4 ms·
I have been diagnosed with borderline high bp (around 140/90, sometimes a bit lower, sometimes higher) 5 years ago and tried everything to reverse it, as the Do
by kayoone 9y ago
I have been diagnosed with borderline high bp (around 140/90, sometimes a bit lower, sometimes higher) 5 years ago and tried everything to reverse it, as the Doctor did not want to put me on meds so early. Lost 10kg (BMI 23.5), 60km of cycling a week, 2x exercise a week, reasonably good diet, no smoking, little alcohol.
From all those measures my BP did not improve a lot, the systolic is nowadays mostly okay, but i seem to have a problem with the diastolic bp which is often in the 90-95 range. Right now i am undergoing more checks again and will probably resort to meds now, which i wanted to avoid (which otherwise healthy, fit 35 year old wants to start taking bp meds) but it seems like i can't and i don't want to damage myself more than i already have.
Until now, no real cause has been found, it could even be some nervous disorder because of high stress times i had in the past, but nobody knows. I also have no family history of high bp, so it still puzzles me and freaks me out to the point i got an underlying anxiety.
If losing weight etc. does not help much, also get your kidneys and thyroid checked. I have some kidney checks coming up and it freaks me out...
The good thing is that it made me a lot more conscious of what i eat, drink and do, i just wish i would have monitored it earlier because i don't even know when it started.
- sjg007 9y agoIn the same boat as you but don’t exercise as much and drink more, similar age and BMI. I would go vegetarian and train for a marathon. :). If that doesn’t help, then only drugs will in my non medical opinion.
- Tharkun 9y agoSomething consider: elevated diastolic blood pressure with a systololic blood pressure of <140 is apparently not correlated to more negative outcomes. Apparently home blood pressure monitors are prone to overreport the diastolic reading by about 7mm in those instances. Source: recently read a paper about this, which looked at multiple large scale studies. Don't have the link on mobile, sorry. Bottom line: well done on the lifestyle changes, and don't worry if only the bottom number is high.
- kayoone 9y agoInteresting, I have read quite conflicting information on that though, link would be appreciated. The problem is not just with home monitors though and I read while it’s more disregarded in older people it could point to underlying issues in younger people which is what freaks me out since nobody found anything yet.