Has anyone successfully resisted hypertension meds?

I think there is a bit of a tendency towards the "one size fits all" – not least because GPs have such limited time with each patient nowadays. Mr absent had a mild stroke a little over three years ago from which he has pretty much recovered. He does take tablets daily to control his blood pressure, which he checks regularly himself, and it remains at a healthy level. He was put straight on to statins without anyone checking his blood cholesterol. He suffered from very unpleasant side effects and just abandoned them all together. About a year later, he did have a check on his blood cholesterol level, which proved to be perfectly healthy although he wasn't taking medication for it and his GP agreed that he didn't need statins.

The hospital automatically ticked the box on his chart saying that he was overweight. He weighs about 8 stone, is about 5 foot 7 inches and a tin-ribs. They also gave him instructions about reducing salt in his diet and spoke to me about the foods I served him, making assumptions about ready meals – which I never buy. While he was still in hospital, he was discovered to have dangerously low sodium levels and put on a restricted intake of liquids. This problem has cropped up a few times since. Reducing salt, taking statins, etc. may be useful for some people, but this kind of blanket instruction is not always helpful for everyone.

As much as I agree there's no one size fits all solution I think we can always find the atypical case where either a bad or hurried doctor failed to investigate thoroughly, or a patient had an adverse reaction to a medication, but as a believer in evidence based medicine I tend to pull my head in and follow the doctor's suggestions.

I agree Popparob. Hgypertension is one of the most researched areas and doctors and nurses follow well researched and monitored protocols when treating it. A few things I would like to say;-
1) A single blood pressure reading is indicative of nothing much - proper investigations which may include a 24hour reading are used to make a diagnosis.
2) Hypertension and high cholesterol do not necessarily go hand in hand
3) It is wasteful and irresponsible to visit a GP take a prescription get it made up and not take it and you should be sent a bill for it whoever it was who said that.
4) Meditation, exercise, and low salt diets will not have any effect on some peoples' hypertension but weight loss is usually beneficial.

So there just what Dr Martin might have said!

Thanks for all your comments. Plenty to think about!

alchemillamollis I hope you have not bought ace inhibitors off the internet. ACE stands for angio-converting enzyme and dosage needs careful monitoring. Are you aware that those of us taking hypotensive drugs have 6 monthly blood tests to check liver and kidney function ?
I have the feeling you are taking the proverbial

sorry that should have read angiotensin-converting enzyme, fingers faster than my brain.

I think time in the doctor's surgery is a factor. Here in France we never get less than 20 minutes, sometimes 40 with our GP, (though there is a bit of eye-rolling in the waiting room sometimes). He chats about all sorts of things and takes BP after you have had time to relax. He also takes time to know you and you get the impression he is looking at the whole picture, rather than a collection of symptoms.
While high-salt intake clearly isn't good, I thought the evidence showed that inherited factors were far more important. When we were in the UK OH was discovered to have very high BP and it was clear that nothing would work except medication. His BP is very well-controlled now.

A sound piece of medical advice for all things is ' first choose your parents'.

A question. harrigan did you mean low BP or high? I have high inherited hypertension and my blood which is always 100% is only checked in Germany every two years apart from if I have other symptoms. I thought such monitoring was for blood thinning drugs.

I was talking about high blood pressure expatmaggie Hypotensive drugs lower the BP. I take a beta blocker, a calcium antagonist, an ACE inhibitor and a statin. These drugs can effect the liver and kidney and sometimes the pancreas so doctor does blood tests to check before damage is done. When on blood thinning drugs the doctor tests the clotting time so that dosage of anticoagulant can be adjusted.
My sister lives in Hamburg and is on (German equivalent) of Warfarin because she developed irregular heart rhythm and he said she was at risk of a stroke. My sister got a shock because she was not aware of her heartbeat and it was picked up at a routine ECG, unheard of in England (regular ECG checks)
I would not worry if your doctor only checks your blood every two years, you may be on superior drugs that do not cause problems.
My GP is actually German and I like his approach to medicine and prescribing, he was the one who prescribed peppermint oil capsules instead of chemicals and boy did they work.

No, I didn't buy ACE inhibitors off the internet. I don't know why you think I'm taking the proverbial, as you put it.

Why do you need to take all of those different drugs? They aren't all for hypertension are they?

I'm on Dilatrend (Carvedilol) to reverse the cardiac remodelling from my formerly enlarged heart, Coversyl (Perindopril) which looks after the BP, Crestor to keep the cholesterol down to a nice number (under 3 is recommended for heart patients), and Co-Plavix which is a blood thinner / conditioner which reduces the risk of clotting on the stent in one of my coronary arteries. Chances are if I'd made some sensible lifestyle choices twenty years ago I wouldn't be needing any of them.

Thanks, PoppaRob; sorry to hear you have had an enlarged heart. I'm glad your meds are keeping you well now.

I think I'm in the position you refer to in your last sentence. I reckon if I make really sensible lifestyle choices now, I can head off the damage.

I wondered why Harrigran was taking beta blockers, calcium antagonists, ACE inhibitors and statins - because I though they were alternatives for hypertension, so not sure why a patient would need to take them all?

Anyway, must get off to the gym now...

I think some people with hypertension need several drugs to control it. OH has three for blood pressure plus statins. It took quite a long time to get the combination right, but then his BP was 230 over 110, twelve years ago when it was first diagnosed - and he hadn't had any symptoms.

When my BP was unusually high, my doctor waited a few minutes and checked again, by which time it was back to normal. You can't take one reading as definitive. I try to do relaxation exercises in the waiting room so that it won't seem to be high, but on that occasion, evidently I needed to try harder!

It is not unusual to take a combination of drugs, I used to take a diuretic and aspirin as well alongside a PPI to protect stomach as I have a hiatus hernia.

Oh, thanks for explaining.

I spent an hour in the gym and an hour in the outdoor pool. Yoga is booked for 8.15am tomorrow!!!

I. Mean. Business.

I don't know if it's relevant But 6 months ago I was advised to cut out caffine because of a prostrate problem.It took some getting used to decaf tea and coffee but now I am quite used to it.
The bonus is that my blood pressure has reduced by 15 points I don;t know if this is the reason but I can't see any other

Harrigan I used to be on ACE drugs and they were the ones which affected me most. Heart pain and trouble with a dry infected throat. The ENT doctor said he wished the GPs would stick to the old well tried drugs, his surgery was full of people on ACE inhibitors. I felt better off them and take combination of others. 3 or 4 drugs over 24 hours are better than a huge amount of one drug.
I am definitiely not on superior drugs but on duiretic and beta- blockers.
But I have been to a cardiologist and after an exhausting 40 minutes he pronounced me not in danger of a heart attack. I now peddle on my exercise bike 3 times a week.

Thanks, Earlybabe, I am a caffeine addict so you are quite right to raise the issue. I'm trying to stick to Redbush (Rooibosch) Tea, and only to have coffee at the gym. That way the damage wrought by the coffee is unwrought by the workout (I hope).

I never suffered with blood pressure until I had an operation for lung cancer
(lower left lung removed) drugs did not appear to be making any difference so my doctor took me off them.They remained eratic for some time at between 150to160over80/90 Now after my caffeine regime it is 140-145 over 80/90 occassionly less.
! find the tesco coffee to be very good and I have grown to quite like it the tea is not so good but I do take a flask up to my allotment most days so I have no choice but to drink it.
Sorry to take time to reply but I've done decorating for the past week in order to earn brownie points so that I can disappear back up the allotment

Hey - sorry if you thought my response was rude Alchemillamollis . I thought your OP was couched in very extreme terms. Maybe I was being a little blunt - but I did admit that at the time. Good luck with the keeping fit.
I had never heard of the lactotripeptides before - they have only been tried on Japanese people by the looks of things.

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The choice is yours they can't force you to take them.
I simply said no knowing the risks etc. I believed I didn't need them and they were erring too far on the side of caution. So I simply said no to both statins and Bp pills and although I get sent reminders to come along to several clinics etc. I ignore them. That said if I develop heart issues I'll re-evaluate at the moment I don't want to take unnecessary medications.

If you have problems with ACE inhibitors, you can ask to try Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) instead. ACE inhibitors are well-known for causing a dry cough.