Q: What is the significance of having a lower diastolic (50’s & 60’s) with a high systolic (anywhere from 119 to 140’s, 150’s, 160’s and occasionally 170’s)?
A: You have isolated systolic hypertension. This is a condition that needs to be treated to lower your risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Having a big difference between your systolic and diastolic pressures is an added risk.
Further Reading:
Isolated Systolic Hypertension-Causes, Diagnosis and Cure
(13 votes, average: 3.54 out of 5)
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my blood pressure very unstable one weak range from 120/90 next weak 170/110 without any visiable reasons.What I suppossed to do?
if you take a BP reading more often during the day, you may just find that this wide variation occurs within the same day and it is just the chance that when you read it a week later it happened to be at a time that it was higher on that day. …just saying:)
Jim thanks for your icnite re Insulin level and carbs/sugar. I have never been told this by a physician, in over 40 years!! No wonder I’ve had high cholesterol that won’t go down, and now high blood pressure, as I eat way too much sugar. Thanks a lot and I’ll take your advice.
I can definitely vouch for the no sugar approach. Also no white flours, pastas, etc. Just whole grains. They are now saying hypertension is a result of insulin resistance. For the high cholesterol, eliminate animal protein, ALL oils and dairy. Just fruits vegeatable and whole grains. The refined grains raise trigycerides.
There could be other reasons for a high systolic and low diastolic pressure. My husband had these type of readings and was diagnosed with a leaking aortic valve, which had to be replaced.
I have this isolated systolic hypertension – how can I determine whether this may be caused by a leaking valve??
My Systolic is usually high and my Diastolic can be either normal or high. My father had a valve problem and had it replaced. It is typcially diagnosed via stethoscope as a murmur and then shows up on a echocardiogram. It might even be shown on an EKG, I’m not sure. A routine physical would probably pick it up. Mitral Valve Prolapse typically has symptoms of cough and shortness of breath.
I agree with both Barb and the others. I have to watch my carbs and sugars as I toe the line of Diabetes type 2. However, I know most likely it isn’t a mitral valve or other heart defects as I have had two nuclear stress tests, as well as a couple of echocardiograms. I also have to take an anti-anxiety drug daily as any heightening of adrenalin can cause some serious spikes (as a reaction to my body’s own release of epinephrine – took a lot of different occasions that didn’t seem related to come up with that). Anyway, if you have serious spikes in BP, you should make sure the docs rule out a heart or valve defects before automatically increasing exercise. Also, a lot of people forget that too much protein can work the kidneys too hard, which can also cause a bp spike. I have occasional “hiccups” in my heart timing that can trigger a short term bp up/down before it resets itself (this is basically how cardio doc described it). It’s not serious enough yet for a pacemaker, but is always a consideration. Sometimes they can be caused by an electrolyte imbalance – something a lot of people fail to consider – especially in the summer months, or during any strenuous exercise.