Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

High blood pressure

7 replies

BWrose · 03/01/2019 16:47

My mother woke yesterday morning with a bad rash all over her face. She was lucky to get a doctor's appointment. While there the doctor checked her blood pressure an found it was high. She's due to get a 24 hour blood pressure monitor next week for further investigation.

Today, my mother asked me would I google how to reduce blood pressure for her. She said she would like to avoid medication and treat it naturally. I actually feel like banging my head of a wall with this one. She's first in line to run to the doctor if she even has sniffles.in search for antibiotics. If she has a bad headache, she refuses to take a tablet or two of ibuprofen.

Anyways I googled and I didn't get back to her with what I read online yet. I'm slow to do this. What I read online says:

Reduce weight/maintain a healthy weight
Reduce stress
Eat healthy and include some supplements
Reduce caffeine
Reduce salt
Reduce or cut out alcohol
No smoking
Exercise regularly

I'm not very happy with what I read here because my mothers lifestyle/habits are good.

She's a good weight
She exercises/walks nearly every day.
She doesn't drink
She doesn't smoke
Her diet is simple. No junk food. Maybe a piece of chocolate or a biscuit here and there.

I will say stress for not only my mother but for the whole family has been high all year.

So, here is my mother with many ingredients for good health but she still has high blood pressure, which makes me think maybe there is something more serious going on. What do you think?

OP posts:
IamFrauBlucher · 03/01/2019 16:55

My doctor told me that sometimes high blood pressure can be part of your biological make up so even those changes can't dramatically help the situation long term.

I am on daily medication and it's really helped. I am actually able to be more active and more resilient to stress because of the hypertension drugs.

Hypertension can be really dangerous and damaging to the body. It's not to be taken lightly. If she can't manage it through these changes she should take medication.

He also said it can run in the family so keep an eye on your pressure too OP.

Walkingthroughawall · 03/01/2019 17:38

Hypertension isn't diagnosed on the basis of one high BP reading (which is why her GP has ordered the 24 hour monitor). I wouldn't worry too much until she actually has a proper diagnosis of hypertension.

BWrose · 03/01/2019 20:35

Thanks for the replies. I'm holding off for now telling Mam any info about reducing high blood pressure. She will have to wait til next week and discuss it with her GP.

OP posts:
Mousewithascarf · 04/01/2019 21:26

I was diagnosed with really high bp in my mid-20s. No reason was found. I had lots of heart, kidney tests but diagnosis was essential hypertension. I’ve been on 4 drugs for it for the last 30 or so years. No changes in my lifestyle ever made a diff to how high it was. I’ve never smoked or drunk alcohol, eat healthily and am currently about 10lbs overweight. The drugs have kept my bp well controlled. Depending on how high your DMs readings are changes in lifestyle might be suggested before drugs but if like mine the 24 hour readings are consistently far too high I imagine drugs will be prescribed. They may want to check her heart/kidneys to rule out any possible causes. If drugs are prescribed I would try to encourage her to take them. Persistent high bp is dangerous and she is risking upping her chances of stroke and heart problems.

ckc45d10 · 07/01/2019 19:58

One thought is that she may want to look into working with a Registered Dietitian to work to fine tune her diet and lifestyle.
There is also some research on CoQ10 and hypertension that she may want to ask her doctor about: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17287847
Good luck!

Aridane · 07/01/2019 20:06

The only medically trialled way of eating shown to reduce moderately high blood pressure is the DASH one (they couldn't test with those high blood pressure as discontinuing medication would have been dangerous and unethical).

It's the Dietary Aprroach to Stroke and Hypertension.

You can google it.

The two key features of this approach compared with the other trials were VERY low salt and large and varied quantities of vegetables (from memory, x10!). Other 'healthy' ways of eating had no appreciable impact.

Aridane · 07/01/2019 20:07

What is her blood pressure?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread