Q: My wife age 61 has Systolic 130 and Diastolic 90. Diastolic BP is always high. What is the solution to lowering diastolic BP?
A: The treatment to lower diastolic pressure is the same as lowering systolic pressure. Your wife should talk to her doctor about treatment options as she falls right on the line. Simple life style modifications such as increasing exercise might bring her into control.
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I would love to know why blood pressure is a “one size fits all” diagnosis. Some people are stronger, others weaker, some have lots of energy, others have none. Why is the magic number 120/80? Where did that number come from and how can we be sure it is exactly the same on every machine. Even calibrated scales can have different results. 130/90 may be perfectly normal for one person and 110/70 normal for another. Why do we try to medicate everyone on a “one size fits all” standard?
For years the “magic” numbers were 140/90. Then the pharmaceutical industry discovered the magic of “pre” conditions which made significantly larger number of people subject to needing their drugs.
Most Europeans get on just fine with the old 140/90 and live just as long as Americans that do not pump themselves full of drugs.
Right on JIM .. I think part of it is about making money … I started taking my BP many times a day and its all over the scale ..
Jim brings up excellent points. Doctors who specialize
in blood pressure issues need to respond to Jim’s
posting. According to some doctors, a person’s blood
pressure can be “labile.” This means that the blood
pressure can fluctuate, and at times, be all over the
place. Of course, doctors sound the alarm when a
patient’s blood pressure reading is high. But often
they do not see or measure the lower readings
they may take place away from the hospital and all
the white-coats.
Doctors are well aware of the “White Coat” syndrome and take this into consideration when making a diagnois along with age, past medical history, race etc.
The “push” while, some what profitable for drug companies is mainly benifical for the consumer. The longer one can maintain a “normal” blood pressure the better, for normal blood perfusion. A higher blood pressure is just a mile stone/indicator on the journey and should always be taken in consideration with the person as a whole. better living everyone and don’t take life too seriously, you won’t get out alive 🙂
Good question, Jim,
I do not have an answer, but I eagerly await one.
Jim-you are so right.i have been researching this sort of things with Doctors for years.i wrote insurance on the largest clinic in Baton Rouge for a long time and got to know the Doctors quite well.They could never answer the question as to why the medical profession treats all patients alike.I have blood pressure of 140 t0 150 over 50 or 60 ,am 83 years old and am in excellent health.
This 120/80 reading is the average which comes from the measurement of blood pressure of many normal people. Yes, 110/70 or lower than this could be normal for many people and we do engourage to have the lower blood pressure.
Jim, in medicine no word is the last word/ verdict, we do have variations among people. What we let people know is the thing in MOST people, not in a few people.
I hope my answer will satisfy you.
Regards,
Jawad Afzal
My guess is so the Dr. can charge all the folks under or over the mark money in order for them to conform. Doctors do not make money from healthy people, unless they tell them they are unhealty.
It is also interesting to note that current thought among some physicians suggests that higher diastolic pressures are not necessarily a bad thing. By higher, I mean the 90 area that you mention. It is the diastolic pressure that perfuses the organs, and again, higher normal range diastolic pressures may actually be of benefit if the differential between diastolic and systolic is in the approximately 40 point range.
Carestia, During diastole ( the relaxing phase of your heart) heart gets its own blood supply plus diastolic pressure is to volume. More volume can damage the organs instead of benefiting it. One more thing, organs of the body autoregulate the blood supply coming to them within a range of 50-160mmHg.
Hi Jim,
I so believe your thoughts. My body seems to function well on 140/90…it never goes over that. After my last pregnancy,I developed HBP. I fluctuate between the “norm” as dr. recommend to the 140/90.
i have high blood pressure. i take bystolic 10 mg a day. i exercise at a gym 30 to 45 min everyday. i don’t use salt only what is in the food. i had my stress test in march and since then my blood pressure has been high. before it run 127/70. but since it has been running 140/90 when i have it taken at the heart doctors office it is even higher. i went to my medical doctor and it was 127/70. i then went to the heart doctor a half block away. they took it and it was 170/84. i don’t inderstand. i really would like to find out what is going on. can you help me.
thanks
Joyce:
I was on bystolic for a while and I did some research about it. It is a very new medicine, therefore I think we are guinea pigs if we take this medicine. I really believe the only safe way to lower your blood pressure is naturally. Eating the right foods, lots of fruits and veggies, walking or exercising daily, less stress. All these things add up to lower blood pressure. I would try and get off the bystlic and if you feel you need medication, I would ask your doctor to try one of the “older medicines”
Some automatic BP Monitors show different results. Some of them have a tendency to show way too high BP like the IVAC 4200 and some other auto BP monitors. Some doctors love them for the obious reason. The most accurate is the simple, mannual Blood Pressure device with the simple indicator (a needle), not the digital one. Dr. David G. Williams, edditor of ALTERNATIVES, has a different approach to checking BP. The method he uses is the Pulse Pressure which should be 40 or less. If a person have BP 70/140 than his or her Puls BP is 70
If another has 100/140 than the Puls Blood Pressure is 40 which, according to dr. Williams is much healther.
Higher than 40 Blood Pulse Pressure may be the symptoms of stiffennig arteries. Pulse BP below 40 (110/140 = 30 PBP)indicates much more flexible veins in the body, according to dr. Williams (ALTERNATIVES, summer 2006)
Why is my blood pressure reading lower when I hold my breath?Is that OK or??…Thanks, Fred..
Interesting question, Jim!
The answer may be:
If you shoot dead 100% of horses the death rate will be 100%.
So, if you treat everybody with higher than ‘normal’ blood pressure with anti hypertensive medication it can be concluded that all strokes and heart attacks can be prevented because those who were going on to have a stroke or heart attack are inevitably included, although no one really knows who exactly would have gone on to have a stroke or heart attack and were merely ‘at risk’.
Those ‘at risk’ but who would have not gone on to have a stroke are taking medication unnecessarily but in the knowledge that the ‘risk factor’ may be reduced (but not eliminated!).
That is the reason everybody with higher than normal BP gets treated.
Successful treatment is almost guaranteed with this method.
It is not a very efficient method but one that has been accepted as the only one that works.
i have battled bp for 30 years 145-155/77-90
taken many medications, feel bad with some medications, have had many exams& angiograms, nothing wrong heart and arterys good so why should i worry med doesnt lower it much and i fell bad and sluggish
How is differential of 40 between S and D beneficial, pls explain.
my blood pressure reading in the morning is always high around 185/90.
But in the evening it drops to 130/70-135/65
any explanation for this
thanks
When I was very physically active but had a B/P of 130/90 I was put on beta blockers and my B/P did not drop but my fitness did. When weighing off medications I believe it is essential to maintian an dimprove overall condition rather tha turn people into couch potatoes with a collection of pills.
Jim has raised a very valid point. Is int the term congenital applicable for BP ? How does the BP is related with heart/pulse bit ? How the Bp should fluctuate befre and after exercise ?
what is the natural cause of raised BP not the risk factors.
jim, i`m 59 my bp ranges from 130/85-210/101 i`ve been checked out many times for it, been on drugs also which leave me so weak. i went off all drugs. i`m tired of playing their games. i`m stuck as to what to do.
I weaned myself to .25 mg of Bystolic, and I feel better. I have not had any tachycardia. I try to stay calm. When I went off the med altogether my BP went to 180/100.With the .25 it has been 127/78 or so. I feel that emotions play a giant role in HBP, as does obesity and maybe even high fructose corn syrup, because I went off that stuff and my blood pressure got better. Hard to say exactly what is happening, but I am trying to continue to lose weight and stay calm.
Doreen, I couldn’t agree more that staying calm, particularly in the hospital which is not conducive to calmness, is probably a significant help to lowering HBP. I’ve done research on my own that convinces that stress and worry and anger take their toll on the connection between negative emotion and the heart. Up goes the blood pressure. In my case. I’m not sure in the long run that Resperate lowers my blood pressure, but it does contribute to sense of calmness .. . . Cheers
I love your page, very informative!!!
Thanks a million
Alma