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Thread: High Blood Pressure

  1. #1
    Master Daletownrunner's Avatar
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    High Blood Pressure

    50 last week, managed to keel over on my birthday, went to be checked out my the doctor who informs me that I have High Blood Pressure (the faint probably wasn’t connected) it looks to be a hereditary thing , its unlikely that I can change my lifestyle as to be honest I don’t do owt unless it’s reasonably healthy, so potentially I’m looking at medication after my two week stint of self monitoring, anyone else been in the same boat? Does the medication have any negative side effects (on running) obviously if required I’ll need to take something as the side effects of not medicating are significantly more serious!!

  2. #2
    May be well worth reading up on diet and hypertension.

    I had a similar incident to yours a couple of years ago where I was told that my high cholesterol was probably hereditary and that I needed to be on meds. Did some reading up on the subject and ended up cutting out meat & dairy, processed foods but eating loads of fruit, veg,nuts seeds etc and reduced the cholesterol by 70% in 12 months. No need for meds at all now.

    Have a look at a couple of vids if the dietary avenue appeals:



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL2cLhOqPsE

  3. #3
    Master Daletownrunner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dodgy View Post
    May be well worth reading up on diet and hypertension.

    I had a similar incident to yours a couple of years ago where I was told that my high cholesterol was probably hereditary and that I needed to be on meds. Did some reading up on the subject and ended up cutting out meat & dairy, processed foods but eating loads of fruit, veg,nuts seeds etc and reduced the cholesterol by 70% in 12 months. No need for meds at all now.

    Have a look at a couple of vids if the dietary avenue appeals:



    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL2cLhOqPsE
    Cheers dodgy, I’ll take a look, I don’t eat meat but consequently do eat a lot of dairy, I could definitely eat more fruit, nuts not so much as they play havoc with my stomach, I think part of the issue is that as I run a fair few miles I can pretty much eat what I like, some of my food choices may not be the best

  4. #4
    Ooh that's interesting, I was basically vegetarian for the previous 15 years, with the occasional fish or chicken if we were eating out. But, like you I had a bad cheese/cream/butter habit. Turns out dairy is nowt but saturated fat & consequently fairly toxic for the cardiovascular system.
    )
    The American DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) is the default recommended approach for dietary intervention, but is really a plant based whole food diet with some meat added to make it more "palatable" to the western consumer!

  5. #5
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    https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/...blood-pressure

    Try lower it by diet before starting on the pills.

    Michael Mosley has also written some good articles on this subject.

    All the best Daletown

  6. #6
    Master Daletownrunner's Avatar
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    Thanks Stagger, again I’ll have a read, if I can control things with a better diet then that would be preferable, I don’t want to take medication it’ll make me feel like an old fella

  7. #7
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    I've suffered slightly high blood pressure since I was young (hereditary I believe), but at 60 the GP put his foot down at my denial and I started on medication. So far my cholesterol has been within limits, but creeping up due to my addiction to cheese and fatty stuff!

    At your age it is probably worth a go at combating it with diet etc. presuming it is not work/life stress related problems causing it. Personally at near 66 years old, I exercise, keep my weight down am reasonably sensible but also want to enjoy a (possibly shorter) life after many years of voluntary abstinence.

    When I started the pills (5mg amlodipine) it took a while to settle in, started taking them at night and found myself thirsty, drinking and then peeing all night, so changed that to pill beside the bed when I wake up. Other very noticeable change was my resting heart rate, I've never been obsessive about pulse but used to take it regularly, it immediately went up between 4-6bpm and has never returned to previous rate. This was resting, relaxed pulse which was always pretty stable for many, many years and changed overnight. I've never followed it up or asked why.

    Otherwise I'm ok, hard to say if it effects running, it is what it is and I'm still here enjoying the hills, compared to most of the population I should be thankful, I'm at the stage where every year of health is a bonus. Good luck but don't stress about it, we have to live with what we are born with.
    Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.

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    The DASH diet is about as good as one drug treatment for high BP, so well and truly worthwhile. Having said that, most people treated for high BP do not benefit from it. If of interest, look up NNT - Number Needed to Treat - and HT - HyperTension.

  9. #9
    Master Daletownrunner's Avatar
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    Cheers for the info guys, I do think that I seriously need to take a look at my diet and this would be my first choice before meds, I’ll do some reading

  10. #10
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    DTR, you mentioned it was hereditary? If your parents were hypertensive then this would be a strong indicator for it. Am in similar boat to you except I had no symptoms. Took a 60 year MOT and blow me down, I was very hypertensive. Shock!!.
    Consultant says it is hereditary and diet etc will not really affect it that much so it was pills for me. I 'think' it affected my initial response to exercise in that it felt like it took me longer to 'get going' at the start of a race but after that it has been just fine.
    So, yes to eating healthy but dont beat yourself up about it. Take the pills and go!
    Simon Blease
    Monmouth

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