I'm 30 years old. I finally finished school. Got licensed to work my profession. Got offered a job finally (competition is strong). Went for a physical with their doctor. BP was at 155/100.
and I'm already taking:
Metropolol 50 mg twice a day
Losartan 100 mg
Amlodipine 10mg
hydrochlorothiazide 25 mg
Doc told me he could not pass me but I could visit my primary doctor to adjust my meds and to have him sign a waiver. Went to my primary and he said he cannot sign the waiver until its under control :*-(
"start taking metropolol 100 mg twice a day and I'll see you in a week" he says.
labs/procedures done: Echo, heart stress test imaging, MRI of kidneys for stenosis, adrenal gland tumor check. Everything came back normal.
When I do check my BP its usually fluctuates between 160/110 to 135/90 usually hangs around 150/100 even with those meds listed.
I don't know what to do. My BP is so stubborn. And I've also created a phobia to having my blood pressure taken (someone people hate needles, well I hate BP cuffs). I'm so frustrated, its unbelievable. Please any advice would be great.
That's a lot of meds for 30 years old. Resistant hypertension is often difficult to diagnose. Do you get data from blood tests? If so, could you post your U/E data? If you don't have, get surgery to print them out and keep them.
Paul
That's a lot of meds for 30 years old. Resistant hypertension is often difficult to diagnose. Do you get data from blood tests? If so, could you post your U/E data? If you don't have, get surgery to print them out and keep them.
Paul
One more thing. Adrenal tumour check does not mean the mischief is NOT coming from there. Has your team ruled out adrenal hyperplasia?
Hello again gabriel83491...I hear you when you say you hate seeing the bp cuff. I don't like it either. Your doctor told you to take 100mg metropolol 2x/day.That's 200mg over the course of the day, which in my opinion is quite a bit, but I'm not a doctor.
It seems you have resistant hypertension...Have you had bloodwork done? I agree with Conns...one doesn't have to have a tumour in the adrenals for it to cause mischief. Why not
ask your doctor about this?
So sorry you have this problem. My partner also has resistant hypertension which has been difficult to keep under control. I agree with the other comments given but part of the problem could also be 'white coat syndrome' - you quite understandably now have a dread of having your BP taken. Have you been offered the option of wearing a monitor for say 24hrs - I had consistently high BP when taken at the doctors but if I took it at home on my own monitor it was considerably less, so they gave me a monitor to wear which checked it periodically over a 24 hr period, both at work, rest and overnight asleep. There were some significant rises and falls but overall it was quite noticeably lower than when I have it taken at the surgery, so I avoided having to take meds.
Loxie,
Please shed more light on "quite noticeably lower" if you can.
Paul
Hi Conns. At the surgery i regularly tested at over 130/90, sometimes as high as 145/95. During the 24 hr monitoring the highest was 131/89 and the lowest 115/78, depending on time of day, activity, food intake etc. Most of the time it was around 122-126/80-85 - I'm more than happy at those readings. I get anxious at doctors' appointment I guess.
How's your weight?
How's your diet?
You don't happen to take turmeric as a supplement, do you ? Or eat a lot of Indian food with turmeric?
Any other non-BP prescription meds?
FWIW I don't know that anyone in the US has medical checkups anymore when taking jobs, unless they require heavy physical exertion.
Even if you don't take turmeric, you might look up "MAOI cheese effect", get a list of high tyramine foods - and avoid them for a week or two, see if that helps.
Good question. I did see an endocrinologist. Hes the one that ordered the adrenal and kidney MRI. He also checked aldosterone, renin, nor-epinephrine, etc. and he said everything came back normal. I'm assuming he did check for adrenal hyperplasia. I don't have my u/e on hand but everything came out normal, kidney function (BUN, Creatinine, GFR) "is great" according to my doc.
No, I haven't had that done but it does interest me. I get constant fluctuation depending on my mood and time of the day per my own BP checks (bought a machine at Target). But one thing is for sure, readings are definitely lower in a comfortable environment. I'm at the point where I can literally feel my heart race when the BP cuff is being put on me (at doctor's office).
I'm 6'2 250 sometimes 260, but I "carry it well" as my doctor says partially cause I used to hit the gym a lot in my early twenties (a lot of upper body workouts) but I definitely would love to be closer to 200. I still go to the gym 2x a week minimum and do the stationary bike or treadmill at home 2x a week. And I'm very health conscious about what I eat. But I am sucker for red meat which I'm trying to cut down on. I take no MAOI, no tumeric foods. Multi vitamin and super B complex daily.
My mother has had scary high blood pressure for many years. She is 91 years old now. Her doctor tried using different meds to get it lowered but she sometimes ended up in the ER just due to the side effects. She started drinking eggplant juice. The doctor then said her BP was much better. I believe that Baba ghanoush would have the same effect. It is also nutritional so the effect is more gentle. Olive oil is also a known cholesterol buster that will lower your LDL. I would recommend 1/4 cup per day taken in small doses over the day.
Even if you were to get the job, all those meds will interfere with your 'reliability' factor.
Because I have mild pre-diabetes, my doctor put me on a 'mild' blood pressure medication to 'protect' my kidneys. I immediately started getting dizzy and had little energy. I figured that taking it increased my chances of falling or getting into an auto accident, so I stopped taking it. My blood pressure was never actually above normal. I use a lot of Organic extra virgin olive oil. Whenever the nurse takes my BP she always says Wow, that is really good BP. 117/72. I am 61.
Ioxie,
122-126/80-85 is very good and ideally this is where you need to be as often as possible. This is not intended to put the wind up you but under the new 2017 BP guidelines this is now known as elevated. If you want to no the new boundaries just let me know.
If you haven't a BP home device suggest you get one, in particular one that allows you to Bluetooth to your Smartphone so your GP can see what's happening weekly, mothly and yearly. There is a strong desire by the Heart & Hypertension specialists to move away from GP's and Nurses taking your BP ad you doing it yourself. You would need the correct guidelines to monitor at home, and be aware that annual re-calibration is key to accurate results.
Paul
It's not red meat as such, but aged meats (and cheeses) which are the worst for tyramine. Sausage counts as aged. You can look up more. Worth a try.
Weight does not always correspond to BP, but sometimes it does. If you got down to around 200 odds are it would help the BP a lot.
Gym generally won't do it, has to be calorie/carb restriction, also meal scheduling, other approaches.
Very interesting information and thanks for sharing that. I think that because of my age I don't really feel the side effects too much, at first I was feeling unbalanced like as if I were going to fall but after a few weeks I adapted.
I've had several blood work studies done. Most come back normal. Metropolol tartrate doesn't have a long life, I believe 10-12 hours thats why he wants me to take it twice a day. There is Metropolol Succinate (extended release, so I could take that once) but I'm not on that one.
Hi @Jonathan57679, I can endorse the eggplant effectiveness on BP!
However eventually I got tired of eggplant and was able to use the much more convenient meds.
It may not work as babaghanoush, it has to be roasted just so, and generally the juices preserved, or you may need to eat rather a lot of it to get the effect (which generally I'm happy to do, but not every day!).
It can take some fiddling with meds, combinations, and dosages, more than most doctors want to bother with, but generally I think it can be done, with minimal side effects.
... just wish someone would do a formal analysis of eggplant, it might lead to better drugs!
Hi Conns. I have a good quality home BP tester - my partner has to check his BP daily, as I said above when I tested it on my home monitor it was always much lower than at the doctors. I've read the new guidelines and to be honest at my age, with a stressful sedentary job and not as active as I used to be due to a slight disability, I would be hard pushed to get down to the "perfect" levels recommended - it just aint gonna happen. I dont eat meat, dont eat junk food, and I'm not overweight. I've watched my partner's health be badly affected by increasing BP meds and the nasty side effects of some of them so for me, I'm steering clear until it's deemed essential.
Just something of interest here - I used to be a real sucker for spurious health benefit claims of supplements and vitamins etc. As part of another health issue my doctor had all my levels tested - I had so many blood tests over a given period I felt like a pin cushion and joked with my surgery phlebotomist she could get a part in a vampire film! Every single level came back 'normal'. My doctor was very specific in telling me I should stop taking unnecessary vitamins etc and only take them on medical advice if I had presented with a noticeable deficiency. The body flushes the excess from most of them so he said what I was really doing was creating 'very expensive urine' - very amusing but true. I saw a documentary on TV about gut bacteria and how it can affect a whole range of health issues, including weight gain, high cholesterol, high BP, and many more. I asked him about taking probiotic supplements etc., he gave me a print out of a very interesting clinical test report which showed that, without exception, taking supplements or eating so called superfoods with high levels of anti oxidants etc was a total waste of money as again, the body rejects the surplus as it recognises it as a foreign matter - again - expensive pee! By all means request tests but resist the temptation to take supplements or additional vitamins unless really needed. Some vitamins can be dangerous if taken in excess - Vit A, Vit D and Calcium are all potentially dangerous in excess for example. Saving myself a fortune now!