Originally Posted by NoWhammies

So on a trip to a doctor's office one day, my BP actually jumped quite a bit from the number I got at home that morning - it went up to 120/80 at my appointment. My doctor expressed great concern over this. After all, fat chick. BP of 120/80. He told me I had prehypertension, and that I probably needed to be on BP meds.
...
He insisted on writing the prescription anyway ...

It's maddening, really. I didn't fill the prescription, and I have yet to have a stroke.

Originally Posted by NoWhammies

I have an example of one of those "pre" conditions which made me nuts. I have, for my entire life, had low blood pressure (usually in the neighborhood of 90/55). However, I also tend to have white coat syndrome, so my BP goes up a bit in the doctor's office. I know this because I measure regularly at home. So on a trip to a doctor's office one day, my BP actually jumped quite a bit from the number I got at home that morning - it went up to 120/80 at my appointment. My doctor expressed great concern over this. After all, fat chick. BP of 120/80. He told me I had prehypertension, and that I probably needed to be on BP meds. I looked at him as if he was nuts and said, "My BP when I left the house was 90/55 this morning. I'm pretty sure BP meds would not be a good idea. I tend to get white coat syndrome and my BP jumps at the doctor's office."

He insisted on writing the prescription anyway because fatty had pre-high BP. Whatever dude - I can't even believe that is a real thing that you can ascertain from one measurement, which was "normal." I seem to recall when I was a normal weight college student and experiencing syncope from my low BP that my doctor told me to eat more salt and to aspire to a BP of 120/80. But 20 years and 100 pounds later, that normal BP number was a "condition" that needed medical management in spite of the fact that, in home BP monitoring on a twice weekly basis, my BP remained as low as it was in college.

It's maddening, really. I didn't fill the prescription, and I have yet to have a stroke.

Originally Posted by cotonpal

When I was growing up in the 50's and 60's it was common knowledge that if you were diabetic you avoided high carb food, so when it became clear to me that I was on my way to being diabetic I cut out all high carb food, grains, sugar and other natural sweeteners, and fruit. I am glad that I assumed I knew what to do and went ahead and did it instead of seeing a doctor and getting what would have been bad advice.

Jean

Originally Posted by NoWhammies

And another thing - if you'll allow me to continue my snit for a moment....

I can't stand all of these "pre" conditions. I feel like they are a way to introduce more medications into our lives so that we can all be medicated. For example, if a doctor says, "Hey! You've got pre-diabetes," there's a good chance he or she will prescribe a medication such as metformin when, chances are, appropriate lifestyle/dietary modifications will suffice in preventing the pre-diabetes from becoming full-blown type 2 diabetes. Yet there's a push to prescribe more meds for this "condition" (here's just one article I found in a quick google search http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/844072). It's ridiculous.

I have an example of one of those "pre" conditions which made me nuts. I have, for my entire life, had low blood pressure (usually in the neighborhood of 90/55). However, I also tend to have white coat syndrome, so my BP goes up a bit in the doctor's office. I know this because I measure regularly at home. So on a trip to a doctor's office one day, my BP actually jumped quite a bit from the number I got at home that morning - it went up to 120/80 at my appointment. My doctor expressed great concern over this. After all, fat chick. BP of 120/80. He told me I had prehypertension, and that I probably needed to be on BP meds. I looked at him as if he was nuts and said, "My BP when I left the house was 90/55 this morning. I'm pretty sure BP meds would not be a good idea. I tend to get white coat syndrome and my BP jumps at the doctor's office."

He insisted on writing the prescription anyway because fatty had pre-high BP. Whatever dude - I can't even believe that is a real thing that you can ascertain from one measurement, which was "normal." I seem to recall when I was a normal weight college student and experiencing syncope from my low BP that my doctor told me to eat more salt and to aspire to a BP of 120/80. But 20 years and 100 pounds later, that normal BP number was a "condition" that needed medical management in spite of the fact that, in home BP monitoring on a twice weekly basis, my BP remained as low as it was in college.

It's maddening, really. I didn't fill the prescription, and I have yet to have a stroke.

Originally Posted by JEY100

Until BP is severely elevated (160/100) there is no evidence that medication has any benefit, according to a Cochrane report, which is linked within Dr Eenfeldt's excellent "Crash Course on Blood Pressure"
http://www.dietdoctor.com/blood-pressure

Originally Posted by MickiSue

There have been articles in several papers today about a study showing that older adults with hypertension.

Half the study got conventional advice, the other half was told to lower their BPs well below the standard 120/80. They lived longer.

Originally Posted by eljohnw

It is far easier to pop a pill or two or ten, then change your lifestyle. I live in a 55+ community and 95 % of people I come in contact with take at least 5 different meds. When I try to discuss lifestyle change they look at my like I was from an other planet.
Why are there so many drug ads on TV, so you can tell your doctor you want to try them and most MD are only to happy to prescribe them. Then you ask why some people on a fixed income have to choose between food and meds. When you barely can afford food what do you eat? Ramen nudel. Best way to need more meds.

Originally Posted by Nicekitty

Here's the best explanation of the study that I could find:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/h...study.html?_r=0
The number of cardiac events was reduced by 1/3 and deaths by 1/4.

I can see an excuse to medicate a lot more people....

"So doctors and guideline makers have a conundrum, Dr. Cushman said. “The epidemiology is consistent that having a systolic pressure of 120 or even below 120 is associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that treating with medications to reach that level will give you that benefit.” The concern is that drugs always have more effects than the one they are being used for. So a blood pressure lowered with drugs is not necessarily the same as one that is naturally lower."

This is my concern--I hope they carefully tracked if the BP was reduced from a previous high, and how that was done.

Originally Posted by Nicekitty

Here's the best explanation of the study that I could find:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/h...study.html?_r=0
The number of cardiac events was reduced by 1/3 and deaths by 1/4.

I can see an excuse to medicate a lot more people....

Originally Posted by NoWhammies

Every accurate diagnosis I've received, I've had to find myself and then advocate like crazy until they tested for it. I've been right in every single case.