Blood pressure...

bonsaiman

Hi,
just been to doc today for a check up to takey blood pressure.
In 2005 it was 145/74.
Today it is 124/74. A gain of 21.
I am now 30 and felt that this was good, does anyone know if this is a good reading?
Doc said it was normal.
Do you know yours?
Mark

supersonic

yes, very good. Though BP fluctuates a lot throughout the day, so should be taken when at rest, and preferably a few times to average it out.

RallyBiker

That's good and normal.

Where are my stabilisers?

I had mine done the other day and it was 111/60 - Doc said it was a bit low, but I don't really know the significance of low bp :? ... they didn't seem too bothered though!

hells

Hi, Im a medic

Normal blood pressure is 100 + your age for the top number (systolic BP) and less than 100 for the bottom number (diastolic BP)

stubs

Am I allowed to boast that I am 44 and my last bp reading was 121/78

Sad isnt it I am now so old I take pride in my blood pressure

supersonic

I take meds for mine lol. Was a colossal 220/126

stubs

If I remember sonic you were pretty ill its not surprising your BP was through the roof. I got seriously ill last year and my BP shot up to 190/120 and I couldnt move without getting spots in front of my eyes.

supersonic

Yeah, was a nightmare, started when I was just 24! Seems to be better now 8 years on and just on the one medication rather than 4 of the buggers.

They diagnosed me with an adrenal tumour which was supposed to be causing it, then changed their minds when I was about to have it removed so the bloody thing might be or not be there.

Don't think the stress helped either. Hope you are better too!

stubs

Still trying to shift some of the weight I piled on when I was off the bike munching prescription meds.

Main thing it has done to me is killing my stamina I can do a good ride and sometimes even a ride the next day but then I am utterly shattered for 3 days at least. Plus I keep getting colds and banging headaches not something that ever bothered me before.

supersonic

Sounds like you may have a bit of post viral fatigue or summat - eerily similar to the way I get and what they eventually diagnosed me with.

stubs

They never got to the bottom of my problems I was rushed into hossie with chest pains unable to breathe. Obviously they assumed I had had a heart attack wired me up to all the bleepybleepy machines did scans and took gallons of blood.

Then they decided I had a Gall Bladder infection and gave me a couple of gastroscopies the most horrible thing that has ever happened to me.

then a gluten intolerance causing spasms only this time the camera went up not down,

then a blood disorder called Haemocritosis so they took even more blood,

then something else and something else again. It was like an episode of House but with uglier hospital staff. I reckon I took 15 different drugs all of which made me feel worse than before.

They ended up saying I had had a virus but they didnt know which one so they said heres a prescription for sleeping tablets and paracetamol now go away we are bored with you

supersonic

AH, I remember you saying now. Sounds like a nightmare - I know what it is like with some hospitals when they turn you into a prodding machine.

stubs

Next time I need to go to hospital for a test they are going to have to send the police to taser me and drag me in in cuffs

Oxygen Thief

Resting heart rate is the best measure of fitness/healthiness. Should measure this lying down after being there for a fair amount of time or first thing in morning (provided you haven't jumped up to turn your alarm off!)

Resting HR should be used because this is what gets lower as you get fitter. And when your resting it's the amount of work the heart has to do to keep you alive so the lower it's beating the more efficient it is.

Walking into a doctor's surgery and having your BP taken doesn't reflect much in terms of fitness, because of things like muscle mass etc. If a big meathead was to walk in his BP would be higher because his heart has to feed his muscles.

So... find your resting heart rate if you want a better indicator of fitness. For comparison an athletes will be below 60

supersonic

RHR can be at fault though - I had bradycardia for a couple of reasons and it would dip below 40 bpm. And I was very unfit lol.

Oxygen Thief

Will be exceptions but on the whole it's the best measure of fitness. Cyclist Miguel Indurain had a RHR of 28BPM!

supersonic

That's just crazy low lol.

Oxygen Thief

Yup! If that were me I'd be constantly checking to see if the thing is going to do it's next beat or not. One every two seconds!!!! Bomp, one thousand and one, one thousand and two, bomp! Crazy!!

chedabob

jonbonjovial wrote:

Will be exceptions but on the whole it's the best measure of fitness. Cyclist Miguel Indurain had a RHR of 28BPM!

Jesus, I thought David Blaine dropping his heart rate to 38bpm was impressive.

supersonic

It does feel fecking weird. I woke up one morning, after being put on the wrong does of beta blockers - thought I was gonna die lol. 38bpm too.

Oxygen Thief

That would have been scary! It's good that there's so many drugs that work well on the heart. Our life expectancy would not be what it is today if it wasn't for these drugs. Heart conditions are quite easy to 'treat'. Pity there's a lack of cures though.

supersonic

I used to be on a right cocktail - alpha blockers, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, water tablets. Just atenolol now lol.

Oxygen Thief

Wow!! Must have been making sure that your BP was going to come down that's for sure! I'm a pharmacologist and was quite interested in drugs on the heart whilst at uni. I think it was something stupid like 90% of hypertension incidents have no underlying medical conditions to be found. All genetic by the looks of it! Quite scary.