how high does blood pressure have to be...

[Romy7]

... before they put you on meds...?

have you had a blood pressure monitor on for 24 hrs as yet via your gp?

Is the person with high bp preg?

no - got to back on fri - so i don't need to panic yet?
is that always standard? mine has always been highish, but have dodgy maternal family history, so suspect they would be keen...

no not pg - had whacking high bp when pg and nearly ended up hospitalised, def not pg now!

It depends on you, your age and general state of health, to a degree. The idea being that they reduce the diastolic reading (the second one in the 120/80 thing) to below 90.

So if you are repeatedly above 90 they will look first of all at dietary modification, stopping smoking and losing weight (if these apply) they will then look at drugs if this doesn't do the trick. They will also check your BP a number of times to stop it being a single 'blip' as you BP naturally rises and falls through the day. Being stressed (at the thought of having your bp taken!) can also bump up the readingso doing it a few times makes things more accurate

NB this is not in pregnancy, I can't tell you about that and I'm not a medic, I just used to work in the pharma biz, making anti hypertensive drugs

Sounds v sensible to get you back in a few days for another reading.

Def. don't panic though - you will put it up even higher!

(And what MB said!)

The guide lines have changed recently.It used to be 140/90 now they like the second figure to be 75 or lower Very hard to achieve without meds ime

oh ok - it's sitting at 90, so i might get away with telling them i'll lose a stone then! mum has been on meds for about 40 years but had strokes in her early 30s (i'm now past that lol but having worrying symptoms!) they're doing loads of routine bloods and stuff, but have a feeling it's going to come down to it being my turn to work out how to manage my bp more effectively... might not be meds yet then.

aaargh! 75?!

75? lordy mine never gets that low even with meds. I might make an appointment for a proper check.

what symptoms are you having?

The more you worry pet the higher it will go and ask them to take that into account often a monitor can give a truer picture.

bit of altered consciousness type stuff - not actually fainting, but almost. happened in the car at the w/e and had to really fight to stay with it enough to pull over... sort of suddenly losing balance...

Interesting that they have dropped the level. The 'HOT' (Hypertension Optimal Trial) trial tried to get that through in the 1990s, but never really got taken on.

They will have a shed load of extra people on meds if they are serious about dropping it to 75. Is that for all groups, or those with extra risks of end organ damage?

That is a worry.I have fluctuating BP too and its a nightmare to treat.I often get lower eradings at home which they used to accept but now white coat hypertension is being seen as a condition in itself and not the ahrmless thing it once was.It indicates that your bp rises in stressful situations and so needs treated

Not sure MB I had mine at about 138/90 ish and my consultant said the guide lines had been changed and that was no longer withinn the safe limits for stroke and eye and organ probs.I am about to try ace inhibitors as beta blockers don't really do it with me.

ACE inhibitors can be really good.

Most common side effect is a cough, but not everyone gets that.

They have wanted it below 90 for a while mind, but I've never seen 75 quoted before. Very interesting and the manufactures will be rubbing their hands with glee!

I'm on ace inhibitors and have been for about 15 years (apart from when pg) with no problems

There are new ones without the cough.I was on enalapril once and coughed for england!

The current NICE recommendations are that target systolic should be 140 or lower, and diastolic should be 90 or lower. (The targets for people with diabetes is different).

It is possible to achieve a reduction of up to 10 mmHg by losing 5% of your body weight, so for many people that can be enough to avoid medication.

thanks all - 140/90 at the mo, so hopefully a bit less caffeine/ stress and a bit more exercise will hold off meds...

would that be the same with family history of hypertension and associated problems, or would the threshold be higher or lower...?

5% of bodyweight is probably less than that required tbh - more like 10 or 15% - which i hadn't actually realised until i tried to work out what 5% was... scary.

Also cut out adding salt to your food completly, you don't need to add it and keep an eye on the salt that is present in foods that you eat.

never add salt anyway - i'm too much of an old bag whinging at the amount my mother chucks over her food (what goes around...), and mostly cook from scratch tbh, so not much in the way of processing and adding going on... although (lightbulb moment) have been at the crisps lately - sigh. off crisps for a while then...