Blood Pressure

I've had high bp for many years as does my sister and have taken medication for about 15 years. I talked to my doctor last week about natural ways to lower bp, and he said that apart from reducing salt and fat intake there was really nothing you could do to make a significant difference. He said if you were extremely overweight then losing a large amount of weight make a difference.
I'm sorry if this goes against beliefs other people have, but actually for me it was a positive talk. I've always, at the back of my mind blamed myself for my high bp - this is probably because I' m a control freak and whatever I did, exercise, diet, special foods, this was something I couldn't seem to control. I' ve now accepted that it's not me doing bad things; it's just my bad luck. So I'll continue to take my medicines and live my life as normal without feeling a failure.
My advice is: listen to your doctor - my mother lived to 95 with high bp. It's not a failing with your lifestyle any more than poor eyesight or hearing problems - and just be thankful that we're living now and not 100 years ago, and that the NHS is here to take care of us ?

Sorry that should say '.... losing a large amount of weight might make a difference'

So your post implies that your GP said that reducing fat and salt intake would make a significant difference Badenkate

It rather depends on high your fat and salt intake is in the first place.

I had my blood pressure put up this morning.
Last Tuesday I was going to take a prescription to the GPs surgery, but the village was flooded. Couldn't walk or drive from one side to the other.
So I phoned the surgery and told them about the prescription and they said they would see it was done. Normally they do not take them over the phone, but it was exceptional circumstances. In fact I learned this morning that the pharmacy had floodwater through the door.

Went to pick up my prescription this morning and it wasn't there. I explained, and told them my blood pressure tablets run out tonight. They said they could not loan me any as it wasn't due until Tuesday. I argued a bit, then stomped out, saying, "Okay, I'll just die over the weekend, shall I?"
I am on these tablets because of an aortic dissection two years ago.

Don't suppose I'll die, but they are not getting my prescription from now on.
There are other pharmacies around that will pick up and deliver.
Six different medications on that prescription. I wonder how much they will lose.

There was only one other woman in the pharmacy, picking up a prescription for a friend who only had one tablet left. They said the same to her. She was on the phone to her friend, who checked and said she only had one tablet left. But they insisted they had given her more the last time.

When did chemists get like this?

When I got home I checked my blood pressure. It said too high, seek medical advice!

I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the point about BP and salt and fat intake. I'm commenting on the statement that Bakenkate's GP apparently thinks this can reduce BP 'significantly' - and probably wondering why that suggestion was rejected out of hand or glossed over by the poster.

That wasn't very helpful DJ - I think a change of chemist is due. Hope you survive the weekend.

Perhaps you ought to give GN a miss .... just in case

Is there a difference between might and would?
Badenkate said her GP suggested it might make a difference, not that it would.

They can't get rid of me that easily...can they, Anya?
The NHS, I mean, not GN.

Trust Me I'm A Doctor has had an interesting programme on blood pressure, not if it is still available on catch up.

he said that apart from reducing salt and fat intake (my emphasis) there was really nothing you could do to make a significant difference

The 'might' and 'would' referred to losing weight.....

I think you're a tough old bird stronger than that DJ and provided you don't get into any discussion with the 'rabid right wing' you ought to be ok

I do agree that for certain people the cause of their high BP is a total mystery and try as they might they are lumbered with it.

But I also think too few really try to tackle it through lifestyle changes and just pop the pills as the preferred option.

Rotten experience, dj. My pharmacist will always give me some of my tablets to keep me going if the GPs repeat prescription system goes wrong. I expect he's okayed it with the practice. Seems like a sensible thing to do for long-term medications.

The pharmacy will also deliver a prescription if you can't get to them.

That has always happened before, thatbags. I wondered if they were getting stricter.
The thing is the practice nurse and I change tablets about occasionally to see if any other combination will work better.
One of the tablets that runs out tonight is one that I have taken two, three or four daily while taking one, one and a half or two of another. That's why they are out of kilter.

It was a new young chemist I have never seen before. There were three other staff and they looked very uncomfortable at what she said. No other customers apart from that one, unfortunately.

I have often thought I wonder what would happen if I stopped taking them. An aortic dissection is not something you wish on yourself, though.
Since coming home I have checked my prescription, and it says next issue due yesterday.

I have no real history of high BP. In my family it tends to be a bit on the low side at times. One of the luckier ones.

Hi Anya. You are right that he said the only things he had found could work ( and this is the problem, it seems to me, that no one including the medical profession seems to really know) were reducing salt and fat if your consumption was very high. Which mine isn't.

Badenkate I so agree that not enough medics understand nutrition. As Mamie has illustrated for some people a change of lifestyle can have profound effects. I suspect it's true for far more people than we realise, while accepting that some people just have a genetic predisposition.

It's keeping an open mind that's important, having the knowledge to put theory into practise and the perseverance not to give up when things get difficult.

Sadly it's all too easy (both for GP and patient) just to resort to pills.

Also worth pointing out that I didn't reduce salt or fat in the slightest, I just lost three stone low-carbing. I don't think my heaviest weight of 12 stone counted as "massively overweight" either, my BMI was only about 27 at its highest (now 21).
My doctor was very cautious though, I had to maintain the weight loss for six months and then come off the tablets slowly over another six months. I have to keep monitoring it as well.

Thing about the word "significant" is that it has a particular meaning in scientific studies i.e. were the results statistically significant. Depends on size of group, statistical test used etc. It is a measure of how likely it is that the results were not a pure fluke.
But in everyday life we use it differently. So to you and me a "significant drop in blood pressure" might be a worthwhile drop of 10mm hg or more.

In this study the effect of exercise was small but statistically significant. If you read the introduction it says a big analysis of published studies show
"In hypertensives, this effect (i.e. aerobic exercise) is even more pronounced: a recent meta-analysis indicated a mean reduction of 7 mm Hg systolic and 5 mm Hg diastolic"
hyper.ahajournals.org/content/60/3/653.short
So yes, regular aerobic exercise (walking, swimming etc) seems to have a blood-pressure-reducing effect, but the effect is not very big. But combined with salt reduction and weight loss it could add up to a worthwhile reduction.

mine is better when I exercise but I still need a number of drugs to keep it within healthy limits as I have a family history on both sides of high BP

I do not have a family history of high blood pressure.
Until I had the aortic dissection, I always had low blood pressure.
No reason for it that the doctors could work out.
We are not all on blood pressure tablets for the easy option, Anya.
Some of us are on them just to stay alive. Perhaps it's best to keep an open mind.

This might will come as a surprise to you DJ but it's not all about you.

I said some of us and we are....., Anya. That does not mean just me, does it? Goose said she has to take tablets.

I could say more, but that would make it all about me again, wouldn't it?

Not going on this thread again until I have got my prescription tomorrow and taken my Doxazosin.

Given that you've posted @15 times on this thread and jen has posted @ 5 you are correct; it isn't about her. But perhaps you could have some sympathy for the fact she has a life threatening condition . And not just use it to have another dig. [I despair]