He didn't even hesitate..just said 'That will be the best for you...forget the other stuff, it is no good for you'. He then went and got me some of the Lisinopril...and they have the Hidroclorotiazida already added! Ha!! So, I will take the last of the old ones this evening, and then tomorrow start with the new ones.
Another thing. I have never had much confidence in the blood pressure monitor I bought 3 years ago. It didn't seem practical to use it on your wrist, where there are so many bones etc shielding the veins and arteries...so I bought a new one that works on your upper arm this morning, and have just tried it out.157/87!! And I tried the other one at the same time..175/92!!! Better to err on the safe side I guess, but I have more faith in the new one. I have also tried out my friend's one, and the new one shows the same reading as his...and his was 5 times more expensive than mine So,I am feeling a LOT more confident now. Only trouble is..I took Ellie's BP, and it is really low..127/59. SHe says it has always been that low, but I think it is too low. What do you think?
I wouldn't say the enalapril is NO good. It is "good". But when it comes to your health, you want excellent. And why not, when the cost is the same?
And then, you can get the combination lisinopril/hctz (which is the common abbreviation for hydrochlorothiazide) so you get the benefit of both for the price of one.
I would want you on a total, though, of lisinopril 40mg and hctz 25mg. So however he makes the tablets come out. Probably the easiest is to get the lisinopril/hctz 20/12.5 tablets and then take 2 daily. You could probably just take both at the same time in the morning instead of having to spread them out like the enalapril, since lisinopril stays in the system longer.
It is funny how perspective affects your conclusions. Normal or desired blood pressure is about 120/80. So Ellie's bp is very close to the ideal. But because you are SO high, and that is what you are used to, you wonder if hers is "really low". Well, compared to YOURS, it is really low. But compared to what would be a great bp, hers is "spot on". I said it that way because you being from England, and all, it was my attempt to speak your language! Ha.
The closer you take the blood pressure to the heart, the more accurate the reading is going to be. So bp's taken in the arm are ALWAYS preferred to taking them at the wrist. So the arm pressure is always the one to go by. Plus, you verified it with your friend's cuff.
As I said, moving you to "excellent" isn't going to be that hard. Already with simple diet modification, you have your sugar back to normal.
Just with a couple SIMPLE blood pressure changes, your blood pressure is already down from ASTRONOMICAL and heading toward excellent (like Ellie's).
Then the next step is to start the progression to stopping cigarettes, which you already have planned. It will REALLY help if Ellie will get on board, and try to do it together.
Then the next thing, which I can't remember, is what is your cholesterol level?
Cigarette smoking oxidizes cholesterol. Oxidized cholesterol is "gummy". It is like taking motor oil and turning it into gunky or tarry. So you need to stop smoking, and you need to make sure you have the right amount of cholesterol.
But, one step at a time. BP was still your major FIRST priority.
Actually your evaluation sounds almost exactly like mine. Blood pressure about the same. Blood sugar though was 167. 108 would be agood number. I have went on a low carb, low fat diet. I have lost 20 of my 255lbs in about a month. I'm 5' 9" tall 2 inches shorter than I was 30 years ago (due to the rotting discs in my spine). I love my deserts and beer and breads but I feel so much better now, I will never go back to them. Good luck with it!
Wow!! got a copy of that diet for me? Losing 20 lbs would make me on the nail ..or LIKE a nail Guess there is no hope for your spine/discs improving? That errrm..sucks...to use an American phrase Take care..I .remember you and your 'other half 'helping me out with advice before Nick
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07:17 PM
Dec 20th, 2008
Cadillac Jack Member
Posts: 1165 From: Jacksonville, IL, USA Registered: May 2003
Wow!! got a copy of that diet for me? Losing 20 lbs would make me on the nail ..or LIKE a nail Guess there is no hope for your spine/discs improving? That errrm..sucks...to use an American phrase Take care..I .remember you and your 'other half 'helping me out with advice before Nick
No hope of improvement with the back, I'm just doing what I can to keep it from getting worse. Loosing weight will help with that, too. Man believe me when I say quitting sugar is the hardest thing I've done. A number of years ago I quit smoking (before quitting was the popular thing to do) that was a breeze. I quit drinking with no problem. But giving up deserts, wow! But it is worth it! Everything is getting better. Getting out of bed, work. Sex. Everything. Don't give and you will be rewarded!
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03:08 PM
Cadillac Jack Member
Posts: 1165 From: Jacksonville, IL, USA Registered: May 2003
Oh sorry the diet is simple. No more than 75 grams of carbs per meal. I usually try to stick to about 60. No snacks. No salt. Low sodium everything. Low fat everything. I eat mostly wild game that I have caught for protien. I also take Ginsing, a multivitamin rose hip vitamin C, 325mg of aspirin (blood thinner). ex: I have 1/2 cup of rolled outs (27g) and 1/4 cup of whole grain wheat flour (30g) for breakfast. No sugar, cream, salt, etc. I do add cinnamon and Splenda sweetner. I have sandwhich, somtimes witha salad with no dressing for lunch. No mayo, etc. just black pepper. For dinner I have a deer steak or chil (homade, no salt) etc. a small potato baked and plain and a piece of fruit. I am meeting my minimum requirements of vitamins, minerals, carbs, and protien. Oh the dietician warned me not to consume less than 135 g of carbs per day. She said that was what it took to for the brain to operate. This what I'm doing, it may not be for you.
Thanks Cadillac Jack!! I will have to look into all of this, if I want to stick around a while . I have cut down on sugar a LOT, an salt too. I am changing the WAY I eat too. I usually only have one meal a day, in the early evening. But I have been told I will lose weight just by eating a small amount 4 or 5 times a day. Life doesn't seem much fun without enjoyable food , and a cigarette afterwards. I don't drink alcohol anyway, so that is one thing less to miss Getting old really is unpleasant. All you youngsters..give it all up whilst you still have time to enjoy life to the full!! LISTEN TO ME!! Nick
[This message has been edited by fierofetish (edited 12-20-2008).]
Nick, I had no idea you had this kind of trouble. You and Ellie take care of yourselves. You've gotten some great advice. I need to quit working so much so I can keep up with people here. It sounds like things are getting better now. I'm glad.
Jane
------------------ Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality
...don't count on it Jane..just took my BP ten minutes ago (twice a day), and it has shot up to 180/104. What the .... is going on with me? I am stopping smoking immediately. I haven't eaten or drunk anything bad today. Just stressed about the kitten and Yelte.Beginning to think you might be reading my obituary here soon...seriously I have just taken my second dose 10 minutes ago, on time. So I will take my BP again in 45 minutes. I am getting fed up with this. Am I serious? Sure. I just re-wrote my Will again. Ten minutes ago, I was happily checking out cars to start a business. Now look at me. Nick
Recap My BP is now a constant 162/92, and has been for 4 days. Cut down from 40 cigs a day to 15. eating properly.(no salt as far as possible, and less than half my sugar intake, which has dropped my blood sugar to regularly well within normal range) There is something more than just 'hypertension', it would appear to me. My pulse rate has dropped from around 68 to 53 now, so my heart is not pumping so much.But the new armcuff monitor I bought still has the flashing heart symbol every time I take my BP. I don't have any headaches or chest pains, and have felt somewhat more 'alive' in the last couple of days...but that might be down to the weather improving, and I can get on with finishing the Alfa. Nick
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03:45 AM
Patrick Member
Posts: 38901 From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Registered: Apr 99
Naaah!! I'm allergic to milk products! Oh..YOGA! All kidding apart, Patrick, I used to do a lot of jiu-jitsu and Judo when I was young, and part of the training we were given was to 'find inner calm'...and I know it can help. So thanks for bringing that back into my mind..I will have to look up some instructions on the Net and give it a try. I know I tend to take too many things too seriously, and often quite pointlessly I haven't heard from the eBay seller yet, but that isn't stressing me ..really The thought of driving 2000+ miles to Holland and back doesn't fill me with anticipation of the right kind, and Ellie's Mum having such a bad time...and we just had to pay 1000 euros for the final treatment for Ellie's teeth (WELL WORTH IT, by the way ), and the trip will run into the hundreds, if not couple of thousand, Euros...so yes..I guess I need some 'inner tranquility' Thanks Nick
[This message has been edited by fierofetish (edited 12-24-2008).]
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05:10 AM
frontal lobe Member
Posts: 9042 From: brookfield,wisconsin Registered: Dec 1999
My BP is now a constant 162/92, and has been for 4 days. Cut down from 40 cigs a day to 15. eating properly.(no salt as far as possible, and less than half my sugar intake, which has dropped my blood sugar to regularly well within normal range) There is something more than just 'hypertension', it would appear to me.
Nick
No, it isn't anything more then "just hypertension".
It is just that YOUR hypertension is starting from such a high number, that you are going to need a lot of medicine to get it into the excellent range.
The average person with a blood pressure starting from the level yours was is going to need FOUR different blood pressure medicines to get to the goal.
That is why I talked about landing an airplane. You take a medicine at a certain dose. It brings you down to a certain "altitude". Then you increase the dose. That gets you down to a little lower altitude. Then you ADD another blood pressure medicine. That brings you down to another "altitude". And so on until you get out of the stratosphere and back to earth like the rest of us.
You just need to not stop the process where you are.
As I mentioned, I could have you there in a month. With your system you are in, it could be summer.
That is reassuring Frontal Lobe Beginning to think there was something else wrong, as you read above. I am keeping with it, I promise I won't give up, and I WILL be fit again this summer Nick
[This message has been edited by fierofetish (edited 12-24-2008).]
I am back where I started. In spite of me giving up cigarettes nearly 5 months ago, quit with salt as fas as possible. Worked darned hard with my building project. Shad a LOT of the extra weight gained from stopping smoking. Gave up ALL sodas. Cut down drastically on sugar intake. And my blood pressure has remorselessly crept back up, steadily, to around 200/100. So. If I HADN'T given up all the 'bad things' I was doing to myself , would I now be dead? My Doctor is a remorseless idiot She has reverted to where we were last December. 'Don't take your medicine for 10 days, and we will check it out then'. They did an ECG on me, and remarked that it revealed my heart was missing every fourth beat.????? I told them this a year ago! They now think the problem is down to my kidneys...'do you drink alcohol'.....' WTF!! NO, I freaking well DON'T!! It is on my report sheet!! 'Do you have any emotional problems?'...WTF??? Only the fact that I have just had it confirmed that, when I die, Ellie has to pay 48% of the total value of my 'Estate', and that after she has paid it (from 'petty cash'...she can't sell her OWN half of the house to pay it..,and if she CAN pay it off...then my Sons get to inherit 70%...AND CAN KICK HER OUT!!! We are going to hang on until next summer, hope the house market will have revived somewhat, and sell up. Then it is either to Holland or the UK. I hope I don't die first.
Most incredibly, of all this, is the fact that my quitting smoking 50 cigarettes a day has done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to lower my B/P. And I am experiencing lots of side-effects from the drug I take for my B/P. Fatigue, painful joints..and having to get up 3-4 times a night to pee!! Dizziness and loss of memory too.
Would you continue to take the drugs?? I have begun to consider that I may well prefer to live for 12 months and be happy, than to live 20 horrible miserable years more, by taking drugs that help in one way, and hurt me in 5 others. I'll probably feel better in the morning ...but at the moment, I have just about had enough. Went to bed at 10:00pm last night, lay awake for 5 hours, fell asleep wondering if I would wake up in the morning, only to be woken by the dry, tickly cough I have had for 4 weeks now. It wakes me by my coughing so much, I end up retching in my sleep...although I am never actually sick. And that cough is also attributed as a side effect of the Lisinopril medication. What would YOU do? Carry on with the medicine, and feel like crap? Give it up as a bad job, and take the chance? Live for as long as you can without all this CRAP???
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04:38 PM
84fiero123 Member
Posts: 29950 From: farmington, maine usa Registered: Oct 2004
Stop watching Zwever and his girlfriend getting it on you old perv.
Seriously how did I not see this one a year ago.
Do me one little favor Nick?
Take your pressure just like you always do.
Then sit down, and just pat Zwever, while watching the fish in a fish tank,(if you don’t have one get a fish tank screensaver). Then take your pressure.
I bet it goes down 5,10, maybe even 15 points or more.
Not that this is a lot, but hell any drop is an improvement.
Steve
------------------ Technology is great when it works, and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't. Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.
Sorry, on a Blackberry and a bit 'happy' due to a few beers- did I read that you drink 10 cups of tea a day,with 2 spoons of sugar in each cup? Maybe try something else, or try splenda, or have it straight? I know the drugs will do more 'good', but 10 cups of ANYTHING is a lot! Maybe try Yerba Mate, green tea, etc...
So,I am feeling a LOT more confident now. Only trouble is..I took Ellie's BP, and it is really low..127/59. SHe says it has always been that low, but I think it is too low. What do you think?
3 years ago it was 202, now it is190.
. I have cut down on sugar a LOT, an salt too. I am changing the WAY I eat too. I usually only have one meal a day, in the early evening. But I have been told I will lose weight just by eating a small amount 4 or 5 times a day.
Ten minutes ago, I was happily checking out cars to start a business. Now look at me.
