High blood pressure

[lighthouse26]

Hello everyone

I have high blood pressure at the moment.
I had to take readings for two weeks. The gp has prescribed ramipril and sent through a message saying the prescription has been sent to the pharmacy.

I'm 36 and have always had really low blood pressure 110/65 give or take. My bmi is 25, I exercise and eat mostly healthy and made from scratch food (odd takeaway twice a month).

Since June this year, I have been hospitalised for pneumonia 3 times, last time was September, I am still not right. My blood pressure has been high since it all started.

I'm concerned that this all isn't being looked into. I'm convinced I'm still not right from the pneumonia and somehow this is causing the high blood pressure. I don't want to take ramipril without knowing what's caused the sudden increase. A few bloods were taken last week but I haven't heard back from them. They also think I may have Polycystic ovaries so awaiting results for that too.

Has anyone had similar?

The ramipril should bring the blood pressure down in the mean time. But you should go back to the gp and clarify everything that you have asked here.

We have to send in details on an econsult, which I have just done for the second time as I just got a text last time. I'm hoping someone will actually call me.

How high is it? If it's really high it will need bringing down whatever the reason I imagine.

These were week one and week two averages.

That's very odd that the second week is so much higher.

You've been taking it 3x each time and recoding the lowest reading?

Your diastolic is high which is the one they are more concerned about. Mine is currently around 88-90 and they're still trying to get it down (I'm mid 50s). Has your lifestyle become more stressful recently? Watch out for the Rampiril cough - I got this and they changed it and the cough went away within a couple of days.

Big difference between week one and two averages, week one is not very high, the 115 for week two is pretty high. How variable are the readings day to day? Are you sitting down relaxed for a few minutes and taking three readings and taking the lowest each time?

I would take the drugs at least while they try to sort out why your BP has gone up. High BP is dangerous in its own right so needs to be brought down. I assume you are doing it at home so its not white coat syndrome? I started getting white coat syndrome after a traumatic hospital stay, so I can only do my BP at home now or its through the roof.

I followed the instructions they sent with the forms. So I sat for at least 5 minutes before taking it, no food or drink 30 minutes before. It said to take 2 reading and take the lowest. Some were so much higher. I also had the irregular heartbeat symbol come up on several occasions.

They need to investigate the irregular heartbeat as a separate thing.

There's not been anything overly stressful. Just feeling poorly all the time! They have said the pneumonia recovery will be slow. It also caused asthma attacks and other issues. When discharged from hospital they sat me down and explained how poorly I was and it's not going to be a quick recovery.

I think what's frustrating is I sent the econsult like they ask and I just get a text back. Noone calls you anymore so I haven't even been able to express my concerns properly to them.

Hi Op!

I am 36 too with high blood pressure and started ramipril a few months ago.

The first thing I would check is which blood pressure reading unit are you using? The ones from Amazon for example are generally not reliable, and if this is what you are using I would recommend getting an Omron, it’s recommended and used by doctors.

Secondly, as you have had pneumonia 3 times, that has undoubtedly been a stressful time which may have left you with a lot of health related anxiety. If so, the stress could be the reason for the rise in blood pressure.

You mentioned you may have PCOS, I have been diagnosed with this too, but I am not aware of any link between PCOS and high blood pressure.

My advice would be to start the ramipril now so the high blood doesn’t do damage to your body.

Your doctors should be giving you an ECG, bloods & kidney function investigation's before starting ramipril to rule the common causes of high blood pressure.

@Imperrysmum

Thank you for your reply. The machine is one that I bought from the pharmacy, I think the brand is better life. I checked whether this one was ok. They said it was fine.

I have wondered whether anxiety could be playing a part with it all.

They haven't mentioned any other tests. They did do bloods for Pcos but not sure if they did any others.

I will collect the prescription tonight and start the medication.

I added the highest reading. I have had a 120/81 this afternoon.

I think I was started on 5mg and then moved to 10mg after a while, to see if I was taking to it well enough. I did have a cough to start, but it wore off after a short while (couple of weeks? Can't remember.)

Although the thing that really changed my BP for the better was getting a new manager at work.

I would be concerned the blood pressure machine is dodgy because your readings seem inconsistent. I don’t believe 120/81 would warrant blood pressure medication because it is within the normal range. Many GP surgeries have a blood pressure reading machine in the waiting area. Could you go in to sanity check your readings?

That's a very big jump from 120/80. When you have a high reading do you sit longer and keeping taking it to see if it goes down ? That would rule out any white coat element to it.

I would be suspicious your machine is faulty.

A BP of 172/160 is weird and possibly impossible - there just isn't enough gap between the two figures.

And skipping about from that to 120/81 - a normal BP - is very odd.

Defo ask for an ECG and keep on at the doctors, have you had any palpitations or hearing own heartbeat (pulsatile tinnitus)? High heart rate? Any other new symptoms since the pneumonia?

I was hospitalised with Covid pneumonia, and afterwards developed asthma, caught every virus going and had high blood pressure and fast resting heart rate. Was continuously fobbed off by doctors for a year as "it's just long Covid", then had a heart attack - I was 35.

OP - I am with others in thinking that very high reading is inaccurate…

…but this is interesting. Always had low blood pressure, but readings started to go up after I had pneumonia a decade ago. High BP runs in my family so I thought it likely this was just genetic and not helped by the fact I had a stressful few years (and admittedly drink more than I perhaps should!) However your post makes me wonder if there is a connection to the pneumonia.

Either way, I now take Ramipril daily and have no issues with it x

@gotohellforheavenssake

Actually yes that's a point, my resting heart rate has gone up massively since the pneumonia as I track it on my Fitbit. I have added the 90 day view. Before the pneumonia my resting heart rate was around 50-53, it's now around 60-63. It did go a lot higher during the pneumonia period.

I have had some palpitations but not really thought much of it. I'm sorry you have had similar issues.

I'm going to replace the machine and see if that is faulty. Although the readings (minus that odd one) were similar to the the ones in hospital and all my check ups.

Is the cuff really tight on you ? That can cause erroneously high readings. Likewise a too slack one can cause an excessively low reading. But the one with the diastolic of 160 I’m sure isn’t right.
Did you have Covid pneumonia @lighthouse26 as I’ve heard that can really mess with your BP.

Have you had a 24 hour machine from the GP?

That's probably your best bet. They fit it and then it just goes off automatically every 30 mins. They take the average.

@coloursquare no I haven't been offered anything at all. I had an initial nurse phone call to ask about history and health stuff but I haven't actually spoken to a person since.

I did the econsult yesterday to ask all these questions and they have booked me in for a telephone call in two weeks time. I think this is all making it worse.

The high readings were picked up properly at a pneumonia check up in August and this has been going on since then. It's just so frustrating.

@Leniriefenstahl

Thanks for the reply, no it's not overly tight.

I don't think it was covid pneumonia. I was rested every day for it and they never said it was positive.