How can I reduce my high blood pressure?

[PomegranatePunch]

Hi, at a recent GP appt (about something else) I had very high BP (200+/100+) so GP suggested I buy a machine for home and test for a week.
I've now done this but it's still fairly high - typically 176/75.

I'd be grateful for any tips on how others have dealt with this.
How is high BP treated by the NHS (tablets? what are they?)? What can I do to help reduce this? I'm assuming I need to lose weight and move around more- what else?

TIA

Try a chiropractor. I really good results when I had high blood pressure in pregnancy , having a weekly session with a chiropractor.

Weight is usually the biggest thing, you should aim for your bmi to be 20.

When it comes to stress, this isn’t just the type of stress where the boss is chasing you, it’s also the stresses inside the body from inflammation etc. So exercise helps massively there.

It’s far far easier to lose weight through diet than exercise of course - first thing to do is eat real food and no grains.

Stop drinking alcohol.

Thanks to everyone for the replies.
I barely drink alcohol or fizzy flavoured drinks, or smoke and just stopped the coffees (but had only been drinking coffee for a few years).

I do drink lots of water and eat a healthy(ish) vegetarian diet but I do need to lose weight and exercise more. Stress is hard to control as it's heavily tied to my son's well-being (severe MH issues). I'm a salt addict but have been cutting back on that hugely over the last year.

Right. Will speak to GP and get meds sorted if needed. Will also lose weight and exercise more!

Thank you all.

I so wish there was a ‘Like’ button! I am laughing out loud at this!!

I also had scary results back in December and have taken these steps:
walking more (and in the countryside - I really think being in the ‘green’ outdoors helps; it’s relaxing being surrounded by nature)
deep breathing (breathe in to the count of four, hold and breathe out to the count of four) - I do this a couple of times a day, usually when out walking
drinking beetroot juice (and eating beetroot) which is known to help reduce blood pressure
reducing salt, as mentioned by a pp
having decaf coffee and my afternoon tea is now decaf too
I’m not a massive drinker anyway so haven’t changed my drinking habits

I’m overweight (5’6 and just over 11 stone) but trying to lose it and also peri menopausal (so it’s hard!). I have a bit of stress in my life like everybody and have realised that my blood pressure rages when I’m really feeling it/am anxious/worried etc. I bought a home monitor and now check it intermittently (I last checked it three weeks ago and it was 116/80, down from 172/96 in December when I got the fright of my life in the doctors surgery- partly white coat syndrome but I was in the booth in the waiting room because I felt like my blood pressure was high and wanted to check). Mum and her siblings all have high blood pressure, as does one of my sisters, but I really wanted to see if I could get it down myself before seeing the GP - I send them my results periodically and they haven’t asked me to come in.

Sorry that’s a massive post! Hope it helps though.

No-one mentioned beetroot yet? 😆

Weight, exercise and medication, OP. Good luck with getting lifestyle advice from your GP, I didn't and had to do all the investigation myself.

Cut out salt and lose weight.

However at those readings it's unlikely the GP will want to wait and so will be intending to get you on meds straight away.

Mine was higher than that and I was on Amlopidine and Ramipril so fast....plus told to get a monitor and keep checking it.

I’d say at this point you probably need medication first and foremost as that average is very high and should in itself be diagnostic of hypertension without any further testing. Starting graded exercise is also a really good idea, build up to it. You need to speak to your gp soon about medication though.

@NurseEssie you say Do not use statins, is that evidence based in line with NICE guidance? Likewise the recommendation for beta blockers?

OP it’s your systolic reading that’s high from your readings, can be age also anaemia, thyroid, diabetes so get the GP to get your bloods done to check for those. There are NICE guidelines for hypertension if you need treatment it will depend on your clinical situation eg if there’s an indicator of pre-diabetes etc

Also interested what @NurseEssie says no statins and beta blockers. That's very different from what the specialist cardiac nurse and my cardiologist have said.

Thanks @BungleandGeorge, I'll definitely look into that.

Actually yes with your numbers @CornishGem1975 is right. Brisk walking will help you massively.

@PomegranatePunch whilst some of the suggestions on here are good some are not evidence based. I’d recommend you look at blood pressure UK website, including this one which talks about lifestyle modifications

https://www.bloodpressureuk.org/media/bpuk/docs/IntroducingHighBP_Web-(3).pdf

To those asked, we use statins for cholesterol..?
Beta blockers for hypertension/high BP.
Or Digoxin.

I am in Australia though, hospitals across the country (I'm mostly in acute wards). Completed my Bachelor here too.

OP I am surprised so many jumped straight to 'medication' comments. Please explore alternatives first. As my pharmacology lecturer said: 'in my 40-year career, I am yet to meet a drug with no side effects'.

That's a very high top number. Aside from the usual lifestyle improvements you'll need medication to reduce it. I'm 38 and have high blood pressure. It's genetic for me, weight and lifestyle make little difference for me unfortunately. Definitely no harm in a healthy lifestyle though!

@Logginglogger almost identical to what I do- minus the gym ! But I don't drive, so do walk a lot- not as good I know - initially I needed Bisoprolol to get it down. Mine came on immediately post vaccine out the blue- horrendous headaches with it too- I'm now weaned off the Bisoprolol and HR and BP holding steady -

Interesting you say about statins- I was on those too post vaccine as my cholesterol was high (and not the good stuff) - I took for 5 months and have stopped as basically my legs and arms felt very weak- one leg in particular- really not good. Now slowly improving - my cholesterol is up from the level statins got it down too but I eat very healthily and they were severely compromising my sanity!! A nurse friend told me they were not that great on women over55 .

@Logginglogger Oops- the statins comments aimed at @NurseEssie

I found I had high BP when going for checkup prior to cataract operation.

They gave me the option to make lifestyle changes to bring it down, but warned if that didn't happen by the time of my operation and I still measured high (over 200 systolic, over 100 diastolic) they'd have to postpone the op.

I went on tablets which got me through the op.
That was pre Covid and I've only just had my 'annual' review where I was showing higher than I should. I've put on weight, but looking to get that off so I'm to make another appointment in 3 months time to see if that's working or if I need to up my dose.

OP I am surprised so many jumped straight to 'medication' comments. Please explore alternatives first. As my pharmacology lecturer said: 'in my 40-year career, I am yet to meet a drug with no side effects'

What's the side effect of untreated high BP?

This is out of date advice. Beta blockers haven't been used for first line tablet treatment of hypertension for many years

There are lots of different classes of blood pressure tablets and varieties within each class. Whilst there are recommendations for general choice of which tablet to try first, it does depend on individual things too - eg. your age, race, any other medical problems. So no-one but those who have access to the medical records AND up to date info should be suggesting specific tablets.

Statins are for treating cholesterol, not high blood pressure.

Strokes. Heart attacks. Kidney failure. Other problems too but those are the biggies!

Sigh. NurseEssie, it may well of course be that treatment recommendations in Oz are different. But in no developed country is digoxin used to treat high blood pressure (certain irregular heart rhythms and heart failure yes, hypertension no).

Your advice is very outdated and incorrect. If you're still practicing in an area where you need to use this knowledge, can I respectfully suggest that you go on an update?

OP, lots of excellent lifestyle advice here and none of it will do any harm! But as others have said, if it doesn't work you may need tablets anyway. I'm a slim fit nonsmoking light drinker and I've needed blood pressure tabs for years.