High blood pressure

Hi

I've been having headaches and dizziness for just over 2 years now and after several visits to my doctor, my blood pressure has been much higher than normal. I had some tests done and my doctor mentioned something about having low red blood cells but didn't go into detail and asked me how much I normally drink which is not a lot, the most I would drink in any one week would be 2 pints of lager or 1 bottle of wine. I'm not a heavy drinker and drink doesn't help when you have depression. She has prescribed me tablets called "Lisinopril" which is an ACE inhibitor and is to widen my arteries/blood vessels to lower my blood pressure. I'm scared to take these and wonder if anyone else is on anything like this? If I start taking them, does that mean I have to continue taking them for the rest of my life? Are there alternatives? Also I don't really trust doctors, I have had several mis-diagnosis in the past. I don't want to take these tablets if it is a mistake. Though I don't doubt that my arteries have narrowed causing the high blood pressure. I'm still fairly young, can proper exercise help?

High blood pressure doesn't usually cause any symptoms at all, your headaches and dizziness aren't from that I don't think. But having high blood pressure is not good and is an independent thing.

Yes exercise and eating well can help but I don't know your family history and background; age doesn't necessarily have anything to do with it (although one's getting high blood pressure is greater the older one gets). If you're young, you might not have to take the pills all the time but you probably will if that's your problem. You don't necessarily have narrowed arteries either; the ACE inhibitor just helps in a certain way; there are 3 kinds of blood pressure meds and maybe the other two aren't appropriate for you.

Generally you need a couple of measurements over time to tell if your blood pressure is high as a problem that needs medicating. I wouldn't take meds for it either if this is the first measurement your doctor has taken. I think the questions about your drinking were because you're not supposed to drink and take Lisinopril. You'd be a good candidate since you don't do a lot of drinking normally.

I have uncontrolled high blood pressure and am not taking meds because I want to lose weight and exercise, etc. and get it down in that way instead of with meds. I've had problems with medical care in the past so do a lot of research when I have any meds prescribed or the doctor suggests them.

There are lots of things that can cause headache and dizziness: http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com...raine/mav.html

I would work on exercising and eating better and seeing if you can affect your blood pressure (do go back to the doctor in 6 months or so and have another test, tell him about your experiments with exercise and food intake and how your headaches/dizziness are going) and if you keep having your headaches and dizziness, keep a diary of some sort about them so you can get more educated about what could be causing them. Blood pressure doesn't. Are you on any other meds? Some of my meds can cause them.

Hi,

Thanks for you reply. I've started taking the medication, don't feel much different but guess it could take a while to take effect. I did have very high blood pressure while getting measured and it slowly came down to borderline over the weeks. In that time I have been walking every day for half an hour and think that has helped. I have also noticed caffeine makes me feel unwell so have cut down on it, hoping to cut it out completely. My headaches had been described before as being tension headaches. In the past few weeks since I started walking daily, my headaches have decreased in frequency though not completely away. I don't take any other medication at all.

Pingu, if you are worried about your blood pressure, it can be very helpful to "know where you are at" if you buy a blood pressure monitor and take your own blood pressure a couple of times a day, for example, first thing in the morning and again in the evening. This will give you a good baseline feel for what your BP really is as it can tend to go up when in the doctor's office. My doc wanted me to start watching my BP a while back, and I was able to lower it quite a bit by eliminating a lot of salt in my diet. I had no idea until then how much salt I actually consumed daily. I was able to eliminate a lot of salt by eliminating prepared, packaged, canned foods. For example, canned soups or cup-a-noodles are chock full of salt. I also tried exercising more and trying to lose weight. Then because of a weird and isolated incident of atrial fibrillation I had following surgery, I did get put on a specific BP medicine, which is supposed to help prevent AF episodes. It is called Diovan and it is an Angiotensis Receptor Blocker (ARB). It has no side effects at all except for dry mouth when I wake up in the morning, which is not a big deal for me. It has lowered my BP even more. I hope to not have to take this forever, but my doc is being cautious because of that AF incident. No, you do not have to take your BP meds for life if you can manage your BP with exercise, weight control, diet, etc. It soiunds like you are doing really good.

What is your BP? My cardiologist said he wanted mine below 120/80 because of the AF. Previously, my family doc had wanted mine below 130/90, but this was before the AF incident. With Diovan, I am usually 115-120/80. Without it, I am more like 125/85-90.

Hope this info helps. Keep up the exercise plan. It sounds like it is really helping you in more ways than one.

BTW, one common side effect (in women at least) of ACE inhibitors like you are taking is a dry cough. So if you get that, be sure to tell your doc so you can stop taking the med and try something else (if you need it).