high blood pressure woes

[pwnstar]

Probably not the right area to be posting this, but I figure it to be appropriate since my training as of yet has been 100% powerlifting. I'm curious to know if anyone else has dealt with this issue & how you overcame it.


Trying to keep a long story short - I visit the Dr as infrequently as possible. Always been of the mindset that there's no reason to go unless something isn't right. I hadn't been to any sort of Dr. since around 2009 for surgery on a sinus cavity. All systems normal back then (well, other than the sinus issue) - no indication of any blood pressure issues.

Fast forward to last december when my dentist introduced a wrist blood pressure check with every appointment. 158/85! I wrote it off as anxiety of the visit (had a cavity filled & I @$%^ing hate needles in my mouth) - shortly after the visit it was down in the 130/80 range. I also had a shot of rage that morning for my deadlift routine, so I was sure that had something to do with it.

I've been periodically checking & reading up on how fluctuations are normal etc, but I'm finding that I average in the 135/70 to 145/75 range with the electronic arm cuff I bought for at home. Scheduled to see a Dr. to share my findings and see what they recommend - but I'm not interested in any prescription treatment if I can avoid it.

I used to subscribe to better living through supplementation, but all of that has stopped in my attempt to isolate the culprit. Caffeine consumption is down to about 10% of what it used to be, cutting out as much sodium as possible (chiptole stock owners might take a slight hit from this), eating much cleaner & working on dropping 20lbs from my winter bulk. I even started adding cardio to my weekly routine to see if that helps.

Anyone else been in the same boat? I don't drink, don't smoke & like to think I live a fairly stress-free lifestyle. My diastolic is always in the normal range, which I suppose is good - but the fluctuation in systolic has me worried.

[hammerfelt]

Wrist blood pressure check is not that accurate, I would disregard that reading.

Check early in the morning or late at night. Weight loss is the number one tool to lower blood pressure. Sounds like you are doing well hitting the problem on multiple fronts. If you are eating any processed carbs, i.e. flour, sugar, hfcs removing those can make your bp go down.

When you see the Dr. be sure to get your cholesterol checked, that will really let you know if you are having issues. Best to have it checked while fasting so you will want a morning appointment.

[BringtheNoise]

Doesn't really seem that high honestly. I have a kidney disease which causes high blood pressure, bottom number is more important as that's your heart at a rest, and you are below normal.

My BP has been 185/145 before bro. That's high lol. Lifting heavy things in general can raise your systolic bp.

[HamburgerTrain]

Auto cuffs are wildly inaccurate.

[runtocatch]

Your blood pressure isnt really that high. Mine is probably way higher than it should be but yours doesnt even approach what mine is at times.

[The_Standard]

For young healthy males, especially those that engage in strenuous exercise, the systolic blood pressure is a poor measuring stick. The diastolic blood pressure is a better indicator for heart disease, etc. As long as the diastolic remains below 85-90, you're in the safe zone.

[musclehead09]

I've had readings at the Dr of 190/90....when I got home it was 120-60. My doc said the ones at Wal Mart and the ones u can buy are pretty accurate. So I continued to take readings and they were all good. To back to the docs and its always high there. The lowest I got to was 130/60 at the Dr. They put me on meds for a month because it was too high there.

I took it at home one night and it dropped to 80/40 something. This is extremely low and I had many low readings so they took me off of them. Thus I had white coat hypertension.

That was 20 lbs ago. Now that I got up to 170 lbs my blood pressure readings at home and at work (they have a very accurate machine at my job) have gone up. I'm where ur at with home readings sometimes higher into the 150's/80's. just lose bodyfat for now. I noticed a lot of my gains in bodyweight past 145 have been fat so I'm cutting before I do anything else for my health and sticking to a healthy diet again. Throw in some sled pulls/sprints/walking to ur training for cardio if u haven't already

[tornmuscle123]

anything below 160/90 is fine

[pwnstar]

Thanks for all of the replies, really helps ease my mind & am looking forward to the blood work to hopefully confirm nothing to worry about.

[jiboom]

Doesn't really seem that high honestly. I have a kidney disease which causes high blood pressure, bottom number is more important as that's your heart at a rest, and you are below normal.

My BP has been 185/145 before bro. That's high lol. Lifting heavy things in general can raise your systolic bp.

damn, that's high! how you deal with it? I got down to 155/95 but now on ARBs (I think that's them, like ACE inhibitors) and diuretics.