Category Archives: blood Pressure Testing

Diastolic High Blood Pressure Taken Seriously

August 31, 2011

For blood pressure patients who wonder what those numbers mean when getting BPs, here is an explanation. two figures are observed when taking blood pressures (e.g. 140/90). 140 stands for systolic pressure, 90 is the diastolic pressure. A normal systolic pressure should not exceed 140, and a normal diastolic pressure is no more than 90. an increase in both pressures can mean disaster.

Systolic hypertension is different from diastolic high blood pressure. The former is characterized by sudden augmentation in the pressure of blood when the heart is contracting.

Diastolic high blood pressure on the other hand refers to the blood pressure in between muscle contractions. Doctors and medical experts have stated that diastolic high blood pressure should be taken seriously and that it causes more harm to the body than systolic does. in recent studies, persons below 65 or 70 who are diagnosed with hypertension reported increase incidents of diastolic high blood pressure. this higher rate of diastolic pressure causes adverse effects on the brain, heart and kidney. Patients of diastolic high blood pressure are advised to lower diastolic pressure by maintaining below 90. Systolic pressure is also required to be lowered though a top priority is focused on diastolic pressure.

Causes of diastolic high blood pressure include aging of the heart and its natural effects. When a person grows old his heart muscles get weary and eventually stiffen making it harder for the heart to fill in blood appropriately. Diastolic high blood pressure, if not treated well, may lead to diastolic heart failure. Diagnosis of diastolic high blood pressure may risk the patient of diseases and illnesses like CAD or coronary heart disease, aortic stenosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and other pericardial diseases.

Aside from aging, poor lifestyle like smoking and drinking, high cholesterol levels, obesity, high salt consumption, prior cardiac surgery, viral infection, family history and diabetes are also leading contributors to the occurrence of diastolic high blood pressure.

For the last 30 years, studies have also been conducted and challenged the severity of diastolic high blood pressure. in the latest issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, reports have declared that there is a great urge to control systolic pressure than diastolic pressure in hypertension patients. Elaborately, diastolic high blood pressure exposes little risk of getting other cardiovascular disorders.

In special cases of hypertension, systolic hypertension is more common than diastolic high blood pressure among elder patients. Their blood vessels have degraded resulting in the increase in systolic pressure. Advise is given to patients with these condition to lower their systolic pressure and keep it.

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Taking blood pressure medicine and very low heart rate?

August 26, 2011

I am taking high blood pressure medicine and the kind i'm taking does slow your heart rate down, but I feel tired all the time and feel nervous alot. my heart rate was 46 a minute ago.
I'm going to the doctor tommorrow just wanted an opinion.

Keep that doctor's appointment. they should be able to adjust your medication in a way that will help.

I had the same problem about a year ago. my doc just switched me to some other kind of HBP meds, and now my heart rate is normal.

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Sounds like you need to reduce the medication.

I have the same issues, and take my 50 mg pill as the whole thing, 1/2 tablet, or 3/4 tablet.

My cardiologist says he'd like my blood pressure as low as I can tolerate and still function normally. That is about 94/64 for me.

Certain drugs used for lowering high blood pressure do give a low heart rate ! what is your age ?Is blood pressure runs in the family ?what is your EKG?is there any irregular heart beats?is there any conduction defect ?See our whole body works on the principle of electricity similarly our heart also !within one minute it circulates 5 littre of blood in adult !Your heart rate is called Bradycardia and must be investigated and if necessary doctor will change the drug to control your blood pressure without having rate decreasing effect on the rate ! God bless you I am always YouRsmE!

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What Do the Numbers in a Blood Pressure Reading Mean?

July 7, 2011

The heart pumps blood, which is carried by the blood vessels called arteries, to every part of the human body. Blood pressure is basically the pressure or force at which the blood is pushed against the arterial walls. with every heartbeat, blood is pumped out and a pressure is generated.

How do we measure blood pressure? Well it is done with a very common instrument, called sphygmomanometer; all of us have seen the doctor wrapping a cuff (inflatable) around our upper arm. A balloon like pump is used to pump in air into this cuff until the circulation is temporarily stopped. Then a stethoscope is used over the cuff, silence prevails. Then the air is allowed to flow out and the blood flows again, which is heard with the help of the stethoscope.

Blood pressure is measured in numbers, the normal being 120/80. do you know what it means? Well, it means systolic/diastolic. Systolic is the higher and diastolic is the lower number.

The pressure due to the contraction of the heart is the Systolic pressure and the remaining pressure is the one present in the arteries between the heartbeats, while at rest, it is the Diastolic pressure, it is measured in mercury millimeters abbreviated as mm Hg.

The first mentioned is the systolic pressure and the other one is the diastolic pressure. if a person is said to have a blood pressure level of 140/90, it means his systolic is 140 and diastolic is 90. 130-139 of systolic pressure and 85 to 89 of diastolic pressure needs to be carefully watched. anything above this is an alarm and predicts a higher level of blood pressure. Both these numbers are important and a healthy level should be maintained.

As stated above, 120 (systolic) / 80 (diastolic) is considered to be a healthy pressure level. The level of blood pressure changes all through the day, you can understand the change as it affects your health.

Blood pressure levels above 140/90 are actually a state of hypertension. A person, whose blood pressure levels are elevated, needs to be extra cautious. Such elevating numbers are caused due to constricted arteries. almost 90% people suffering from elevated levels of blood pressure are bound to have hypertension, which means the cause behind the rise in the blood pressure cannot be identified. The remaining 10% of the cases of high blood pressure can be an outcome of having another lifestyle disease like diabetes or other disorders like kidney problem or some other disorders.

Knowing the exact figures are very crucial, you should be aware of your blood pressure levels at all times. Persistent hypertension can lead to severe complications, which can be a threat to your life. The blood vessels lack flexibility because of the pressure against the inner wall, thus making the vessels vulnerable to form fat deposits.

Hypertension actually compels the heart to perform harder and pump ample blood within the body, this extra effort causes an enlarged muscle that leads to enlargement of heat. This eventually results in insufficient blood supply, because the heart fails to pump enough blood.

A low blood pressure is also not healthy; it can make your body weak and feeble.

Try to maintain the correct level of blood pressure, if the levels are elevating; take necessary steps to reduce it. In case of hypertension; avoid salt, check your diet and exercise to keep yourself fit. Maintaining your ideal body weight and not allowing fat deposits should be your motto for a healthy living.

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Detecting High Blood Pressure

July 1, 2011

Perhaps you are scared that you have a high blood pressure problem, it’s only natural as a lot of people have died from this dangerous condition. maybe you are bothered about whether you stand the risk of suffering from high vascular pressure because someone else in your family already suffers from it. because you think you stand the risk of suffering from hypertension, perhaps you might want to know what the symptoms are. Unfortunately, high blood pressure is called the “silent killer” for a number of reasons, one being that it does not really have any symptoms. a lot of people have it but are unaware they do until it progresses substantially and ends up causing them serious problems.

Despite the fact that high blood pressure has no symptoms, as soon as it has progressed to a certain stage it will cause a manifestation of other conditions which may be indicators of vascular pressure. When hypertension causes a reaction in the body, it will show you through other signs and symptoms which may or may not be easily discerned depending on the precise nature of their occurrence.

Different symptoms of high blood pressure exist but these three are the most common of the lot:

  • Headache
  • Dizziness or fainting
  • Blurred vision

This isn’t a finite list of all the possible symptoms that may occur. The symptoms listed above may be indicative of a number of various other problems and not necessarily high vascular pressure alone. It is all this which makes such symptoms difficult to ascertain. It can be an impossible thing to determine whether you have high vascular pressure simply by experiencing any of the conditions listed above. In order to know for certain, you ought to get your blood pressure tested. Not a single test but a number of different tests which are taken at different times in order to determine your average blood pressure range. this way you have something to base your blood pressure levels on.

High blood pressure can cause a number of serious conditions which can even go as far as leading to death:

  • Heart attack
  • Heart failure
  • Loss of vision
  • Eye damage
  • Stroke
  • Aneurisms
  • Peripheral arterial disease

If you have any of these conditions, your doctor will likely check and monitor your blood pressure as well. If you are found to have high blood pressure, it may require lifestyle changes, diet changes and possibly even medications to help you get it under control. It is essential to learn how to detect your personal symptoms of increasing or reduced vascular pressure and you also have to learn the essence of regular testing. a good doctor can assist with all this so make sure that you maintain regular contact with yours in order to benefit from such proper care as well as treatment. Regular monitoring will help you from being accosted unawares by any of the above effects by which time it may be too late for a remedy.

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Blood pressure and test results?

June 25, 2011

Something strange happened to me today. I found out on March 20th that I had high blood pressure today is March 24 and I have lost 13 pounds already. I was so scared with the fact that the EKG might has shown left side heart problems. I went for my Echocardiogram today no results yet. but the big deal was when I went to my well Woman Exam today they took my blood pressure and it was 94/68 I was really scared in fear that maybe my doctor put me on Bp meds to soon as he didn't even evaluate me for a few days and monitor my BP he just immediatley put me on meds for a BP of 140/100. now I have to say that I do feel 100% better than I did prior to taking the meds but not to sure if I really need them or not and I am worried that my BP may drop to low while I am sleeping as I know it goes lower while you sleep at night. I don't want to die from these pills. and my BP has always been on the lower side of normal my whole life. Even up to about 3 months ago it was reading at like 118/76 and numbers like that sometimes even lower. So not sure what is going on. What is your opinion I mean I know you can't diagnose me but I am thinking that maybe the 13 pounds of weight changed somehting.. I have read that even 10 pounds can make a difference.. but I also have reduced my sodium intake very drastically and I am eating 1000 calories a day with nothing but lean meats, fruit and veggies and nothing but water for my drink absolutely nothing but water and getting in my 118 ozs per day as my weight now is 241 and I am 5 ft 6.. I plan on maintaing the diet until I am at least 150.. I know I can do it. Just not sure I want to be on these meds.. and not sure that my doc is making the best choice. Thanks for you help. by the way I am only taking 5mg of Amlodipine or Norvasc I think is he name brand 1 time daily.

I saw my cardiologist after a similar event and he said he would like to know more before he put me on bp medicine.

I would watch your blood pressure during the day if you can. more than likely you just have normal low that sometimes goes a bit lower, that's fine. it means your meds work. If you notice that it's stays in the 90's then call your doctor you may need to adjust the amount you're taking. you can ask to be taken off of it and simply monitor your bp for awhile to see if your previous bp is a norm. Also remember that if they're using the machine, your BP is going to read higher than if they do it by hand. you can request that someone do it manually rather than using the BP machine and you'll get a more accurate read.

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