What readings would you consider reducing/stopping High Blood pressure meds

[Tearsinheavens]

I take 2.5 my of bisoprolol and 5mg of amlodipine and am now pretty much consistently (daily) getting readings of 100/75 I am thrilled but I'm pretty sure the amlodipine is causing the achey legs and should I ask to drop down to just the bisoprolol to trial? That seems great but on the lower side of normal.

Definitely ask the doc to reduce one of the meds

Do you think? I do occasionally get 120/80 style readings too but rarely.

If you come off the meds it will raise again

Unless you have massively changed your life style - Weight - Food etc
Blood pressure meds are normally for life

What were your readings before?

Blood pressure medications are what's keeping your BP lower. Stop them and it'll probably go back up, unless you've eliminated some other significant factor contributing to the hypertension. If you're getting annoying side effects you could ask if there's a (similar) alternative and/or tweak the dose a bit - only a medical professional who has your full history should be advising on this though, not randoms on the internet.

Completely agree with getting proper medical advice, don't take our word for anything relating to BP, we don't know your medical history, your lifestyle, your genetic propensity etc.

BP meds could be keeping you alive for all we know, so asking us whether to reduce your dosages or keep them as prescribed by your HCP is really dangerous. Get proper medical advice, please!

Only your medical team can answer that as they them meds to more than just lower blood pressure. Definitely not something to be messed with unless DR led.

It'll also depend on why your blood pressure was higher to start with. Mine was once 210/166 but I've never been on blood pressure meds. The underlying cause was treated so the blood pressure fell back to normal.

You also might find it hard to get back on them if they decide to take you off, if you don't meet the needed levels any more.

Mine was about 113/75 on medication, but I had to stop it briefly for surgery and was told to go back to the GP to restart it afterwards. But when they measured it, it was still in the OK range, so they said to just monitor it for a while. It was regularly in the low 130s over low 80s, which is borderline, but because the average was never quite 135/85, they wouldn't prescribe the medication any longer. I'm worried now as it's so much higher than it was, after being well-controlled for years. I know it's good not to be on the tablets any longer in some ways, but I think I'd prefer having blood pressure well into the normal range!

So I tried instead to do everything I could to reduce it myself, though I already ate very little salt or fat, lots of veg never smoked etc. I added in loads of exercise, lost a lot of weight, reduced startch/sugar a lot etc. But none of it has worked and it remains in the mid 130s over mid 80s most of the time. Too low for medication but too high for comfort.

Might be worth discussing that with the doctor - how low/high will they allow, can you reduce the dose without cutting it out completely, will they restart it if it goes up even if it doesn't get as high as it was originally, etc.

I kind of wish I'd not stopped, although one of them (I was on two) I definitely feel better without (the beta blocker), but I don't like the idea of constantly high-ish blood pressure now. If it's the side effects that are causing you to want to stop, maybe there are things they can do to help that instead?