High blood pressure

[Whererunormal_29]

Hi was diagnosed with high blood pressure about 3 weeks ago. My dr. Has me on water pills. Would that help lower my blood pressure? Also I have an at home cuff read and it always show fairly normal blood pressure but once I go to the dr. Its high. Do you think my blood pressure cuff is broken??

[Hidden]

Hi there, my BP is raised, averaging 145/95 but if I'm stressed it goes way up. Luckily I have a lovely GP who gets it and he takes it properly after I've relaxed. Other doctors and nurses have taken it the second I enter the surgery and of course it's high.

My readings at home change depending on tightness of the cuff, time of day, have I just eaten etc.

I think it's the average reading over a week or month that's most relevant?

[Reykua]

Strangely, the water tablets actually work but it's usually prescribed to help manage those with more difficult to manage and control high blood pressure.

Have you found your BP spiking? in other words, it sort of goes up when you least expect it, giving you headaches or making you feel dizzy or faint?

It may be that when you do the reading, your pressure is not in the 'spiking' phase.

Water tablets are basically harmless but useful so give it a try.

The worst that can happen is they don't help much and you have to come off them.

All the best going forward.

[Whererunormal_29 in reply to Reykua]

Yes been having headaches like everyday and dizziness. I feel like the water pill isnt working for me. Shouldn't my BP be down by now? Checked it last night and it was 138/90

[Hidden]

This might give you the info you need. bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPr...

[Reykua]

Sorry. I didn't ask how long you'd been on the water tablets for.

Are you taking it daily and if so, is it one in the morning and one at night?

It may take three weeks to a month to even notice any difference.

Please don't be too quick to give up as they are effective, don't react to other meds and are very useful in managing blood pressure.

I know at least three people who have been on water meds for several months - indeed years for one of them and have noticed a marked difference in their ability to manage their blood pressure.

Of course everyone is different so give yourself at least one month and if you still can't see any difference or more importantly, if you notice anything negative happening, do go back to your GP as soon as you can.

Not to frighten you but high blood pressure can be well,,,,, Serious.

[Whererunormal_29 in reply to Reykua]

I'm only taking it once a day in the morning. I have started to cut back on a lot of things as far as food. I have an appointment with my GP on monday. I'll have to see what she thinks. But thank you so much for the advice!

[Ianc2]

Hi Whererunormal-29

Good to hear you are cutting back on some food intake. High blood pressure and being overweight are strongly linked together. If you can cut out the cakes and biscuits and fast foods you should be getting well on your way.

If you think of every 2llbs lost as another bag of sugar permanently off your back it might help. If you can work in some exercise, e.g. walk for 20 minutes a day it should help.

Resist the call of the Cake!

[lettingoffsteam]

Sounds like you suffer with white coat syndrome...I'm the same but it's a good idea to start treating your bp before it becomes too much of a problem.Mine was kind of borderline for quite a few years but my GP said it was white coat.Thing is earlier this year it really shot up at 244/133 so now I'm stuck on two meds and my heart didn't get off Scot free either unfortunately.Hope it works for you soon.

[Whererunormal_29]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I started seeing a new dr. And I really like her. She has me on propranolol 10mg twice a day right now my blood pressure seems to be at 128/80. She thinks my blood pressure is high due to my high anxiety. I turn 30 in a few months and really am trying to get my blood pressure under control. So fingers cross. The only bad thing about the medication is whenever I lay down i can hear my heart beating loud in my chest. It has slowed it down a lot as well. Was about 93 when resting now its 65-70.

[Sacquit]

The water pill should help a lot. My dr put me on 12 and a half mgs of CHL and within a week my pressure dropped significantly. I had some crazy spikes since coming off 2.5 mgs of amlodipine in July. Dr. Put me on metoprolol tartrate which works most of the time but quits on me out of nowhere. The water pill...such a low dose is now doing what metoprolol (50 mgs a day) refused to do...stabilize my blood pressure.

[LAHs]

Yes, do not let the doc dose you on white coat syndrome, that's what mine does. I take 1/4 the dose he seems to think I need because I go up to 170/70 in the doc's office, I am normally 130/60, not good but it doesn't require 2 10mg pills, I take 1/2 pill per day, that brings it down to normal during a regular day.

Now, water pills will flush out your electrolytes and cause dehydration. Dehydration is not good for anything and your heart needs some of those electrolytes that you are flushing out. It may be necessary to drink a lot of water but, again, your electrolytes will be diluted. I am not an expert on heart function but those two factors seem to be in conflict.