I am a 57 yo female, trim and fit. I've always had low-ish bp, even in the last months of my pregnancies (I have four kids and three of them were born after I turned 40). I do not struggle with weight. I'm very active. I eat a healthful diet which includes meat but not much of it. I was shocked to learn recently that my BP is high. I now take my BP 4-5 times a day and most of the readings are high -- 140/85 ish. If I meditate for several minutes, I can get it down to 125/80 but who can live life in a meditative state??
I have never been on regular medication for anything - never in my life. No allergies. No conditions. No diseases or disease processes......until now with this high BP. An occasional ibuprofren is it. I am loathe to go on meds and have been researching herbs and different food choices, which lay claim to a reduced BP. Has anyone on this forum successfully affected a reduced BP, which remained reduced, using natural methods?
Thanks in advance for your time!
Peace
Ro
30 mins walking a day is the best natural thing I have found, and are you stressed when taking it as you say it comes down when you relax? sounds pretty normal to me its only when it never comes below 140/90 try not to worry as the least bit worry puts it up!!!!
But how long does yours stay down after walking? This morning my reading was 184/84 41. After walking for about an hour and a half this afternoon is was 122/71 85 on getting home and ten minutes later 105/52 65. When it gets that low I start to fell light headed.
One day last week it was 210/87 48 in the morning and 120/55 53 at 6pm after having been out and about for seven hours. Far too extreme.
Hi Rose I did type out a post earlier but being new to forum forgot to save, your bp sounds perfectly normal to me so long as at rest it's normal, I have been getting consistently high readings at Drs but goes down at home if I relax, if I'm tense 160/80 is easy to reach LOL please don't stress over this as I can prove it makes it worse.
Like you pulse it's well effected by anxiety and lots of other factors.
Go and see your Dr and tell him your worries, I'm sure he will probably ask you to do a weeks readings and calculate averages xx
I had much the same experience - nothing much wrong except for lower back problem for which I took ibuprofen, as I am a keen walker. I also suffer from migraines for which I take Imigran when necessary. I am 65, and was diagnosed with HBP 3 months ago after a health check I was invited to at my GP's surgery. I also have high cholesterol. It was a quite a shock to find this out! My migraine medication is a vaso-constrictor, and due to shoulder impingement I was suffering 2 or 3 migraines a week. I had surgery last year, and as a result happily do not have migraines now, which is good because I can't take Imigran whilst I am taking Ramipril. I have also since discovered that ibuprofen is also a vaso- constrictor, and I had been taking this fairly regularly over the last two or three years. I am convinced this has resulted in my diagnosis of HBP.
Thank you all for your helpful comments. At rest, my BP is usually borderline (according to the received wisdom of online medical help sites), and often it is high. With effort I can make it be lower.
However, isn't high BP just high BP, not matter how ya look at it? Do doctors let ya "work it" to get a lower reading and accept that as a clear picture? (I haven't gone to the docs yet...waiting for a chance to lower the BP on my own first, because I am afraid he's going to take our his prescription pad !)
I guess I should not be shocked that my 35 year run with 105/65 has come to an end .....but I do not understand why.
Thank you again for your responses!
Ro
Hi as I said take a weeks readings and take them to Drs, they do not put you on meds unless you need them.
You can't diagnose yourself, they wouldn't medicate at 140/80 at your age first and it's resting bp they go on like I said.
Yes Derek that does seem extreme do you ever get flashing in your vision when bp up? It stays down for a few hours then rises abit maybe I should be like forest gump and just keep on walking, could.nt run like he did !!!!
Hi there so are you taking bp medication at the moment Alexandria? yes these levels are very easy to reach when tense 180 plus for me in docs no problem at all !!!!!
It has been like that since 2000 despite many different medications and side effects but no flashing vision.
Cardiologists all say 'It's the average that counts' and that has twice ruled me out from getting Renal Denervation.
Last chance is the Hypertension Centre who have been doing tests since June. All so far negative and I expect that on Thursday I will be told that the recent MR scan of kidneys was also clear.
it is a puzzle derek can you remember your readings in 2000 when first diagnosed are they less now you are on medication???
210/110 down to 168/78 after four days on Atenolol and Amlodopine that gave unbearable side effects and stopped after two months and a lot of others tried. Without a BP monitor at that time I dont know how much it fluctuated until I bought one in December 2001 when I found it still often hit the heights.
Have you tried enalapril, my other halfs was way high and that was the one that bright it down with zero side effects
I was covered in an itchy rash with that one.
I had low bp my whole life until recently. I have hypertension now. I did ll the things they said but didnt cganhe it got worse. Doc said genetics. All bp have some kind of side effect so you hope you find one that works for you. I am on generic nirvasc right now low dose 2.5 and have heart burn badly. Praying it calm down. The receptors that work on the heart work on different prts of your body. Beta tends to go for the ears or different receptors and ccb stomach muscles, i think ace does the head area but for migrane sufferers i guess that is good thing. It is very scary when everything changes but dangerous to ignore it can slowly injue your organs anything iver 140/90 steadily needs meds unless you re iver 60 then i think they let it go a bit higher. So its hard and its complicated because i used to take many multi vitamins and loved alternative stuff and now half of it interacts. I am little lost but guess i hve to figure this all out. HBP is a silent killer you dont tend to feel it or know about it on your own until its hoovering in stage 2 hylerstension.
I'm trying to go natural rose. I was technically pre hypertension, but just short of high, but have now made alot more effort to improve my diet and lifestyle.
I've lost quite a bit of weight but I was already in pretty decent shape before and with no family history so I'm worried it won't work. I'll check again in a few months with a 24 hour monitor And let you know how I go.
Your situation descibes mine as well. Although I am a 51 year old male. I never smoked or drank and am fit and don't take any meds for anything. I am a bit frustrated that my BP is high. I am now just starting to pay more attention to my salt intake. When you start reading labels you will see everything you buy from the store accept fresh produce has salt...and lots of it. I will keep you posted on if a lower sodium diet helps... Ed (from the USA)
In my case it doesn't. I stopped using salt and sugar at home in 1983 and seldom eat processed foods. At that time my BP was normal but in 2000 it was found to be 210/110. After fifteen years of tests and no reason found and treatment with ten different medications it can still reach such heights in the morning but dramatically fall as the day goes on.
I wonder if it's a hereditary thing. Maybe something that can't be fixed...I'm not giving up just yet. Maybe more cardio??? Sugar is my weakness I was thinking of cutting that too but from what you are saying probably won't help...
Hi Rose
Two years ago my BP was 160/90! The GP gave me a month to try to reduce it naturally. In a month it reduced to 140/70. I followed the celery, beetroot diet and cider vinegar diet. I ate healthily as well but included 4 ozs of celery in my diet every day during that time. Sometimes raw, sometimes steamed as a vegetable. Beetroot juice from the health shop or make your own is good, or eat cooked beetroot. I think it's two tablespoons of cider vinegar a day. You can mix it with honey to sweeten and warm water as a drink. You can look it up on the internet. When eating this amount of celery you need to reduce your salt intake in other ways as celery is high in natural sodium. My BP was 125/67 last week. I have changed my lifestyle completely now. Moved away from the city into the country and haven't worked for six months. I know that before I was eating too many salt filled convenience foods for quickness as I was working long hours, even bought desserts contain surprising amounts of salt. I'm 61yrs, am not overweight and very healthy. I still eat plenty of celery and avoid added salt. Too much beetroot can upset the stomach so I've cut back on this. I drink the cider vinegar two or three times a week now. Try to spend time listening to relaxing classical music such as Baroque. Your heart will slow down to the tempo of the music.
Best wishes
Eileen D UK