High Blood Pressure

[Shawn Lutz]

as it applied to me, I was in the same situation, high blood pressure and cholerstral My DR put me on meds and I hated em and the way they made me feel. I told him that and said I'll do iton my own and he said low fat diet and exercise. I'm all good now and its all cardio, lower fat diet and 500-1000mg of Niacin day ...BP is all good to go. You just need to cut out junk food, fats foods. I atctally look at food lables now and whats in them. My rule if it grows its all good, fruits, veggies and meats

Everyone does not respond to the same treatment but I found my key was the exercise. If I exercise i can eat pretty much whatever I want. Just need a make time to run 3-5 miles every other day. We're men damnit...we're made for manual labor to chase and hunt down our food and get the heart rate up...not sit infront of a computer screen all day for work and then TV at night

[xxxcreaturexxx]

The past few days have been pretty damn eye opening & life changing. I appreciate everyones help.

[drockilles]

Got put on HCTZ (blood pressure med) and tricor/zocor last year at the ripe old age of 26 (5'10", 170lbs). Stopped taking the cholesterol meds because drinking while taking them is a no no. Took the HCTZ for about 6 months.
I'd say check your pressure yourself. When mine originally came up high, I had to go to medical twice a day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, for a BP check. They'd check it twice each visit, one with the automatic cuff, one with the manual. Had to wait 30 minutes after I got there before they checked it. After all that crap they determined to put me on the meds, it was consistently borderline hypertension.
Did your doc check more than once? That's one thing you can do yourself since you said you're investing in a cuff. Certain things can throw the BP off, I wouldn't assume right away your's is high if it was only one check.
The HCTZ I took was supposed to be a permanent thing, but I stopped taking that too. Had no real side effects if you go that route, other than making you piss a lot more since it's a diarrhetic. Last time I had my BP taken I was 127/82, that's with several months of no meds. So I don't really know if the meds helped any or if the meds combined with my regular exercise did. Didn't change my diet at all. Good luck with it, man.

[xxxcreaturexxx]

Yeah I got my BP checked several times in the last couple of weeks and it had been averaging about 137/88. Got my blood checked several times as well and the tests came back fine. Same with the urine tests. EKG showed nothing acute. I've been watching what I eat big time and either running or biking in the evening, although I might switch to doing that in the morning. I've lost some weight which should help as well.

[Emthrax]

sounds like you're doing really great. awesome! keep it up!
cheers to your good health.

[xxxcreaturexxx]

Thanks Em.

[dk1ben]

I remember being a young punk kid it seemed like all the old people around us had high blood pressure. The advise we would give them was "Take it easy... Pops!"


It only seemed to aggravate the malady though after advice was given...

It seems like everyone I work with has blood pressure problems. I blamed the job stress for a long time. But then I decided to at least try some other avenues so I wouldnt drop dead at 40.

I have cut a lot of the salty foods from my diet. I try to keep my sleep at the same time every day.... so on and so on. I dont smoke. But all this did very little. However when I switched to decafe I noticed a change almost over night.

Be careful of just taking meds. It may work for awhile, but once you have another medical issue come up you will find that these blood bills dont mix well with many other drugs. Then your doctor starts the guessing game. When I got shot I had to take a lot of pain meds for the first couple weeks. They didnt mix with my blood pressure meds. Talk about letting the fun begin. Amazing you can survive a gun shot and almost bite the dust because of the meds!

I fully blame the doc's for killing my liver with the meds. I mean hell man I had at least 40 years of beer drinking left!

Good luck bro! Just stay ahead of it and you should be fine.

[xxxcreaturexxx]

Damn I love this place. You guys are definitely a great resource.

[lerxstcat]

As for medical interactions, you can look those up for yourself. It's true that the docs aren't always up on the interactions. Also, if you drink (and most people lie to the doc about how MUCH they drink) then Vicodin or Lortab can hurt the liver due to the Tylenol involved.

You can't have more than 3 alcohol drinks a day (single shots if it's liquor) if you're also taking Tylenol, and also you can OD on the Tyenol in the pills alone if you're taking a lot.

Better to look up these things yourself than trust the doctor's memory and interpretations anyway, because they'll tend to think "Oh, it'll be okay" before they stir their brains to think of another med to give you that doesn't interact.

Plus, if they notice you're looking the shit up, they may tighten up lest you nail them for malpractice due to sloppy prescribing. Keep 'em on their toes and doublecheck their work as far as you can.

But on the pro-=med side, I'd have been dead years ago without the multiple meds I take for heart, blood pressure, diabetes and diuretics. I might be able to reduce those if I got back into better shape, but I will never eliminate them all. If I tried I'd die, so I accept the situation.

The BP you report is what I achieve on a good day taking Clonidine, Lotrel, Toprol XL, Atacand, AND Maxzide. Those are just my blood pressure med, and Lotrel is a combo med composed of Norvasc and Lotensin so that's actually 2 in 1.

Without those meds my BP is in the 200/110 range, or stroke level. Which is why in fact I did have a stroke. So again, there's 2 sides, but to those who say avoid the meds, I say take them until you can get it down by other means.

A stroke causes brain damage and you can't always get brain function back. Far better to take some pills and avoid that IMO.

[xxxcreaturexxx]

Damn Lerx sounds like you have a much worse case than I do. When I was feeling bad it was going to 150/100 range but almost all the other times it was at 137/89 range. Granted when I got into the 150/100 range I had just spent 30hrs in the Emergency Room waiting room with no food and only some water to drink. So that may have had alot to do with it. Since I've started watching what I eat and exercising, I have actually been feeling pretty good. If my BP would have stayed in the 150/100 range, I'm sure I would be on meds right now.

[horns666]

Rich is scaring the crap out of me with the Tyenol biz. I eat Vicodin and Darvacet like Good N Plentys..both have 500 mg of Tylenol. My docs say anything less than 4000 mg of Tylenol a day is safe. Anything over 4000 mg can fuck up your liver. I haven't got a check up in about 6 years. I just get my refills from my Workers comp quacks.
I drink LOTS of water and I try to shoot my goo everyday. I think that helps..I think shooting your goo can lower your blood pressure. Try checking your blood pressure before and after shooting your goo and you'll see.

[xxxcreaturexxx]

I drink LOTS of water and I try to shoot my goo everyday. I think that helps..I think shooting your goo can lower your blood pressure. Try checking your blood pressure before and after shooting your goo and you'll see.

I'll make a note of that. Maybe even try it during lol.

I was reading up some more on this and found some articles where grapefruit juice has a negative affect on some BP meds. Here's one:

http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/grapefruit-juice-and-medication

Its crazy how a fruit thats supposed to help lower your blood pressure can hurt you if you are taking some meds that interact with it.

[horns666]

I heard about the grapefruit..my dad told me about it. He can't eat it because of his BP meds.

Shoot your man milk..cum cum cum your way to a healthy life!

[Spivonious]

The BP you report is what I achieve on a good day taking Clonidine, Lotrel, Toprol XL, Atacand, AND Maxzide. Those are just my blood pressure med, and Lotrel is a combo med composed of Norvasc and Lotensin so that's actually 2 in 1.

Holy crap, Lerx! I think taking all of those pills would raise my blood pressure just from the anxiety. Why is your BP so high?

[ken]

One good thing about taking your own BP is that you get a more complete picture as it varies quite a lot over the course of a day. Mine is consistently lower in the morning than in the evening. It is also always higher when your doctor takes it, because you're stressed that the doctor is going to tell you that you have high BP...

Sorry to hear about all you folks on meds. I hope you don't have to stay on them for long.