Hi. Dennis here . I'm sure this has been covered here somewhere so forgive me if this is old news. I've been doing Low Carb for a little over 6 months. I've lost 85 pounds and am at present controlling BG at fairly normal levels. My A1C in March was 4.9 and in May 5.1. My morning fasting blood sugars are usually around 75 both with my Freedom Lite meter and at the hospital and in a recent blood test. Sometimes they are mid 80s in the morning. They go up to upper 80s or 90s after a meal.

Anyway my blood pressure is still kind of high or is it? I've read a lot about how they lower the bar becuse of the drug industry's influence. I am 57 and usually it's 130s over low 80s or sometimes low 140s over 90. Tonight it was 148/ 92, a little higher than normal . It can get higher like when I was at the hospital and ready for surgery and under some stress.

I have been upping my potassium supplements and take Co Q 10 but I don't see a difference yet. I hate to get on a BP medicine if I can help it as some, I have read, cause increase in BS among other side effects. I tried Lisinipril a few years ago and it did nothing. Then my doctor put me on a new drug for free for a year or so -- Edarbyclar. That worked right away for sure but when the free samples ran out I found it was $167 a month. Also I read that Edarbyclar raises BG -- that's the very year my BG rose to the diabetic level. That might not have caused it but it probably didn't help.

On the other hand doctors warn that with diabetes the BP should be low but what about if I'm contolling my BG?

I don't know -- I sometimes think if I'm excercising and losing weight etc. that's the best I can do.

What are your experiences? Any thoughts?

Do you have diabetes? Do you take meds to control it? Your numbers look so good.

Out of the blue, when I was in very good shape and eating very well, my blood pressure crept up about six years ago. I've been monitoring it with the pharmacy machines and it's always still high, about how yours looks, but when I've been at the doctors (different offices), it's suddenly back to normal again within the last year. I realized that my cuff at home and the pharmacy machines were made for people with smaller arms than mine. Mine at 15" around and they only go up to 13".

Anyway, I was surprised to see it suddenly drop on its own. I think it was pressure of having small children melting away since my youngest got big enough to be more independent. I always refused meds and it just adjusted on it own. At some point I tried taking potassium and it just made me sick so I stopped. I was eating more potassium-rich foods AKA carbfest. So I don't know. I still feel like it's mysterious and mostly related to stress.

I hear you about the stress -- I am a type A for sure. I was diagnosed with diabetes back in Nov. 2014. My A1C was 8.2 and FG was 171. I didn't take the Statins, Metformin, blood pressure medicine I was prescribed that day though. I've been controlling it so far with a low carb diet.

Its just hard to know who to believe about blood pressure -- we all know how messed up ADA guidelines are for diabetics.

As usual, Malcolm Kendrick has a very helpful take on the subject of blood pressure. Here's his bottom line:

"Lowering the blood pressure will certainly get rid of an annoyingly high measurement, but it cannot (unless by complete coincidence), have any impact on the underlying disease…… the thing causing you to die. So, unless it is startlingly high, what good can lowering blood pressure actually do?

The answer my friend, is not blowin in the wind. The answer is ‘no good at all.’"

The whole article can be found here:

http://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2012/0...re-do-any-good/

Jean

Whited - you're moving in the right direction as far as BG and weight. You've made excellent progress. Some doctor may interpret your BP readings as being high, but most today would not be alarmed at the readings you report. If it went higher and it was sustained, maybe. As cotonpal notes, I would not be concerned, as BP is a marker for another underlying cause that you likely are correcting as you progress with your BG and weight corrections. Excellent results, by the way!!!

Love Dr Kendrick!
Have you seen Dr Eenfeldt's course on BP? Good overview of what readings may need medicine after you use diet and lifestyle first.

http://www.dietdoctor.com/blood-pressure

I get high readings at any office at Duke, because they require a Half hour drive on a busy interstate. At home in the am it is fine, no one has ever suggested medication...think one was 168/94 or somewhere in that range.

Before I changed my diet and lost weight I took medication for high blood pressure. I can't remember how high my blood pressure was. The first medication, although only a small dosage, caused my potassium level to drop enough that it was causing cramps in my hands and a potassium supplement was added. Then I tried the medication that caused me to cough. At some point I just stopped taking these medications. I can't remember why I stopped. Probaly it was the side effects. Since then my blood pressure has tended to be slightly elevated (130-140/80-90) and occasionally a little higher, but then only in the doctor's office. Medication has been mentioned casually by my new doctor but never really pushed on me. Lately, measuring at home, my blood pressure has fallen to very close to that target 120/70, sometimes a little lower, sometimes a little higher. It may be because of my daily 16 hour fast. There's no way to tell, but I am glad that I never went the medication route again. Dr Gilbert Welch in his books on overtreatment/overdiagnosis says that the closer a number gets to "normal" the more the potential risks of medication out weigh the potential benefits.

Jean

Your cramps reminded me that the "Dishing Up Nutrition" podcast this week was about mineral deficiencies. One cause they see all the time in their clients is BP meds, aka Diuretics, causing the loss of many minerals. Why don't doctors warn patients about how these meds work and nutrients needed to correct? :-(

You have done an amazing job with my diet. My husband who is not even diabetic but who has moved in that direction with high normal A1C (5.7) has never been able to get it down much even with years and years of being committed to low to no carb. Right now after all these years it's only come down to 5.6. Your progress is outstanding.

I think you know what you need to do - shut out the voices like with the diabetes and just work on what you know to be good for you. With BP very similar to yours, I have been told that I should not take meds by my doctor. She does not recommend them. There are differing opinions even within mainstream medicine.

Thanks for all the common sense answers and encouragment. I read the articles posted and they make sense. It totally is common sense that lowering the numbers and not the obesity or stress or whatever is causing the numbers doesn't make sense. I have noticed a lot of skinny people with high blood pressure lately but it depends on the definition of high. My doctors go by the 115/75 reading pretty strictly.

Let us know how it goes. And also watch cuff size. I was measuring high at home and in the drugstore for years and recently found out all those cuffs top out at 13" and my arms are 15". My upper arms are not even that big, so a lot of people must be reading wrong.

My doctors go by the 115/75 reading pretty strictly.That is ridiculous, a number BELOW ideal for a young, healthy person. It is normal to be above 120/80 if you are middle-aged; nothing to be treated up to 140/90.
Says me but then I don't get free lunches from the drug rep for BP meds.

Mine goes high if I've had too much coffee... which I do almost every day by around noon. So when you get your BP tested, do it before you start guzzling java.

The book OverDiagnosed was recommended on another thread. I have it from library now, first chapter is on BP. Until the 1990s, only the diastolic (bottom) number was even treated, over 105 was considered moderately elevated. Still some question if the top number even matters that much. An interesting look at the risk/rewards of treatments at various BP numbers.

There is a 2013 JAMA article that reported an expert consensus recommendation that for individuals 60+ that no treatment should be considered until BP was consistently found to be 150/90 and greater. And lifestyle changes should be first line treatment.