Can blood pressure go from high to normal in a week through diet changes

[CP26]

I had preeclampsia 9 months ago and my blood pressure went very high in the days after delivery. I was on medication for 6 weeks after until it went back to normal. I checked it a couple of times shortly after but didn’t check it again until last weekend when I thought I should be keeping a closer eye on it. To my alarm my readings were really high - in the region of 150/60 over 90/100.

I called my GP on Monday and have been doing 7 day home monitoring and immediately cut out caffeine, salt, sugar and alcohol and have been drinking lots of water.

At the beginning of the week the readings were still really high but have been gradually getting lower to the point that today all my readings have been in the normal range below 120/80.

Is it really possible that diet alone has made such an impact in a week or is it more likely that the high readings last week or the normal readings now are some kind of blip? My understanding was that the kinds of changes from diet or exercise take a long time to be seen.

I really want to avoid medication so if I can control it through diet that would be brilliant. I’m not overweight but in hindsight I have not been taking care of myself since having a baby and have been eating far too much chocolate and crisps etc.

Probably a blip, and then anxiety about the blip making it higher. Poor positioning, clothing or even a full bladder can affect the reading too.

Stress can definitely make it go up.

When you take readings you need to sit quietly/ don't speak/ both feet on the floor ,then take 3 readings and record the lowest, disregard the highest. Take it about 8-9 am and don't eat for an hour before taking it.

Why record the lowest? Isn’t it more helpful to record the highest or at least the average? That’s what I’ve been doing.

I had high BP in all 4 pregnancies and now approaching menopause it has gone really erratic again. I tend to pop into the GP as I go past as its near the supermarket and sometimes it's high, sometimes it's normal stroke low. Seems to vary enormously.

No, that's what medical bods do, disregard the first reading as you're quite likely stressed which affects readings.

Record the lowest readings of 3 then work out the average over a week.