Posted on 05/15/2014 5:53:35 AM PDT by killermosquito
Do any freepers have any experience with High Blood Pressure? Mine has been running high for a few years. Usually, about 139/90. I have had one significant problem that might have been related. 5 or 6 years ago a retinal occlusion caused me to lose about 70% of the vision in my right eye. It started with "lightning" flashes and the next day if you were standing 15 feet from me your face would be an oval with no features. After about 6 weeks of steroidal eye drops the vision returned to normal.
More recently in the past couple of years, I have had 4 or 5 episodes of semi-blurred vision but that doesn't quite describe it. It is like I look at something and I have trouble focusing on it. It clears up in about 10 minutes.
I come from a family of long livers. Great grandma was 106. Maternal grandfather painted the exterior of his house when he was 93 and he applied 2 coats(central Indiana in August). Both grandmas lived healthy lives till they were in their mid 90s.
I was born premature and I did read recently there is a link (especially for those with reduced lung capacity which describes me).
I don’t smoke, never have. I don’t drink, never have.
I hardly use salt but I am addicted to sugar. I don’t drink as much liquids as I should. I’ve had mild chest pains most of my life and will often take aspirin.
My dad died of congestive heart disease at 74. He was addicted to salt and told me not to be when he was on his deathbed. Mom is 81 and doing great.
Thank you for your replies which I realize is no replacement for medical advice.
I couldn't figure how this related until I read further. Floaters have a different meaning to some I guess. ;)
“... 215 OVER 190 ...”
Dang, and I thought mine was high. That must’ve felt awful!
I have tried the wrist monitors and have found them to give wildly varying results. I returned it and got my money back.
I also tried a upper arm cuff one but was not happy with it either. Can anyone recommend a good / relaiable / accurate one for a relatively reasonable price?
There is a added ingredient Sulfate wines it is more than likely the cause. http://www.wines.com/sulfite-free-wine/
But if your BP is High for your age, it needs to be under control. A simple water pill can do that, as a first drug effort, depending on your health, the type could be HCTZ or Diazide, which come generic. And the generic work for most people. Diazide is a little more protection for your kidney’s. Untreated High BP leads to all kinds of other health conditions including blindness, heart attack. DO NOT IGNORE IT. If you do not trust your Internist, seek a Cardiologist. Do a walking Stress Test at the very least.
Over weight lose it. Cut salt intake. Just cut your breads down. Do it slow. Avoid high sugar fruits and refined sugars. Type 2 Diabetic diet will actually lower high cholesterol if you adhere to it and drop the high sugar fruits.
My hubby has high BP, so I watch the salt like a hawk. He takes 2 cholesterol drugs which are quite side effect prone. He does not compute it to the body pain he complains of or the hand tremors. Just thinks it’s because he is nearly 74. Both WelChol and Provachal are dangerous, especially at the levels he has to take them to lower cholesterol that diet would improve if adhered to. Use your sweet/bread tooth for a treat item, not a daily item.
http://www.migrainetrust.org/factsheet-migraine-triggers-10505
I’m not a doctor, but I do good research on drugs. As I REACT to so many.
Also Vit D level needs a check, many are deficient in it due to our life styles or the need to avoid a lot of sun. They tell you 15 mins a day is all you need in the high sun periods of spring and summer, more for fall and winter when we have less Sunlight. With my very fair skin that is a sunburn. Skin cancer risk I don’t take.
Metropolol is what hubby takes + HCTZ for ankle swelling His is genetic too, just as the cholesterol is. Salt intake hidden in his snack crap he won’t give up. Since I have to watch salt intake for Meniere’s I can empathize to a degree. To much sets my ears to high pitch ringing, or will trigger an attack or Vertigo at the very least. Neither are pleasant. Altitude gets me too. My BP is Low, only time it is up is PAIN or you riled my Celtic temper to the boiling point.
I think most people’s floaters are just a tiny speck that floats across your vision. Mine, in my right eye especially, are like a chain drifting across. The best way I can explain what is looks like to people who can’t understand is this way. You know when you have something on the dashboard of your car and from a certain direction the sun will make a refection on your windshield. You can see through it but it does affect your ability to see clearly.
"In conclusion, our systematic review shows that the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with higher blood pressure, leading to increased incidence of hypertension. Restriction on SSB consumption should be incorporated in the recommendations of lifestyle modifications for the treatment of hypertension. Interventions to reduce intake of SSBs should be an integral part of public health strategy to reduce the incidence of hypertension."
Impact of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on Blood Pressure, Am J Cardiol. 2014 May 1;113(9):1574-1580.
Changes in diet and lifestyle are hard but worthwhile when the price of failure could well be early death or suffering years of disability due to a stroke. Good luck with your health and in all other things.
130/90 is not considered as High Blood Pressure as far as I know.
That doesn’t sound related. I have had HBP my whole life, even as a kid, and never had vision problems.
I was referred to that link by our optometrist and FP when I had floaters. My FP and his wife both had floaters a couple of months before I did.
Scary stuff until you find out that they are harmless.
At first you need your eyes checked out to make sure your retina is okay like yours and mine.
“130/90 is not considered as High Blood Pressure as far as I know.”
It is right on the cusp/border line for most of us. Good doctors I have known, prefer for most of us to be below 90 with our diastolic.
Many good docs would not start treatment at that point unless there was a genetic history of stroke and other problems.
Stroke is about the only bad DNA in my gene pool. My docs after learning of the family history wanted mild treatment and baby aspirin daily.
From NIH. “The treatment goal for most adults is to get and keep blood pressure below 140/90 mmHg. For adults who have diabetes or chronic kidney disease, the goal is to get and keep blood pressure below 130/80 mmHg.”
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hbp/treatment.html
Floaters as big as mine are not totally harmless, they obstruct my vision to some degree. The doctor said they would “settle”. They are not as prominent as they were but they are still in between me and whatever I am looking at. (Kinda hard to describe)
My wife in her words is an old time nurse, with personal patient treatment learning versus class room learning with no patients.
She was a pioneer in ICU/CCU nursing and for 35 years was the head RN in a family practice. She has been monitoring BPs the old fashioned way for 5 decades.
Any doctor who knew her and worked with her, let her do BPs, cardiograms and other office testing and cardio procedures re BPs as she was better than them.
Each year she bought a new and expensive stethoscope and bp cuff to maintain her ability.
Last year when she retired, we tried various home monitoring systems/units on me, versus her listening with her gear. She returned most units within a day or so.
Then, she bought/tried the OMRON made by Intellisense, and she felt that it was accurate with my BP’s as her readings. Also, she or I could place it on her wrist and press start to monitor her BP. She still cross checks the OMRON made by Intellisense with her gear about once a month with me. A year later, she still trusts it.
Lose weight.
My husband is 63. He is 5’11 1/2”. When he began to experience high BP, in his 40s, he weighed 200-210.
He has slowly reduced his weight to a now 185. He has cut his BP meds in half and, most importantly, nearly reduced his use of diuretic to zero. His major strategy has been 2 or more long walks/day, usually an hour or more. This is helped by a large dog. We tell the dog it is time to take Dad for his walk.
DH’s next goal (final one) is 180. He eats well and still indulges many of his snack cravings. He just does it less often and is satisfied with smaller portions. As a side effect of eliminating diuretics, he has not had a gout attack in nearly 2 years. This, despite eating meat 2-3x/day and even venison, occasionally. We eat rice or potatoes 4 dinners/week and large servings of green salad 5-6 days/week. Few processed foods, 90% of all meals are cooked from scratch. We use real butter and coconut oil. I do not make desserts. I do not keep cookies in the house. Cakes are special occasion and has been known to go stale if DH and the dog don’t eat it. Snacks are a few handfuls of chips or some popcorn. He works hard to stay hydrated with plain water, sometimes just adding flavored lemonade powder to it. Sodas are rare and he had been able to correlate gout attacks to soda intake. We eat out a couple times a month, maybe.
Everyone is different. He did this on his own, with no real MD input, but the MD likes the results. His lipids have always been good, ditto heart rate, resting pulse. He does a fair amount of strength work via wood cutting and yard work, maintenance work like roofing, etc. He stands at his job, but is on his feet working 1 hour at a time for a total of maybe 5 hours, 4 days/week, with breaks in between. If he has a longer break in his work schedule, he takes a walk. Also, for the past 3 years, we have been forced by rising energy costs to reduce the inside house temperature in the winter. We keep the place at about 60-65, dress appropriately and add supplemental non-electric propane heat to the client areas and to our TV/computer area, if needed. I am fairly certain this has resulted in increased metabolism for us both.
I am 71, have a high metabolism and am 5’3” and 130-135 pounds. I wear the same sizes I have worn since my 30s. I also stand at work, but I don’t exercise much. I don’t eat a lot of sweets and dislike soda. I also dislike fatty meat and go out of my way to only consume lean protein.
Neither of us has any major chronic condition, except for his tendency to higher BP. When the BP first rose, it was labeled “essential hypertension”.
Re our Omron wrist BP monitor.
My wife has stored her professional BP monitoring gear, due to our Omron wrist BP monitor’s accuracy. She runs a check about once a quarter, and it is still accurate with the original year old batteries.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.