NE1 deal with high blood pressure?

I always had EXCELLENT blood pressure, nurses always complimented on how great it was. Last September I started to have borderline high blood pressure and for some STRANGE reason it continues Now the doc is starting to get concerned and making me watch it constantly and in a couple of months we'll talk more on if we should do anything about it. I still have NO clue why it's so high. I'm not taking in anymore sodium than I was before. I'm overweight, but I recently lost 13 pounds, so I'm not REALLY overweight, just borderline. I did have to stop working out because my hip just would not heal (from falling on ice a few years ago), but I'm slowly trying to get back into it.

Ryan did a lot of research and decided I needed to go on garlic pills, Alligin to be exact. He swears it will help with BP, so I'm doing it. I pray it works because I don't want to go on BP meds. The only thing I can think of is last year in June I went on a new BCP and maybe that is causing HBP? I see my gynie doc later this month and will ask her.

If you've dealt with HBP what did you do to control it? Anyone try garlic for HBP?

ETA: That my father has HBP, but didn't get it until his 50's.

This post has been edited by coasterqueen on Jun 1 2011, 10:49 AM

I have no personal experience, but a friend of mine was diagnosed with HBP when he was only in his early 30's. His teenage brother (17) was just recently diagnosed as well. It runs in their family. As far as I know, neither one take garlic, but both are on low doses of HBP meds. My friend also had to cut down on certain foods, no Red Bull (which he was use to drinking a lot of), and other things/food of the like. Since changing his diet and taking his daily pill his blood pressure has been really good.

ETA: He is also VERY fit and not overweight at all. He has always been in good shape. Sometimes it just happens...kind of like diabetes.

This post has been edited by Boo&BugsMom on Jun 1 2011, 01:03 PM

Yes, I have. It was really frustrating because I am within normal weight limits, eat healthy, etc.

Basically, a couple of years ago I got a routine medical and my blood pressure was around 180/100. It was monitored for a few days and was consistently high, so I was put on anti-hypertensives. I was given beta-blockers because my heart rate was also consistently high, between 100 - 120.

I had a 24-hour heart monitor, which came back all clear. I then had scans done on my arteries and they came back all clear. I had to do a urine test where I collected my pee for 24 hours and they tested it - all clear.

I was put on a few different anti-hypertensives over about a year. The beta-blockers lowered my blood pressure, but never below 140/90. I made sure I ate well, exercised, and did everything right. It was extremely frustrating.

My blood pressure got down to 120/80, and then kept going down. I ended up fainting in the mall and went to the doctor's and said I would like to trial things without medication. I had regular check-ups after being weaned of anti-hypetensives and have seen some flactuations in my blood pressure, but currently it has been stable and within normal limits.

My high blood pressure was decided to be because of family history - my grandmother had several brothers who all died of heart attacks before the age of 50, my other grandmother had high blood pressure, as well as several other family members.

I don't take any medication, prescribed or over the counter, anymore. I keep a close eye on it. I initially went on medication because of how high my blood pressure was, I don't know how long it was like that for.

The best advice I can offer is keep an eye on it. Try what your dh recommended, and if you see a difference then that's great. But if you are able, stay in close contact with you health professional. But don't be afraid to be assertive. I think it is too easy to medicate hypertension; I didn't want to be medicated for life and luckily I had a doctor who listened and helped me. I would not hesitate to go back on medication if my blood pressure went as high as it was initially, I don't like the idea of damaged arteries, etc...but as of now, it's stable and healthy.

Do you get headaches? I used to get excrutiating headaches and was told it was my blood pressure, I just didn't know it. Now that my bp is stable, I haven't had a headache like I used to get.

Keep an eye on your blood pressure, it's not a bad idea to get your own blood pressure monitor. Honestly, all you can do is take care of yourself. I hope everything works out, please keep us posted I'm sure it will be fine.

My pregnancy induced HBP never resolved after I had Olivia. Of course, I was 41 at the time with a family history but I actually had chronically low blood pressure before pregnancy. I take a low dose of HBP meds. It controls it fine. It's always within normal at the bloodmobile. My dad tried garlic but it didn't control it. It would be worth a try, though.

Thanks ladies. I hope the garlic works. My understanding is once you go on the meds it's for life. I am hoping maybe it's the BCPs. That happened to a coworker so she changed BCPs and it went back down. I don't want to be on meds for life for sure. I do get severe headaches/migraines, but the migraines are a lot less than they used to be and most of my headaches now I thought were more sinus related. I've had so many sinus infections since January I am now on my last dose of antibiotic that I HAVE to take before I go in for a CT scan and then the doc is going to determine if I need rotor-rooter surgery for them because they are hoping that is what is causing my ear pressure...if it's not one thing it's another . I really think the headaches are sinus related, though, not blood pressure. I honestly don't feel any different from when I had good pressure to high pressure, kwim? And I know it's hereditary, but my dad is the only one I know who has (had) it and it's because he's a tad bit overweight, or so I thought. The doc is having me check it every day for 10 days and honestly it's all over the place. One day the top number is high, the next the bottom number is real high, another day they are both high. Strange.

ETA: The reason *I* personally started getting concerned about it (which doesn't help) is I have developed pulsatile tinitis which can be caused by HBP...it's annoying hearing your heart beat thud in your ear all day long. Some days it's constant, others its sporadic. I just know when I have it I can't concentrate on anything and about lose my mind. But then it got worse when the doc put me on a med that apparently causes regular tinitis, so then I had thudding and constant high pitched ringing in my ear 24/7, so I got off that med and now the ringing has gone, but thudding is still there.

This post has been edited by coasterqueen on Jun 1 2011, 05:55 PM

My understanding too was that once you were on medication, it was for life. I was told this by one doctor. But I didn't want to be on it for life, and it is possible to take it temporarily...I am proof I am very thankful that there are medications out there, and I'm thankful I don't need to be on them anymore. Like I said though, if I get to a point where I need them again, I'd gladly take them.

I didn't notice how high blood pressure affected me until it was controlled - the fatigue, headaches, physical exertion levels - they were all heightened or lowered when I had high blood pressure. Nowadays I feel like I am super healthy

I had the heart beat in my ears, too. Especially at night time or any time I laid down. Drove me insane.

There are also dietary modifications you can make for hypertension. Google high blood pressure diets and you should get some useful websites.

Is your doctor doing any tests to make sure there are no underlying physical causes? I'm sure there aren't, but it is nice to have those options out the door. They initially suspected I had renal artery stenosis because I had/have a slight murmer type thing in my left renal artery (a bruit), but it was all clear. Saying this though, I wouldn't worry about it being anything other than family history and plain unfortunate luck- I was told 98% of hypertension cases have no identifiable cause.

Also, look up foods that can raise blood pressure. I eliminated foods that could raise blood pressure.

This post has been edited by Nina J on Jun 1 2011, 06:09 PM

Yeah, I am trying to watch what I eat and didn't notice the amount of sodium in some foods I was eating/drinking before, so I've cut them down. I do have an extreme amount of fatigue a lot of times. I also notice when I do try to work-out I feel like my heart is going to run out of my chest and it freaks me out. It sure does pound harder, but not sure if its because of HBP, I dunno.

My doc has not done any tests yet because they wanted to see if it came down on its own after a month or so. I figure I'll talk to the gynie about my BCP and see if that might be causing it since it started about 3 months after I started taking it (or that's when I happened to go to the doc and noticed it). Because when they first noticed it last September, then they'd have me come in and recheck it and it would be better, or back to normal, then now all of sudden it's up all the time. She said she'd do more if it's still really high in a month. So we'll see I guess. Hopefully the garlic helps in the mean time, because I don't think she'll be as concenred about long term meds as I am.

Karen! The only time i have ever had any trouble with blood pressure is when I attempted to go back on BCP's after having my son. I took them for 10 years before with no issues. I went to the doc for headaches (more than the usual migraines that I got) a couple of months into the BCP's and she saw that my blood pressure was elevated - out went the BCP's, down went the blood pressure and away went the additional headaches.

Yes, absolutely check it out!!!!

This post has been edited by msoulz on Jun 2 2011, 05:41 AM

Thanks Mary. It would be nice if it was the pills. The only problem is I went on these pills to help the ovarian cyst issues I kept having repeatedly......the other pills just did not help So I'm not sure what my options are if they are the pills

Thanks Mary. It would be nice if it was the pills. The only problem is I went on these pills to help the ovarian cyst issues I kept having repeatedly......the other pills just did not help So I'm not sure what my options are if they are the pills

That is quite a pickle ... I sure hope you figure it out soon.

Thanks Mary. It would be nice if it was the pills. The only problem is I went on these pills to help the ovarian cyst issues I kept having repeatedly......the other pills just did not help So I'm not sure what my options are if they are the pills

That is quite a pickle ... I sure hope you figure it out soon.

Yeah, if there is a problem out there, I've got it. Love the genes I inherited. NOT!