High Blood Pressure on Keto Diet, no meds, yet, but concerned

(Denise) #1

Never knowingly had any blood pressure issues until I started Keto. I have been at regular office visits since 2014, 2015, and no issues with any of my BP tests. I got my own cuff in the last year as I did seem some spikes in BP. Been on Keto going on 14 months.

I just saw my doctor again, virtual video chat (really tired of that) but I digress. He is struggling a lot with his MS, I can tell of course, so I am not real secure having him as my MD, but, again my blood pressure was at 162/83, so he was pushing me to take Larsaton, I think that’s the one. I told him I didn’t want to take any prescription drugs, flat out said it. I told him I what I was doing for my health, all the alternative things.

So what I want to find, is information on Blood Pressure issues with Keto, etc. Something of late, as I did looks through and found some threads from 2017. Maybe I needed better search-terms as I just used high blood pressure.

Does anyone here have the issue (or had) and you evened it out with diet only, no meds?

Thanks much, hope to hear some feedback, Denise

(Bob M) #2

How often do you take your blood pressure? What is it like when you do take it?

(Robin) #3

@Goldengirl52 I have to remind myself that 2015 is already 7 years ago. So it’s possible it’s not related to keto. It’s possible keto is actually helping. Unfortunately it’s possible that somehow it has contributed. I’m not aware of any info for you, I’ve always been blessed with low BP. But surely you’ll be hearing from people familiar with that issue. As you already know, just give as much detail up front as possible. Hopefully you’ll get some answers soon.

(Denise) #4

sometimes, only once a month, but after I got a high one going to the clinic, for a “virtual” appt so they could take my bp, pulse, temperature, I started taking in twice a day. But I don’t understand when people are prescribed pills when it fluctuates?

(Allie) #5

What’s your salt intake like?

(Denise) #6

I’m good on both potassium and sodium in my diet, I’ve been watching that ever since I started labs about 6 years ago. I mean I had labs earlier on, but now I am seeing them online myself, in the last 6.

#7

I have had borderline high blood pressure at my various doctor visits over the years. I got a home unit to check it myself. I have realized it varies quite a lot. In fact last summer I was starting to see BP readings that were on the low side to the point I was feeling light headed so added some salt. My readings at the Dr. office seem to tend to read higher. It varies a lot. I would recommend checking daily at different points during the day to see if it is really a problem. Supplementing potassium (No-Salt) can make a difference. In general the bottom number matters more and your diastolic at 83 was pretty good. I’d want to see consistently elevated readings if I were you before starting BP meds.

#8

If you don’t mind… what exactly does that mean? That could mean you watch your salt intake, that could mean you eat the (made up) 5g of salt that keto people should eat as a minimum. What are you getting in for both sodium and potassium?

Most people that aren’t two high can get away with a diuretic to lower it, but given that Losartan is an ARB, it just relaxes the bloodways, really not a bad thing, it’s not like taking a statin or anything where there’s negatives.

On the testing, testing once a month is useless, you need to test constantly and go by the average. You’re BP is all over the place all day long. Like most tests, a snapshot in time tells you very little.

Many things that don’t look good on labs don’t matter half as much as doc’s want them to, even when we’re out of range on things many times we’re in no real danger. BP isn’t one of them, high BP isn’t something to be patient with or ignore because you don’t like meds, fixing it otherwise is always prefered clearly, but if you can’t track down the root cause, take the meds. Unlike high cholesterol that typical does nothing, constantly high BP will straight up kill you.

(Denise) #9

I just took my BP and it’s 122/66, and yes, I appreciate your suggestion because that’s what I did yesterday, and checking through the day (in different activities) as well. The only potassium supp. I have is a kind of weird one I bought online, a granule type called Bulk Supplements. It was hard to find out the right dosage because the label is ridiculous. I had to find a Math genius figure it out for me :wink: Second opinion welcome, and it’s been awhile since I used it so I don’t remember the dosage now. I’ll attach snip of label though below. You can hover over to make larger, you probably know that :wink: :

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ENSA93S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&psc=1

#10

I don’t suppose you have a scale that measures grams that you could pull out to measure this with? I guess I’d buy one if I were you. We have several left over from our boys’ high school science courses (home educated).

Anyway, there are some great food choices that are high in potassium. Salmon for one. I love avocado too. Also, some vegetables that are low carb, but high in potassium are spinach, brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, and kale too, I think. I don’t tend to eat as many veggies as I used to on keto, and tend to supplement with Lite Salt now.

Salmon is my favorite. I don’t know how much of the nutrients from vegetables we really absorb, but imagine it is higher when we eat them with protein/animal fat. Just a guess though.

I found that my BP went up when my electrolytes were not balanced or when I was drinking too much water. :slightly_smiling_face:

(Alec) #11

I was worried for you all through this thread until I got to this. My view is you are just fine, but my 2 penneth is:

  1. If you are concerned about your BP (and you clearly are), then take it 3-4 times per day and see what happens in different scenarios.
  2. One thing people often get wrong when taking blood pressure (especially at the Dr’s office) is that it is rushed: you can be out of breath, you could be stressed (Dr’s always make me stressed!), all sorts of confounding conditions. Each time you want to take your BP, sit down and relax for a full 5 mins, do nothing, watch nothing, breathe deeply, relax, chill out. Best armchair, closed eyes, relax. Then s l o w l y, calmly and with no rush or any expectations, take your BP. I can almost guarantee your BP will be quite a bit lower if you do this rather than rushing it.
  3. The fact that you have a normal reading per above means you don’t have something permanently raising your BP. You should do some n=1 experiments to see when your BP spikes… what is causing that? Eating? Insulin? Higher BS? Something else?
  4. Treat high BP seriously. It is not something to ignore and hope it will go away. I personally would be taking BP lowering meds if I had high BP and figuring out how I reduced it more naturally
  5. If you get consistently high BP, get a CAC scan asap.

Hope you find solutions.
Cheers
Alec

(Denise) #12

Hi Alec,

I had what they called a Carotoid Arteries Ultra Sound that showed those arteries. My MD I saw first of week said that was perfect, his words, but I don’t really trust that word much :wink: I know my test was good though, I saw the numbers. Is that anything like the CAC? The definition I saw when I googled sounded really similar?

I appreciate your note a lot, and yes, I’m testing my BP the most recent went up some and that was after a late lunch at 2:15. I had my usual yogurt, walnuts and blueberries. Drinking lots of water in between meals. BP was 144/62. I’ll test again here soon, then before bed, that will make 4 times today. Just going to have some grass fed ground beef for dinner and a large Avocado. Finally have some good one arriving at the market :wink: Dessert will be one of my fat-bombs made of cacao, sunflower butter, coconut oil, chia seeds. I do add one scoop, level, of stevia powder.

I did get out for 2 walks with my pup today, also some exercise for arms with my stretch-bands. Nothing vigorous though at all. Just have to say my heart hasn’t been in it. Thanks again Alec, I do appreciate all you said, Denise

(Alec) #13

I am not clear on the technical differences between a CAC scan and what you had. However, I think you should feel good that you Dr said it was fine, and if you feel the numbers were good, I would take that as good news, heart health wise.

But that’s not a free pass with high BP, that still needs to be managed.

(Denise) #14

Yes, I do get that, but since you mentioned the CAC test, I will check it out because you say as your final recommend, #5, to get the CAC. So how does that test relate to High BP Alec? And if it is the same test I already got, how does my lack of clogged arteries relate to blood pressure. I mean, I can look this all up myself, but if you want to clarify “why” you suggested the CAC, that would maybe save me a “trip” around the internet :wink:

(Alec) #15

High blood pressure can be caused by lots of things, but it most certainly is a symptom of heart disease. But just because you might have high BP does not mean you have heart disease. Your heart calcium scan results suggest to me you should not worry too much about heart disease.

So, why do you possibly have high BP? First cab off the rank for me would be checking I really do have high BP by taking a lot of readings over a 2-3 week stretch in a nice relaxed state. That data would then be very instructive. If you still feel your BP is generally high, I would be exploring options with my Dr.

BTW, what do we think is “high”? For me, high is over 150 systolic or 110 diastolic.
Cheers
A

(Edith) #16

I do believe BP goes up after eating. I would suggest taking it before, not after a meal.

(Denise) #17

but if it goes up, shouldn’t I know about it?

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #18

It’s a range of 4 to 6 grams of sodium, which is 10-15 grams of sodium chloride, and there are two studies, both of which came were published three or four years ago, and both of which showed essentially the same risk curve (rising steeply as sodium intake drops from the sweet spot, rising more slowly as it rises out of the sweet spot).

Both of these studies were large and well-funded. The PURE study looked at 140,000 people across 17 countries around the world, trying to generate data about lifestyle factors and the non-communicable chronic diseases of modern life. The other study, the name of which I forget, was similar in design and reported similar results, so far as sodium intake is concerned.

Dr. Andrew Mente, from the PURE team, has lectures available on the salt findings on YouTube, a couple of them on the Low Carb Down Under channel. Dr. Phinney cites the PURE study in a couple of his lectures.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #19

Congratulations! That’s quite good. The low diastolic is great, and the systolic is at the top of the good range. My blood pressure was last measured at 112/70, down from 138/90 (typical reading; it would sometimes be higher, but never lower) before keto.

The diastolic pressure is the one to worry about, since it is the steady minimum pressure. A value of 66 is very good indeed.

#20

Two methods of telling you the same thing, yours was an Ultrasound which many docs prefer because no radiation to do it, vs the CAC which is a CT scan so you’re getting hit with X-Rays (really not a big deal either). Either way you’re seeing if you’re clogging up or not.

Plus, there’s all the make believe “cost” of doing it. If you up the cost of doing something like a DEXA scan when Insurance pays for it for somebody with Osteoporosis it cost’s over $1000.00, yet I can walk into the gym I get mine done at and they do it for $85. It’s all BS.