High bp - when is the time to PANIC?

[jj23]

Today my BP has been pretty high and I'm not sure if I'm stressing myself out or not. My last reading was 156/85.

At what sort of levels should I begin to panic?

 

[theprofessional]

That level means you need to go to the doc. It's just too high.

 

[eagle_lex]

but if the pressure is only high during a cycle is it safe to go on meds? im sure no one here is going to tell their doc that the reason its high is because of the 1 gram a test they are sticking in their ass every week. my doc wants to see me in a month to see if mine has dropped. im sure it will still be high because i will still be on.

 

[jrock817]

the 156 is not bad if your a big guy under stress, but your diastolic at 85 mmHG is way too high. you really need to get that down, all sorts of bad things can come about with a pressure that high. they can happen right now and especially down the road

 

[StoneColdNTO]

the 156 is not bad if your a big guy under stress, but your diastolic at 85 mmHG is way too high. you really need to get that down, all sorts of bad things can come about with a pressure that high. they can happen right now and especially down the road

You have it a little mixed up.............

Hypertensive is anything >140/90

 

[MP5]

That pressure is not bad. My buddy's is over 200 and the doc threw him on some meds. He does not juice. Now he is pretty much stuck on meds for the rest of his life.

One thing to remember is if you have big arms then the normal arm band they use will give a false reading of being high. I think the cutoff is 16" for a normal band.

 

[Mudge]

Yes it is bad. Just because someone is closer to death than another doesn't make it a good thing.

However, did you use a cuff that fit your arm well or was it tight? Did you follow procedure, resting beforehand, arm level?

 

[BigRonWannabee]

One thing to remember is if you have big arms then the normal arm band they use will give a false reading of being high. I think the cutoff is 16" for a normal band.

Yep, my doc threw on the normal one and had funniest look on his face as he took my reading, then he threw on the big one and goes..."pheww, I was worried for a second there"

 

[bionic redneck]

i read your other posts about blood pressure problems and i'm writing this to give you some sound advice. the latest joint national commission (JNC VII) recomendations are that anyone with a blood pressure of > 125/70 or so, are considered to be "pre-hypertensive", anyone with numbers higher than this are noted to be by definition to be hypertensive. your numbers are not freightening at all for the short term, but if left unchecked, you will eventually end up with (LVH-an enlarged left ventricle), chronic kidney problems, accererated atherosclerosis, and a whole host of other end-organ damage type problems (including an acute MI)

diastolic hypertension (the bottom number) is fairly common with Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) users due to water retention and increased LV mass and a decrease in the left ventricle's ability to relax

by the JNC's new reccomendations your blood pressure should probably be treated (since you are not probably gonna come of the stuff anytime soon-it should drop when you come off)

the new rec's state theat your mortality/morbidity is improved by using hydrochlorothiazide type diuretics (HCTZ) as first line agents, followed by what most others would consider BP meds

things to watch for though are increased blood sugars, new gouty arthritis flares, and lipid abnormalities (decreased HDL)

you should have some baseline blood work performed prior to any medications to rule secondary or correctable causes of hypertension which account for only about 5% of etiologies, the remaining percentages are labeled as essential hypertension (means nobody knows what the cause is)

hope this helps, and this is not by any means a formal medical consult
you should leave the rest to your doctor

by the way, you shouldn't be worrying about stroking out till your DBP is around 115-120 range, with a SBP > 200 mm/Hg

 

[jj23]

Great post redneck. My BP reading this morning (I have a home test kit) was 130/77 which is a lot better. I wonder if I'm just getting stressed over this whole chest pain thing and it's turning into a vicious circle (or cycle ) i.e. the more I stress out about it the higher my Bp gets. Oh well, guess I'll find out for sure tomorrow at the docs. Not looking forward to it though...

 

[MP5]

jj23, are you on a cycle right now? If so you are pretty much wasting your time going to the doc to get this fixed unless you plan on coming off.

 

[EZstreet]

One thing to remember is if you have big arms then the normal arm band they use will give a false reading of being high. I think the cutoff is 16" for a normal band.

Yeah and the angle that you hold your arm at will effect the reading quite a bit.

Also I'm not so sure I agree with the "new pre-hypertensive #'s! Seems the medical profession is always jacking with the #;s to come up with some new findings. Like the damn bmi and a ton of other shit.

How i see much of this shit; A way to introdruce new meds the big pharms are gonna start blasting out,,,,,,,but first some #'s have to be changed so there is a problem that warrants there arrival to market.
Just watch what pops up in the drug dealer ads on your tv screen,


"Are you pre- hypertensive? See you doctot if you have readings of 125/70 and ask him if PREPRESSURE CORE may be right for you!"

Even if there is truth there's always a money scam behind it all surrounded by a bunch of lies.

 

[jrock817]

You have it a little mixed up.............

Hypertensive is anything >140/90

stonecold i agree, but those are just general guidelines, each person is different i should have said if your normal diastolic is lower and now has become higher then you should look into lowering it. you may walk around at 150's over 70's daily and not have a problem. it's when you go higher than your body's "normal" limits jj23 you can run into trouble

 

[bionic redneck]

hey guys, i'm only stating the facts. the JNC VII was the largest blood pressure measurment study that has ever been done, followed by the ALLHAT trial (antihypertensive and lipid lowering study to reduce heart disease), which made the recs that I spoke of.

HCTZ is about 10 cents per pill, so not very expensive at all. so this should de-bunk your feelings about the drug companies making a ton of money by this reccomendation (the other meds involved are a bit more expensive).

i know that this pre-hypertensive stuff means that 95% of us are going to eventually become hypertensive, but it's the truth.

fact of the matter is that when your on the stuff, your pressure will go up, for most of us, when you come off it should go down, if it doesn't that's when to seek help (unless your numbers are as severely high as i spoke of earlier)

i know that all of us become make-shift doctors and pharmacists when we are on the sauce, trying to self medicate and experiment, but for the record i am a physician who deals with hypertension on a daily basis (recently admitted a 21 yr/old with end-stage renal disease due to hypertension) so i wouldn't feed you guys a bunch of crap about this stuff because the long term implications are really serious if left unchecked

 

[bionic redneck]

by the way, i agree with your feelings on the BMI crap, it made it really hard for a 6'2'' 300 pd (around 15-18% bf) guy to get health insurance since i was listed as being morbidly obese with a BMI of > 40

this is being looked into, and the numbers will probably be changing in the future, but the evidence does suggest that even if you are a hulking mass of shredded muscle, your life expectancy is reduced by carrying all that extra weight around

DIE young, DIE strong, DIANABOL

 

[liftsiron]

BP's of 140/90 should not go unchecked for prolonged peroids of time. For a start you may want to restrict sodium and if your on a cycle add fermera at 1.25mgs eod until the bp drops then switch to 1.25mgs e3d. Also if your arm is pushing 17 or larger you will get a false high reading with a standard cuff. The best time to take bp is the first thing every morning.

 

[bionic redneck]

i would have to disagree about adding femera, this drug can actually cause hypertension as a side effect as well as edema and thromboembolism (blood clots)

 

[StoneColdNTO]

i would have to disagree about adding femera, this drug can actually cause hypertension as a side effect as well as edema and thromboembolism (blood clots)

What about Arimidex ?........., that always does the trick for me in bringing my BP back down.

 

[bionic redneck]

same side effects, but there again we all experiment
the easiest and cheapest thing to do would be to take 12.5 mg HCTZ if your gonna stay on the sauce (you'll lose a minimal amount of water with this)

if you come off, lose ten pounds the avarage SBP drop ranges from 5-20 mm/Hg with lower numbers for the DBP

i tried arimidex one time before, really tightened up, but man i got really depressed while i was on it, went away within 2 weeks of quiting, is this a common thing? i haven't taken any since

 

[StoneColdNTO]

the easiest and cheapest thing to do would be to take 12.5 mg HCTZ if your gonna stay on the sauce (you'll lose a minimal amount of water with this)

if you come off, lose ten pounds the avarage SBP drop ranges from 5-20 mm/Hg with lower numbers for the DBP

i tried arimidex one time before, really tightened up, but man i got really depressed while i was on it, went away within 2 weeks of quiting, is this a common thing? i haven't taken any since

HCTZ = ????

I have not heard of anyone suffering depression from an AI.