Posted on 03/15/2022 6:04:01 AM PDT by LouAvul
I’m over 70 and was taking blood pressure medication until a few months ago.
I started feeling light headed when I stood up. Recorded my blood pressure about six times a day for a week. The top number never cracked 3 digits and the bottom number was as low as 50.
Showed the record to my GP who said, You don’t need medication anymore.
geebus... that’s LOW blood pressure
what is your diet and exercise routine? share it please!
If the first number of your age is 8 or greater, do whatever you want.
The old wisdom (40 years ago) was that you Systolic went up with age. So, at 60, 160 was acceptable at 70, 170 was acceptable, etc. That’s not the norm now, but from what I read in my cardiology newsletters the numbers have increased some. I’d think, and I’m not a doctor, that a reading 140-150 would be fine as long as the diastolic number stayed below 70-75. I was put on two BP meds (for something other than high BP) when I had a BP of 130-65 and they drove the BP down to the point that I couldn’t stand up without getting dizzy. I got off them and my BP now runs between 120-130/65-75 which has been my normal since HS and I’m 70.
Is the blood pressure medication for his blood pressure?
I ask this because my blood pressure is always textbook perfect.
I take a low dose blood pressure medication to help with my kidney function.
Sometimes the pressure gets kinda low. When that happens I have to sit down for a while.
Blood pressure guidelines are just that: guidelines. Please encourage your family member to work with his doctor to achieve the pressures that are both healthy for him and at a point where he feels good. There are many, many meds that can be used, some of which have fewer ‘feeling’ side effects.
Olive Leaf Extract is used to normalize blood pressure. Be careful using it with blood pressure medicine because the medicine dose will need to be reduced and then eliminated as the blood pressure normalizes.
Sadly, this question applies to so many areas in this day and age.
Most if not all medications have potential side-effects and risk. Only the person can decide when a medication's negative side-effects are simply not worth it. As it's been pointed out here, there is disagreement among the experts as to what 'bad' BP numbers are.
A good question to ask a physician or to research yourself is what do the studies show quantitatively regarding a particular BP medication RELATIVE to the age and condition of the subject. E.g., it must be discerned if studies show a person in your loved one's age and condition benefits only very little from the medication versus where the meds reduce mortality by 80% for someone with different age(s) and conditions.
I suggest you do some more homework!
bfl
Does he take his BP at home? BP can vary quite a bit depending on time of day and activity. Important to establish a baseline for morning and afternoon, it aids in establishing dosage. Before purchased Bp monitor for daily home tracking my cardio guy prescribed 100mg Metoprolol daily... caused comstant light headedness. After showing him my tracking dosage was cut in half, 25 mg twice daily.
A problem taking multiple meds is that light headedness is listed on just about every damn drug on the market so identifying the culprit is not easy.
Maybe a stick on 24hr/7day heart monitor could be a better diagnostic tool to discover arrythmia....
BP meds can affect potassium levels, especially in elderly patients. Simple fix: tell his doctor about it!
That could be deadly!
Very disappointing thread. Now the word of all the same doctors that insisted on taking an experimental vaccine and ignoring natural immunity is to be taken as gospel? ... and yes, this is one time where painting with a broad brush is pretty accurate.
The same principles are still at work. Pump as much medicine out as possible while largely ignoring other issues such as quality of life. And if a quality of life issue arises, prescribe an additional medication for that.
140/80 at 82 sounds pretty good to me from all I have read. And when you add in the quality of life issue to me it seems like a no-brainer to not take the medication. But I would tell you to search the heck out of the topic and by no means depend on the word of the cardiologist alone. But quality of life is paramount, imho, in the latter years. And happiness derived from a decent quality of life (which it sounds like will be prevented by the meds) is the best medicine one can take.
‘...but consistently has BP ~140/80, is the risk great enough to medicate?’
140/80 is borderline high, and not really much of a concern; in fact, systolic numbers matter far less than diastolic (the lower number)...anything from the 90’s into three digit territory (as I once had) needs to be controlled...
He definitely needs to see his doctor. He may be able to change medication or adjust the dosage. Diet and exercise also might be appropriate. I developed dangerously high blood pressure nearly 20 years ago. It took a lot of trying various medications before the best combination was found that controlled my blood pressure and had minimal side effects. I’ve been on that combination for years with good control. Everybody is different and what drugs work for some may not work for others. Be prepared to argue with your health insurance company. The medication that worked best for me was initially not available in a generic form and I had to try less effective generics with poor results before they would approve my medication. The medication is now in generic and no problems getting it covered.
I would talk to several other doctors. Like everyone people get emotionally attached to their own beliefs. His doctor may be so focused on only one treatment because that’s all he has done for his entire career. And then, like he says, feeling better at his age is better then living longer bed ridden dizzy and weak.
It’s ultimately his call. However if he has been taking meds long term he needs to taper off not go cold turkey. The physiological effects of suddenly stopping can backfire on him.
CAREFUL...Read the data online about the meds. In some cases you can do that. In other cases where the meds are XL (extended release) this is a bad idea.
Instead of cutting the pills in half, gradually increase the interval between pills. Say instead of every 24 hours extend it to 26, then 28 over time etc.
Another thing you can do is, if you take multiple meds take them at intervals 12 hours apart instead of at the same time.
Monitor your BP at home and see how you tolerate the changes.
No, I'm not a doctor but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express once.
82? Leave me alone.
Doctors practice. They don’t know.
Does he owe God more years of praise? Ask God.
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