Finally had to succumb to medications

My entire life I always had low pressure for my weight. I would love to see some smug nurse get ready for a high blood pressure, because I was overweight, and have it come back at 110/70.

But Menopause ruined all of that. I went into Menopause during the pandemic and since then my BP has been all over the map. But in the last year it has settled in the 140/90 territory. The good news is that it isn't there all day but from about 10 AM to bedtime. Overnight it is usually around 120/80.

So my doctor insisted that I try medication at least. So I am on Losartan. So far I am pleasantly surprised that after 1/2 a pill I am down to 130/80. But I also have had a headache all day and feel a little sleepy.

But those are also symptoms of caffeine withdrawal and I might have tried to not have a lot this morning.

Anyone else on BP medications / Losartan?

natural remedies you should try are blueberries, lemon juice in water, salmon, kiwi fruit and omega3+CoQ10 which you can also get from salmon. Of course, stay on the prescribed meds as well.

You piqued my curiosity. I take an ACE inhibitor, Lisinopril. There is a lot of comparison info online between them and your ARB. lisinopril was my second presribed medication, after i.e., in addition to, Corgard, a beta blocker.

I had to go on blood pressure meds half a year ago. I don’t remember the name. I had to after trip to ER. So it was time. It runs in the family on both sides, so it was to be expected.

I have tried them. They didn't work for me I tried Flax Seeds (which worked the best) but the effect lasted for about 2 hours. I also eat salmon frequently but it doesn't do anything.

Exercise only worked for the immediate aftermath of exercise.

Beetroot juice.

CoQ10.

I tried a few nitric oxide supplements but one sent my kidney results off in a bad way.

My "natural goal" is to lose 20 lbs of weight. But so far it hasn't been going well. I am pretty sure weight loss works for me as a few years back I lost 40 lbs and my BP went way down.

So far the medication does seem to be working... this morning I was down to 110/78... but do seem to be having some side effects... hopefully this is only short term.

I gave up on the meds for a while. For the four days I took it last week I had a stunningly bad headache. Normally I have some pressure around the temples... perhaps a 2 out of 10 feeling. This was another reason my doctor wanted me to try them, suspecting that the BP could be causing the small headaches.

But this drug... the headache was a 7 out of 10. So I went off to make sure it was the drug.

And yes... 3 days without it and I am feeling back to normal again. Ironically my BP is better as well.

I am going to try going on it again and see how it goes... people have told me your body will adjust.

So it didn't take long but I found this Long-term use of blood pressure drugs may cause kidney damage, study suggests | ScienceDaily

This really irritates me because I specifically asked for drugs that had no effect on the kidneys. The article makes clear that this also applies to ARBs. And I started looking because I had blood tests while on this drug and my kidney results came back unusually low. I have another condition that could be hard on my kidneys.

I am starting to doubt the entire thing. While reading I found a few studies that said you should never get drugs if you are 140/90 or below. And, to be fair, I am mostly that and I usually only hit the 140/90 when I am at the doctor's office ... mostly because I keep being asked move around. Before my last high reading she asked me to get up on the exam table and that could have caused it to move up.

I don't know what to think but I am irritated.

IIRC, 140/90 used to be the goal on meds, but that gave bad results in the long term ie strokes etc. So that is why they want to get you down to 120/80.

They used to say that once you start having bad kidney numbers, you just keep going down. But i dont think thats true. My mother was taking all these supplements that my brother was insisting on and her kidney nbrs alarmed her dr so much that he yelled at me! After she stopped, her numbers improved and her dr was like, ive never seen that before.

What im saying is, i think kidneys can be managed. Drink enough water. Dont drink alcohol. Watch the drugs like nsaids. I may be getting kidneys and livers mixed up but hey sauce for the goose. Then watch your cholesterol ie veins and arteries. Then dont break a hip. Lunas advice on how to live a long life.

I've been prescribed Irbesartan, but at half the typical dose. My PCP takes blood pressure incorrectly. I sit on the exam table with my legs hanging off the edge and the arm that the cuff is on is hanging in the air unsupported.

I don't remember to take it, but when I do, I experience dizziness. And my blood pressure tends to be normal(ish) when I take it at home.

There is some benefit from anaerobic activity. And there's Dr. Mercola's 4 minute workout for high blood pressure (IIRC).

So I started back up.
- To my great joy the headache is gone. I am 99% sure the headache was caused by the drug because it was consistent when I first started. But, now it is gone.
- I don't know what is happening with my results. This morning I woke up with a 104/65 result. I checked it three more times and it was around that. But, this afternoon I am at 138/85. I have decided perhaps it is my machine and I am going to get new batteries.

My only thought is that yesterday I fasted and took Ativan to get to sleep.

So confused.

I will be taking the dose though until my check up in August.

I think if you're dehydrated, you could get a low BP reading. In this heat wave, you could very well become dehydrated quickly before you realize it

Well, I have central air and I use it. So I don't think that is it.

I am still averaging about 102/64 in the mornings. I am not that worried about that reading per se as I have had lower but I have heard that it takes time for a medication to build up and go into full effect so... wondering what that will look like.

So after a couple of months I think this is a winner. I have taken my BP 2 times a day every day and it is always under 120/80.

The big concern was that I would have kidney damage due to the drug. So I had to get blood tests and I go back this week to the doctor. My kidney results were amazing. They had been doing worse and I was slightly concerned that my blood pressure could be a problem. But these results were the best I had seen in a few years.

I was able to see that when I went to work my BP didn't change that much even though, in theory, I was more stressed.

I was able to see that even if I skipped a dose for a day (I forget frequently) the protective effect remains for about 36 hours after the last dose.

Wondering what would happen if I just took it every other day.

My gp is very much against the every other day thing. I dont know why. I said i was doing it once when i had some 20 mg prozac left over, and he got agitated. Whereas he didnt mind too much that i was taking my diuretic every other day because it was a hassle. But he was like, no we like to keep an even blood level.

Yes I am guessing that taking it every other day might lead to a lack of build up and a lack of 24 hour bump of the medication.

I went to donate blood yesterday and they took it manually and the BP was quite good.

I hate getting old. My doctor decided to do an EKG just because I am getting some diet meds. I have never had an abnormal EKG and I have had many due to panic as a 30 year old.

The person taking it said it was normal... but the doctor came back and said there was some evidence of Left ventricular hypertrophy. (thickening of the heart muscle) They say this is due to high blood pressure but my mom had it (when she was much older) and I used to argue with the doctor that my mom was on high blood pressure meds so I didn't understand how this developed. So now I am wondering if this isn't a genetic issue not due to high blood pressure.

Or I am wondering if I had much higher blood pressure than I thought I did in the years where it started to go up. But most people feel that 140/90 or so isn't really enough to do it unless it was for a very long time.

So the doctor is getting me an echocardiogram to make sure the EKG was not wrong. I admittedly messed it up a little bit. The person taking the EKG told me to "breathe" and I thought she was going to say breath deeply but she said breathe normally and I breathed deeply and apparently that can mess up the EKG. Then I got something from the doctor's office that said my EKG was not different than the EKG that I had in 2017. So I asked the doctor if I had evidence of LVH in 2017 and she ducked the question. Also in 2020 I had a CAC which is a CT of my heart. I would have thought something would have shown up then. I will be really angry if there was evidence of this in 2017 and 2020 and no one mentioned it.

Re 140/90 - i thought that used to be the target for older people, like a good 10 plus years ago, but then they said that was too high and to go for 120/80. I remember because my mom was at 140/90 and i was not happy with it. But then she was very very very tightly wound. Drinkin an gamblin and stayin out all night. You know, just your typical italian granmama!

Yes. My mom's was around 130/80 with meds so I felt it would be strange for her to develop heart problems due to "high blood pressure" with no other organs were effected such as Kidney.

I also have to wonder though that my kidney tests came back much better on the blood pressure drugs so, there too, it could have been evidence of damage.

Or all of this could be due to a poor EKG reading. I am thinking about going down to one of those walk in places and getting a second EKG.