New guidelines classify nearly half of U.S. adults as having high blood pressure
Here we go again...lower the guidelines and create millions more who "need" medication. This story was everywhere in the US, including on the major evening news outlets of NBC, CBS, etc. Major newspapers Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...nes-in-14-years etc. The Chicago Tribune version quoted:http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...-story,amp.html
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One thing the Tribune article missed on the How and When part, is covered by People's Pharmacy....patient should sit quietly for five minutes before taking the Reading [how often does that happen?!] Quote:
A related article from People's Pharmacy about HCTZ, the most commonly prescribed diuretic type blood pressure medication...it is not benign! Two side effects are Gout and High Blood Sugars, increasing the risk of diabetes. Also electrolyte imbalances leading to muscle spasms, Low BP incidents (dizzy, fainting, passing out while driving, using machines), etc. Many side effects with HCTZ which doctors have downplayed in some cases in this article. And because a LC diet is already diuretic, it is important for anyone on this forum to carefully monitor BP when starting LC. Guide to LC if on BP meds: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb...ure#more-241392 Guide to HCTZ:https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/201...ations-and-gout |
Later from MedPage...Related to this big announcement at the AHA....Heart Attack Fells AHA President During Annual Meeting
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No comment. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WPv2KRg1_DQ Later edit: DietDoctor story with the NYT article link and his Guidelines for Normalizing BP. https://www.dietdoctor.com/millions...-blood-pressure |
Dr Gilbert Welch, in his book Over-Diagnosed:Making people Sick in the Pursuit of Health, warns against the dangers involved in lowering guideline like these. Lowering the threshold for treatment increases the likelihood of an adverse effect of treatment while perhaps only minimally increasing the possibility of benefit.
http://dartmed.dartmouth.edu/winter...g_the_rules.pdf As a person who once took medication for high blood pressure and now has perfectly normal blood pressure thanks to eating lchf, this new guideline does not seem like a reasonable way to go or an advance in medical treatment. Jean |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPv2KRg1_DQ
I don't know Mr. Warner's medical history but I wish him well. I'm sure the annual AHA meeting is stressful and likely exacerbated an underlying issue. Let's take the opportunity not to throw rocks at the other glass houses. The circumstances and fallout of a Dr. Atkins death come to mind along with the propaganda it produced :) |
More of what I call "casino medicine." Medical treatment for indirect markers for gambling odds, oops I mean "risk", as opposed to treatment that actually fixes a cause or injury.
As in, watch out for when going to a health professional to get healthy is like going to the casino to get rich. Nice to see there are options that do not include a health professional, such as lifestyle changes and home monitoring. |
I hope Dr. Warner has a full recovery. His experience is a classic example of people jumping to conclusions regarding the root cause of his heart attack. The symptoms are there, but the specific root cause is not known.
These new BP guidelines likely put me in the HBP category, as anything over 120/80 is now considered high and I'm over 65. I am already preparing for my next doctor visit in early January where I'm sure I'll be regaled with the recommended medications due to the redefined guidelines. I would love to understand the truth about blood pressure and know its role in overall health regarding the implications as to how it changes as one gets older. I read an article at one point recently that BP is regulated naturally based on the degree one needs to maintain health over the years. If we knew the role of BP without a shadow of a doubt, then we wouldn't have to treat it as a symptom as we do today based on association rather than causation. If firefighters are always at the scene of fires, are they the ones starting them? |
I use to think that older people fall because they're frail but now I think it could have a lot to do with being overmedicated. It just doesn't make sense to take a pill to lower BP without monitoring several times per day to see it's effects.
What's the point...too low is probably just as bad as too high! |
My BP readings tend to be higher at the dr's office than at home. A lot higher. The previous dr. accepted readings from my home BP monitor (Omron), which has a 90+ memory. However, she's retired and the nurse at the new clinic refused to accept home readings .. even though a concurrent reading with their cuff AND mine at the same time gave exact same reading :rolleyes:.
So I went back a few weeks later for a "True BP" session. This involves sitting with a BP cuff set to take a reading every 2 or 3 minutes for 15 minutes (or longer) .. then they take an average. At my session, I was stuck in a brightly lit room with doors banging shut and loud talk, and a screaming baby in the next room .. the only thing to look at was a giant poster ablaze with the warning signs of a stroke and how many Canadians die each year from undiagnosed or untreated high blood pressure :daze:. No big surprise, my "True BP" average was very high. I stuck to my guns though, and requested a 24 hr ABP test (Ambulatory Blood Pressure). This involves wearing an automated cuff and monitor at home for 24 hrs .. the cuff inflates every 30 minutes during the day, and once per hour overnight. So my BP at home doing my normal daily activities was just fine .. average 115/70. The only high readings I got were at the beginning in the clinic when the monitor was first put on. A follow-up consultation with a cardiologist confirmed my normal readings and that I do NOT need any medication. His expert opinion is that too many patients are put on meds by their family drs based on transiently high clinic readings. Then they suffer too-low BP episodes at home or at work, with dizziness, weakness and possibly even a fall causing injury. He's a wise man, IMO ;) One thing I discovered with frequent monitoring at home is that coffee causes my BP to rise and it stays up for 2 to 3 hours afterward. Always returns to normal though. I've cut back to just one cuppa in the morning and from now on I'll make sure to schedule any clinic BP checks for later in the day :) . |
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That is Deja Vu to me Doreen. I was laughing my head off when I read that part! Good for you being proactive to make the right decision for your own well being! :thup: |
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My bp is always high at the doctor's office. This last time she told me to take my bp twice a day for a week at home and then bring the readings and my monitor in to be checked against theirs which I did. My at home reading were all normal and my monitor checked out. No muss no fuss no bother no medication. Jean |
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That's exactly Dr Welch's point. In many cases people are being overmedicated and suffering far more harm from the "side effects" than they are benefits from the medication. Jean |
Meanwhile, what to do about folks like my 87 y.o. father whose BP normally runs about 90 to 100 over 45 to 50 but, when taken in the doctor's office...usually within 15 seconds of him walking down the hall and sitting down in the exam room, it will sometimes show 135/65.
Low BP already tends to make Dad dizzy when he first stands up. But under the new guidelines, he's SUPPOSED to go on blood pressure lowering medication??? Fortunately, I think his doctor knows him (and me) well enough that he won't put him on BP meds just because the new guidelines suggest that he "ought" to be on them. And regardless, I'm the one who set Dad's meds in his pill box and and I simply WILL NOT give him any blood pressure lowering meds. Won't even bother to pick up such meds from the pharmacy if the doctor SHOULD order any. But, how many other elderly people will needlessly suffer falls and the resulting broken bones - or worse - because unnecesary BP meds prescribed under the "new guidelines" make their blood pressure drop too low? Big Pharma doesn't need to worry about that tho because everybody knows old people fall a lot so a fall couldn't possibly be related to any medication they might be taking. |
My mother was on meds for high BP for what I always suspected was white coat syndrome. My parents were in "Independent Living" for a while and all the food was low salt. It seemed like every day I visited one resident or another was falling and being carted off by ambulance. My normal-weight mother fell twice, first breaking her hip, then hitting her head. We brought her to live with my sister, and only because she was having her blood pressure taken every other day by an RN, OT or PT did doctors allow us to wean her off two BP-lowering meds. Without the white coats, she had readings like ~55/35 - so low that two of them went out to their cars to bring in another BP monitor, assuming the first one was faulty. No, that's what no salt and salt-excreting meds do to a person! Needless to say, we got her off the meds and salted her food normally and she never fell or fainted again. She wasn't as low carb as me, but my sister's home is real foods South-Beachy.
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https://www.sciencedaily.com/releas...70809140228.htm
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Dr Davis's open letter to the AHA president:
http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2017/...rt-association/ Jean |
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