Very high blood pressure- how do I get this down quickly please?

[DoubleShotEspresso]

Bit of a shock today at a routine appointment where blood pressure was taken.
Then taken again
And again.
I've now agreed to a service they kindly offered to wear a 24 hour monitor but this will be in a few weeks.
Please hit me with your best ideas to bring this down- wasn't expecting this at all.
Thank-you

Smoking, caffeine, stress, weight and no exercise are probably fighting your otherwise healthy diet. I'm assuming you're fairly youngish so you should be able to make some significant improvements without too much agony.

Beetroot is really good for lowering BP, my husband doesn't like it but successfully avoided tablets from GP for about three years by taking beetroot tablets.

Disgraceful to admit but coffee and cigarettes are my fuel (I'm FT carer to a child with complex needs, very busy daytime schedule but it's all meetings but highly charged and I have elderly parents who currently worry me daily... alongside the general sleep deprivation /household stuff). It's all doable daily but it is very tough going on week to week I won't lie.

I'm just turned 48 no idea if this is "youngish" or not in this scenario

I have have high blood pressure, well not with medication now.
I use the Omron M7, the same monitor as my doctor and he is happy to see my readings when I go for my annual blood tests.
He recommends a Mediterranean diet and if I can't eat a lot of oily fish to have a supplement. I take a supplement as it's just easier as we like fish but not that much to make a difference.

You're welcome OP. I have heart failure so have to follow my own advice! My BP is low though, mainly due to the medications I have to take. The meds are very effective once they find the right ones for you, so don't worry if you do have to take them.

20 min brisk walk every other day or a 20 min YouTube exercise video, if you do it consistently you'll notice a drop in BP really quickly.

I'm going to try and reduce caffeine which I suspect will help reduce smoking slightly....
Losing weight has been challenging though I've lost a fair bit in last 3 months with a lot of effort-mainly cutting out bread . We eat dinner very late out of necessity but I think that's possibly not helpful.

No idea where I'm going to find an hour to go walking unless it's in the small hours though that's an obvious method but going to be so hard to achieve consistently.

I have thyroid issues which has made weight management further difficult.

I really think it's best to make small improvements you can stick to and build up slowly in your situation. That way you won't overdo things and give up. As for activity you could try to slowly increase the amount of steps you do around the house. I managed to reduce my caffeiene intake by switching to decaf one cup at a time. Still have a couple cups in the morning though!

You need to get checked out properly by your GP, thyroid issues can affect blood pressure.

Weirdly exercise was mine, but it was very dependent on distance. E.g - if I did four miles brisk walking 7 days a week (so 28 miles per week) it would drop a little. But, if I did 2 x 10 miles at the weekend and none during the week it would plummet. I thought it was a fluke until I did a fortnight on each regime and the less but longer walks brought my average down to almost normal. No idea why but have kept up with it.

The first time it happened I thought I was going to end up with a stroke. It made me really unwell with worry however once I had monitored my HR for the week and spoke to the doctor I was fine.

im quite a worrier and my Bp is always high when at the doctors,

@ExperimentalWarper that's a good shout. I'm feeling like I'll book a Gp appointment soon as this has spooked me somewhat today- I can't be out of action at the minute! In fact that thought terrifies me !

My goodness.
I think exercise is something I'll need to do somehow at home - maybe long walks at the weekend but I'd be lying if I said I'm good at this 😏

@2pinkginsplease that sounds scary do take care x

Have you got room for/can you afford a cheap exercise bike OP? When my DC were young I used to use an exercise bike in the conservatory once they had gone to bed.

Or try "steps with Rick" on you tube
You can do those at home and there's some fun music too

That’s very interesting. I might give that a go.

I have tried this and it made little difference. I have just bought a breathing resistance trainer. There is some evidence they can lower your blood pressure as much as some medications. I haven’t been using it long enough to tell yet.

I've just been to the GPs last week, my BP there was around 170/100, they sent me home with a BP monitor to take it twice a day and it's been consistently around 120/72

I did try pointing out it would be better done after my flu jab and smear test when I have a phobia of needles and a SA history 🙄

Hopefully you will find yours is lower at home too

Are people given or loaned blood pressure monitors by their GPs? I was told to buy one. I got a basic one from Boots that seems OK.

I was loaned one for a week just to see if it was white coat syndrome

Although in my case it's less white coat syndrome and more 'you are going to shove a needle and a speculum in me so no I am not relaxed syndrome' 😂

I take medication to keep my BP under control.

I wish they actually offered this. It barely fits my arm and I'm a size 16, every time they do it, the cuff pops off and always think "what about gym going men with huge arms?!"
Never sure the reading is right as I'm tense waiting for it to pop undone!

My DH was told this after a test at the pharmacy. He was lent a testing armband by his GP the next day. He looked at online chats and decided that eating at night esp late night sandwiches was his worst habit, stopped eating after 7 straight away and his blood pressure dropped very quickly. He actually thinks he was just flustered when did the first test so try not to worry too much til you've monitored it for a while.

I had a blood pressure shock in the summer. I'm 49 and overweight but not quite obese. Long Covid so can't exercise right now. I entered my details to see where I was on a graph with green, yellow, orange and red zones. The graph had to make a second red zone to get my result on it. It scared me which gave me the incentive to lose weight fast. A stone in 10 days. I also gave up caffeine and hit the salads and fruit. I got to the yellow zone after a month.
Use the scare to do what you know you should be doing.
Good luck.