Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Heart rate and blood pressure . . .

Just had a stress test a few weeks ago, and everything looked great except for the fact they had to stop the test when my heart rate hit 132. I was feeling great and figured I get the rate up into the 150s before they were ready to stop. But at 132, my blood pressure hit 230/92, and the nurses told me to stop.

After going over all the data, looking at my blood tests, and reading the EKG that I had already taken, my doctor said everything lloks great except the damn BP. Now I know that by dieting and exercising, I'll undoubtedly lower my blood pressure, but I'm a little leary of overdoing it while I exercise.

A solution might be to monitor my activity more closely - I could probably do that with a heart rate monitor or with a portable, automatic sports-type blood pressure cuff that would go around my wrist. Does anyone have any experience with this type of BP cuff? Do they work well enough to give fairly accurate readings? I'll be doing my winter workouts in the gym, so I can keep the device pretty stable while I work out.

Anybody? I appreciate any opinions and recommendations. Thanks!

Dean

I discovered my high BP the same way a year ago - treadmill stress test that I get every three years as a "basline" since I turned 50. I wound up taking Atenolol and that does the trick along with being super-fit with riding almost daily. I, on my doctor's recommendation, got the Omron IntelliSense Model HEM-773 and it's been great. I've taken it twice to the appointments to check it against the "official" units and it's was within 4 pts., so they were impressed. It saves the last "umpteen" pressure checks with a digital read out with date, time, etc. I check my pressure twice a week now and record the data in a small logbook provided by my doc. So, I've been super-happy with it. Oh, I got it at Costco, so it was a sweet deal to boot. :)

When I started the whole weight loss thing I was an UberClyde (400 lbs) with borderline high BP (resting). I have no idea what it got up to under load. I found walking to be a great exercise to to build a fitness base. With walking you can easily regulate all aspects of your exertion level. I walked 5 miles a day whether I wanted to or not, over a 10 month period phenomenal changes in both my weight and fitness level occurred. It was the walking that got me into shape to allow me to engage in serious cardio activity now. BTW somewhere along the line my BP dropped to 120/60 and my resting pulse rate fell to 50.

I would pick a consistent yet not real aggressive activity to build your fitness level and see what that does for you.

I'll be doing my winter workouts in the gym, so I can keep the device pretty stable while I work out.

Anybody? I appreciate any opinions and recommendations. Thanks!

Dean

I bet you can find someone that works there that would know how to take your blood pressure with a standard cuff ... then you can compare the two.

jw
(nurse)

My DR told me that the only reliable BP monitors were the upper arm cuff types. I have a Polar heart rate monitor, and it works very well. I would suggest one. You can usually get them fairly cheap (less then $50) with a little web searching.

However, this seems to me a conversation that you should really have with your DR rather then all of us armchair DRs on the web. :)

132 is a fairly low heart rate to stop exercising at.


Bob

I haven't seen any BP issues, but after the imaging stress test my GP told me to get started using a HR in the 60-65 % range. Carmichael's training books and Joe Beer's web site (www.jbst.com) recommend the same thing for beginners and those who may feel concern. At my stress test they took my up to about 90% of max. The GP also told me that working out at or near max HR can be damaging. Trainers don't generally seem to think it's of much benefit, as far as I can tell. I figger I'm best off staying away from 90%+, and only working intervals above 85% on a gradual basis. I'm improving in my own lazy way.

Ken