Blood pressure

[Ella1979]

Argh! Just need to vent... had pre-eclampsia with my first baby and bp took 6 months to come down enough to stop medication. With my second baby my bp was fine during pregnancy, but shot up a few days after birth and I was on more medication for a month afterwards.

Yesterday I had a doctor's appointment because my back's been playing up and she took my bp - first reading was 177/91 (!) and second was 150/81 My bp was always fine before my pregnancies. I now have to have a 24hr bp monitor to make sure I have hypertension as once they start medicating it'll be for life!!!!!

Anyone else had this?

 

[Ella1979]

Obviously not...

Had my 24 hr bp monitor over the last day - half hourly readings during the day and hourly last night. Horrendous! The wretched thing woke me up almost every time it took a reading. So tired today. Reading-wise a lot of them were normal but quite a few had high systolic and a few with high diastolic and a couple with both. Have to wait a couple of weeks now to see the doc.

 

[BunnyN]

Sorry I can't really help. I had high BP in pregnancy and labour but it went down after. My mum had PE with her first pregnancy and high BP with her 3rd pregnancy at 26. Later she had to go on medication for high BP. I think if you have a tendency toward high BP pregnancy brings it out because it puts more stress on your body. I have a feeling I will end up on medication later in life for it but thankfully it's okay for now. My mum did manage to delay going on medication for a few years by controlling it with diet and exercise. She found regular gentle exercise like walking and swimming and a low colesterol diet made a big difference for her.

 

[Ella1979]

Thanks for replying! I'm hoping to control mine with diet and exercise - even though my BMI is a "healthy" 21, I probably could eat more fruit and veg. I get weight-lifting exercise with my two kids (!), but I'm hoping to get back to swimming at some point in the future.

 

[BunnyN]

Another thing I have found is that I always get a high or boarder line reading on my BP when a doctor takes it but I bought a home machine because I was worried about it and it tests fine at home unless Im really stressed out. I dont pay much attention to the readings I get at the docs anymore as I realised that doctors stress me more that anything else .

 

[Ella1979]

Oh God yes! lol! I remember just hearing the little trolley with the bp monitor in hospital used to make me stressed. Even if I wasn't stressed at that point, once the cuff puffs, stops, then puffs up further, you just know it's going to be a high reading, which causes stress in itself!

I do seem to have some white coat hypertension, but some of the home readings are high. I'm hoping I won't need medication just yet.

 

[BunnyN]

Lol, glad it's not just me