Occasionally hypertensive, any ideas?

Hi all,

I don't post something of my own very often, but I've had a few incidents lately that bother me.... And while I don't expect diagnoses or "proper medical advice", I would appreciate your thoughts and possible own experiences on the subject. Plus, I just really need to talk a bit and sort my own thoughts.

So... I've been either peri- or menopausal for a little while now, I think. Year and a half, maybe. Can't explain certain things any other way, but since hormone replacement therapy isn't an option for me due to other issues, I haven't seen my GP about it. Why bother her? So that's just a massive guess on my part. As most ladies here will know who are of a certain age, blood pressure can change in this stage of life. And it has been.

The thing is, I'm used to migraines. But the headaches I've had on a few occasions now, have been as bad as a migraine, and did make me feel sick, but the pain was not where it usually is (neck instead of temple), and the triptans did exactly nothing. Hours of agony. On one occasion I actually ended up seeing an out-of-hours GP who registered very high blood pressure. I got a pat on the head, told it was a hot flash and a panic attack, so to go home and just relax for a bit. Right. I felt like I was kicking the bucket, good luck relaxing. I've had a few more episodes since then, and yesterday was another one. I had an appointment to get my depo provera shot, and I wanted to cancel because I didn't particularly fancy walking anywhere in the state I was in, but really.... If I had an appointment with the assistant anyway, why not ask whether they can throw in a little blood pressure check? I e-mailed the practice just before heading out, and they'd made a little extra time for me as a result. I was 183/102. No idea what my pulse was, the assistant stopped saying what my other two measurements were, after those numbers were met with a "WHAT!?". My normal numbers? I'm usually 110/70 or thereabouts, though recently it's been closer to 115/80. Tad low, since I've started low carb eating. Before that it was always hovering around 120/80.

Thinking back to ALL of the occasions where things went awry, I had had something salty to eat. Yesterday it was some cured bacon strips. Before that, it happened after visiting restaurants where the meals were over-seasoned in the kitchen, sometimes combined with stressful social situations. My mother-in-law even commented on how salty the meal was, once... So the main thing? Salt.

The concerning thing is that I don't exactly control every situation, I eat out often. And if just a few pinches of salt can make my blood pressure go nuts, well... That's not good. I wonder if it's the same thing as with my T2....? I am diabetic, but a-symptomatic as long as I don't eat too many carbs... Am I hypertensive, even if most of the time my blood pressure is fine, just a-symptomatic because I barely eat salt these days? Naturally I researched high blood pressure, and most things are moot points. I don't drink, I don't eat salty meals often, I don't smoke, I am desperately trying to shed the weight I re-gained these past two years. (It's hard trying to juggle my dietary needs for several conditions. What works for one wreaks hell on the other.). There's low carbing... I can't do much about my sleeping issues, those are linked to my AuDHD and have been a lifelong problem, and I am always stressed, because of the same thing. So always high in cortisol, most likely. But what I can do, or leave out, I already am, and have for the past 8 years!

I just don't know how worried I should be when my pressure shoots up after maybe 3 to 5 grams of salt ingested. And what can I do when it happens again, to get pressure down fast? Do I just drink loads of water so the salt flushes out? (No swollen feet by the way, that's just an occasional thing in the summer). With high blood sugars, I know what to do to fix it right quick... Is there anything I can do, similarly, for high pressure? Take some potassium maybe? Because I don't think I'll be put on a betablocker or something, simply because the rest of the time, I'm regular to low...

Anyway, thoughts are welcomed. Just stuff to mull over, maybe help me in my research, that'd be nice.
Thanks!
Jo

Redshank said:

@JoKalsbeek
Do you measure your Blood Pressure at Home? It is possible to get a good reliable brand of monitor for a relatively low price (obviously depending on income).
You could then see what impact food, salt, water, walking have on your Blood Pressure.
You may already be doing this, but if not it may be worth a try

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I have a monitor that I got through my former insurance company (they give discounts if you buy the good stuff), I just have to get into the swing of testing... And trusting myself enough. I got high readings at home when the headache was becoming maddening, but surely, it couldn't be that high.... By the time I got to the practice, the headache made my eyes water (had to assure the assistant I was NOT crying, with tears streaming down my face in the waiting room), and my blood pressure'd become even higher than I measured at home. Now I have to test for 3 days, the meter has new batteries, and I'm diligent about it. And naturally, now I'm generally 118/83 or lower. Figures. But yeah, I'm measuring more than the 9 times a day I was told to for three days, because I check around meals and such as well... No pesky expensive test strips!

White coat syndrome is very real for me, because usually a human is doing the measuring, somewhere other than a place where I'm comfortable, so.... Being very stressed/scared around people, my blood pressure when measured outside the home was usually 120/80, and 110/70 at home. The difference between the measurement I did at home yesterday and the one the assistant did had a difference of 40/20, and I know this assistant, so she's relatively "safe" people, not a strange nurse at the hospital I never met... So even if I take off the usual 10/10 for white coat, I would still have been too high. It's funny, this is the only place where I can talk about having monitors for blood pressure, pulse, glucose and saturation without anyone shouting "hypochondriac!" at me.

I've done a little reading about potential meds here in the Netherlands, and I can't take most of them. (Diltiazem, one of those calcium channel blockers, for instance, will give me a raging migraine. Anything that widens blood vessels, does, so all of those are 100% out of the question.) I think I might be stuck with propranolol, as I seemed to tolerate that alright way back when I was given that as a kid to help with the migraines, but I didn't have issues then that I do now. Diabetes might be a problem there, if the Hashimoto's isn't. I don't know what my options are, realistically, if any. Brain bleeds/TIA's and clots are a thing in my family. I don't want to throw a clot, so I wonder whether I should just throw in some aspirin if my blood pressure spikes once every month or so, since it is low to normal so far, with no excessive salt intake... Guess I'd better see my GP sometime in the near future. Here I was avoiding her, knowing full well I can't ignore the kidney stone that's been stuck for almost half a year for much longer, and now this comes up and takes precedence.

Is beetroot juice as disgusting as it sounds? Because I just might be giving that a try, carbs be damned.... I just always hated red beets because to me, they taste the way potting soil smells. (Like chilantro being very, very soapy). It's something to try... And who knows, maybe the juice tastes better than the beets themselves. And, well, if it helps... I can down it anyway. I don't think I can do a whole lot with medication, after all. And from the article, it works a whole lot faster than propranolol would. (Hours instead of weeks)

Stuff to think about. Thank you!
Jo
@Pipp , trying to reply, but I keep getting an error message. So attempting it again, without quoting you, just tagging you in.

Pipp said:

Beetroot juice is an acquired taste, I admit. As I don’t really like sweet things it is fine for me. I use this one from time to time, particularly if my BP is a bit erratic, but that doesn’t happen much, now.

Beet It Organic (6 x 750ml)

About Beet It Organic beetroot juice Beet It Organic beetroot juice is blended with 90% beetroot juice and 10% apple juice to smooth the earthy aftertaste of beetroot - sweeter than you might think, our beet juice makes a deliciously flavoursome drink. East Anglia has the ideal climate and soil...

jameswhite.co.uk

It is blended with 10% of it apple juice. I take 100mls mixed in a long glass with sugar free tonic water. I have had it neat, too.Just add the tonic if I feel like having a thirst quenching drink.

It does give nice bright pink pee, which once caused alarm for the GPnurse when I had to produce a specimen.

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I was actually wondering about pee colour... With kidney stones, it is kind of important that I know whether there's blood in there, but I can tell the difference between a celebratory, cheery pink, and a more coca cola like colour, haha!

And I can do acquired tastes. I hope.

Outlier said:

I am fast to react to any stress/danger/challenge, and earned my living at it for many years. Thus my white-coat syndrome is stratospheric. As I am my own experiment, I tried taking berberine. It certainly had a BP lowering effect, much better than I expected, and is supposed to be a blood thinner, so those of us on blood thinners are advised not to take it. It took the best part of 3 months to show results, but for me has been very worth while. I took care to source a high-grade product that has no additives or preservatives - you have to keep it in the fridge. I daresay I am not allowed to mention the company I buy from, but a Search would probably find it.

That's me. Would it work for you? Only you can find out, and only you can decide if the possibility is worth the experiment. Also bear in mind that if your normal unstressed BP is in the normal/low region, it is a risk to try anything that brings it down 24/7, and whether it would work if just taken on appointment days I do not know.

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I know I tried berberine at one point or other... I have no idea why and why I stopped taking it. But odds are I still have some around here, somewhere. Worth a shot...! (But yeah, only for occasional use.... I can't go too low.)