I'm prehypertensive (~132/65), and have been put on an ACE Inhibitor. I don't seem to be experiencing any of the common side-effects, so thats good. The BP is down to almost the normal range after 2 weeks, so that's good too.

Watching the sodium sucks. Had to cut the Oreos in half and still haven't figured out how to replace those needed calories. I still need to talk to the Dr. to see if I can get sodium "credits" for training rides involving sweat I have noticed an occasional tiny bit of cramping since cutting the sodium.

Anyone else here working through this? It's pretty strange to be so fit and have this problem, but the BP has been inching up for the last 7 years or so. Genetic, I guess, but my parents (both living) still have normal BP

My nephrologist was freaking about the RHR vs. the BP, but half his patients are probably on dialysis:

Yup.

It's getting lower, but not where it should be yet.

Yes

I blame my parents, and their parents.


Edit: btw, the sodium thing; yeah, you should watch it, but if your condition is genetic that may not do much (unless you've been consuming way, way too much to begin with). I was directed to cut back to 2,000mg/day, and did so for a full year, with no change to my BP (140/90). I've been on Lisinopril for a couple of years now (10mg/day) and it's stabilized at 120/75. For me, diet didn't make much difference at all, though of course there are plenty of reasons to maintain a healthy moderate sodium diet.

I can't believe your on meds at 132/61. I've had 140/80 before I got into cycling and it's back down to ~125/~72. Seems to me with a lower pulse typical of cardio athletes, the systolic would be allowed to go a little higher simply because of the force of a larger, strong heart. But I'll stick to my day job as a trained code monkey and leave the interwebs diagnosis to some other elf.

Docs are getting a lot more aggressive with hypertension these days. It's a lot easier and cheaper to treat when it's low than when it's way high, or if you have a stoke, etc. Also I'm sure the pharma industry has something to do with it. Not such a bad thing in this case.

He is probably on meds because of the high pulse pressure (top - bottom). I think this is usually in the 40 range and his is in the 70 range which is almost double that of a normal pulse pressure which is argued as unhealthy.

>>anyone else have high blood pressure?<<

When I read DocRay's posts. Does that count?

That photo was pre-meds. I'm about 123/65 right now.

10mg of Lisinopril like 'nother

When I reviewed my sodium, I was around 2500-2700 mg/day anyway. I eat mostly fresh foods, so that's not too bad. Also, that's at 2500-2700 calories/day, so my sodium efficiency is high

A couple times/week, I jump to 3200 calories or more to catch-up as needed, so I'm sure my sodium spikes then too. Sometimes I get these hunger panics and just eat a ton of food. Weight has been 178 for nearly a year now.

Nope, last trip to the Hemo(yes Hemo ) doc sent off alarms. Auto BP got 88/44 and a RHR of 40.

Been hypertensive as long as I can remember, even as far back as middle school. Can't take ACE inhibitors because of the wicked cough they give me. I'm on Benicar now, and was on Avapro for several years. Without meds, I run 150-160/80-90. Now, 130/70-ish. Quitting smoking helped.

at least I'm with you on one of those numbers

Yeah, I was really worried about the cough possibilities. I have exercise-induced asthma, and was just about sure I'd have a problem. Luckily, I'm fine. The climate here completely dried out the day I started Lisinopril, and I though I was having trouble -- then realized it was just the weather and bad timing

I'm sure stopping smoking helped you out a lot.

Sadly, I'm on the high side as well, but still unmedicated. I did get the cholesterol in check by going about 75% vegan. But cycling seems to be of no help with the high blood pressure.

The only problem is that my family Doc says regulary, every year, "So what age do you want to schedule that pacemaker for?" I laugh, he doesn't. He's pretty serious. I've always had a low HR, even the few years after high school when I was sedentary. Endurance training hasn't helped that issue. A year or so ago, I was feeling palpatations, so I hooked myself up to a monitor at work and just watched TV. When I felt the palpitations, I looked over and my rate was 33.

Standing up quickly sucks too. But I think I'd rather have low than high BP.

A pacemaker doesn't sound too fun, but it's better than dying earlier

Mine's really low. Every time I get up I get lightheaded. 'course, that only really happened after I started cycling.

Low resting HR runs in my family. My dad is in his 80s and has a resting HR of 28.

I also have bad genes both high BP and cholesterol. I have been on lisinopril for about 5 years now with absolutely no side effects and my BP is in perfect order now. The statins are bit more trouble as I went through Lipitor, Lescol and few others before I found one that gave me no muscle side effects. Using Zocor these days.

My dad has a phantom heart beat. One of his valves doesnt make any noise so the docs are always thinking he is about to drop dead. Then he has to go through all the b.s. testing until they find out Oh you have a phantom heart beat. You are fine. He says I know, that's what I have been trying to tell you for 3 months . Can I have my minor surgery now? Don't these people keep records any more?

been on B/p meds since I was 38 and since I hit over 50 my standards seems to run prehypertensive (132/65), 136/70. my resting pulse/heart rate is around 54 don't worry about it much anymore.

I Use as little salt as possible and I know that is hard with cycling but I never salt my food and stay with a pretty bland diet of salads,fish,chicken,turkey,. At least once a month I will have pizza , hamburgers , lasanga,and maybe a mtn dew or coke once every two-3 days.

usually it takes more than one kind of med. to get it regulated or within the scope they want.

^^^^ Yeah, I managed to kill table salt cold-turkey without any trouble. The things that surprise me with salt are foods like syrup. Man, you can just forget anything processed, frozen, or in a can though. Just canned fruit and frozen fruit/veggies are ok. Soup, frz. pizza, even tomato sauce are just packed with sodium

Luckily, I make my own salsa and pizza anyway, and my wife makes the pasta sauce

Lifesaver: pasta, olive oil, garlic, parmesan, crushed red pepper -- with salmon and edamame. Yum. Plenty of calories for me too. I already eat lots of salad, but had to kill feta (holy sodium!)

I was just at Gatorade research institute for a stress test to join their research projects and was diagnosed with a mildly hypertensive response to excersize. BP jumped to 230/80 near HR max (179 bpm) even though BP is normally <120/70, resting HR is < 40 bpm and cholesterol is <170 with HDL >60. I have my annual physical scheduled to look into this.

I'm 47 and will probably end up on meds.

Before Avapro 150mg:

148/95

After:

135/80

also which you have already considered heavy continious excerise constantly will also keep your b/p on the high side or somewaht higher than normal.

For me if {ex:} if I ride say 3-4 days a week and also do weight lifting it tends to stay higher than usual.


new numbers out from the Gov/ Dept of Health say B/P should be like 120/60 .

I've been checking my BP daily since a physical I had back in June. I was around 150/80 and a bit worried. After a few months of monitoring (have the same unit as waterrockets) I've averaged around 130/70. Sometimes lower, sometimes a bit higher. My doctor has diagnosed me with whitecoat hypertension. My BP goes up when I visit the doctor.

My family has a history of high BP, so I know I need to watch it. I told my doctor that I didn't want to take drugs if they weren't needed. I didn't want to take a performance hit in my cycling if at all possible. Right now I just work on eating healthier. It's tough when you can eat whatever you want and not gain weight.

Lots of pretty accurate info here.

BP guidelines get lower at every turn, that's true.

Plenty of good meds too. I checked into this thread to see if WR had been prescribed a beta-blocker...not such a hot choice for an athlete. especially when resting HR is already low.

Three key things we can do to lower BP without meds:

1. Exercise: Whereas it is COMPLETELY NORMAL for BP to go up DURING exercise (a BP that DROPS with exercise is considered a positive stress test...meaning it likely represent heart disease / risk of heart attack), regular exercise leads to a drop in resting BP in general.

2. Reduce alcohol intake: For many, alcohol will raise BP...can also be beneficial for cholesterol, so may need to titrate.

3. Lose weight: figure this is less of an issue for readers of this forum than the general US population.

Mark. MD