Lower blood pressure

I’m beginning to doubt the BP machines at the stores. The one that I used today said 131/73 before I used it. After I used it, it said 131/73 again. Coincidence? I tried again and got 126/78. That’s better, but I wasn’t happy. I tried again and got 118/79 with a pulse of 55. I was happy so I stopped. I know that blood pressure fluctuates, but gee, those readings were seconds apart, not minutes. I did not feel any stress around the crowds and was sure that my BP was going to read lower than that. I even felt relaxed which is odd for me.

131/73
126/78
118/79 – pulse 55

I’m confused though. I haven’t had any alcohol or regular coffee in almost 2 months; I’ve being exercising & running daily for over 2 months; I’ve just about eliminated salt from my diet; I’m not stressed. But, my relaxed blood pressure is much higher than it was? I don’t get it. I would really hate to see it then when I’m having one of my stress/anxiety episodes.

Thinking of reasons…I didn’t drink much water last night. I filled my stainless thermos at 9:30 and that’s all I had to drink (oh, a cup of green tea also) for about 11 hours. Dehydrated? I drank the green tea (caffeine) a few hours prior to testing. I did eat a somewhat salty meal last night. I took my multivitamin a couple hours earlier (contains a little caffeine). —I just read an article about sleep deprivation and how it can cause high blood pressure. Hmmm…I slept 2-3 hours last night and maybe 2 hours the day before. Not my choice. Work. Yes, I’ll say sleep is the issue for the time being. Oh, I am taking a new mulitvitamin.

I checked my BP on the machine at the store.

124/70 – pulse 67

I felt a bit stressed at the time because I hate shopping in busy crowds. I didn’t feel too relaxed. I haven’t had any alcohol or caffeine in about 8 days and I’ve been doing some cardio for at least 30 min/day. I notice that my face flushes more when the diastolic number is high, versus the systolic number. Not that I had facial flushing today. But I had fierce redness when it was 130/90 and only slightly when it was 135/70. I’ll keep working on it. I just read this, “In the body if potassium is high then salt will be low and vice-versa so this link means that you want potassium on top!”.

I found this list of foods high in potassium:

all meat
apricots (fresh)
avocado
bananas
beans
cantaloupe
carrots
honeydew
kiwi
lentils
limi beans
milk
oranges & OJ
potatoes
prunes
raisins
spinach
tomatoes
vegetable juice
winter squash
yogurt

I’ll try to incoporate more of these foods into my diet. I do love them all!

I have to take my blood pressure monitor back. I did some research and found that I need a different cuff. My arm is only 8” diameter. Most cuffs only go down to 9”. I’ve looked at some prices and it looks like I’m going to have to pay a lot more because I’m not “average”. I don’t think I should have to pay more for less of a cuff! It’s like being punished for being petite.

I’m not sure if it works well though. It seems too big for my tiny arm and the measurements change drastically within seconds/minutes. It got good ratings though and people said they compared it with their doctor’s readings. I just think it’s too big to be accurate for me. I need a child’s size! The top number measures good, but the bottom number is high, then low, then high, then normal, then high within minutes. I may need to take it back.

I thought that I would start with a list of things that could cause high blood pressure:

• Reduce salt intake – I don’t think that I eat much salt. I’ll start keeping my eye on this.

• Avoid caffeine – Guilty! I love coffee, tea, and chocolate! Guess I need to set a goal to get off of caffeine :(

• Smoking – N/A

• Lose weight – I only weigh 102 lbs. at 5’1”. But, I am not in shape at all. Muscle weighs more than fat. I need to tone up because I have no muscle. I’ve been told that I’m chubby which tells me that I need to get in shape.

• Beware of drugs and alcohol – I just read that alcohol causes the body to hold onto sodium. Not sure if it’s true, but I do like to drink :) I have already made “drink in moderation” one of my goals.

• Handle your stress well – I am naturally a high stress person, even if nothing stressful is happening. I could work on this. I have problems with anxiety which I think cause my BP to raise also.

• Get plenty of rest – Not so much of an issue for me.

• Exercise – I recently made “cardio for 30 min. everyday” one of my goals. That should help.

• Stay hydrated – I feel like I drink tons of water, but maybe the alcohol & coffee is counterproductive. My blood tests seem to consistently show normal high sodium & chloride levels, although I don’t get much sodium in my diet. I’ve been wondering if my reverse osmosis system is really removing all of the salt from our water softener. I plan on testing it.

• Practice slow, even breathing until it becomes a habit. Get plenty of sunlight in your day. – I read these somewhere and decided to add them for good measure.

Okay, I’m pissed because my computer locked up on my awhile ago & erased my last entry. So, I’m not going to reiterate everything.

These are the only numbers I have found so far for reference to myself:

Listing oldest to newest, pulse following if I know it. These are pretty old readings, looks like over a year old. I have others, but haven’t found them yet.

113/53 – 62 – relaxed reading on a machine at a store
111/72 – 76 – relaxed reading on a machine at a store
161/88 – when I worked @ Walgreens pharmacy – hated it!
140/69 – at Walgreens
110/66 – 66 – relaxed reading on a machine at a store
126/85 – at Walgreens
141/86 – at Walgreens
131/77 – at Walgreens

10/05/09 – 130/90 – extremely nervous @ Dr. appointment, bad facial flush, they did an EKG and checked my oxygen level because I was having SOB and racing pulse. This happens to some extreme only when I go for a Dr. visit. Maybe I’m just scared of doctors.

10/15/09 – 135/70 – nervous @ allergy visit, slight facial flush, bad flush on chest

I definitely think nerves, stress, and anxiety is an issue for me. I’ve noticed that every time I’ve been to the doctor, my pulse races, my heart pounds, my face & chest flush red, and my blood pressure gets really high. I need to work on some emotional issues. My blood pressure is usually good or low when I am relaxed. I’ll start documenting some numbers and make some lifestyle changes.

I’ve had a zillion tests ran to find out why I have HBP and facial flushing. Nothing’s been found. Emotions?! Anyway, I’ll work on cardio and see if that helps. I don’t eat processed foods or add salt to my food, so that can’t be it. I drink tons of water, but I am beginning to wonder if my reverse osmosis system is really taking all of the salt out from our water softener. Guess I should test it. Curious, because my sodium & chloride levels were at the high end of normal, but I drink lots of water. They ran a bunch of tests to look for causes of my high sodium & chloride, but found nothing.

I HAVE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SINCE ABOUT TWO MONTHS AGO. I WAS PUT ON MEDICATION AND AM FEELING ALOT BETTER. I WILL CONTINUE TO EXERCISE AND KEEP MY CALM, TO GET BACK TO NORMAL.

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Today my blood pressure was 109/77 with a pulse of 84. That is better than ever in a long time! woooooooo hooooooooo

My blood pressure was 129/87 today. I haven’t seen the 120s or the 80s in a while. I hope this is a long term change!