High Blood Pressure: Checks, Tests And A 'viagara' Question

[jinjok]

I have known for some time I have high blood pressure - what tests or checks should i have performed to address health issues such as stroke?

Also, I had seen on tv that 'erectile dysfunction' can be caused by high blood pressure. Is this true or just marketing hype? I had read (perhaps here) that something like Cialis is better for high blood pressure and one guy said his heart was sort of freaking out after he had taken Viagra. Does this medicine make you all 'speedy'? and or increase heart rate? Curious to know in event years down the road I might need the stuff...

First question is the important one

Thanks!!!

[Jingthing]

Actually, high blood pressure MEDICATIONS can cause impotence. Viagra LOWERS the blood pressure. Go figure.

[jinjok]

hi - thanks 4 info, that is odd. i wonder what that guy was posting about his heart freaking out a little. maybe it was the girl and he was confused

:-))

i came back to post/edit my initial question about medications. my aunt says i should go on medication -yesterday. im coming back to thailand and then going on and doing some months of mountain hiking. im want to have the evaluation done after this becasue that will be - as good as it gets ...- me using excercise to lower my bp.

ok... what freaks me out about the medication is that you have to take it for life and meds like coorigor (sp) all sorts of really bad things can happen if you stop and esp if you stop abruptly. sounded so bad thats what really freaked me out.

also... living in south east asia. what can i do to lower my blood pressure? obviously cutting how salt is not ez given i eat in markets and small local places. i usually walk everywhere at least 3-6km a day.

how much can excercise lower the bottom/distolic number - like gym excercise. my daily walking does not appear to do much of anything.

Edited March 25, 2007 by jinjok

[cobra]

Hypertension is a silent killer, first off see a GP for check up and get a baseline.

Diet and exercise may be all you need, if not many of the new meds have very little side effects and are well tolerated, as you grow older BP tends to raise.

Don't know how old you are but adult on-set diabetes is another one that can sneak up on you, get a blood panel done along with your check up.

[leisurely]

Excellent advice Cobra. I am puzzled though, why worry about something that may not happen. Just get your current problem sorted out now. Which is better, a life time of taking tablets (possibly) or looking forward to rutting when you are 70?

[jeffrosner]

My high blood pressure has been controlled for years with medication. That was until I came to live Thailand. It's the salt.

Salt.

MSG

My wife cooks with it in everything - and so do all the Thai restaurants.

My BP went from a controlled 120/80 to 150/80. I had to add another medication to the one I already take.

How do you get them to cook with less salt when you eat out? Can you imagine the conversation to ask a waiter to get you less salt in your food?

I'll take the pill.

[jinjok]

how has the salt effected you becasue its in everything! how much lower could my blood pressure be if i essentially removed the salt. yuk how untasty!

actually i know enough thai to say to salt or no msg - but youknow it goes in anyway often. if you eat in the markets its all prepared. i love the food.. i could dook myslef and a good cook but will also drive my food budget way up.

i had a comprehensive checkup a 2 years ago. im healthy save for the high blood pressure, never sick. the idea here is to get the tests - then give the data to a doctor for evaluation.

im not worried about diabetes. i eat fairly well, stay away from sugar (at least in asia) in asia 6'/182 (180cm/83 kg). diab...thats something to check yrs from now.

i just turned 46 - my bp is anywhere from 120-140 (usually about 125-130) over 85-97 (bottom is about 93+). most worried about bottom but top is not great. i dont know my family history, i was adopted.

Edited March 26, 2007 by jinjok

[jeffrosner]

With BP like you just described, I can guarantee you that you'll likely stroke out or die. You'll definately die - I can assure you of that.

[Sheryl]

Your BP is actually borderline in terms of need for treatment, so if you can lower it by life style modification that would be better. Simply because it is always better to minimize the intake of medications.

By my calculations, you would do well to lose about 5 kg. Beyond that, sounds like you already get regular exercise, but if you could add some cardio (aerobics, biking, a sport..anything that gets your heart rate up) that would be helpful.

People vary in how sensitive their BP is to sodium. In some people, even a slight reduction in sodium intake has a dramatic result, in others it has little or no effect. You won't know until you try. I suggest you try home cooking (your own or a maid carefully instructed to add NO MSG and very little fish sauce/salt) for 2 weeks and see if it does the trick. Should not increase the food budget if you stick to Thai food.

The other thing that may help, if applicable, is reducing caffeine intake. Also, meditation or any other relaxation technique acceptable to you may help.

I'm actually in the exact same situation as you are with regards to BP, have been for about 3 years, and am also trying to manage it through life style modifications. About a year and a half ago I had to briefly go on medication. Then I did a week long fast/detox program, lost weight and was able to go off meds with BP in good range. Just recently it has crept back up and I'm heading off for a second round of fast/detox. It certainly facilitates rapid weight loss and also -- to my surprise, as I was a total skeptic doing it the first time -- seems to help the body rejuvenate overall.

High BP and other cardiovascular diseases can indeed cause ED although they are not the only causes. Erection is basically a matter of dialtion of blood vessels. In chronic HTN the blood vessels lose elasticity. Viagra, Cialis et al are potent vasodilators.

It is also true that some BP medications can cause ED. Fortunately there are a wide range of medications available and it can usually be resolved by changing drugs. The difficulty is that sometimes docs don't warn patients about this and they (the patient) may not realize the meds are the culprit and, instead of going back and requesting a change of medication they just add an ED drug, for a total of 2 vasoactive medications.

This effect is not likely at your BP range. However, BP tends to increase with age so if not corrected, with time it may worsen.

Good luck

[ProThaiExpat]

I complained to my cardiologist when I was 30 about the side effects of BP meds and his reply was to the effect that "live a short while with a sex life of my desires or live a long life with BP meds and not so much sex".

40 years later, I am still very healthy, the prediction of my first heart attack at age 49 was defeated and with three different low dosage generic meds, my pressure has never been better.

Since elevated BP is a life long condition, get on the internet and become an expert on your own condition. Take your pressure every morning at 10 am. at least three times in succession and then try various meds until you find the right recipe for you. Called titration, it is done by doctors, assuming your condition is difficult to control. Of course see a good GP, but do not turn your care over to him. Be responsible for your own care and use the GP as a tool.

There are many threads in Thaivisa on the subject of BP and Sheryl is a pro on the subject so check in with her for detailed knowledge you can't find on the web.

I was on Beta Blockers for 30 years and started diuretics when I got to Thailand. Still had a problem with systolic, so I added Bestatin, another generic, all low dosage, and my pressure is now perfect. Three low dosage meds, each attacking the problem from a different direction, has done the trick for me.

An internist and an ortho who supervised by recent 10 day hospitalization encouraged the continued use of the meds I had selected and they were complimentary on how well by pressure was controlled, even after seeing all the blood work they did to try to isolate why I bled so much. I figured it was the BP meds, but they didn't think so. Anyway, it wasn't serious enough for them to prescribe blood clotting agents.

[jinjok]

sheryl (so many thanks!) and prothai i cant thank you enough.

wow - sheryl - id be same wt i was in high school if i lost 5kg. but i do think my 'best target wt is lose 2kg. i cant seem to get below that.

i really want to do this w/o meds so i must take honest action: real cardio and reduction of salt. see where that gets me. because ive uprooted myself from thailand due to visa hassles/strength of baht-dollar i have no oppty for gym or bike.

i dont have a maid but im a good cook. trouble is i live in a flat. i could cook on the veranda i suppose, but im only going to be in thailand about 4 mos a year at least until (if) the dollar bounces back. it aint half the vlue it used to be...

anyway....i do drink WAY too much coffee. does anyone know if it has sort of residual affect - i drink 3 mugs in the morning and sometimes one in the afternoon. i guess thats something i should look into.

as some posters had mentioned medicaines are better these days but the contraindications around coorigor seemed shocking. ill give myself six months. 2 months excercise in thailand. three moths+ in india hiking in mountians all time eating better/no salt and see what can be done about the coffee. after that ...return to thailand and see adoctor. then i will know whats the best i cando w/o medicine.

i hate taken meds (esp daily) and i loathe multinationals giants esp big-pharma which would like nothing better than to have me on life-long meds.

jeff: while my bp is at worst of times borderline med to high. you cant guaranty any such thing. sheryl provide some fantastic information and also said anything but. now if what youre saying is if i continue like this as i age -and it only gets worse, yes - there is high likelyhood ill have a stroke. but you should go around saying crap like that - esp when its not backed up by anything. you are a constant reminder of some of the dis/mis-infrmation constantly on this board. your post was a waste of your time and provided no help to me assuredly.

if anyone is still montoring the thread.... what tests (other than blood pressure) will be doctors course of action? ekg? caradid (sp) artery check???

*** how does alcohol impact high blood pressure???

PS: YES, I will get on internet and look at sheryls posts

THANK YOU /ALL/ SO MUCH

Edited March 26, 2007 by jinjok

[jinjok]

thanks again - there is loads of this stuff on the internet -

[Sheryl]

The coffee may indeed be a factor, try to cut down.

You don't need much in the way of tests at this point. In fact, as long as you've had a routine physical in the recent past you don't need anything.

Most doctors would not put you on medication at this stage, your BP is not so high as to require it. But off course it could soon become so if you aren't able to reduce it with life style changes.

So go ahead with the sodium restriction, exercise and reducing caffeine, and lose the 2 kg if you can. Chances are excellent that these measures will prove adequate.

Remember that it is sodium, not just salt, that needs to be restricted. That includes MSG and virtually all preservatives. Canned/frozen foods and snack foods are the worst, in fact they are much worse than added salt to a home cooked meal in terms of sodium content Read labels or better yet just avoid preserved foods and stick to freshly made. Snck on fresh fruit rather than snack foods etc etc.

Good luck.

[Prakanong]

Good advice by Sheryl and I have been good up to now snacking on fruit and begetables but in the past couple of weeks have lapsed.

I was in India last week and brought back a lot of pickles and i have been putting a lot of (Low sodium) salt on tom's which i eat like apples.

I do have a lot of Kimchi in the fridge but have not succumbed to that yet.

[breconman]

Hi Everybody I don't Know if this counts as advertising it is not meant to be, but please check this out re high blood pressure, it will lead you thru links to the guy that helped me, I used to have High Blood Pressure I don't now and i do not take any drugs.

I sincerely hope that it can help those who have hypertention like it has helped me

heres the link http://heartwise.vse.com

Kind regards all

Breconman

[breconman]

Breconman here sorry I gave the Wrong link

http://heartwise.vze,com/script

[ProThaiExpat]

breconman: I think you still have it wrong!! I am no URL expert but is that a comma after vze?

[ProThaiExpat]

breconman: To answer your question, yes it is advertising and of the most prurient kind!! Not only is

the "tease" grossly sensationalized, no information of value is offered without subscribing to the publication advertised.

Those who suggest that lowering blood pressure without drugs is best are preaching to the choir. However, those of us who control blood pressure with drugs will tell you that we would love to do so without drugs as long as we are able to do so without adopting an inhuman regime. I have tried so many diets, exercise routines and "natural remedies" to lower my blood pressure, without fully effective results that I guess I am just a little disheartened by the latest "natural remedy".

Yes, try the "natural way" first, and don't feel defeated if eventually you turn to medications, as so many have.

In the middle aged male, systolic is usually not the problem, diastolic is and beta blockers often work well. As age advances, systolic becomes more problematic and you must then address it. At least that is my experience.

Not spoken of much so far in this thread is the causes of high blood pressure. Salt or MSG is definitely a cause of high blood pressure in and of itself and eliminating it, as Sheryl suggests, may help. However, if your underlying condition is atherosclerosis, then reducing your salt won't do the trick.

Atherosclerosis is a narrowing of the lumen or size of the diameter of your blood vessels by plaque or sludge. Common physics tells us that by reducing the size of the pipe, the pressure of the fluid being driven through it increases in pressure without additional propellant force.

Blood thinners, blood vessel dilators, heart beat reduction, etc. are the most effective ways to reduce pressure when atherosclerosis is present, and I suggest it is present in most of us to varying degrees. Just look at the cross section of any pipe in an old house and you will see how much narrower the opening is caused by the accumulation of sludge.

Diet does help in reducing the amount of sludge and a healthy lifestyle often does affect favorably the accumulation of sludge. Once the pipes are clogged, however, very little can be done without meds to affect blood pressure, IMHO.

Believe it or not, when carotid arteries are affected by this sludge, ie. plague accumulation, a roto-rooter type surgery is performed to actually bore out the artery and remove the accumulated plaque or sludge.

Edited April 24, 2007 by ProThaiExpat