worried about my blood pressure?

[lhastingsmua]

Had my blood pressure taken today at a pharmacist - 109/90. I went to a pharmacist as I was feeling quite faint.

I’m on the contraceptive injection, so get my blood pressure taken around every 3 months or so and have found that my lower number always comes back at around 87-90. It has been this way for about 9 months.

I’m 22, eat very healthily and am very active so it’s frustrating that my lower number hasn’t gone down much in the past 9 months. Should I be concerned?

Have you seen your GP about this? I think it is quite high considering you’re so young and have a healthy lifestyle.

I’ve had high bp since my 20s (now late 50s). Because of my age my GP took it seriously and did 24 hour readings and referred me to a cardiologist who did kidney and heart checks. It could be caused by the contraceptive injection or it could be what’s called Essential Hypertension (what mine was diagnosed as), which means no cause for it can be found. It could be that it’s high on the times you’ve had it taken because you are in a medical environment and a bit worried about whether it’s going to be high again. But I would definitely see your GP. A bottom figure of 90 isn’t hugely high but for your age and lifestyle it definitely should be checked out.

Thank you :) has having high bp affected your life much or do you think it’s quite manageable?

I have a gp appointment on Monday and I’ll mention this. So far the gps I have seen haven’t really said much, just along the lines of ‘we’ll see what it’s like next time’.

You’re definitely right about worrying when in a medical environment - i have had a few bad experiences at my GP (rude GPs, embarassing moments etc) so I do feel a bit on edge going in. No matter how much I try to calm down before taking a bp reading I am probably still a bit anxious as I don’t like being there. Especially as now all I can think about is having high bp so I’m already feeling a bit worried and impatient for my next reading!

Other than needing medication it’s not affected me at all. Mine was a lot higher than yours when it was first discovered (bottom figure 125) so I had to have medication and it was very hard to get it under control. Even on 4 drugs it was still high for many years. Oddly for the last few years it’s on the low side of normal despite being on the same medication and not exercising much now and having gained weight. Very odd. But if yours is found to be above normal, 90 for the bottom figure is only a bit too high and should be easily to control.

I feel lucky in that mine was picked up so early. It’s the people who have no idea and who are walking around with high BP for years who are at risk.

It could be that you have ‘white coat syndrome’ which is basically that anxiety in a medical situation (esp when you KNOW you’re going to have your BP taken) causes your BP to rise. This is very common apparently. I would definitely ask if they can do a 24 hour reading which would give a truer picture of what your BP is like generally and away from a surgery or pharmacy.