Has anyone positively affected high blood pressure through diet/other non medication means?

[Bemyclementine]

Disclaimer- I am taking the meds and will continue to do so.

I'm interested to know if there's anything I can do, diet or otherwise, to have a positive impact on my high BP.

Reducing stress is my biggest hurdle. Stressful job that I can't change atm, divorce, house/mortgage difficulties.

Other than that, I'm reasonably active (13k -21k steps a day) could lose some weight, I'm trying. Don't smoke. Significantly reduced wine intake (see above re stress was using wine as a daily crutch)

Cut out drinking, it will make a huge difference

Reduce drinking

Regular exercise helps, but it was changing managers at work that really helped mine get back to normal.

Many studies show a whole food plant based diet have the effect of lowering hypertension.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200724191441.htm

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5466938/

This combined with low impact exercise could have a significant effect on your BP. And as a prior consumer of meat/dairy, I can't even describe how much better I feel having cut both out.

I'm not vegan, I consume meat/eggs/dairy every so often but don't eat junk/processed food.

Within days of cutting out meat I noticed a massive reduction in my asthma, marked decrease in exercise induced sore muscles, far more energy in my workouts, no bouts of gastritis, next to zero menstrual cramps and much lighter flow despite having a copper IUD, general feeling of lightness, lower resting heart rate.

I don't have high BP, but definitely recommend this way of eating to reduce some of those symptoms your experiencing. Highly recommend forksoverknives.com if you want to read of other success stories.

The answer is: sometimes and depending on how much you want to lower it. Some of the numbers in this thread, diastolic over 100, are going to require treatment.

• Lower salt intake if sensitive (this doesn't mean cut it completely: in a study, very low sodium intake had no improvement over low sodium). Be careful with processed foods in particular. However a substantial minority of people with hypertension are not sodium sensitive. Always worth trying.
• Weight loss if overweight.
• The best studied diet is DASH - dietary approaches to stop hypertension.
• Potassium, magnesium, and fibre may help lower blood pressure so try to eat plenty of fruits & vegetables.
• Stress reduction
• Cut out smoking and lower drinking

The thing about hypertension is that while it has lifestyle links it's a multifactorial disease that includes a likely genetic element. I've known people who developed hypertension in their early 20s when thin.

My mother (in her 60s at the time) was able to come off BP medication once she started regular daily walking, though unfortunately she didn't keep it up.

More recently my partner had to reduce his BP medication as it was too strong and making him lightheaded, once we started going out together and he adapted to my healthier lifestyle (more exercise, less alcohol and meat).

I lost 3 stone and am now in remission for both high bp and diabetes.

I no longer have to take medication for either

That's brilliant @MajorCarolDanvers , you must be delighted!

If stress is a major factor it's probably worth trying to work on that a bit. I see that you can't change some of the stressors (work, mortgage) but you might be able to change how much stress that translates to in your body.

Do you ever have a chance to genuinely relax without feeling anxious or guilty, like you should be doing something productive? Because stressed-relaxing (iyswim) isn't likely to actually help your body's stress levels. I learned this the hard way and now try to incorporate an anti stress meditation AND some guilt-free, proper unproductive relaxation time into my day - even if the chores aren't finished. Think of it as medicinal relaxation time and really do it with relish! Hopefully that can help with managing the chronic aspect of the stress, and give your body a break from all the cortisol and adrenaline.

This is dangerously high. Please take the pills. As others have said losing weight, giving up drinking and doing regular cardio will all help. Sadly with those readings you don't have time on your side.

Apparently half a grapefruit a day

@babyyodaxmas I am and always have taken the medication, my dose was doubled after those readings. Honestly it terrified me as a single parent to young kids. I just want to do whatever I can alongside the meds.

Grapefruit is not recommended on some meds unfortunately.

@Watchthesunrise thank you for
the link, I have significantly reduced my wine consumption. I could do better still

@UnconscionableSnacking no, very little proper relaxing time unfortunately. My job is stressful, management changes we'd hoped would improve moral at work have had the opposite effect. Ex is harassing me worried about the house and money. It's a lot. I will think about setting aside some time. I could definitely be more organised.

I do also have underactivvd thyroid and anaemia so that doesn't help with weight and tiredness.

HCP here.

You need to get your BMI into a normal range. Cut out caffeine and alcohol. Watch your salt intake.

Stress reduction is key but I appreciate your circumstances.

I had gone up to 12 stone during the menopause. I lost three stone on a low-carb regime. My doctor let me come off BP medication slowly over a year and I have never needed it since. Seven years later I am still 9 stone with a BP that averages around 128/75. Still eating low-carb but not as strict as for the original weight loss.

Caffeine reduction helped my DH a lot. But it shoots up when he’s stressed. He’s a Consultant in the NHS so he’s often stressed unfortunately. He does lots of Mindfulness practice even when out and about: 54321 technique and square breathing quite helpful.

DH was pre diabetic and high blood pressure but lost 2 stone and reversed this. Weight loss through diet, cutting out sugar and white carbs also reduced alcohol and started exercising daily.

Same here. I was discovered to have it in my 20s when I was the physically fittest I’ve ever been.

No identifiable cause.

Same problem all the way through my life (and pregnancies). If I take meds that lower it to ‘normal’ (e.g. 125/75) I feel faint and dizzy, and have had falls.

Strange. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ with BP.

I struggle. I have high blood pressure. I’m very slim, pretty fit, I’m a runner, generally plant based. I drink no alcohol at all, I add no salt to food. All food is cooked from scratch. I’m mid 50s. Am not on HRT. I wish I knew what else I could do. I try breathing techniques -I think they are meant to help.

Just a positive story here. DDad went onto BP meds in his late 30's (he was a marathon runner). His DM died at 59 of a stroke (I was 1, I never knew her) He is 75 and in pretty good shape, hasn't needed any other meds. The way I see it those pills have given him close to 20years (so far) of high quality life, relationships with his grandchildren and a healthy retirement.

Hbp gave me zero symptoms but the meds did. Tried all the different ones. Refused to take any more. New GP uses a manual sphygmomanometer rather than digital/electronic one. BP is high but in normal range with the manual one.

I know through my previous job that digital sphygmomanometers consistently give high results. All medics know this but don't take it into account. That's the power of device manufacturers.

Dietary-wise I cut out sugar due to being close to the level for type 2 diabetes and feel this has helped lower my bp

Not if OP is taking Amlopidine.

For those of you that have gone off the medication, did you get symptoms of low blood pressure/dizziness etc when you had lost weight/cut out drinking or caffeine etc? Or did you just suggest trying without the medication to see if you would stay at normal levels without it? I have been on medication for years and have always measured as normal blood pressure on it, once the right dosage was found. Never goes up or down really. But if I lose more weight - only lost 4/5kg so far but hope to lose more - I wonder if I will know when it's time to try coming off it. Or maybe the drugs will just always keep it at that same normal level, whether I need them or not. Does your blood pressure actually go really low if you are taking medication you don't need? Or does your body work to keep it at normal level somehow?

Does your blood pressure actually go really low if you are taking medication you don't need?

As my BP varied quite a bit during the course of a day they clinical pharmacologist suggested that I swop one med for 4mg slow release doxozamine. The GP started me on 2mg, and that worked so well that I had a terrible few days with low BP, being dizzy and often almost and once actually falling over.

He told me to stop it completely until I felt well, and then start again with 1mg. I’ve been tolerating that so hope eventually to build up to 4mg.

So I’d say yes, it does go low if you are taking meds you don’t need, but I’m just one case.

Yes- through regular- about five times a week- strenuous exercise, such as spinning.
Apparsntly it exercises the heart, increases the arteries and veins capacities and lowers BP