High Blood Pressure?

I’ve been struggling with similar blood pressure problems. Last summer I was put on BP med after a series of high readings at the doctor’s and a month of high home tests. I always had borderline prehypertension systolic readings, but good diastolic (125/60 or so). Suddenly I was reading 160/89. The doctor put me on Verapamil, which gave me anxiety problems… made me nuts. I switched to Nifedical XL. Felt much better on it, but my home readings didnt get any better. I had some nurses check it and they all got drastically different readings than my cuff. More like ~102/62 (My cuff wasnt too small either).

So that basically just pissed me off that my automatic tester was giving me such readings and quite possibly had me on medicine that i didnt need (since the month’s readings from the home cuff were what put me on the med).

Some things I’ve noticed: both times my blood pressure has really shot up, I’ve gained a good deal of muscle weight rapidly. Cutting fat isnt an option as I’m fairly lean. Also, both times i was eating pretty clean and taking only creatine, protein (the first time i was also taking NO2 which I have since stopped, cause of the BP and cause i dont think its worth the $ for my goals and started taking fish oil and ZMA). Also, modifying salt intake does little for me, as i was already eating very little salt and drinking alot of water. I went off the medicine for awhile, and am going to start adding different variables and testing my BP (more cardio etc). I do a pretty traditional westside template and am lifting heavy for strength.

I’ll let you know if I get back on the meds and they zap my energy or numbers, or any other crap. So, sorry for the long post, unfortunetly I can’t provide you with many answers, but I thought I could give you some perspective from a similar situation. I’m hoping to get it low enough where I don’t have to be on meds, hope the same for you bro.

oh, i guess i should mention I’m 22 years old. 6’2" 205. 7-10%bf. lift 4 days a week, and play hockey. I’ve been pissing in pee jugs that I have to carry around with me for about 3 years now to try to figure out why my bp is elevated. As it has fluctuated, stress, tumors, bum kidneys, overtraining, have been considered/tested. My family has a history of heart disease but not high BP. It looks like i just have bastard blood vessels, if anyone has any input on possible non-medical solutions… or other causes please let me know. The doctor told me to go off creatine beacause my natural levels were elevated and he was worried about kidney damage… i tend to think he was operating off of outdated info. Any thoughts?

i was using a onron machine to check it at work and all of the readings i took were high all over 140 and most over 80 the nurse checked me and said it was fine i pointed to the machine and said that one said it was high so we checked the machine while she was right there and it was high, she then checked me again and said it was fine the machine was off.

she did use a bigger cuff and said we should keep an eye on it any way. I have gained quite a bit of muscle in the past couple of months and am thinking about going back on creatine hope you find out whats causing yours i have had a couple of jobs that might have raised mine (because of stress) but i really did question the creatine it seem when i am on it my blood pressure is a little higher.
Ron

[quote]roncote wrote:
Thanks for all the advice, it calmed me down a bit knowing other people still lift with high blood pressre. Since the last reading the nurse in our office checked it again and it was down although she still thinks i should keep an eye on it, the last couple of weeks have been very hetic for me trying to keep 3 side jobs going plus a full time one and keep lifting.

I have started taking sundays off, in the past year i have put on considerable muscle about 15 lbs I am probably in the best shape of my life. It just kinda of freaked me out to have a couple of high readings.

Right now i am in the bulking stage again weighing in at 170 from a low of about 150 last year, would like to see 180 while maintaining about 12 % body fat, My height 5’7"
thanks again Ron[/quote]

Could it be related to Syndrome X. There’s a suite of symptoms that go hand-in-hand with someone who is insulin resistant: hi blood pressure, bad lipids and insulin resistance. About 80% of people with Syn X are overweight but the other 20% are not, i.e. it’s just purely from genetic and dietary factors. Any chance your lipids have crept up along with blood sugar issues??

About a month ago I saw the doctor, and got a 170/120 reading. They were worried, yet I was not convinced myself.

My mother was recently diagnosed with cancer, I have a real strong cough that I am convinced raises my BP, at the time I was getting about 4 hours of sleep a day.

Then there is white coat hypertension. When nurses are about to take my blood pressure, I can start to feel my heart pumping harder. This morning I saw the doctor, and got a 158/100 measurement.

The readings I have been getting at home have been falling in the pre-hypertension area. In fact I just got 135/90 a minute ago.

Though it is not conclusive, there is evidence that weight lifting alone can cause blood vessels to harden, while cardio, even as simple as walking, will definitely soften blood vessels.

After crashing on my bike last year, I decided to take a little break, and heal up, and ended up falling off the wagon so to speak. I ate crap, and barely worked out. What I thought would be a simple 2 weeks of R&R turned into 6 months of deterioration.

Right now I am on a modified V-diet, am lifting 2 days a week (10X3) walking daily, jumping rope, and doing some GPP workouts. When I finally get my bike replaced, and the weather gets better, I will be going on bike rides about 4 times a week. 2 longer more casual rides, and 2 HIIT style workouts.

I have focused on improving my sleep schedule, and am trying to eliminate stress. I do notice I seem to keep tension in my upper body, and am constantly relaxing my chest. Also the big stress events are not as bad for you as the continuous small stress events. If you find something that is annoying you almost daily, try to find a solution to it. Sometimes people just live with the stress instead of fixing some small annoying thing.

I am also trying to see if Power Drive has the calming effect on me as has been reported.

I am also trying to breath in a more beneficial way. Too often people breath with their chest instead of their diaphragm. Breathing with your diaphragm is a more relaxing way to breath, and gets more oxygen into the system. I believe this is called pranayama in yoga.

Got my Flameout, taking the full 4 per day, and have benefiber and milled flax in my shakes. Even when I am done on the V-diet, I will be attempting to keep one shake a day with at least benefiber for its cholesterol improving benefits.

Now I am going to keep monitoring my BP, and if these lifestyle changes do not show enough benefit, I have no problem adding in meds. I will be working with my doctor on this.

Wow, my last reading was 151/75. The doc said it was high but that cardio would lower it. I didn’t think anything of issue and wrote it off to stress. It probably is stress related but now I am going to look into it more. Thanks T-Nation!

Howdy,

I went to the doc today for my bi-yearly checkup. Used the big cuff today and my blood psi was good. I’m gonna brag here - my total cholesterol was 121, yeeee-hawww!!It reminded me of another blood psi phenom that I have experienced that has given false- high readings : If the doc checks your blood psi as soon as you get in the room, it is bound to be elevated. If you retake it about 10 minutes or more later, it will always be lower. This has been the case with me anyway. Have your doc take it later in the exam and I suspect you’ll get lower numbers.