High Blood Pressure

Hi Folks ~

I went to my GP on Thurs and was told my blood pressure is 138/80. This was a surprise to me because just last month at my GYN my blood pressure was fine. . .as it always has been. I exercise regularly, am not overweight, am a vegetarian and don't eat junk. I am 57. So I bought a home blood pressure machine and it shows my pressure to be even higher although if I sit for 30 seconds and retest my blood pressure it is regularly 120/75. The only thing I have changed in the last 6 weeks is to reduce the dosage of my bioidentical estrodial and progesterone.

Well, I will bring more mindfulness to my diet to make sure I am getting enough fiber, veggies and magnesium. I have not been good at taking my magnesium for several months so hopefully this will make a difference.

My ablation was 4 years ago and it is still holding. However, my resting heart rate (70s) is still higher now that before the ablation.

Any insight folks can offer would be greatly appreciated. Right now I'm thinking I will take 3-6 months to see if my (small) diet changes will make a difference and if not, I guess I will have to consider a low dose beta-blocker. Ugh!

Lisa Str

Lisa:

My BP is always higher at the doctors office, it also depends on how they take your BP, your arm should not be hanging down it should be at hearts level. Before taking your BP on your home monitor you should sit quietly for about 5 min. make sure your arm is elevated to your heart level. My EP has me sit for a while, if my BP is high, then they take it again and it usually is down. My EP had me wear a self inflating BP cuff for 24 hrs. then I turned it in and it was read, I was fine. So many doctors rush to give people BP meds when they probably don't need them.

As long as you have a BP monitor, you should take your BP for a week and keep a log so the next time you see your doctor show him your log.

Liz

Very helpful, Liz. Thank you. I wasn't paying attention to the fact that I have been taking my blood pressure with my arm on the table. I will do what you suggest and see what I get.

Lisa