Blood pressure, is staying high. Ugh!

(Cathy) #21

It is ok to go on meds. Sometimes, it is just the logical thing to do.

#22

UPDATE: This evening I started taking the Amlodipine my doctor prescribed. I’ve read that it causes water retention, so that’s something I’m not excited about.

I feel a bit of a failure with having my BP go up after it came down. I have been eating more fat and in general eating more than I had been, and have stopped fasting every other day for now, but might start up again soon for weight loss.

My husband carefully removes every scrap of fat from his meat while I whine if he tries to clear the fat off all the meat served at the table to throw away. He puts trace amounts of butter on his bread, while I eat a tablespoon of butter if I get hungry. We are such opposites! I don’t think that going on BP medicine impresses him much about my healthy diet!

Well, perhaps I should use olive oil for my fat instead of butter as I’ve read it can reduce blood pressure. I’m taking the prescription as I don’t want to have a stroke, but I’m not content. There must be a way to fix this.

(Windmill Tilter) #23

From what I’ve been reading, weight training is very beneficial for blood pressure. Interestingly, grip training appears to have the biggest effect. It can drop blood pressure as much as 10% in four weeks and its simple to do. It sounds like nonsense, but there is a whole lot of science behind it. Here is a link to a meta analysis I found on the American Heart Association website that summarizes the science to date:

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.111.177071

I think @daddyoh has had some great success in dropping his blood pressure with simple stuff like wrist curls. He might be able to point you to a few things that helped from his own research.

#24

Don_Q, thank you! One thing that has changed is that during the summer I would mow our lawn and freqently went on long, brisk walks. Since it’s been cold I haven’t been very active, so I can see how RT might help. Definately looking into it!

(Gregory - You can teach an old dog new tricks.) #25

How is your weight doing? ( not asking for specifics )

I discovered my high BP ( 160’s/whatever) a few years ago upon going to the ER for an infected cut…
Like you, I hadn’t been seeing a Dr very often in the years before that.
I was overweight for many years, but have lost over 40 lbs after going grain free about three years ago.
( More about that later. )
I’m sure I have been doing accidental ( incidental? ) keto since then, but not really working on it. I have recently started leaning toward zero carb with the idea of elimination of possible confounders, and to fine tune the generally good health I am enjoying.

I have been taking increasingly smaller doses of various BP meds, and now I take 2.5mg lisinopril. My medicated average BP has been in lower 130’s/60’s… My doctor tells me my numbers are nothing to worry about at my age, ( 71 ) but I would really like to give up the meds. So, if I can get my numbers to stay where they are now without meds, I should be fine according to my Dr.

The thing to keep in mind about excess body fat and BP, is that the body had to create a lot of extra blood supply to get blood to those fat cells, and the heart has to work harder to move the blood around.
So, losing weight should lower BP. I know it did mine.

Here is a post about BP I really like over at the " Undoctored Forums ":

High Blood Pressure, It’s Not Simple

The protocol over there doesn’t let non members see replies, but the original post is where the meat is.

I was a member there for a while, after reading William Davis’ book, " Undoctored ", which was how I was inspired to go grain free.
I felt the ongoing membership fees were not a good value for me, so I no longer participate there.

The bottom line is, I’m hoping to see my BP improve as I explore zero carbs, and I’ll let you know what happens in the coming weeks.

#26

Thank you Gregory! I will come back to what you have written and asked later as my husband just returned from a business trip. I really appreciate your help.

Ok, back now.
I started Keto back on 8-26-18 and weighed 350 lbs. At that time I tracked “macros” and usually ate 1200 or fewer calories a day, keeping carbs under 20 “net”.

In November of 2018 I began having rapid heart rate and very high BP and ended up seeing a few doctors and a cardiologist. The cardiologist was the most reassuring. He found nothing but assured me that if I was following Keto that I would quickly lose weight and my BP and heart rate should fix itself. He was right.

By the summer of 2019 I had begun eating more, and stopped losing weight, or at best lost a pound here and there, but the speedy weight loss stopped. My BP was good (121/73) or there about. I was actively walking nightly with my husband, and actually had lots of energy and so enjoyed pushing the lawn mower a few times each week. We have 3 acres and my husband refuses to buy a riding mower.

In the fall of 2019 I began walking less frequently as it was getting cold and wet outside. No need to mow the lawn. So I have become more sedentary.

This winter I’ve started keeping my carbs below 20 total and eating more saturated fat.

Every 6 months I’ve had my cholesterol checked to make my doctor happy. LDL has gone up each time, but so has HDL, while each time my Trigs have been lower than the last time. I’m not worried about cholesterol, but naturally, my doctor immediately wonders about the high LDL. I told her I’m not taking any statin without a CAC scan and a test for LDL particle size. Probably still wouldn’t take a statin.

Anyway, I have lost 170 lbs since 8-26-18. I don’t weigh myself often anymore since the scale rarely moves. I do feel more stressed than I have in a while, and that may be part of the reason my BP has been high.

Anyway, I do have a weight bench and some other exersize equipment so I think I will take your advice and do some resistance training. I will read more about it too.

Thanks!!

#27

I went to the doctor last week to check a lesion from an accident.

The nurse took my blood pressure it was 152/86.

I said wait a second. Did some relaxing breathing for a minute or two as per @Paendora

Blood pressure test was 120/80.

Which one do we tell the doctor?, I asked.

During rapid weight loss, for example, the body’s automatic (autonomic, from autonomous) nervous system tends toward a flight, fright, freeze (sympathetic) state. This releases stress hormones and results in higher blood glucose, and usually a higher heart rate with an attendant higher blood pressure. Fair enough response as maintaining body weight is an ancient automatic response associated with life. If you are aware of the context, a high blood pressure is a normal response. A high blood pressure that persists is an abnormal modern day response.

The autonomous body will move between flight response and relax response under different stimuli.

Interestingly, and I wish I could find the exact reference or expert interview, doctors for women do suggest that eating slightly higher carb low carb diet has the potential, in some women, to relieve some of the stress symptoms of a very low carb ketogenic diet. Eating some, maybe only up to 100g, whole foods carbohydrates may induce the rest and relax (parasympathetic) response, lowering heart rate and lowering blood pressure.

Wow!

You’re a Keto-veteran with great responses on record. Experimenting with inputs and recording the results should be well within your curiosity.

At any blood pressure measurement, take your heart rate at the same time. Those two measures together are worth more than their individual value.

If you find a way to control heart rate, if it is associated with elevated blood pressure, then you can affect your blood pressure reading.

It may have been Amy Berger, or Jaime Seemen who was describing the complexity and the testing with carbs.

You can work with low carb practitioners online. For example

#28

Any stress to the body can raise your BP, being sick is no excuse. If you have a fever your body’s immune system has been fired up for something so a higher BP is to be expected. Are you getting enough sleep? Any physical activity? That’s one of the biggest ones for a high BP, we can eat our way out of a lot, but regular exercise beats most medications in that area.

(back and doublin' down) #29

Loved this post!

trauma. and trauma to the body comes in many forms, including psychological. Hadn’t thought about rapid weight loss as a trauma, but it fits! Another puzzle piece in some work I’m doing fit into place.

I’ve noticed this is myself at times. The comfort of a few carbohydrates does indeed induce relaxation.

Cool how that breathing worked for you @FrankoBear. Just that little bit of mindfulness. I’ve been consistent in my meditation practices for ten years now, and believe strongly it has saved my life, and my physical health as well as my mental health.

#30

Wow! So much good information to consider and work through. Thank you!

I am not yet ready to increase carbs, :smile: but will definitely research it. I started with some weights this morning using the bench we got for the boys. They never use it, but I will. Also, I walked for 35 minutes at 2.8 mph on our treadmill. I could have walked much longer, but it is so boring! I walked on it last night too. Might again later.

I think that exercise is relaxing and releases stress, so some activity should be good for me long term.

Thank you for your ideas, suggestions and information! I really appreciate it a lot. Pills are never my first “go to” when something is wrong. But since my BP has remained high I have relented and started the medicine. My hope is that it is just short term.

Just adding that lately when I check, my heart rate is very good, even after exercise. It’s just my BP that his very high. Sometimes 163/83 and sometimes even higher. Yesterday it was 173/93 and that is why I started the medicine. I will be checking my BP regularly.

(GINA ) #31

My guess would be it is the change in exercise. My BP stays down as long as I exercise near-daily (even just a 1 mile stroll).

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #32

@Don_Q @GreeneggsNham

@Don_Q mentioned my progress above. First a lot of people on keto have their BP drop quickly, even before weight loss. The kidneys regulate BP and play a big part of reducing or raising BP.

I’m 66 yo and have had persistent essential hypertension since my 20s. Lowered carbs about 7 years ago and fixed prediabetes. But still had some metabolic markers that were not ideal and wt was creeping up. So June 18 2018 I went strict keto. I very rarely go over 10mg/day now (last 6 months) and never more than 30g/day carbs.

Most everything improved and BP got a little better on Strict keto.

But I was still on 4 BP meds

  • amlodipine 10mg/d
  • HCTZ diuretic 25/25
  • ramipril (calcium channel blocker) 10 mg/day
  • toprol (beta blocker) 50 mg/day

I was on ramipril post bypass more for what it does to blood flow (teflon for the arteries my last cardio called it).

So as the wt went down my BP decreased a little every qtr. But it really started to improve more when I started doing Body By Science resistance training to failure. I converted from volumetric resistance training. Quickly I started to visually lose visceral fat, gain muscle mass and most recently dramatically visible improvements in size and ability to see veins in my arms and arterial pulse in my wrists.

I do a number of failure training exercises but I especially do wrist curls because there is a study that shows that this exercise alone can reduce systolic BP. I’m up to 40lbs each wrist at a time.

Dr McGuff has a lot of videos online where he talks about metabolic improvements with Body By Science training. https://youtu.be/RwgywNZzEi4

The odd thing is I’m not losing weight. I’m stable at 185 to 190 for 6 months. But I am losing fat in my body because I have a lot of old many lose skin and I can feel my legs and arms (etc.) and they are noticeable smaller and tighter.

I believe that I had (have) insulin resistance since my late 20s and it manifested in high BP and visceral fat.

Keto helped, but failure training has really helped.

2 weeks ago I got off of amlodipine and my doctor says I don’t need to go back on it if my systolic BP is not consistently over 130. My BP just now was 110/62 with a pulse of 60. So I might be able to reduce the amt of one of my meds soon.

Gosh I love BBS (Body by Science) training. I am a fan and will be for life.

#33

Thank you for stepping in here to share your success and what has worked for you! I’m impressed by what you have accomplished.

The truth is, I have been flirting with buying the Body By Science book for some time now. As of today I am borrowing the e-book from the library right now, but will probably ask my family for it for my upcoming birthday.

This is fascinating and interesting! I love learning new things on how to improve my health. Thank you for the links too!

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #34

@GreeneggsNham Join us in this thread that is mostly about Body by Science training but also some posts about blood flow restriction training.

#35

If it’s the one that starts in November of '19, I believe I just found it. There is a lot of reading on that thread for me to get through, but I plan on trying to get through it. Thank you!

#36

Update : I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth!

I have started working with weights and have also started using my treadmill regularly. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lit of equipment but am working with what I can.

All in all, I feel pretty good. With the BP medicine, I do feel better. Less stressed somehow. But I really would like to get off of it!

This weekend I traveled with my husband and younger two sons to a chess tournament while a relative is filling in as care-giver. I don’t play chess, but the boys do. This us just an opportunity for me to relax.

I’ve enjoyed the climbing machine at the hotel gym, but realized that my thigh muscles are pretty weak. :slight_smile:

(Bunny) #37

Keep that up and you will be diving under the arctic ice with the penguins, seals, polar bears and whales on your own TV documentary like Wim Hof…lol

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(Atlanta Girl) #38

My BP is normally around 110/60 but when I fast, it skyrockets so I add magnesium, potassium, and pink salt… Magically it drops back down. Have you tried actively integrating more to your diet?

#39

Good idea!

I have considered adding more potassium and magnesium. I track food and how much I supposedly get from eating and add in more of both. I’m not really sure there is as much potassium or magnesium in food as the nutrition apps and guides claim. However, I do try to get a total of 600 mg of magnesium and at least 3000 mg of potassium daily.

Lately, most days my app clains I am getting closer to 3500 mg of potassium. Back in December if 2018 when I first had BP issues I made ertain to get 4500 mg of postaaium daily. But it is hard to get that much from food and supplements.

I do think I’m getting enough salt as I tend to munch on it throughout the day. I had thiught that if I keep uo my salt rhe other electrolytes should stay up.

I didn’t feel bad at all until aftet the doctor told me my BP was high. Since then, every time I go near a blood pressure cuff i can feel my stress rise! I’m a mess!

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #40

You can had too much potassium. Low and high potassium can lead to heart problems. Does your doctor know how much supplements you are taking?

Also I rest 15 minutes before taking my BP and my doctor approves. I find that with the automated cuff I have my BP is higher with the cuff over a sleeve. So I make sure now to take it with a short sleeve on.