Cycling UK Forum

Another mate of mine(age 71), with hereditary high blood presure had been on tablets for years and was determined to come off them. He decided to walk his girlfriend's dog each day and eventually worked up to a 7 mile round trip.
He was monitoring his own BP at home and it finally came down to a reasonable figure.
Just as he was about to go back to the doctors and tell him what he'd achieved, he had a bit of a setback.
Sadly, the dog collapsed and died while out on a walk
Don't know what the moral of the story is and hopefully haven't upset any sensitive canine lovers.

Another mate of mine(age 71), with hereditary high blood presure

Did having a girlfriend at age 71 have anything to do with his high blood pressure? Any recreational bedtime substances>

MikewsMITH2 wrote:

Another mate of mine(age 71), with hereditary high blood presure

Did having a girlfriend at age 71 have anything to do with his high blood pressure? Any recreational bedtime substances>

Actually,no. He was pretty calm with this one, as she was a fairly mature 40 year-old.
His previous 26 year-old pyscho was a bit more strain on him, however.
Thankfully, he's much more settled now, having met up with a similarly aged(to him) millionairess.

That 'white coat' high BP is no fiction. I've always had excellent BP in the past. Then after a bad experience of some truly terrible hospital care, I became deeply averse to any 'healthcare' environment and then my BP suddenly went up when taken at the local surgery.

Monitoring it at home, and calibrating my monitor with my GP's, revealed that even going into the surgery knocks up my BP by at least 30 points. At home it is good as it had always been, even accounting for it naturally being a bit lower at home. Had my GP not been aware of the problems I'd been having and been bright enough to cooperate with me in testing this, she might have slammed me onto some drugs I didn't need, which might not have been good for me at all.

It might be a bit inconvenient to test it at home, but I think it can be worth doing just to be sure that the high BP a GP may measure in their surgery really is high.

(the other interesting thing about having a monitor at home, is getting curious about what sends it up and down. Eating affects it, I even suspect mild dehydration affects it, I've tested it just out of interest when I've been hot and furiously angry, when you'd think it would be high, and it wasn't. On the other hand, when I've been depressed it does go up, though thankfully not to problem levels, just a little. Not what I'd have expected as a lay person.)

Yep dehydration drops your b/p, think about it less fluid in a confined pipe will be under less pressure than a higher flowing volume of liquid.

It's interesting to hear of people's tales of the familial history.
My paternal grandparents were all long-lived, Grandma youngest of 11, she and all her sisters lived into their 80's, Grandad 1 of 3 he and his brothers lived into their 90's.
My Paternal aunt still alive, well into her 80's, my Dad dead of a Cardiac arrest at 54 and with (apparently from the PM) completely furred up arteries.

Reading other's stories it just shows that it is not always down to your genes or at least it is possible you can inherit a bad batch of genes, other environmental things must affect what is happening.

My BP is fine, always has been, and no doubt will continue to be, but I have a high cholesterol problem. This is familial and only found out a few years ago by accident.

My big sis had a routine check and they found her sky high, so she got me to get a test too. I was in orbit! 11.4 would you believe!

I'm under control now and sit at around 6 with the highest dose of Atorvastatin they can give me - 80mg.

I don't particularly watch my diet or alcohol intake because I'm fairly sensible and quite fit, so it doesn't bother me. I just keep taking the tablets!

eileithyia wrote:Yep dehydration drops your b/p, think about it less fluid in a confined pipe will be under less pressure than a higher flowing volume of liquid.

It's interesting to hear of people's tales of the familial history.
My paternal grandparents were all long-lived, Grandma youngest of 11, she and all her sisters lived into their 80's, Grandad 1 of 3 he and his brothers lived into their 90's.
My Paternal aunt still alive, well into her 80's, my Dad dead of a Cardiac arrest at 54 and with (apparently from the PM) completely furred up arteries.

Reading other's stories it just shows that it is not always down to your genes or at least it is possible you can inherit a bad batch of genes, other environmental things must affect what is happening.

I assume if my BP comes from anywhere it is my Dad- same touchy, irritable stress-prone temperament which you'd think was fertile ground for high BP, same excellent BP.........other side of the family, calm and sensible, high BP....

We're all different and there's something wrong with us all. Apart from being sensitive to draughts, I'm asthmatic, short-sighted, deaf, bald inexplicably combined with dandruff, with ingrowing toenails, athlete's foot, painful knees and, as far as I can judge, excessively flatulent.
Nevertheless, I know that woman find me quite attractive and I'm impressively fit (for my age).
I've decided that the medical profession can rarely cure anything except for things like broken bones. Often at best they can control it with a little help from the patient and that's about the best we can hope for.
jonty