blood pressure?

Have you stopped taking these tabs on doctors advice? It is not a good idea to stop taking tabs without medical advice.

Blood pressure varies throughout the body, but fits a pattern. High in one place usually means high all over.
the ideal upper arm pressure is 120/80 and anything much above that is dangerous. Also It's not always a good idea to come off medication without careful monitoring and doing it gradually.

Am I right in thinking that blood pressure should always be measured with the cuff at the same level as your heart i.e. relaxed in an upright sitting position, cuff on upper arm? Or are you all collapsed with laughter at this old wive's tale?

Blood pressure can be taken sitting ,lying or standing. It is often taken in different positions to determine if there is any difference in the readings.It can also vary between arms.

blood pressure also varies with time of day and where and with what it is taken. Are you comparing home measurements with those in the surgery?
Many of us also get white coat syndrome and much higher levels when we know it is about to be taken. When I was in hospital all my readings were low because I never knew that they were about to take it, at outpatients they were always high. To get around this problem I wore a 24 hour monitor. This showed my doctor that my levels were fine (it was only visiting her that made them go up)
As Sue says please discuss it with your doctor before stopping the tablets.

Mother's BP is significantly lower on my wrist meter than with the nurse's upper arm cuff. Since my meter corresponds well with a 24 hour monitor I used on me, we suspect calcification of the arteries leading to a significant pressure drop down the arm.

When she was last in hospital her BP was low so they stopped her candesartan and kept her on felodipine and furosemide. On that combination her BP kept shooting up high and she was also getting severe gout attacks.

The GP returned her to the lowest dose of candesartan and stopped the felodipine, and changed the lasix to bumetanide. This has stopped the BP spikes and (so far) the gout. So yes, sometimes meds *can* make BP worse when they are supposed to be doing the opposite.

Best bet would be to go back to your GP. Usual "starter" drugs are ACE inhibitors, or if they give side effects, usually an annoying cough, ARBs. Both have kidney protective benefits which calcium channel blockers lack.

My last blood pressure check at the Gp's was 140/82 so the doc decided to up the meds to 5mg ramipril. Apparently diabetics should have a reading of 130/80.

I don't know if these are side effects but I've started to feel a bit "fuzzy headed" and dehydrated in the mornings after taking these. Also, the heart rate monitor on the cross-trainer I use at the gym shows an average hr 0f 130-140 per minute after five minutes' exercise when I exercise late afternoons (9 hours after taking the ramipril) compared to 160-170 when I exercise on the same apparatus for the same time and intensity one hour after taking the same dosage on a Sunday morning.

Does anyone have similar side-effects?

popps said:

I don't know if these are side effects but I've started to feel a bit "fuzzy headed" and dehydrated in the mornings after taking these.

Click to expand...

Definitely agree with the dehydration which I get too. I think this is a well-known side effect, and one that my GP also warned me about. "Fuzzy headed" I don't think I can blame on any particular medication... :wink:

popps said:

My last blood pressure check at the Gp's was 140/82 so the doc decided to up the meds to 5mg ramipril. Apparently diabetics should have a reading of 130/80.

I don't know if these are side effects but I've started to feel a bit "fuzzy headed" and dehydrated in the mornings after taking these. Also, the heart rate monitor on the cross-trainer I use at the gym shows an average hr 0f 130-140 per minute after five minutes' exercise when I exercise late afternoons (9 hours after taking the ramipril) compared to 160-170 when I exercise on the same apparatus for the same time and intensity one hour after taking the same dosage on a Sunday morning.

Does anyone have similar side-effects?

Click to expand...

Here's the full info on Ramipril and side effects:
http://heart-disease.emedtv.com/ramipri ... fects.html

A guide to blood pressure (general)

Hypotension <100 / <60
Idea <100 / <80
Normal 120-129 / 80-84
High Normal 130-139 / 85- 89
Hypertension
(Mild) 140-159 / 90-99
Hypertension
(Moderate) 160-179 / 100-109
Hypertension
(Severe) 180-219 / 110-119
Hypertension
(Very severe) > 220 / > 120

Most GP/consultants will have sight different opinions to when to introduce blood pressure tablets… Based not only on blood pressure, but medical history factors and of cause consideration of diabetic test results, and should (not always) inclusion of your opinion!

But when dealing with diabetics most will want your blood pressure to fall into the idea/normal range but as near to the idea as possible… peferred BP's T1 120/70, T2 130/80 and a HbA1c of under 7%

If you show Microalbuminuria or Proteinuria in your urine they like to see your blood pressure to be under 125/75 with when required a ACE or ARB to reduce your blood pressure and a suggested chololestrol of under 3.1…

If you find Ramipril to cause problems you asked to be changed to a ARB such as irbesartan, which avoids some of the side effects that some find with Ramipril