Blood pressure anyone ?

[Greenman50]

I know theres a section for the 24 hour blood pressure test but i thought i might get more replys here .

Just got the results of the 24 hour moniter , for some reason it only read 19 readings instead of the 32 it should have done , trust me to get a dud :lac:

Any way , the average over 24 hours was 168 / 80 :ohmy:

Going back to the docs on Friday to discuss as the nurse although a nice lady would not give her thoughts on the reading .

How bad is this reading and what is considered to be normal ?

Originally when the doctor tested my bp it was 156 / 94 and he said he would be happier if it was a max of 150 / 90 .

Age 48 .

Any advice or any sites to read up would be appreciated i am not going to google !!

Thanks everyone

[Ally-SA]

Hi Mel

To be honest - that is quite high. I'm sure it can be remedied though - with diet or medication.

I haven't read the blood pressure section either - but don't be scared. There might be some good pointers in there! :) xx

[skippy66]

The bottom number is absolutely normal, the top one is a bit high but I've had plenty of readings like that, if you were stressed it was likely higher than normal, plus there are loads of other factors which make it high at times and low at others.

Relax about it, because relaxing will actually help to lower it.

If you have to google, search for 'how to reduce blood pressure at home' and follow the advice.

[Ally-SA]

Yup I agree with Skippy...

I take my own blood pressure readings at home when I am calm and relaxed - whenever I am anxious mine too go high.

Take care. xx

[Mose]

My father and aunt both have hypertension, My aunts was actually 200/90 for a really long time and my fathers was 170/90, It can be controlled with medication. They are both in normal or high normal range. Mine would change with anxiety which is very common. Over fifty million Americans (about one-fifth of the U.S. population) have hypertension try not to worry and good luck!

[RVP]

80 is good, it's in the normal range.
What's your BP when you're asleep? You must have gotten a peice of paper with the readings.
Even though I am on meds, my BP whilst asleep was something like 100/60 which shows it's most likely my anxiety that has contributed to high BP, I might have slightly high BP otherwise but anxiety certainly puts it up a lot higher. (I'm 21)

[joelhall]

That's certainly hypertensive. Normal for your age is variable as BP is at all ages, but diastolic should certainly by in the 80s, preferably in the lower end.

[Greenman50]

Thanks for the advice guys / girls its appreciated .

The reading was a 24 hr one , and apparantly it was still high in the night but it was hot and i doubt i was a sleep properly as the moniter thing kept wakeing me up .

Anyway , the Doctor has started me off on a very low dose of meds and they will be trying to get the bp down gently plus i,m on a health kick and a diet .

If anyone is interested i can up date .

[joelhall]

I'd like to hear your updates, always good to hear of someone on the mend.

[Jeninthesky]

Hello,

My Dr. always told me that the top number is the one that can be influenced the most by stress and such. I've always had low bp but it gets higher if I am more anxious.

Also, those automatic bp things have never worked for me. My gp did the automatic thing on me, and the reading came up at 137/90, which is very very high for me.

Then she did the manual test and it came out 116/64, which is a lot like how my bp usually is.