High blood pressure?

[team bradfield]

No! That was some old guideline she was siting. No one’s blood pressure should be that high.

Thats what I'm getting at, it's BS information-garbage

 

[goofyernmost]

I don't have high blood pressure, Lee, but Marie does. She takes meds, they make her quite tired.

Certainly not your sister's doctor here, but I would say her numbers are borderline, not high. I would say for her to get a good BP machine (Omron makes a great line of devices), make her lifestyle changes and monitor for a month or so. See where it goes. It certainly is not critical at this time.

My best for your sister.

That is really not high pressure anymore. It would be bad if that was the lowest it was and after many tests it was there or higher. Chances are if it stays around that area, it would only require a small dose to bring it a little lower. If it had been 138/79 almost nothing would even have been said about it. I know when mine was discovered it was 200/100 and I was about to blow an artery. I would advise that if it remains there or higher that it might take modern medicine to bring it to lower levels or if she is overweight just losing a few pounds could also help.

 

[midnightbast]

My dad had similar numbers and didn’t wanna hop on meds right away either. He started walking daily and did a chair yoga challenge https://betterme.world/articles/28-day-chair-yoga-challenge-for-seniors to ease into movement. BP dropped after a few weeks. His doc was cool with waiting as long as he kept it up. I’d def try lifestyle first if the doc isn’t super strict.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Almost forty year cardiac nurse.

It’s really up to each person whether they want to go on medication or try lifestyle changes first.

The important part is that it gets down and stays down, one way or another.

Why?

Because when your heart is working extra hard with each beat, over time, there can be changes in the heart tissue itself from the added stress, and the heart can wind up becoming stiff and not filling correctly, which means it can’t pump out enough blood with each beat, and that’s a form of heart failure. People often look back when this happens and wish they’d taken it more seriously.

Is the OP’s BP at a level which requires medication? That is information that only the prescribing clinician knows. My guess is that there are additional medical factors that we don’t know about that put the person at risk and they are trying to be proactive about it.

Risk factor reduction is really huge in cardiac care. Many of us don’t take it seriously, though, until something happens.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Another issue I didn’t see mentioned here (sorry if I missed it) is that BP cuff size can influence readings. If the cuff is too small, the reading can be higher. If someone is overweight they really need a larger cuff size. Not sure all of the automatic BP cuffs for home come with larger cuffs, but do try to get one if this applies.

At the doctor’s my BP readings are sometimes elevated. It’s not white coat syndrome so much but because I fought heavy traffic to get there, then ran up the stairs to my appointment, where they take it right as you walk in. Of course it’s going to be high at the beginning. My primary care always rechecks it herself at the end of the visit when things are calm and relaxed and it’s always back down to normal levels.

I did fight my doctor recently about going on something for cholesterol. My numbers were only slightly high, but with my family history and medical profile, she wanted me on a small dose. The first one I tried had side effects and I stopped it. She insisted again so we tried another, and thankfully that’s caused no side effects. My numbers are beautiful now, just had them done the other day. Glad I took her advice. Especially while getting older. Things happen.

 

[john7994]

Almost forty year cardiac nurse.

It’s really up to each person whether they want to go on medication or try lifestyle changes first.

The important part is that it gets down and stays down, one way or another.

Why?

Because when your heart is working extra hard with each beat, over time, there can be changes in the heart tissue itself from the added stress, and the heart can wind up becoming stiff and not filling correctly, which means it can’t pump out enough blood with each beat, and that’s a form of heart failure. People often look back when this happens and wish they’d taken it more seriously.

Is the OP’s BP at a level which requires medication? That is information that only the prescribing clinician knows. My guess is that there are additional medical factors that we don’t know about that put the person at risk and they are trying to be proactive about it.

Risk factor reduction is really huge in cardiac care. Many of us don’t take it seriously, though, until something happens.

Precisely what my cardiologist and PAs have said to me, I have sat in the OPs described BP range for a while and they were more than willing to go without prescribing medication - provided I made other material lifestyle improvements sooner rather than later.

Lisinopril was first recommended exactly because I had other risk factors / health issues as a preventive to more serious issues down the road - which seems like reasonable advice to me.

Even though I am adverse to be reliant on medication as a first course of action for anything, I also recognize that as I age that some systems within the body require a little help now or at some point I will be forced into it later due to consequences of doing too little too late.