Q: What is the “real” evidence behind the 120/80 numbers? The Europeans and Canadians seem to get along just fine with 140/90
A: I do not understand your question. 120/80 is no longer considered normal. Europeans, Canadians, and Americans agree that blood pressure at 140/90 needs to be treated. Blood pressure below this level does not need to be treated unless you have diabetes or other risks. To read the recommendations of the country that interests you, click on the appropriate link.
CANADA: Hypertension.ca
EUROPE: Escardio.org
USA: National Heart Blood and Lung Institiute
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The Canadian site – hypertension.ca – says: If BP is high-normal (SBP 130 – 139 mmHg and/or DBP 85 – 89 mmHg), annual follow-up is recommended (Grade C).
The reason I originally asked this question is because I keep getting pressured to take drugs even when y BP is around 130 / 85
I don’t know what the situation in regard to health insurance and visits to doctors in your country is, but may be you could ask your doctor whether it may be worthwhile to have a 24-hour halter monitor to see what the BP is doing during 24 hours, and also an ultrasound of the heart which would show the condition of the heart and whether there is left ventricular hypertrophy. That’s what I did and when everything came back normal I decided not to take drugs. This was 10 years ago and against doctor’s recommendation. I had another 24-hour monitor two years ago and the results were just about like 10 years ago. So I thought ‘why bother?’ In my situation I decided that the side effects of the drug(s) far outweighed the benefits, although as mentioned, the doctor does not agree with me. You’ll run against current recommendations and wisdom, which makes it harder too. But it is your life, and you have to take responsibility for decisions you make.
I read the same thing about Canada and high blood pressure readings. Now you state that 120/80 is no longer normal! What is normal now? I believe they want the whole country on drugs. Our diet is what has caused most of the problems.
I beleive someone is benefiting from the drug company and trys to push it
i think she meant 140/90 is not normal. A typo.
Call me cynical but the lower they make the readings the more pills they can push. There are side effects with any meds and HPT drugs are notoriously problematic.
I take Micardis 40/25Htz with good results.
Your answer to this question ” 120/80 is no longer considered normal”.
Okay, so according to everything I’ve read and know, I’m an RN, and also according to all the staff I work with in a major city hospital O.R. that would be considered a normal, acceptable BP.
So—want to elaborate on what you now consider to be ‘normal’.
The Canadian info on H/P gives one hope.
I believe that it can relax one and at that could possibly help in lowering one’s B/P.
Trying to keep a 120/60
can be quite trying at an older age.
I’m hoping that numbers can be regulated to a more solidly standard
Meds have so many side effects.
.
Therese Vidoni
Different doctors will give you different answers. what happened is the same thing that happened with cholesterol lowering drugs. The big drug comanies wanted to sell more drugs so they lowered the numbers!The same number can’t be the same for every person!each individual is different. The drugs will kill you over time. Your blood pressure bounces around like a ping pong ball through out the day.They had me on 5 medicines and now i am down to two.once I got away from the doctors my blood pressure went down.I’m 69 years old and they wanted my blood pressure to be the same as a 20 year old.So the fools overmedicated me. the medicine was killing me with their side effects and i still suffer with side effects but not as bad since i stopped taking so much medicine . My grandfather lived to be 101 years old. at 75 his blood pressure averged was 155/90.he refused to take blood pressure medicine. I wish i had refused.
Be suspicious, no kidding. And Jerry, you are so right. My grandfather stayed away from docs and pills and lived to 99. My aunt, the same, lived to 104. Big pharma will kill us all.
The link for Europe does not work! Not a lot of confidence referencing something that does not work.
Page not found
Looking for something on the ESC Web Site?
The drug industry in this country…..that’s what it is all about. “Normal” blood pressure levels are a function of history, not only geography. In this country, high blood pressure used to be greater than 150/100. In the past in this country, age was considered in whether blood pressure was too high. The older a person got, the more acceptable were higher numbers.
The medical “profession” seeks to lower the “normal” level, based on pressure and “education” from the drug industry so that the drug companies can get fatter and happier on your and my pocket book. If you don’t like hearing it, I would offer my favorite Harry Truman saying, “The truth can stand alone”!
Now we are hearing about this wonderful new buzz term, “pre-hypertension”. If your blood pressure is over 120/80, you have “pre-hypertension”. Soon, if they aren’t doing it already, “pre-hypertension” will be cautioned as something you need to take meds for. I can hardly wait for the TV ads to start running……”ask your doctor if”! Bunk!!
ALL of the blood pressure meds are toxic to your system. Probably the least negative are the old diuretics (hydrochlorothiazide) and the old ACE inhibitors (fosinopril). That said, diuretics upset your electrolyte balance, and ACE inhibitors have their own problems(what’s that freakin cough all about?)……just google “negative side effects of (put your drug here)” and prepare to be enlightened by some reality. Beta blockers have awful side effects, as do many of the others, and they are very unhealthy for your heart and circulatory system in the long run. Beta blockers are no longer included in the “first tier” medications for treating hypertension in Britain because of the harm they can cause.
A blood pressure of 135 over 85 is nothing I personally would EVER take meds for. You can certainly lower this level if it concerns you through many natural methods.
And, I know it’s a different subject, but don’t EVEN get me started on the STATINS!
I am in the same situation with BP readings of in the mid 120s/mid 70s and mid 130s/80. I too am being pressured by doctors and cardiologist to take medication for ‘prevention of heart attack and/or stroke’. That’s why I keep reading these pages to see what others think and do.
I am 61, fit and healthy, low cholesterol, not overweight, an ultrasound of the heart showed no impact whatsovever of the (long-term) pre-hypertension, everything is perfectly ‘normal’. I just stopped going to the doctor to be told or to find out whether there is something wrong with me. Once past 60 there are many things that can be found and surgically removed that don’t work like a 20-year-old’s anymore. Being past 60 has become synonymous with having to take some kind of medication for god-knows-what.
I agree that lower is better, but to medicate someone with 135/80 exposes the patient to long-term side effects that are known vs the unknown risk of heart attack or stroke. After all it is just that, a risk, a statistic. Medicating everybody with ‘pre-hypertension’ improves the statistics of survival enormously. This is a shot-gun approach which also then targets healthy people who never go on having a heart attack or stroke, but nobody knows, nor is able to find out, which these people are. Therefore the shotgun approach is the safest bet.
I guess, the problem to medicate or not is that ‘doctors are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t’ and probably are concerned that they are being sued.
I also wonder whether there is a tendency to medicate according to the demographic of the patients and that is a very overweight and unfit population that is indeed at an increased risk, and therefore includes, unfortunately, otherwise healthy people.
I don’t know what the answer is but, I have normal blood pressure in the morning and normal around 7pm. I have a business, I am running constantly at 58 years old. During the day I run 151/89…
I am thin and my mom had high blood pressure, I am on Triamterene a water pill, twice a day, 37.5mg/hctz25mg,I have been taking this medication for over a month, alittle improvement. I cannot take other medication, makes me dizzy and I have to work physically. Anyone else with this dilema??? Thank you!!!
I am 36 years old and have been on blood pressure meds for about 3 years now. I have horrible side effects from the HCTZ and the Norvasc. About a week after I started both, I was driving and felt like passing out. I pulled over to the side of the road and called 911. My blood pressure was 210/180. I was having a huge panick attack. Since that incident, I have had 3 other episodes of feeling faint while I have been driving. All three times I have pulled over and called 911. All four times I have been sent home as diagnosed with hypertension and panic attacks. Of course you will have a panic attack when you are driving alone on a freeway and feel like passing out. I am a healthcare attorney and my mom a physician. I have had so many disagreements with my primary care doc and my mom about these horrible side effects of the BP drugs. I exercise, try to eat right (no one is perfect) and have tried to lower my pressure with natural supplements and acupuncture. My BP ranges from 140/80-90 to 120/70 on the Norvasc, exercise and natural supplements/treatments. My doc discontinued the HCTZ because of the side effects. I still have dizzyness due to the Norvasc. I am simply lost as to what to do other than lose weight continuously and exercise 4 times a week for an hour each time. It is a full time job to get the BP in control. It has taken over my life. The side effects from the BP meds were far worse than the high BP. I understand about long-term effects of BP and that is why I suffer now. But if the side effects trigger panic attacks and don’t allow me to drive where I need to drive because of safety reasons, how can I live my life and be relaxed about it? The BP meds are creating more problems than they are solving.
Has anyone gone through something similar to what I am describing and how did you work through it. Of course I do believe that PHARMA is pushing the drugs, but our docs don’t have to–heck, most of them have elevated BP levels also. The UK and CANADA have universal health care so we know who pays for the drugs; however, who is paying for the clinical studies to determine the levels. That is an extreme issue in the U.S. and why, as consumers, we must understand the process by which new protocols for drug prescription are being determined.
For several years my daughter and her family lived with me and eventually the stress caused my blood pressure to spike and made me feel so bad I wound up in the emergency room. After that happened twice my doctor started me on a bp med. I wish with all my heart that I had never started taking it. One after another my doctor has had to try different bp meds because the side effects were awful. As you said they were worse than the bp itself. (They moved last year so I have less stress but the damage is done.) Now I have found one that I can tolerate (metoprolol er) but I still don’t like taking it. My bp is usually in the pre-hypertensive numbers and I do get the anxiety attacks quite often when I’m under extra stress. I’ve tried several times to wean myself off the med with no success. Every time I try I start feeling terrible and get a panic attack which makes me feel even worse. The medicine also makes me consistently constipated so that I have to take fiber and herbs so to get my bowels to move. (I won’t take more chemicals.) The constipation also causes other problems with my health, of course. I can’t go back three years and not start taking the pill but I sure wish I could. I’m 62 and would feel a lot better if I didn’t have this to worry about.