Blood pressure puzzle

My BP frequently hovers between about 110/65 and 115/75 (unmedicated). My resting heart rate is about 75.

I've just spent 45 minutes mowing the lawn in 30c heat and am sweating buckets. Immediately afterwards my pulse is up around 115bpm, and I can feel it. My blood pressure measured 118/73.

I would have expected my BP to be much higher. I'm not overweight but I wouldn't describe myself as an active person. 30 minutes on I can feel my pulse has not yet returned to baseline, which is expected, but why the normal BP?

Bizarre. Any ideas?

[gilreid1]

I don’t have an answer but I would pay a lot of money for your unmediated blood pressure. Your heart rate is also pretty good while exercising. My heart rate when walking briskly hits about 115/120

Jealous guy

Gil

[Hidden in reply to gilreid1]

Thanks. My BP wasn't always that good. Before my heart attack 130/80-85 was more normal. The time surrounding the HA was around 160/110. I've completely altered my diet and dropped around 50lbs which has improved matters enormously. Struggling with a few unusual health issues though.

[Healthyheart1 in reply to Hidden]

Well done for all the marvelous changes you have made so far. I can't even peg the washing out in 30c heat and your complaining lol!! Regards Sheena

[Kristin1812 Heart Star in reply to Healthyheart1]

I was very interested you can’t even go out in this heat. What happens if you do? If I do I get a terrible headache for up to 12 hrs. Drinking masses helps but I still can’t do much except very early in the day.

[Healthyheart1 in reply to Kristin1812]

I struggle with breathing, it's as though I just can't get enough air in my lungs. My husband will tut shake his head and say your doing too much, I say back I'm not even doing the bare minimum these days. Don't want to get into a long post but the doctor says I have long covid and offers absolutely no help grrrrrr. Sheena x

[Kristin1812 Heart Star]

Oh dear. We are still learning about long Covid, aren’t we? I just hope the weather cools down!

[Auiron]

I guess most people on HealthUnlocked including nurses and others would like to have blood pressure readings like yours. It looks as if any procedures have worked out well.

[Hidden in reply to Auiron]

Thanks, I appreciate that. The reason I raised the query is that I'm pretty sure blood pressure should rise during and immediately following exercise, whereas mine isn't doing that. I do have other health issues that have not been diagnosed, and was wondering whether this might help determine or clarify what might be going on.

[Auiron in reply to Hidden]

This article may be helpful.

How Does Exercise Affect Blood Pressure?

healthline.com/health/blood...

[Hidden in reply to Auiron]

Thanks, useful article.

[richard_jw]

Am I missing something? You had a heart attack. So I assume you are on some meds. Beta blockers like Bisoprolol reduce blood pressure significantly, and also pulse. I find that it acts as a "governor" to your heart rate. I find that Bisoprolol fairly effectively prevents me from doing much exercise.If you are on some meds like this, it might account for the heart rate

[Hidden in reply to richard_jw]

I'm on aspirin, that is all.

[richard_jw]

You had a heart attack. So I assume you are on some meds. Beta blockers like Bisoprolol reduce blood pressure significantly, and also pulse. I find that it acts as a "governor" to your heart rate. I find that Bisoprolol fairly effectively prevents me from doing much exercise. If you are on some meds like this, it might account for the heart rate

[cateblanchett in reply to richard_jw]

Please explain what you mean by "Bisoprolol fairly effectively prevents me from doing much exercise." How does it stop you?

[richard_jw]

hiIt was explained to me by a GP and a cardiologist that Bisoprolol acts to actively slow down your heart, and therefore reduce blood pressure. It does this by reducing the uptake of adrenaline and noradrenaline by the heart. These are the "fight or flight hormones".

In my case my resting pulse was slowed to around 60 or less.

During exercise I found it hard to get my heart rate high enough to cope with the extra demand put on it.

Also after I stopped doing mild exercise (e.g lawn mowing for 40 mins) I felt exhausted.

After having an angiogram and making sure 2 cardiologists saw it I was advised to progressively stop the Bisoprolol.

[cateblanchett in reply to richard_jw]

Thank you for your reply. You describe exactly what has been happening to me. It really is a relief to get some explanation about the way I’ve been feeling. I wasn’t sure if it was my heart or the meds. Now I have a good idea.My resting pulse is normally around 57. However any mild exercise brings it down to 33 or even once 29. (I don’t think I could mow the lawn for 40 mins!)

I feel exhausted for hours afterwards. Sometimes I go to bed to rest (don’t sleep) for an hour. This lets my heart get back to the 40’s but I still feel awful.

End August I will see my GP and cardio. With this information I will be able to discuss whether to continue taking Bisoprolol

Thanks again!.

[richard_jw in reply to cateblanchett]

What meds are you on?The cardiologist prescribed for me Bisoprolol 2.5mg aspirin 75mg clopidogrel rivaroxaban, 2.5mg twice daily, lansoprazole atorvastatin 80mg and initially Ramipril. After much research and talking to at least 3 cardiologists the meds which can make you feel pretty bad are bisoprolol Ramipril , both reduce your BP which in my case was as low as 85/65 with a pulse rate of 60-70.

They stopped Ramipril pretty soon, but not Bisoprolol. Latterly in my case because the cardiologists thought that my coronary arteries were OK and there was minimal damage to the heart, they recommended reducing and then stopping the Beta Blocker.

I'm in the process of doing that, I take 1*1.25 bisoprolol every other day now. This morning my BP was 110/75 and pulse at rest 72

Remember though the bisoprolol is prescribed specifically to slow the heart and place less strain on it. So each case is different. I have to say though pulse as slow as yours needs some attention from a cardiologist.

If it's of interest, because I was feeling nauseous and unsteady they also changed the lansoprazole for a different stomach protector, and reduced the atorvastatin from 80mg to 40mg.

Hope this helps

richard

[richard_jw in reply to richard_jw]

BTW if the budget will allow, it might be worth getting an opinion from a good local to you cardiologist. They cost around £200-250 for a first consultation. In my case it was worth every penny.

[cateblanchett in reply to richard_jw]

I don’t live in the UK so some of the names of my meds are different, but what I’m taking is aspirin, 2 beta blockers (bisoloprol & lisinipril), amlodipine, amiodarone and pantoprazol.

It’s taken me a while to get back to you because I’ve been doing some research on myself. I thought there was a direct correlation between taking Bisoloprol and low heart rate. Now I know that’s probably not true for me. What I’ve found is my pulse varies from day to day and throughout the day (27-57) even though I’m taking the same meds every day. It doesn’t depend on how physically active I am. (I tested this several times). What I wrote originally was wrong. It wasn’t activity but most likely time of day.

The low pulse/bp only started 2 weeks ago. All has been well since Oct 2019 when I had 3 stents put in.There are other complicating factors in my case too as I take diabetic medications as well. I also have moderate kidney disease.

Thus for the moment I can’t really come to any conclusions.

When I see the doctor I will post here what he thinks and what changes need to be made to correct the low pulse rate.

Thanks for reporting about your situation it’s helped me to clarify my own problems.

[Red18]

Hi Supafil. Like you have heart disease. I have a 70% blockage mid - lad. I like yourself changed my diet to mainly low carb high fat. Keep hearing people harp on about high cholesterol. I now look at TRIGLYCERIDES, HDL and SUGARS. My diet before diagnosis was full of simple carbs and loaded with sugar. Like yourself I do not have high blood pressure. Went for a 5k run yesterday and I like yourself though that my blood pressure would of gone up but more or less stayed the same?? Heartbeat usually 60 bpm., went to 100. Not taking statins. My thoughts are chlosterol not the problem. My chlosterol is 5.4mmol/l. My TRIGLYCERIDES 0.8HDL 1.84

SUGAR 35MMOL

Heart disease is so complicated and worrying. Months fine and then out of the blue, slight angina pains. Hope you ok