r/bloodpressure

31m 5’5 150lb

Hello, I was on lisinopril for the last 1.5 years. I developed some tinnitus during that time and wasn’t sure if it was medication induced or just environmental. My doctor agreed to try telmisartan as a replacement to see if it improved. I’ve been taking it for a week and a half now and since day one I’ve had this nagging lower back pain. I’m an active individual, strength train 5 times per week and walk frequently. I didn’t do anything around the time of the pain occurrence to explain this. I see back pain listed as a rare side effect. It’s not excruciating but is persistent and annoying. Has anyone else experienced this?

My BP has risen to 150/95 and 163/96 twice. Several readings of 148/93 were measured using a digital at-home device. My LDL is a bit high, and my HDL is low. Should I go see a doctor, or is this the new normal?

I’m a 36yo male. Quite fit and have been very active in work as a construction worker for 18 odd years. I can go out and run 10km quite easily. I’ve ever smoked and I don’t drink alcohol much anymore. Eat a lot of home cooked meals and such.

What I do have a history of is worrying about my health, I’ve gotten so much better with it in the last 3 or so years. Worked a lot on mindset. I’ve been to the doctors here and there in the last couple years and each time my blood pressure has been raised. They’ve for the most part said you most likely have the white coat syndrome as I get very uncomfortable at the doctors. Last year I checked into the hospital for ectopic beats (which I still get in times of stress or if I’m not looking after myself) but the times I’ve been monitored and after all the testing they say my heart works perfectly and everything on all the tests and blood tests etc come back really normal.

A week or so ago I saw a post about blood pressure and strokes etc and it got my old monkey mind ticking again. I bought a bp machine and each time I check it I feel like I’m hyping myself up and getting stressed about it and each time I’ve checked it’s been around 150/78 or so. I don’t know whether to stop focusing so much on my BP or to investigate it further. When I was at the hospital resting after having scary heart beats they were saying my BP was 120/70 the whole time I was there besides the moment I arrived. I think my mind plays a huge role in my BP sometimes, not sure what to do.

I've been told I had high blood pressure before, but never really paid attention to it.

Just a bit of background info;

30 yo, 6 feet, currently 210lbs

I pay attention to my diet, I avoid processed food, almost never eat junk food/takeout. Don't eat salt or drink caffeine, I work out 3-5 x a week and have been told I look like I'm in good shape (a nurse actually told me that while she pulled up my sleeve to take my elevated blood pressure).

Then a couple months ago my doctor told me I need to make changes after a reading of about 160/100. We discussed lifestyle changes. I decided the obvious culprit must be booze.

I drink pretty much every weekend. (Vodka tonic) I don't do it to get "drunk". But sip it throughout the afternoon to night. I usually go through two bottles a weekend.

I started checking my BP every week, and after a month or two of cutting out booze entirely, my blood pressure steadily dropped, eventually hitting around 118/80. In other words, out of hypertension territory.

Of course, inevitably I was invited on a night out with mates. I figured this shouldn't be much of an issue now that I wasn't regularly going thru two bottles of vodka a weekend.

I went out, started on beer and moved to vodka/tonic, I got drunk. I woke up on Sunday with a hangover and drank beer to lighten it.

Next Tue I checked my BP as usual and it had continued to drop (this was actually the week I got under hypertension).

I felt good. It showed I could still have the odd night out and drink with friends.

Next weekend, I thought; maybe I could try light beer. I could sip that over the weekend. Surely a lot less trouble than my previous vodka/tonic. I ordered an 18 pack and went through most of it by the end of the weekend. So maybe 8 on Sat/8 on Sun.

The following Tue, I checked my BP again, only to find it's now jumped up to 130 - 140.

Could someone explain what has happened here? has 18 light beers somehow spiked my BP? is this a delayed reaction to my drunk night out two weekends ago? Am I going to have to worry for the rest of my life every time I take a sip of alcohol, even after months of abstaining???

And of course, is this how easy it is to jump from healthy BP to stage 2 hypertension? And in only one week no less??

I had a period of high stress, and it caused my blood pressure to rise to 170/100, and I took myself to A&E. They gave me something to reduce in short term (3 days) while I waited to see the cardiologist. By chance, the cardiologist saw me at A&E for 1 minute and he advised them to fit an ambulatory blood pressure monitor, so I had baseline data for 72 hours when I attended the appointment with the cardiologist, 3 days later.

Further to reviewing the data from the ambulatory blood pressure monitor, the cardiologist increase of my medication from 50mg to 75mg of losartan.

The cardiologist asked me to do a measurement in the morning and evening.

I was supposed to go back to him after 2 weeks, but I had to cancel the appointment, and I have been recording my blood pressure for 4 weeks now and I expect to do it for another 2 or 3 weeks before I see him again.

As a matter of routine, I use BOTH a Hilo and a traditional blood meter with arm strap.

The Hilo is useful as it automatically tracks 24/7, you get average daily, weekly, and monthly data.

I also measure manually with my traditional blood pressure meter between 4 and 8 times a day and each time three times taking the average. I will continue to do this until I see the cardiologist, but once I see him if he does not change my medication dose.

What is very annoying is that my blood pressure had been runing below 120/80 consistently when I was on 50mg of losartan and one stressful period has caused the blood pressure to go out of control and even on the highter dose of 75mg it is still not gone down to where it was before and the short term (5 weeks) source of stress has passed.

Anyone else had an experience like this?

Just came back from a dentist appointment and they took my blood pressure and it came back as 149/89. I’m not sure if this is good or bad since Google isn’t giving me a clear answer. What does this mean?

I used to think checking blood pressure once in a while was enough.

Turns out, my doctor cared way more about trends over time than random readings.

So I started tracking my BP daily and noticed:

- stress spikes

- poor sleep effects

- caffeine impact

- inconsistent readings at different times

Honestly, seeing patterns changed how seriously I took it.

Out of curiosity:

How do you all track your blood pressure?

Notebook?

Excel?

Smartwatch?

Apps?

Also, what’s been the hardest part about staying consistent?

If anyone is taking potassium supplements for high bp, does it make much difference?

Does taking too much BP medicine (Losartan) cause an elevated heart rate? I am 60 days into managing BP and regularly seeing exceptional numbers. What I have noticede is that when my BP is low during the day, my heart rate seems to be high when I am just sitting there. Right now my BP is 100/70 and HR is 85. My resting heart rate is typically 62 according to apple watch.

Has anybody been in a situation were you are in shape,eat clean, lift weights, compete in Brazilian jiu jitsu, no alcohol/smoking, basically tick every box that makes you a healthy mother f@cker, and still have readings of 140/90 with 5mg of Amlodipine?

Yours sincerely

Mr Pissed Off.

Hi! So I’ve had a congenital heart issue in my childhood that required open heart surgery. I’ve a lot of cardiac trauma and fear. I’m on beta blockers as hypertension runs in my family and I was having higher numbers for a while.

Had stress echo and ekg and blood tests 8 months ago - all fine but mild biatrial enlargement and grade 1 diastolic dysfunction.

Doctor asked to lose weight.

Since then, I’ve been trying to eat healthier and walk 10k steps without fail. I’ve lost 13-14 lbs. nothing dramatic.

Was averaging diastolic 75 the last 8 months until last week when I saw 85 diastolic and I had a full blown panic attack. Hot flashes, restlessness etc. kept creeping to diastolic 91. Was unable to sleep.

Went to urgent care - ekg looks fine and was told I have anxiety and need to be on meds for it.

It’s been 4 days since my panic attack and I’m still having bad diastolic readings 88-91. I feel extremely scared, cannot function, and panicking.

Can this group help! I feel like a mess.