1 week one day till sharm, just been told ive got high blood pressure

[aclivity]

The nurse at my practice said my BP was high, but she ummed and ahhed a bit and then went to get the "larger size" cuff. Apparently my muscly arms (or did she say fat?) were at the top of the standard size cuff, and gave a high reading. With the lardy cuff on my BP was a bit raised but not high enough to be a worry.

Just a thought - when you get checked in a week, make sure the cuff is a comfortable fit?

Andy

[ianfirmin]

I have high blood pressure, controlled with pills. My doctor admits that stopping smoking will have no effect and dietry changes, such as cutting out extra salt, often have little effect. The only proven way to get it down is to stop drinking (alcohol). I intend to keep on taking the pills.....

[Allan Carr]

I've got high blood pressure and high cholesterol - it runs in the family and can't be controlled by diet, exercise etc. It is controlled by pills and these do not affect my diving. Some blood pressure medications can have contra-indications for diving e.g. beta-blockers so make sure you tell the doctor that you are a diver.

[Frankie Price]

A recent blood pressure test that I had showed a systolic of 147mm Hg and a diastolic of 105mm Hg so in theory I should be chronically ill.
However my resting heart rate is 60 and lung function has a peak flow of 750 l/min, so all in all not much of a problem.
I was told by my doc that high blood pressure on its own is not too risky in a person who is physically fit and active, as it can be up and down like a whore's drawers. It only gets treated as a problem if it is consistently high over a number of months.
The last blood pressure test I had was a bit lower at 135 over 90.
I think my problem is too many high salt takeaway meals and too much red wine.

[jonny200]

what exactly was the bp reading?

start by drinking welshs red grape juice, this has been scientifically been proven to reduce blood pressure. its actually quite effective. I use this with alot of my clients.

[Mary]

Originally Posted by jonny200

start by drinking welshs red grape juice, this has been scientifically been proven to reduce blood pressure. its actually quite effective. I use this with alot of my clients.

Any references?

[ianfirmin]

Originally Posted by jonny200

what exactly was the bp reading?

start by drinking welshs red grape juice, this has been scientifically been proven to reduce blood pressure. its actually quite effective. I use this with alot of my clients.

This sounds like complete snake oil to me.

My recommendation is to go to a personal trainer. I did and in 5 weeks my BP was the lowest it has ever been (since I started recording it about 16 years ago). I made no other changes to lifestyle, diet or anything else.

[The Cherub]

I had a year of fun and games with my Blood Pressure, had a company medical which showed it being high then a lot of visits to the Doctor finally had a 24 hour monitor which showed it was high. Went on the pills and have been signed off as fit to dive after a medical.

The only person you should be consulting about your Blood Pressure is your GP as they are the person who will decide what treatment is right for you. Print off a copy of the UKSDMC guidline and show it to your GP it will help them with the treatment.

You should admit to the problem if you are in Sharm and go and see the Doctor at the Hyperbaric chamber, they are the world experts and see if you can be signed off by them. Although in Sharm in January they didn't even ask for a Medical declaration form to be signed just the normal we killed you "tough" liability form.
The problem is if you have an accident the insurance company could start to play silly buggers and not cough up because you knew you had a problem.

The most important thing to remember is it has been found and is treatable and a nearly a third of the population share the same problem and most don't know about it.

[jonny200]

Originally Posted by ianfirmin

This sounds like complete snake oil to me.

My recommendation is to go to a personal trainer. I did and in 5 weeks my BP was the lowest it has ever been (since I started recording it about 16 years ago). I made no other changes to lifestyle, diet or anything else.

i am a personal trainer.

oh and this has worked for sereral of my clients. 2 of which were initially on moderate doses of atenolol (50mg) now they have been taken off the drug completely by their doctor. Of course this was followed with an exercise programme. Although both clients claimed to have noticed a difference after a couple months with the grape juice

[jonny200]

Originally Posted by Mary

Any references?

Red grape juice may have anti-hypertensive effect


Concorde Grape Juice Has Heart-health Benefits Like Red Wine