[Travelinglady]

Come on, is this a way to sell more blood pressure medicine? High blood pressure redefined under new guidelines: What you need to know - news - att.net

[Skeezyks]

I think this is like drink 8 glasses of water a day. If I did that there'd be no point in my ever leaving the bathroom! It's also in the same category as BMI recommendations. I'm quite thin. But whenever I've checked my BMI on different medical websites they say I'm in the middle of the range for my age, gender, etc. In order for me to get down toward the lower end of my BMI range, I'd have to be just some skin draped over my skeleton. Who comes up with these things?

[All Is Revealed]

Originally Posted by Travelinglady

Come on, is this a way to sell more blood pressure medicine? High blood pressure redefined under new guidelines: What you need to know - news - att.net

This is just another scam for pharmaceutical industries to make more money. If you scare people into thinking something is true, many will go running to their doctor to get more meds thrown at them.

I don't feed into these "mass-hysteria" tactics that the news and so-called doctors try to scare us with.

[Persephone518]

I don't put much stock into it either. I suspect it may be a scare tactic of sorts to persuade people to make certain lifestyle changes.

I also take everything that "celebrity doctors" like Dr. Oz say with a grain of salt the size of a boulder. Who knows what they may be exaggerating - or outright inventing - for the sake of ratings? I'm much more inclined to trust a doctor I've actually been seeing for a while and who knows my personal history and the many complexities of my life. Medicine is almost never one size fits all.

Not to mention how un-representative blood pressure taken in the doctor's office can be for people with anxieties related to their health. My resting blood pressure at home is so low, I'm borderline hypotensive. But at the doctor's office, where my PTSD and social anxiety come out in full, it's well over the recommended guideline. I make sure to explain that every time. (Which I'm getting sick of doing, but it's necessary to avoid a misdiagnosis.)

[Gus1234U]

i have been told repeatedly, by doctors, that the "average" HB/BP (heart beat/blood pressure) is around 60 beats per minute and 120/60. the trouble with treating an 'average' is that it is, at best, representative of only 60% of the population, leaving 40% out in the cold.

a really good medical professional will ask about idiosyncrasies and actually listen to the answers and factor in what applies. if your doctor doesn't care what you know about your own metabolism, RUN.

in my little corner of nowhere, we seem to get MD's who can't find employment elsewhere. frankly, i have to be compelled by the law or near death to submit to one. when i told the Clinical Director that i am "hyper-sensitive, hyper-critical and hyper-vigilant", she told me that i was "practicing medicine without a license". do you wonder why i have iatrogenic (doctor originated) PTSD ?