Blood Pressure, Anyone?

Oh I surely believe our minds, used correctly can lower or stabilize blood pressure. I can do this even during the testing, if I choose. I can do it for pain too... unless it becomes extreme quickly. I can do it for breathing, opening airways... I can do it for blood flow such as from a wound...

However, with the neuropathies, it is the body's fluctuations that are causing the incorrect BP readings.

But yes, being mindful of the breath (and anxiety etc) you can lower or raise your blood pressure. In fact, you can do that with most parts of your body, skilled enough. I'm continually reading "Your Body Believes Every Word You Say" along with the Manual for the Brain, and How Your Mind Works... and we don't harness the powers we have for good. We do harness them, often with constant negative thinking against our own selves!

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Yes, (JD), I think you're quite correct: the mind can control the body to an amazing extent. The doctors aren't very comfortable with that (my doc laughed when I mentioned yoga), but that's just how they're educated to react. So it's just up to each one of us to try things out and do what we can to help ourselves by ourselves. It certainly works on blood pressure and pulse. Some people even say you can do it on cholesterol, trigylicerides, etc. Who knows? Take care!

Ygrec, how did the Holter monitoring go? What did you find out? I have sometimes thought I would like to do Holter monitoring. I had one episode of AF coming out of surgery 3 years ago and now I am forever branded as having AF in my chart, which affects a lot of things in treatment and insurance too. I would like to do monitoring to see if I am having any AF that I am not aware of. How was it to wear the monitor? Does it go on your arm?

It went fine, thanks! It's no big deal at all. Your doctor's nurse hooks you up to what is essentially a portable EKG, about seven or eight little tabs get put on you with what look like bandaids and you wear the computer box (about the size of a large hamburger) by a sling that goes over your shoulder. You don't really notice it. And other than not being able to shower or swim, it doesn't interfere with any activities. You then go back to your doctor's office the next morning and the same nurse takes it off and pops the little computer chip out. You go home, and they analyze the data on the chip. The nurse then calls you and lets you know whether or not they found anything bad. In my case all was well. So I don't have to rejigger my blood pressure meds again.

I'm sure your doctor will be sympathetic to your concern about AF. I can't see any reason why he or she should NOT want you to wear the monitor. If it will make you feel better and more comfortable (and those are things you deserve) see your doctor and ask him/her. Good luck! Take care.

Good to hear your Holter testing went well!

I have HBP also, have been on Micardis 80mg for the past few years and as of last week, I've been cut back down to 40mg!

The one diet thing that helped me the most was doing the DASH diet. It is all about cutting salt out of your diet. I had to because of kidney disease.

You stated you already follow a low salt diet, but do you eat a lot of pre-made, processed, and restaurant foods? That's where so much sodium is hidden.

Also, losing just 7-10% of your Over weight pounds can reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease?

I have a chart from my dietitian specialist for how many calories and how many fat grams you should be consuming an a daily basis if you are interested. Getting enough of a combination of whole foods is also important. In fact, I need to go get some lunch right now.

I'll be happy to share the calory/fat numbers if you like.

Yes, no question, the DASH diet is the best thing. I don't (yet) have kidney disease, but that's certainly a consideration.

Well, we never eat in restaurants because of cost. Maybe once a year when my wife takes me to a Thai restaurant for my birthday. And with regard to pre-made, processed foods we're very, very lucky. My wife comes from a country and a time when there were no such things. So she has always been highly suspicious of such things and never bought them or used them in her cooking. Which means we only eat fresh things, no convenience foods or suchlike.

You're absolutely correct. I've lost about twelve pounds and have about ten more to go before I get to my doctor-approved BMI. My wife does have Type 2 Diabetes so I understand full well what I'm heading for if I don't get things under control.

Well, I'll tell you, I'm kind of booked up on that sort of stuff. I have the Mayo Clinic book on high blood pressure. The Cleveland Clinic book on the same. The American Heart Association guide to your heart (a thick book!) and Dr. Jim Corey's guide to high blood pressure. I think I know what I have to do. Doing it is the problem. But I'm being good and things are starting to happen in terms of weight loss and blood pressure stabilization. I do thank you very much for your concern! Take care.

OK, maybe I'll ask about the Holter at my next appt. I have my annual physical next week. In preparation, I want to get some BP readings before I go in (since the in office BP is worthless). So I took my BP twice today and was very pleased: 117/78 and 112/76.

Ygrec, so they are OK with your heart rate being in the 30s and 40s? People who are athletes and in great aerobic shape often have really low heart rates. Is that the case for you?

Sunrise, thanks for inquiring. My blood pressure has now come down into the twenties, where it should be. I wouldn't be happy if it stuck in the 30's or 40's. I'd pester the doctor for more medication. I had it in the twenties for over ten years and then late last year it started going up. But the doctor has now added amlodipine to the other three meds I'm taking and that seems to do the trick. But I do understand that four BP meds is a lot, so I'm trying a number of other lifestyle things to bring it down so I can give up the amlodipine.

My heart rate now seems to keep itself to the 60's and 70's. I don't think the doctor would be happy at all if I had it down in the 30's or 40's. That's why I had to wear the Holter. I'm no athlete and by no means in great aerobic shape. I believe the doctor thought the reason it came down that far was because of the clodipine. So I'm not taking that any more. We'll see how things go. Take care!

It's your heart rate that was in the 30s and 40s, right? Not BP. At least it was HR that I was referring to. I am glad your HR has returned to the 60s and 70s as 30s-40s sounded dang low! When it's that low, you worry whether the person can even get up and walk around. In any case, I am glad to hear that all is well with your HR and BP.

I know this week I am going to walk into my doctor's office, the nurse will take my BP and it will be too high. But it's only too high in the doctor's office, so why bother taking it? It just doesn't seem to reflect reality. I have the same problem with the visual field test at my ophthalmologist. It just is not an accurate indicator of anything, so I don't get why he keeps doing it (it's reimbursable, so that's probably why).

Sunny, if your BP is only high in the doctor's office, I wonder if doing some relaxation breathing while waiting and once in the room might help you get a more accurate reading?

Yes, it was my heart rate I was talking about down in the thirties and forties. But it turns out that might be a glitch in my little home blood pressure device, which also tells me my pulse. When I wore the Holter, I had no such low heart rate readings. The original reason, however, for my seeing the doctor was because my BP was too high.

As regards your "white coat" high blood pressure, many people have that. The only way to get around it that I know of is to get a reliable home BP tester and take your own blood pressure at home two or three times a day. You can also take it with you to the doctor's office. The nurse will compare it with her machine and tell you whether you've got a good, reliable machine or not.

I keep a log on my computer with the day, date and time of every BP reading and pulse rate. Then I print out a copy for my doc whenever I see him and have him put it in my records. It gives him a lot more to work from than an office BP reading and he really appreciates it. A good home BP meter isn't particularly expensive. I have an Omron HEM-431C which cost around thirty dollars. I keep it right here on my desk. Very easy to use. Your pharmacist will be able to show you quite a number of different kinds, all with different features and prices.

Take care! And you too, ECHOES!

P.S. I think ECHOES' idea about relaxation in the waiting room is a very good idea.

Yeah, I ended up in the ER a couple months ago because my home device had a glitch

Good luck Ygrec. Sounds like the Holter is working well for you.

ECHOES, I've tried asking nurses to wait until the end of their brief time with me to take my BP instead of doing it first thing. They don't like this! (They have their routine they like to follow and I am sure they are trying to be very efficient.) But when I explain why, they are usually gracious about it and acquiesce. This helps somewhat. It doesn't help to try to relax in the waiting room. BTW, I don't feel stressed about going to the doctor. I think there is something about that walk from the waiting room to the exam room that does it. Maybe I can ask the nurse to leave me alone for a few minutes in the exam room before she does her tasks, while I meditate. But usually she wants to go right into it--BP, pulse, temp, what meds are you on, why are you here, etc.

Ygrec, my routine with monitoring BP sounds similar to yours. I have the OMRON HEM-775. It seems quite accurate as I have taken it to my cardiologist's office and had the nurse compare it to their machine. My machine reads high in the doctor's office too! Like you, when I go see my doctor, I bring my logs of BP readings with me to share, since my readings don't have the "white coat" problem. That's why I don't see why they bother to take my BP in the exam room. The data I am bringing them are more reliable. The doctor really likes to get it and scans it into her computer each time. In other health news, today I saw my ophthamologist and wonder of wonders he told me we would no longer do the visual fields test because the data were so unreliable. Yay!

What I wonder about my high BP in the doctor's office is maybe that is the measurement we should go by instead of my readings taken in my peaceful home environment. Because when I am out and about going through my usual day at school, work, doing chores, shopping, etc., maybe my BP is more similar to that in the doctor's office than the readings in my home. So we should go by what the doctor's readings are. I don't know--it's a conundrum. That's why I thought it would be informative to wear the Holter for a day so I could see how my BP varies during my normal life activities. Ygrec, do you know the range of BPs your body had during one day when you wore the Holter? Was there a lot of variation?

If what I've posted here seems contradictory, it is! I go back and forth on whether it is better to rely on the "in the comfort of my own home" readings or the doctor's office readings.

Well, sunrise, the Holter monitor is not for blood pressure. It's really just a miniaturized EKG that tracks your pulse and your heart action. But that would be just as good as tracking your BP. It would follow any stress reactions of yours quite closely. The only thing in addition you'd have to do would be to keep a log while you're wearing it of what you're doing. Such as: 8 A.M. got up and did the housework. 10 A.M. Got into the care to drive downtown. 10:30 A.M. Entered such and such a place. 11:30 A.M. Went to dentist's office. Etc., etc. Your doctor could then correlate your EKG with what you were doing to see if you WERE having a stress reaction when you were doing certain things. It would show up on the EKG. That's what I'd do if I were you.

In answer to your question, sunrise, the doctor didn't give me any details. I didn't even speak with him. I just got a phone call from the nurse telling me that everything was fine and I didn't need a change in medication. Of course, the next time I see the doctor I'll ask him questions about it, but that hasn't happened yet.

Take care!

MY BP was pretty high for my age (135/95) when my nurse once measured it, but it's always normal in the doctor's office. I liv ein an institution so the nurse uses a profession device. If your BP is higher in the doc's office, can you ask to take a professional device home and measure your BP at home? I think hospitals and large practices will have one on loan for such.

I did something similar--I took my monitor to the doctor's office to compare it to the professional equipment there and it gave very similar readings, so I know it is functioning well. Also, I had forgotten this, but I have used professional equipment at home to measure my BP (I am a nurse) and it does match my "consumer" monitor. I tend to use the consumer monitor at home, though, as it is easier to operate on one's self.

Dang, I thought it did BP too. But as you said, I could still get good info from it on stress reactions to different situations. Good suggestion.

Tomorrow at my physical exam, I am going to ask the doctor if I can go off of aspirin therapy for 10 days to have a minor, outpatient surgery on my eye. I failed that last time as I bled too much. Anyone else on aspirin therapy?

I like this thread and am learning a lot.

Sure. They always want you to stop the aspirin two or three days in advance of an operation, at least in my experience. They really hate to cut you open and then have the blood squirting all over the place without clotting. I had to stop for a hernia operation and for a prostate operation.

Glad you like the thread! Take care.

Yes, I'm on baby asprin everyday. Haven't had any bleeding problems at all.

I am glad the baby aspirin in working for you w/no bleeding. It really can help your circulatory health. I am on regular aspirin every day--325 mg. (I think one regular is equal to 4 baby.) I definitely notice the bleeding problem. When I get a cut, it bleeds a long time and takes days to scab over.

Hey sunrise, try adding a little super glue to your diet, idk, maybe a few drops a day. LOL