Comment from friend's cardio MD on BP guidelines (kidney, diabetics, doctors)

[Mikala43]

I take my blood pressure at home on regular basis. Considering it is so insanely high without meds, I keep an eye on it.

[Tabbychic]

Originally Posted by Mikala43

I take my blood pressure at home on regular basis. Considering it is so insanely high without meds, I keep an eye on it.

Mine can go up to 190/110 w/o medication. That is insanely high

[Mikala43]

Originally Posted by Tabbychic

Mine can go up to 190/110 w/o medication. That is insanely high

Yep, mine was 199/114 when I went to the emergency room. Freaky, because I'm not over weight, don't smoke, and exercise, and never had problems with BP before. Then one year... BAM.

[Macrina]

I always ask that my BP be taken manually: I have many angio lipomas in my upper arms and the pain caused by the automatic methods is excruciating . It is still painful with it manually done, but on the lower side. That pain causes the reading to go high-normal or into the abnormal range.

Of course, every time I have to remind the MA of this, because she's so harried & overworked.

I have an appointment soon with my new Internal Medicine specialist, and it will be interesting to see how he feels about that new "normal" range.

.

[Tabbychic]

Originally Posted by Mikala43

Yep, mine was 199/114 when I went to the emergency room. Freaky, because I'm not over weight, don't smoke, and exercise, and never had problems with BP before. Then one year... BAM.

I'm told it's genetic. My grandfather apparently had super high BP and my Mother as well. She died of a stroke eventually. it was like over 200 on the top most of the time. How she made it to 76 I will never know.

[charmed hour]

Originally Posted by Macrina

I always ask that my BP be taken manually: I have many angio lipomas in my upper arms and the pain caused by the automatic methods is excruciating . It is still painful with it manually done, but on the lower side. That pain causes the reading to go high-normal or into the abnormal range.

Of course, every time I have to remind the MA of this, because she's so harried & overworked.

I have an appointment soon with my new Internal Medicine specialist, and it will be interesting to see how he feels about that new "normal" range.

.

You can also take a BP reading from the thigh with the appropriate sized cuff.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Tabbychic

I though bp was supposed to be 110/70. That is what most healthy people have without meds.

absolutely unrealistic. Ideally BP as I understand it should be about 120/70ish. Anything below 140/80 is usually accectable. At least that is what my doctor says.

[jaminhealth]

A doctor was just talking about this on radio and For Sure the white coat in doctor's offices and he even said Empty Bladder before testings.

Good to get into meditation as a daily protocol and that will keep it down too.

[greywar]

Dunno, I've gotten my blood pressure down to 150/112 recently. a new low. My high was 240/140 roughly. Yay meds (probably going to be increased soon). Its made a huge difference in my quality of life. the non stop headaches were brutal. But I do have to agree, the new guidelines seem designed to push meds, more then to help.

[CarnivalGal]

There's a difference between slightly elevated and recommended medication, often for a lifetime. I guarantee you that if you follow the money trail, the folks who authored this study and made the recommendations stand to benefit financially from an increase in the number of people on BP meds.