High Blood Pressure Questions

[PattynVA 0]

For those of you who have high blood pressure, you should also ask your doctor to send you for a PVL of your renal arteries (ultrasound).

My blood pressure was 227/144 and I was sent for a PVL, sure enough my right renal artery was blocked (renal artery stenosis).

I was sent to a Vascular doctor, he did a Renal angioplasty and put a

stent in the artery to keep it open, ever since, my blood pressure has been fine. If your renal arteries are blocked with plaque, it will cause your pressure to run high. Please mention it to your doctor, as I was a stroke waiting to happen with blood pressure reading's that high.

Thank the Lord, I was dianosed and treated right away, with a good outcome.

High Blood Pressure is nothing to play around with. Check with your doctor or a Vascular surgeon, to make sure this is not the problem.

Good Luck!

[GayleTX 1]

I've been on bp meds for 30 years.....at the time of wls I ws on 3 different kinds, all of them 2-3 times/days and was still running high....felt very sluggish. Within 3-4 months, I was off of most of them and by a year out I was off all of them....I do still take a diruretic, though, but my bp runs about 105/75 and my pulse is nice and slow and stead (it was almost rapid and irregular). My mind feels much clearer now that I'm off all that. I'm also off all my diabetic meds (after 20 years) and it runs about 5.6 all the time.

[8675309 0]

For those of you who have high blood pressure, you should also ask your doctor to send you for a PVL of your renal arteries (ultrasound).

Good Luck!

Thank you Patty. I will mention it at my next appointment.

[PattynVA 0]

Thank you Patty. I will mention it at my next appointment.

Your Welcome 8675309. I thought I would mention it, after all it's worth checking out.

I too, am waiting to get the lap band. I need to lose around 120 lbs. My current Insurance does not cover WLS, so I'm checking out other Ins. policys, so hopefully I can get the band sometime with in the next year.

Good Luck to ya!

[Shesha 1]

Hey Jachut,

Were you banded when you were pregnant with pre-eclampsia??

I had pre-eclampsia with my first pregnancy and got REALLY swollen.

Now I am banded, have lost 32 lbs, and we are "considering' having another baby. I am concerned that my band might get really tight (even if unfilled) if I get pre-eclampisa and swell again.

What are your thoughts??

Thanks for your help!

Sheila

My DH is on blood pressure meds, his was about 140/90 and has always always been borderline high. He's moderately obese, BMI of about 31. He's desperate to come off it, mainly because of the way being on blood pressure medication makes him feel - OLD! You dont expect to be popping pills like that till your 60's. His doc told him you just dont come off blood pressure meds and that losing weight wont really help becuase his was high-ish even as a 20 something.

But I have told him that people say here all the time they lose weight and their blood pressure comes back down. Who knows? I didnt have high blood pressure even at a BMI of 35, and it remains unchanged now my BMI is under 25 yet I had pre-eclampsia for 2 of my 3 pregnancies.

Blood pressure is just not something you can control, it may come down, it may not and its not necessarily your fault or the fault of your lifestyle if its high in the first place, it may be just the way it is.

[Kat817 19]

At the time I was banded, I was taking Lisinopril and HCTZ for my high blood pressure, I was running in the neighborhood of 150/95. I now run an average of 115/72---with no meds at all.

I was also taking Metformin for high blood sugar---and now no longer take it either, and run in the low/normal.

My Dad has taken meds for HBP for years, but he also fights his weight, and has artery disease. I am hoping the weight loss will help me stay off the meds. Right now I take nothing!

Kat

[kyethra 0]

Well I am now off of my BP meds completely. Partly because it went down to normal levels even after I had forgotten to take it for two weeks... And also partly because it is going down and I am continuing to lose weight and so forth, and it has some side effects I do not like.

[Jachut 487]

Shesha, no I wasnt banded when pregnant.

My records say mild PET, but I suspect I had borderline blood pressure that gave the obsetrician the excuse to schedule an induction to fit in with his schedule. The legacy of being white, middle class with private health insurance in Australia - far far higher likelihood of medical intervention in birth!

I never swelled unduly, no more than was reasonable for a pregnant woman. I wore my wedding rings, etc the whole way through. No Protein in the urine either. I think my blood pressure was 140/95 the day I went in for a check up and was promptly scheduled for an induction the next day.

So yeah, although my records say preeclampsia for my first two pregnancies, I'd maybe doubt that now. Ironically no such trouble in the my third pregnancy but I ended up having a caesar due to her being breech.

All well before banding though.

[Adelaide 0]

I would most definitely consider medication at a blood pressure of 190 systolic. I am a cardio-thoracic nurse, and see many people with malignant hypertension, please don't let it get to a stage where it compromises your health- you can put pressure on so many arteries, may have hidden stenosis, and are at a higher risk of stroke.

Without a doubt, research has shown that weight loss is one of the most effective ways of lowering blood pressure, so in time you may be able to come off or reduce medication. Until then, consider a beta blocker, there are also natural therapies which have shown some good results, talk to your local natropath.

Best of luck!

[kacee 3]

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/beware-aware-those-who-take-bp-meds-37114/

Check out my story.........

[kacee 3]

That is NOT something to take lightly. Anytime your BP goes into the 90's or higher for any sustained time at all you need to call your doctor and get in to see him/her quickly.

[Shesha 1]

Thanks Jachut!

Yeah, based on your symptoms, that doesn't sound like pre-eclampsia either. Mine came on real quick near the end of my pregnancy. About three weeks before giving birth, I had very bad swelling, was excessively tired, and my BP was running boarderline, so she had me on home bed rest. I was checking my BP twice a day, having an ultrasound once a week, and stress test twice a week and all was going well. What prompted my phone call to her, and subseqently the induction, was a BP reading of 190 over 110! Yikes! I did have a small amount of Protein in my urine by that time too. She was watching me like a hawk and the extrememly high BP/protein literally come on overnight. Before that, I was running where you ended up, in the 140's, twice weekly stress tests showed no stress for baby, and weekly tests showed no Protein either. I was on Magnesium Sulfate throughout the whole birth, to prevent my having seizures. It was an ordeal, but all ended well!

I had HPB before, during and after the pregnancy though. I am currently still on Metoporol 50 mg 2X/day and it's been running at about 116/75 for the past year or so... Yay me!

Shesha, no I wasnt banded when pregnant.

My records say mild PET, but I suspect I had borderline blood pressure that gave the obsetrician the excuse to schedule an induction to fit in with his schedule. The legacy of being white, middle class with private health insurance in Australia - far far higher likelihood of medical intervention in birth!

I never swelled unduly, no more than was reasonable for a pregnant woman. I wore my wedding rings, etc the whole way through. No protein in the urine either. I think my blood pressure was 140/95 the day I went in for a check up and was promptly scheduled for an induction the next day.

So yeah, although my records say preeclampsia for my first two pregnancies, I'd maybe doubt that now. Ironically no such trouble in the my third pregnancy but I ended up having a caesar due to her being breech.

All well before banding though.