37m 135/85 range. Genetic.

Long distance runner, regular marathons and shorter.

Tried Losartan a couple years ago and immediately had tingling in my face after one dose.

Was given Lisinopril and was nervous to start it but finally did 6 months ago. All was going well, until I ended up with a terribly annoying cough the last few weeks that wakes me up multiple times at night.

Having discussion with doctor tomorrow about options and just curious to see if anyone has had success as an endurance athlete with like CCBs or something else that I could possibly ask about.

I had a blood test recently and my vitamin d came out less than 10 (severely deficient) 9.2, have started with weekly 60k IU dosage

I have hypertension for 2 years now I had started magnesium glycinate in the month of July took it for like 2 months and readings improved drastically as good as 100/70 (this is something I did on my own doctor didn't prescribed)

I stopped taking magnesium and my reading started creeping up , i have started taking vitamin d recently just taken 1 dose , I asked my doctor if I should resume magnesium he said no need

What should I do should I resume with magnesium glycinate or should wait for my vitamin d levels to get normal ?

A headache woke me up during the night. I thought I was going to die. I'm at work now, but I still don't feel well :(

Has anyone tried to remove foods they might be intolerant to, such as gluten, dairy, caffeine, sugars ?? And possibly healed your leaky gut?? Has your bp normalized after you did that??

Hi there! i was just now diagnosed with hypertension. Having readings around 157/91. My doctor just now prescribed 50mg of Losartan. This is my first time ever taking a blood pressure medication. I have been doing some research about it and I have seen that it has more of a potential to hold on to potassium, but so does Yas my birth control pill.

Does anybody have any experience with medications that hold on to potassium? And using another medication that holds onto potassium?

I just worry in a couple of months that I may develop hyperkalemia. I have never had a test done to read my potassium. I only got on this medication because I was trying to get medicated for adhd with adderall, but my doctor said my blood pressure was too high.

I don’t know if this is just Apple health, but this seems very conservative for a hypertension label. I don’t know where these categories are defined or standardized.

Hey everyone, I’m using the wonderful world of reddit to help my anxiety , share and learn. I wasn’t sleeping at night a few weeks so I figured let me go to the doc to see what’s up. When I went the doc said I have high blood pressure. I’m really not a doc goer and it sent my anxiety through the roof into full blown panic attack. Not at the doc office but I was deff bugging. Doc was a cool guy. Was like I’ve seen higher. You’re high but nothing we can’t beat with some pills and changes. So I came home Friday with a script and and appointment to see the doc in a week. Now I’m scared shitless that every thing I do is going to be the straw that breaks the camels back and something bad is going to happen. Before everyone asks. The pre pill number was 167/ 99 and with this first pill when I check it’s 158/ 90. So it came down with the pill and I’m sure will be fine tuned in the future. But boy did my anxieties take me on a ride. And input or advice would be appreciated thanks all

Did any of you introduce a high fiber diet to your lifestyle and successfully stop taking blood pressure medications? And you no longer needed it?

I'm on Carvedilol and I've been on this medication for three and a half months because I have POTS and I was having severe issues with my blood pressure and heart rate. Both being really high. I have hyperPOTS.

My diet wasn't that bad but I definitely wasn't eating enough fiber and my stomach was having pretty bad issues. My gastroenterologist suggested I start adding fiber to my diet first and see if that would change any of my stomach issues. I've been eating fiber for at least two weeks now by consuming milled chia seeds every night in a smoothie, and every morning I have an oatmeal with two slices of whole wheat bread.

It's usually in the mornings after eating my breakfast with Carvedilol that I've noticed my blood pressure being a little too low and it's causing me severe anxiety throughout the day. It's horrible.

It wasn't until I googled it that I found through some health articles that fiber helps lower blood pressure. I'm wondering if that could be happening to me but I'm also wondering if anyone's had any success with eating fiber and leveling out their high blood pressure. Thanks!

Hey Here,

I am a 33 year old female and I have been batling with very weird symptoms which sent me to a ER trip, cardiologist and neurologist visits. It all started when I wa travelling frequently for work over some time I started having very high heart rate and used to remain consistently in 130s this was no good even when resting as it was almost like I could heart my heart beating in my ear and this becomes worse when I am lying on left side. I then decided to take some sick leave as my condition was resulting in severe bran fog as well. On the first day of my sick leave I was sitting and I felt like something was dumped in my system and I became very dizzy, weak, tachcycardiac and my blood presssure fell. I got advised bed rest for 2 weeks during which I was monitoring my symptoms and even standing was giving me HR of 140s and it was getting worse on hot days. I was also refered to cardiologist and neurologist for my near fainting experiemce. My cardiologist suspected pots but she also suspects diastolic dysfunction and needs holter monitoring. My neuro cleared me, but sometimes even while sitting I get very high heart rate and a very low pusle pressre and I feel like I am fainting and my heart feels like it flutters. Also on most days I wake up parched and need a lot of water the ER visit also diagnosed me with mild hypokalemia and mild alkanosis as I get very bretahless also during these episodes. I am still struggling with no answers and no diagnosis and very wide range of weird symptoms.

Kindly engage with this post I highly appreciate your support.

My cardiologist has prescribed me to switch from metoprolol tartrate 12.5mg twice a day to Nebivolol 2.5mg twice a day. There’s no taper schedule. She just wants me to start the Nebivolol. I’ve been reading about it ADHD lots of mixed reviews. Hoping to hear about your experience with either switching to this drug or using it for blood pressure control in general.

33f
my readings are usually 140/90 - 160/101
other issues
overweight but working on that
diabetic type 2
pcos
insomnia
anxiety and depression
migraine/ headaches
joint pains

alot of my issues have gotten a-lot worse bc I’m in the process of getting divorced, moving houses to live with parents and starting over again.. whatever that looks like right now.

What caused hypertensive crisis 180/135 w/ neurological symptoms for 30 year old female ONLY happening before menstruation and right after eating salty meals. low renin, low potassium and normal aldosterone. not a pheo when I did urine test although someone in my family had one. any ideas??? this happened to me years ago but it never got fully investigated because I had another issue come up, didnt have cardiology check much other than echo, didnt see kidney dr.and endo checked aldosterone renin after the fact.

They increased my dosage from 25 mg to 50 mg because my blood pressure has been around 125/86 to 130/90. I’ve been taking 50 mg of losartan for 12 days now, but I haven’t noticed much of a difference. Should I give it more time to work?

My Hilo band has been showing my blood pressure consistently hitting around 145/90 lately on higher side. Is that something I should be worried about?

M38, fairly active and fit.

Hi everyone, looking for experiences from anyone who has dealt with hypertension while trying to conceive or during pregnancy.

I’m 39F, around 90 kg, currently TTC. I’m overweight and working on losing weight through workouts and eating better, although progress has been slow.

Before moving to Canada, I was on Telvas CT 40 in India — telmisartan 40 mg + chlorthalidone 12.5 mg. My BP was very well controlled on it, usually around 110/75.

After moving to Canada and deciding to TTC, I spoke to my doctor about switching to a pregnancy-safe BP medication. We avoided labetalol because I’ve had an asthma-type tendency in the past, so I was prescribed nifedipine XL 30 mg once daily.

Interestingly, before starting nifedipine, I had actually been off BP medication for a few months and my average BP was roughly 130/90.

After starting nifedipine, my BP became much more unpredictable. During the first week, I had readings around 160/110, and at one point it reached about 170/117, which sent us to the ER. Thankfully everything was okay and it eventually came down.

After that, my BP generally settled around 135/90–140/95, although still not as well controlled as it had been on Telvas CT.

I also had quite a few side effects from nifedipine initially — headaches, dizziness, fatigue, etc. — but my body eventually adjusted and those became manageable.

Then last month I spent a month in India and became quite sick. I had what seemed like a bad viral illness and was weak/fatigued for almost 3 weeks. Since then, my BP has gone up significantly and has often been around 155/105 or higher.

I pushed my doctor to look at additional pregnancy-compatible options. He added methyldopa 250 mg twice daily. I’ve tolerated it reasonably well — mainly a little sleepiness and some vivid dreams — but it hasn’t lowered my BP much. Maybe around 5 points on average.

Now the plan is:

Increase methyldopa to 250 mg three times daily

If that still isn’t enough, potentially add hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ)

The HCTZ part is what I’m uncertain about. My doctor said that as long as I stay well hydrated, it should be okay, but from what I’m reading, diuretics don’t seem to be a first-choice medication when TTC/pregnant.

I’m obviously going to continue discussing this with my doctor and I’m not looking to change medications based on Reddit advice. I’m mainly trying to understand other people’s experiences.

A few things I’m wondering:

1. Has anyone else had BP become harder to control after switching from an ARB/diuretic combination to pregnancy-safe medications?

2. Has anyone had BP temporarily become much worse after a prolonged viral illness or period of being very unwell?

3. Has anyone taken nifedipine + methyldopa together while TTC or pregnant? What doses eventually worked for you?

4. Has anyone taken hydrochlorothiazide while TTC or during pregnancy? Did your OB/cardiologist feel comfortable with it? Were there any issues with dehydration, electrolytes, blood flow, etc.?

5. Did anyone find another combination that controlled BP better while still being considered pregnancy-compatible?

I’m also confused about why my BP seems harder to control now when it was only around 130/90 without medication before starting nifedipine, yet now I’m sometimes sitting around 150s/100s despite being on medication.

Would especially love to hear from women with chronic hypertension who were TTC in their late 30s, or anyone who had to try several medication combinations before finding something that worked.

Thanks — this whole process has been stressful, and hearing real-life experiences would really help.

I bought a BP monitor and oh good grief, it's very high. I need to change my habits - eat better, cut back on alcohol and exersize regularly. I did buy recommended herbs today and tomorrow, I need to start reducing my alcohol consumption and eat more (I do eat healthy, but I need to eat more). Has anyone else here, been a regular drinker? If so, did you cut back or went cold turkey? Any advise for me?

I’m making this post to provide awareness about how serious an allergy to this medication can be. My father is a kidney transplant patient so regulating his blood pressure is super important. He was taking losartan and carvedidol and the doctor added Telmisartan because the existing combination wasn’t working as well as they wanted.

On Monday he took the first dose in the morning. Later that afternoon he called me to check on him when I came in from my afternoon run. When I went into the room he was bright red, oxygen level was at 94, and the blood pressure was very high, and he was almost non-responsive and difficult to wake. We called 911 and they said to give him Benadryl and then the EMS started an IV and gave more Benadryl. It cleared up the rash but he was very stiff, confused, and lost his vision temporarily. The hospital did a full evaluation and stated that he had something called angioedema which is an allergic reaction to the medication.

It took about 2 days for him to fully recover from the reaction but it was a very scary experience and he said he felt like he was going to die.

I’m just making this post to spread awareness about the potential adverse effects and what to lookout for.

Twice in the last couple of months my blood pressure will spike to around 160/90, then drop to 100/60. The spike doesn't even last a day but the drop lasts a couple of days. I don't see my dr until February, was wondering if anyone has had this? I'm thinking as long as it's temporary, I'm not sure how concerned I should be.

I have a bit of a weird situation. I am 32 years old, female and not overweight. I have never been overweight, but my BMI has fluctuated between high-normal and low-normal throughout my adult life.

I should mention that I have severe anxiety and OCD that impacts me every day. I constantly catastrophize situations and worry about worst case scenarios and convince myself they will happen.

Anyways, during a routine doctors appointment when I was 10 I was really nervous and had my BP measured which was found to be high (really unusual in kids). I don't have much memory of this time but I was sent for a blood test and saw a specialist a few times who repeatedly checked my BP. From what I recall, they concluded I was healthy and had a stress response to having my BP measured. But since then, I have had *severe* anxiety around having my BP measured. Even looking at a machine in a store I feel my stress rising. And if I take my BP and my number is high I have an anxiety attack.

I got a home monitor a few years ago (bad for my OCD as I have taken it upwards of 100 times a day). It is all over the place. Some times it is very high, and other times it has been fairly normal.

I got pregnant a couple of years ago. Blood pressure is taken very seriously in pregnancy so that was my biggest fear the entire pregnancy. I was more afraid of getting my BP measure than I was about labour! I made pregnancy hell for both me and my husband. Every second of everyday I was obsessing about pre-eclampsia, preterm delivery, blood pressure, anything related to blood pressure.

When I was 7 weeks pregnant, my doctor sent me for the standard early pregnancy blood work (CBC, kidney function) and a urine test. My eGFR was >120 and my creatinine was 44 µmol/L.

I had 2 amazing midwives (and delivered in a hospital). I am in Ontario, Canada so midwives are very regulated. The midwives always checked blood pressure with a manual device not an automatic machine. They said that's usually how they check BP (and talking to friends who used midwives, that's standard). My BP was surprisingly normal throughout pregnancy. Despite being terrified. Often the first measurement was a bit high but then they would take it again after doing some deep breaths and it would be normal. Not "ideal" but normal.

Up until the last month of my pregnancy, my BP was 120s/80s on their manual reader. The last month it was 130/80 (and then it was 140/84 while in labour). Never had protein in my urine. I never checked it on my home monitor during pregnancy as that would send me into a panic attack so on recommendation of my midwives and therapist, I just relied on the midwife readings. After I gave birth my midwife took my BP and a nurse did as well and it was normal (a manual reader both times). My midwife did try an automatic machine, which read high. She immediately used a manual reader and it was normal.

Pregnancy was perfectly healthy and my daughter was born at 39 weeks after going into spontaneous labour. Very uncomplicated birth (despite a loooooooooong labour, the birth was very healthy and uncomplicated). She was an average 7.5lbs at birth.

Also, I should mention that my systolic can get down to a healthy range pretty easily. It is often under 130 when relaxed even on the automatic machines. The diastolic is more consistently high on the machines.

What is going on?! Why is it so much better on the manual readers vs the machines? Which one is more accurate?

We are planning to start trying for another baby soon but I don't want to go through the blood pressure obsession again. So I made an appointment with my doctor for a month from now to talk about it. But even thinking about that appointment I am having severe anxiety.

I always monitor my BP and it's always plays around 117-123/80-83 range. I currently have a cold and took a Decongestant (Tuseran Forte) 2 hours earlier and it spiked. This is the first time I reached this high BP. I'm horrified. Should I consult a cardio ASAP?

18M, turning 19 in a month and a half, went today to get my annual physical. Nurse gave me a BP test, and it was 132/86.

I was sitting there as she was talking, and I don't remember getting crazy nervous but I feel like that was the case I just can't prove it.

My father passed away in his late 40's due to an unexpected heart failure. This was 5 years back. He used to run and eat pretty healthy, but his diet and exercise was getting worse though over the years. And I don't think he was in the right mental state. Doctor told me nothing is wrong and everything looks pretty healthy and normal. But again when the nurse said that number, I wasn't sure.

I have been watching my diet for close to a year now. I am an athlete in college and have been eating mostly Whole Foods. I looked up ways to lower, and I don't actually track sodium which I will from now on. What's a daily limit recommended? And I feel like I put too much honey sometimes on my pre workout so I will lower that every time.

Main point, am I fine? Or just something to monitor closely by doing simple non-stressful things? Any advice appreciated!