BS: high blood pressure

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 04:21 PM

They're now saying that moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of a heart attack. But they're always changing their tune. First a thing is terribly bad for you, then we should all be eating or drinking it. I wish they'd make up their minds. I was thrilled the other day to read that butter is actually good for you, as I eat loads of the stuff, much to my sister's horror!

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: Rumncoke
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 06:54 PM

I always enjoy watching the expression on the nurse's face as she takes my blood pressure and finds it to be in the 'ideal' range.

A young buck at a gym once decided that his testing device had broken because it showed I did not have high blood pressure.

I am a little dumpy grandma, but I eat low carb, don't add salt to my food, avoid processed foods, get about on a bicycle and play on my trampoline in the garden.

In the past there have been people who have told me that they would rather be dead than give up eating the sugar and flour part of their diets, which is a good job, because they are.

I have my own BP measurer, they are quite cheap - and if I had found my results were higher than normal I would have been round to the doctors like a shot. My father had circulation problems which kept him from working for years and eventually resulted in his death.

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 07:35 PM

>>

Right... perhaps oveyears, But on an evening, it has quite the opposite effect.<<

I think I know that effect. Don't get excited. It just means you are too drunk to put the cuff on properly.

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: gnu
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 07:57 PM

Hahahahaha. Makes quite a party hat!

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: Janie
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 12:17 AM

Still trying to come to grips with your perception that to partner with your medical provider, or even to ask basic questions puts having medical care at risk. You made clear that it is not a question of lack of providers in your area, though it may still be a question of choice regarding access to care. Is that that typical of the Canadian system of care?

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 01:32 AM

Not anywhere I lived in Canada.

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 09:07 AM

Rumncoke said "I am a little dumpy grandma, but ..."

Little dumpy grandmas are sort of special.(?)

Within the past year or so there has been some increase in attention paid to differences in female vs male characteristics and responses to cardovascular health. The tendency has been to assume that the experience with treating males is typical for all, but recent opinons based on limited studies have lots of practitioners "a bit confused." (The tendency to lump everybody together could be because men "whine more about their heart conditions" so they've gotten more attention?)

It is fairly typical for females, at any age, to be less susceptible to "high blood pressure" than for males, when the "male standards" for "high" are applied to both. The numbers are lower for "typical" women than for "typical men," but there's been little attention given to whether what's considered "satisfactory" in women should be different than the "satisfactory" in men.

There is a significant amount of evidence that says that women don't show the same symptoms as men when a "cardiac event" (heart attack) occurs. This is cited as the reason why fewer (percentage-wise) women survive a first attack. Doctors simply don't recognize what's happening because they've been trained to expect the "typical male symptoms" and "women are different."

There is an apparently growing "opinion" that cardiovascular damage can typically occur at lower bp elevations in women than in men. There's a lot of debate about whether testing/data support the opinions, but there probably is a real shift in opinions.

It appears that elevated bp in women may be slightly more likely to result in a "stroke" than in men, while in men it's most often the heart.

Others here have discussed the hazards and benefits of alcohol. There really has been little change in the prevailing opinions here, but there have been shifts in what kind of emphasis should be given to the various aspects of the subject by the medical profession. Some common alcoholic beverages, particularly red wines, are credited with containing "antioxidents" (a.k.a whatever your advisor wants to claim is in 'em) that can be helpful.

The alcohol by itself, in any drink, can have an apparently benficial effect on bp in moderation, but can be damaging in excess.

An effect with more than minimal consumption that is well documented is an increase in the triglycerides in the blood. There is lots of discussion about increasing the HDL (high density lipoproteins) and lowering the LDL (low density lipoproteins) as being beneficial to cardovascular health, but any elevation in triglycerides can be damaging. Some opinon is that this effect gets less attention than deserved because there are few "treatments" effective for specifically/separately controlling it. (If you ain't got a pill for it, don't worry about it(?).)

While it's best to start being healthy at an early age, at a certain point nearly all of us reach the point where we really need a carefully and regularly managed program for maintaining what we've got left. As for deciding what's the "best" thing to do, about all that we can do is to work with the best advice we can get now and promise to watch the news for new developments while we hang on.

It ain't easy getting old(er); but it ain't all bad either.

John

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: gnu
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 01:19 PM

"You made clear that it is not a question of lack of providers in your area..."

I am at a loss again. There is ONE provider. A corporation set up by and funded by the provincial and federal governments.

If you don't like your family doc, you can go to an "after hours" clinic. They are jammed because there are not enough family docs. If you want see a specialist, you need a referral from a GP. Here's how that works, by example. Referral by my family doc on July 13, 2009. Saw ENT June 2, 2010. Operation June 14, 2011. And she is a GREAT doc. Here's why I asked for her....

That was the fastest referral available because she is the new kid on the block. The second fastest referral would have been with the ENT that was VERY upset with me when I told him that I had moved a stone in my parotid gland from just forward of my ear to just forward of the jaw muscle by massaging it. He said, "No." with a scowl and pronounced it a node. I was treated very poorly after that because that just could not happen and I was obviously lying or delusional... Beer, a Mudcatter you may know of was visiting me and saw me do it. Yes, it was a stone and the subsequent problems that arose from the misdiagnosis were nasty and could have been avoided.

I shant go into any more detail. Fact is, ya don't piss them off on accounta you don't HAVE a choice.

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: gnu
Date: 09 Mar 12 - 03:36 PM

Well, well, well... it wasn't bad. Well, the dystolic was for one day. It was 74 the day before the 115/82. I had salad with salad dressing, steak (and I gotta have salt on my steak), mushrooms and onions for supper and for "snack" type meals two days in a row. 105/56 and 102/57. Anyone else do "the onion thing"?

I am gonna keep track of my blood pressure AND the food I eat from now on. Also, I am gonna try to investigate this "onion thing". Anyone else know of such foods that might influence BP in a positive way?

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: Greg B
Date: 09 Mar 12 - 05:13 PM

Foods high in potassium help lower blood pressure, and more important, stabilize it. If you're on a diuretic such as hydrocholorothiazide (HCTZ) to reduce your bp, it becomes even more important to keep your potassium intake up, as HCTZ flushes out potassium along with the sodium that you want it to. In fact if you lose too much potassium, your bp will go up and/or become unstable.

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: gnu
Date: 09 Mar 12 - 06:45 PM

Good to know, Greg.

Mum told me oatmeal is another food that will reduce blood pressure. She's 85 and she oughta know.

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: Janie
Date: 09 Mar 12 - 10:18 PM

Not sure is bp is measured in the same units in Canada as in the USA, gnu, but those numbers look really, really good to me.

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 09 Mar 12 - 11:16 PM

I don't know anything about onions and blood pressure, but I do know foods rich in Vitamin K (usually green leafy veggies but also onions and green tea which of course is made from leaves) affect blood clotting. People who take warfarin are supposed to eat the same amount of those at the same times daily. (Right!) The more they eat, the less warfarin they need. I don't know if those foods could also affect BP.

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: gnu
Date: 05 Feb 13 - 09:02 PM

16 cherries... two hours later... significant bp drop.

Anyone else?... with any other foods?

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 06:19 AM

Oh crumbs, had a hospital appointment with a consultant gastro-enterologist last week. The nice nurse decided to take my BP and test urine for diabetes. The good news - not diabetic. The bad news - BP was 186 over 90. Gulp. But the consultant shrugged and said not to worry too much(??!!) My ever-doom-laden-doctor-sis was shrieking down the phone that evening. I'll die of a stroke at any moment, my kidneys are packing up as we speak, my arteries must be thick with fat, my heart will stop etc etc. So I suppose I'll have to see my GP and get some tablets or something. Sometimes my sis can be a pain, but she means well.

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 06 Feb 13 - 11:17 PM

Good luck with this, Eliza!

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 07 Feb 13 - 08:18 AM

For most people blood pressure varies significantly, even from moment to moment. So if you eat a particular food and check your pressure a little later, it could be higher or lower without any connection to the food.

It could go lower especially if you're confident the food will work, because you could be more relaxed next time you measure.

What makes "real" hbp a problem is that it's too high most all the time.

Doctors don't usually diagnose hbp unless they've seen it consistently high over some period of time.

My personal experience and belief is that diet and exercise are extremely important, particularly in the long run, but special foods and supplements by themselves won't help much. The studies that support them are usually small and inconclusive, but the supplement companies and the media boost them to the skies for the obvious commercial reasons.

Doctors don't know everything, but your own physician is your best source of advice. He's "selling" care and expertise, not bottles of super-duper capsules.

Subject: RE: BS: high blood pressure
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 07 Feb 13 - 01:51 PM

Thank you ChanteyLass.
I know an elderly lady of 86 who lives alone and has never married. She's a bit of a property tycoon and owns many lettings in the Norwich area, which she manages herself. She's fiercely independent, and totally admirable. She goes for annual check-ups at Spire (private health care) and for the last several years her BP has been near 200 over 90. She refuses to take any medication for this (I don't know why she bothers with the check-ups!) and declares that this BP is normal for her and who's to say otherwise?