DH has hypertension, why? anyone with similar experience? i know its boring,

[nailpolish]

he is 33

his bp is 180/120

why is this? he is average weight, average fitness, good diet

he says its stress

his fucking family stress him out - but if i even mention this he defends them

so he gets stressed even more

doctor is sending him for 24 hr tape and bloods

sigh

bump

That is very high, so he obviously needs some treatment, but once they've ruled out other causes, I'm sure it will be controllable through drugs. I am told that there is an amazing number of people on bp lowering medication. Try not to worry, but it does need sorting.

I osted on a similar thread last week, about my high BP. I went three times to the nurse last week, each time it was high. Today at Docs it was 165/95. My doc informed me that i'm overweight for my height, (i'm 6ft and weigh just under 13 and a half stone). He says i need to lose at least three stone.
I do get stressed , especially with one of my mindees, she was a nightmare, but finished with her now, so just have my part time boys!
I am childless today for the first time in months, so hopefully it will lower my BP. I am getting fitted with a 24hr monitor tomorrow.
My doc also wants me to aerobics and go to the gym, however i suffer with severe muscle, joint and ligment pain (poss Fybromyalgia) and find it difficult to do.
I'm not overly worried about it at the minute, more worried about being 4 stone overweight!
I'm sure it will work out, the doc will sort your DH out

3 stone overweight, not 4. My finger slipped

he is far too young to be on anti-hypertensives

sometimes i worry this is the start of long drawn out heart disease

It's quite young - but I think that overall it is pretty common (can't remember the proportions off the top of my head - but I found them surprising).

I would look on the bright side that you have a diagnosis and now have the attention of the medical establishment - the worst thing about b.p. is how 'silent' it is - the damage is often doen before people realsie anything is wrong. This should substantially improve the long term outcome.

In terms of cause: firstly your doctor will try to eliminate any 'physical' causes - b.p. can be a secondary symptom. Otherwise, there doesn't necesserily have to be a cause. Might be some family history or natural susceptibility.

Also - note that you will need to take lots and lots of measurements (inc. the 24 hour ones) to get a diagnosis. A one-off reading tells you very little - he might just get stressed around doctors.

Try googling british hypertension society for more reliable info!

with family history - i think this is a factor

both his parents were on long term anti-hypertensives

his dad has a pacmaker

he was brought up on typical scottish fayre - red meat, animal fats, stodge and everything like it. his family STILL try and feed him this when im not around

but does this mean he will have the heart disease his family have? or can i prevent it? i feel ihave to do something

Firstly - I'd give yourself a little bit of space to get used to the idea. You understandably sound pretty alarmed. It is not a medical emergency, so you can afford a bit of time to think about things, speak to DH and friends and family, make the right next steps - and then to have the strength to stay consistent on whatever path you choose.

What I understand, the problem about b.p. is when it is not controlled.

There are two possibilities now: freak high reading or genuine high b.p.. If it is genuine high b.p. without another underlying cause, you'll have to do something to manage it. If you do manage to keep it within normal range, then that's 'problem solved'.

Considering how young your DH is, it is unlikely to have gone far enough to have damaged the heart. So at the moment, you shouldn't think about thinkgs like heart disease and pacemakers at all.

I'm obviousy not a doctor - and you'll have to get lots and lots of measurements (including 'ambulatory' continuous measurements done at home) to get a more rounded picture of the situation. If the b.p. is consistently very high, then obviously medication is a good idea, and has been properly tested etc. to make sure that it doesn't have too many side effects. Main thing is to stop uncontrolled high b.p. damaging vital organs.

However, for your DHs age, you may well find that it is possible to have good results with 'lifestyle changes'. Talk to your doc (and keep talking to him- you may find that it is not so drastic. Coffee, alcohol, tobacco, salt, excess weight all add a couple of b.p. points each... cumulatively getting rid of them can often drop people back into normal range. You'll have to get in a mind set of 'this s how life as normal is now' - but you'll probably find that it makes both you and your DH more healthy as a bonus!

With regards to stress, I read something about a technique called 'progressive muscle relaxation', where you go through every muscle in the body consiously tensing then relaxing. What I understand it that it teaches you to consiously relax under pressure. So you can't avoid being put under pressure, but it is not essential to react to it with raised blood pressure.

Good luck with everything - have much sympathy for you - hope it works out well.

Hypertension often has a strong genetic component. Indeed, studies have shown that certain ethnic groups - people of Latin American and African decent, for example - have higher incidences than other groups.

There are still many myths out there about it, such as if you're normal weight, don't smoke, eat well, don't have a lot of stress, exercise and eat a healthy diet, you cannot get hypertension.

That's not true.

What Kif says is sensible, however. Overweight is a factor in the development of hypertension, as is smoking, excessive drinking - moderate drinking can actually be helpful, and sedentary lifestyle.

My father's family has a very strong history of hypertension. He was 42 when he was first diagnosed, and still struggles to control it.

My sister, age 39, is on medication, however. I have borderline hyptertension myself, probably kept in check by doing lots of exercise and eating about 80% vegetarian. I do drink a glass or two of wine or watered down wine a day.

BUT, diagnosed early and carefully managed, it's not a given that all people w/hypertension will go on to develop heart disease.

It's also possible to treat it to get it under control and then manage it w/lifestyle changes entirely. But again, this requires checking it regularly.

Kif speaks sense! It can also be a secondary symptom. In my FIL's case, it was a secondary symptom of his Type II diabetes.

He is seeing a doctor, however, and hopefully they will get to the bottom of it!

If he smokes, he needs to get treatment to try to quit.

Smoking and hypertension are a very bad combination.

nailpolish, if its not a freak reading (24 hour trace will clarify) its probably genetic. I have a family history of hypertension too, and was very upset when I realized I may need hypertensives at 43 after dd was born - so not surprised you feel that way about your dh at ten years younger.

My dh has been on statins for high cholesterol since his mid thirties, which I also felt weird about - again, its genetic. Once we got our heads around the 'crap, this is a chronic life long thing' it subsided into a minor inconvenience (though BP is more immediately concerning, so I know its not a fair comparison).

FWIW, my father and uncle have both been on hypertensives for decades - with no ill effects - and have had long periods of time where they were able to lower doses right down. Their father died at 72 (thin, fit, nonsmoking) from a heartattack because those meds didn't exist then - my father and his brother are nearly 80 with well managed bp and no sign of ill health whatsoever.

And yes, many people do get their bp down with lifestyle changes alone - often after an initial period on meds to bring bp down to safe levels, then tapered off under superivision.

But all that said, I hope the 24hr thingy shows that its not that bad after all - I had a couple of mad spikes on mine, but overall it was ok and I didnt' need meds (yet) after all. You never know, but v important to check. xxx

Ah, X post...repeated lots of what expat said. She speaks sense too

I went through a phase of being v. v. scared about it - why I'm a walking encyclopedia on the subject.

DH was getting high readings (not as high as yur DH, but into the high range) at the docs. At 25 y.o. - not a great thing to hear.

His Dad dropped dead at 55 from a heart attack - and then all the stories of the premature deaths in that side of the family started coming out. Sounds like he has a strong family history of it (and a family history of avoiding doctors so that it went untreated!).

You can imagine, it put us all in a tailspin. For a while, it was all but a case of 'counting down to fifty', because it seemed like my Dh would have the same susceptibility.

We're a little calmer about it now - the b.p. actually seems to be within normal range so long as it is not taken by a doctor (presumbaly rabid fear of doctors runs in the family too), and my DH has been really positive about adapting his lifestyle and really working on keeping everything healthy and balanced. Think we can't get too complacent - I still have to raise the roof to get him to go to a doctor - but I think he's treating it rationally.

I'm hoping that for us early scare will mean that it doesn't end up so bad.

Sounds like my dad's family, Kif. My dad has his first heart attack at 45. He went on to have two more. He's had a triple bypass, a double bypass and an angioplasty.

His younger brother had his first at 37. His second at 45.

His older brother had his first and only one at 64. It was fatal. Even worse, this brother's daughter had a one and only, too. A week after her 39th birthday. She left behind a 2-year-old daughter.

My dad is 70 now, and although he has had a few blips w/the medications becoming less effective, for the most part he is doing well.

Some drugs can also be bad for the blood pressure, so if your DH is taking any meds, make sure his doctor knows! That includes herbal meds and supplements.

My DH won't take so much as an asprin!

I think a fair amount of his commitment to 'lifestyle improving' is because he wants to keep off meds as long as possible - but sees it as fairly inevitable that the b.p. will become an issue sooner or later.