Blood pressure

[NewMoonPhase]

It's gone up.
Will doc make me stop HRT?

More info needed!

Gone up from what, to what, and why are you testing it in the first place?

No, you don't need to stop hrt but you do need to get your BP under control either through lifestyle changes or meds.

No, they should offer you blood pressure medication if you need it. They shouldn’t stop your HRT. It’s outdated to think HRT causes high blood pressure. Often it increases around menopause age and in fact HRT can help reduce it (that’s what happened to me).

They just asked me to submit it. Which I have done via a text service. I guess it's due to being late 40's?

Now they have text to say its high. And I need to check it twice a day for a week.

I'm on oestrogen progesterone and just started testosterone. But they didn't take BP beforehand so have nothing to compare.

I have never had high BP before though.

It's 133/92
No idea what that means.

www.bloodpressureuk.org/

This link tell you all about BP. Ideally it has to be lower than 120/80

You may simply have taken it wrongly or at the wrong time. You need to take it when you are calm, not after eating/drinking hot drinks, exercising, etc.

Are you used to using a BP monitor? Did they provide one or did you buy one?

I thought 140/90 was considered high so it will be the bottom number that's puts you into the higher blood pressure category.

It's not super high. Did you take the reading yourself? What had you been doing before you took the reading?

That’s not super high, but needs a check. Try cutting out all salt added to food, cut down on red meat. Exercise and loosing weight will help as well. They really should have taken BP before prescribing HRT, as it’s the reason I could never have it, as I take BP medication (this was some years ago).

Why do you think your gp will stop your HRT, rather than prescribe blood pressure medication and/or advise you to exercise or watch your diet or lose some weight? A single reading can be misleading, my gp does 3 at a time and most advise that you take a series of them over days to get a clearer picture. And yours is only just into the higher range. So no, I don’t think the gp will stop your HRT.

Mine is a bit higher than that and I’m not on medication for it. I’m not on HRT and can’t take it. My understanding is that HRT keeps blood pressure down -or is that cholesterol?

I understand your concern. My GP said I needed a BP check before he would prescribe HRT. I later found his views were out of date, but I was worried when mine was high when I self checked on the machine at the surgery. I had to go in for a test by a nurse which was normal.

They've changed the parameters
can give out more meds

Mine used to be considered "low" - usually at 112/ something

now it's "well, you should keep an eye on it".

Yes, because when it drops further I feel faint and have to eat salt. Apparently
I should be pleased with my BP, "especially at your age".

sorry OP, ranting. They might ask you to keep taking readings, you know BP changes through the day. It's not high.

Don’t worry OP- they took my BP just before doing a smear test and then made a big deal of it being high. 🙄
I had to do the BP thing at home for 2 weeks and the average was all ok. I just made sure I was in a calm relaxed state before doing it.
I’m on patches.

This link shows numbers really well.

www.bloodpressureuk.org/your-blood-pressure/understanding-your-blood-pressure/what-do-the-numbers-mean/

Between 120-140/80-90 is considered pre-high and needs reducing.

The healthy range is under 120/80

Years ago, they 'allowed ' up to 140, but that's been changed.

As Pps have said, a single reading is useless really.
They advise 3 readings and taking the average (middle one) as the one to record.

Anything - even walking upstairs or a hot drink can raise BP so you have to take it 'at rest'.