visit in late November and see what the 24 hour monitor shows. I also watch my salt and sugar intake and don't use alcohol. I drink plenty of fluids which includes most of a pot of coffee in the morning. I cut my regular coffee about 25% with decaf. FWIW DNA testing showed that I get little or no "kick" from caffeine.
Hello. First, I would like to congratulate you for taking charge of lowering your blood pressure. You can do it. I will simply list a few things that I changed to lower my blood pressure. These are things that I had to do since I am allergic to so many medications. The main thing that I worked on was to KNOW THY SALT. Yes salt. Its everywhere and yet very difficult to count daily. I keep my intake under 1200mg a day. Mrs Dash Seasoning is a good friend in the kitchen. Read labels and do not eat processed foods, especially those with nitrates. Examples are all deli meat even if it is low salt, pre made anything that is savory, most frozen foods and most cheeses. Dining out is another story since restaurants love to add lots of salt to their dishes. Hydrate, drink your water. Soda is very high in salt, so I avoid that. Last but not least EXERCISE AND WALK. Good luck!
I wanted to add an interesting outcome regarding my concern about a quite high bp reading. My physician told me that it is not only important to have the nurse use the correct size cuff but in my case have it done manually. I have a slow heart rate and that the automatic bp cuff has trouble adjusting to a slower than average heartbeat and will read high. Now I am at a normal bp for my age. Interesting.
I bought a cheap home, blood pressure machine and I use it when I suspect my blood pressure is up. The one thing the simple thing that helps is putting more exercise in my day. It always lowers my blood pressure back to where it should be. When I don’t exercise when I get too much stress when I eat too much salty foods When I put on too much weight my blood pressure goes up. End of story working on all those things brings my blood pressure back down. It can be as simple as taking extra walks every day. I’m sure most of you are retired. So get in an extra walk or two get on a stationary bike And ride, look at your diet, limit the salt and caffeine, drink more water and you’ll bring your blood pressure down.
Is this one reading? As I understand it, blood pressure changes throughout the day. If you are relying on the doctor's staff for reading, make sure that you are given adequate time for calming, both feet sould be on the floor and make sure that neither you or the nurse are talking while your blood pressure is taken. I regularly tell the nurse that the first two are usually high. They are usually quite accommodating when asked to do three.