As part of the mrs Long Covid tests, we had to buy a blood-pressure monitor for her to keep an eye on what was going. Hers was fine, but she had a quick check of mine and it was scarily high. Kept an eye on it for a few days, and it remained high so phoned the GP at 8am on a Friday, and booked a telephone consultation. GP phoned just after 9, got me into the surgery before 12 for bloods and some tests, results back on Tuesday (bloods all good), GP phoned me and started me on meds for blood pressure straight away. Free prescription too, up here! Don't feel any different, but my blood pressure has dropped back down to normal levels within a few days thankfully. My first interaction with the GP for over ten years, all done very efficiently in my opinion, but I know there will be many other cases similar to yours. My mother had her cataracts done last year (in Bristol hospital I think), one eye at a time, in-and-out in 30 minutes and is more than happy with the results - hope you get yours sorted as easily.
Did the GP give you any advice on what you could do to lower your BP without taking meds? Usually they would strap a contraption on you for 24 hours to ensure they get a decent average reading.
Everyone should get their blood pressure checked regularly. Hypertension is known as 'the silent killer'.
Christ mate, it must have been pretty high for the GP to start you on meds straight away. Any family history etc?
Not really. I have a family history of high BP though. All my bloods came back good, including cholesterol, liver and kidney function. I've got a pretty good diet (especially for someone who lives on the West coast of Scotland!) and I've cut down my beer intake. Have a pretty physical job so I'm fairly fit for my age, although probably a touch overweight. I work long hours so don't get enough time to exercise much, although we do go walking regularly. Any tips?
Not really, you are doing everything that I do. Key thing diet wise is avoiding salt, and a lot of our food is heavily over salted. Salt constricts your blood vessels, both immediately and long term in a nasty double whammy, which pushes up blood pressure and can lead to strokes and kidney problems. Despite my salary and pension depending on people taking medicines, I always try to do the lifestyle option before taking a tablet, especially for the long term. And it turns out a good diet and a bit of exercise, plus managing your weight, are good for everything. But if, after a decent chat, the Dr is adamant that the pill is the best option, I would of course go with that. And anti hypertensives are well tested, well tolerated and can be very effective. Looks like a good spot and quick action. Just seen your last post. I am not a doctor but I don’t think 145/95 is terrifying, mine was higher than that a few years back and now it’s held around 125/80 for ages, on lifestyle - but then I had a pretty powerful additional incentive to manage it. I am, I’m sure, a bit older than you and there is a built in expectation of slightly raised BP with age.
Cook pretty much everything fresh when I'm home, with just a pinch of salt for seasoning. Normally quite hard when I'm on the road, but this year I've been house-sharing instead of hotels and B&Bs so have managed to cook when I'm away too
Mine was up in the high 160s before I went on meds to bring it down. It's now around 130/80. They've put me on statins too, which I haven't started taking yet.
When your wife is a nurse and she tells you that you MUST call the GP , I consider that terrifying! You're only a few years older than me if I remember correctly...
Men are notoriously poor at looking after their own health - particularly those of us over 50 I've "filed" the last two "well man" appointment offers that I've had from my surgery despite the fact that it is a relatively small time investment, yet I will nag my partner to sort out her mammogram appointments Health is something that we all too often take for granted yet many of us don't need the warning signs of issues
I'm a little surprised that he put you straight on meds with that reading. Mine is around 135/85, but does fluctuate a little. I need to check it a few times a year as brain aneurysms run in the family and keeping the blood pressure down is the only thing I can realistically do to prevent it. I presume you're a fair bit younger than me, so that and the family history might explain it.
60 in January! Aaaaaargh! Apparently 130/80 is considered ‘normal’ for my age, and 143/80 for 61-65 year olds. But I’m not sure if ‘normal’ equates to ‘good’. Always obey the professional in the house! I just think that sometimes overworked (or lazy - neither meant to refer to your GP) GPs assume that their patients won’t be able to make lifestyle changes and take the easy option, which is a prescription. Sadly, in many cases, they are right. Anyway, back to the virus, my Mum has just had the first instalment of the vaccine, yay!
Pair of old bastards! I'm 51 and counting... Mrs sent me this, and both figures put me in Stage 2 Hypertension. She seemed more worried about the bottom number as apparently this is more serious (I know nothing about medicine, so have to rely on her for stuff like this)
Do the check mate. It was this (a very poorly administered one at that, where the nurse put me on some inaccurate scales that added 10kg to my already overweight frame) that alerted me to a range of things that thankfully I had time to fix. But you are right, we blokes are very poor at this.
Lots of conflicting info on this, here’s an age related one. You were still on the high side..... I think we may be scaring people now.....
Just following the thread in relation to BP levels. As Stan says 145/95 is not particularly high and that is where I was when my GP first put me on meds. It's now regularly in he 120/80 range except when I was having chemo and had lost weight. It then went down to about 108/65. Important thing is to take it when relaxed. If you walk to the surgery and are lucky enough to be seen straightaway you may need to have it taken again a few minutes later. It's staggering how big a difference that makes.
Big news, neither Rishi Sunak nor Priti Patel will be spending time with their parents over Christmas. And I’m told that Matt Handjob and Robert Generic avoided their parents at Diwali, so that’s all good. Boris Johnson would like to be on Mustique like last year so he doesn’t have the hassle of deciding which of his families to avoid.
