Checking your blood pressure

mikenetic

Wanted to share a recent experience, in the hope it might help other people.

To cut a long story short, I was feeling under the weather on and off for a while, and generally a bit off the boil. I thought it might be a virus, hay fever, and ultimately some form of chest infection, as I was feeling a bit tight around the chest. Went to the GP and she checked my blood pressure. It was 150-160/100, which is a lot higher than the "population norm" of 120/80.

Having dug around the family history it looks like it may be hereditary. Blood tests were all fine, and I don't have any of the typical contributory lifestyle factors. It's possible I've been suffering from it for a while, as it can be symptomless. Lots of people have high BP, but simply don't know.

Seems like mine is now under control. It doesn't affect my ability to ride or race, the GP has cleared me to do that. I feel fortunate to have caught it before started causing any other issues.

So, if you've been feeling "a bit unwell" for a while it might be worth seeing someone, rather than keeping your fingers crossed that it'll clear up.

Happy riding!

finlayson99

Good advice.

Us blokes are notorious for ignoring stuff.

Glad you're feeling better

twoshots

I'm a hereditary high BP 'sufferer' myself and interested in a couple of points you made. (I've been measured as high as 160/100 whilst at work after 4 coffees.)

Is the high BP the cause of the chest tightness? What do you mean by under control (as in you know about it or have taken steps to lower it)?

Bar Shaker

High blood pressure caused my brother to have a stroke. He survived and made a near full recovery but many don't.

Most gyms can check your blood pressure, or visit your GP if you think yours might be high.

I was found to be 135/95 when starting a new gym. I bought an Omnicol (sp) machine to test myself and there was a problem. My GP gave me a 24hr monitor to wear and the results showed that it had settled down so no further action required. It is not something to ignore!

Bozman

My old man has it and he's kindly passed it on to me plus I have the added pleasure of AF, I know when the pressure is up because I'm tense and snappy so I've learnt to take a step back and relax.
I was generally knocking around 90-100 on the diastolic reading but last week that reading was 78, no diet or lifestyle change purely attitude and plenty of time on two wheels.

mikenetic

twoshots wrote:

I'm a hereditary high BP 'sufferer' myself and interested in a couple of points you made. (I've been measured as high as 160/100 whilst at work after 4 coffees.)

Is the high BP the cause of the chest tightness? What do you mean by under control (as in you know about it or have taken steps to lower it)?

The GP has put me on a low dose of a drug called Ramipril. It's an ACE inhibitor, what it does is help relax the walls of the blood vessels slightly. That allows them to expand more, reduce the resistance to blood flow, and therefore drop my blood pressure. They start with a low dose for a month, see what difference it's been making, and tune it if needed.

They're a category of drug that's been in use for quite a long time, and is quite specific in its action. As I understand it, that's one of the things that means it shouldn't affect my ability to ride as a I like. It's also not on the WADA list.

All I can say on the chest tightness is that it's now gone, and that it disappeared quickly after starting the course of medication. She did listen to my chest to see if there was anything sounding suspicious, but there wasn't.

We'll see how it settles down, but I feel a sight better than I did three weeks ago. I'm looking forward to getting out and going hard on the bike now, rather than worrying about why I'm feeling bad.

damocles10

Sometimes the stress of not knowing if there is an issue can raise BP levels. The body is a strange beast. I suffer from white coat syndrome and my doctors reading always spike upwards....they want me on Statins, but, side effects causes my main concern.