Hello All,

I hope that I can get some good answers to help me out with my high blood pressure story. I’m 23 and my weight is 186 Pounds and my tall is 185 CM (I think it’s 6 feets, I’m not sure). My blood pressure without medication range from 150/100 to 140/90 and I have decided to stop medication because my current med (Atacand 8mg) makes me sleepy all the day (but on it my bp is 120/80). I don’t drink and I don’t smoke

I know that diet, exercise, natural supplement and vitamins can reduce blood pressure but I have a few questions and I really believe that YOU can help me more than Doctors.

1- What may happen if my blood pressure is constantly 140/90? I’m 23 and I want live healthy as much as I can so I don’t want get serious problems after 20 years (like heart failure or blindness).
2- Currently I take Zinc 60mg, Magnesium 250 mg, Vitamin C 500 mg, Vitamin B Complex, Omega 3 1,200 mg, Garlic 900 mg. I know that those can help reduce blood pressure but I don’t know for how long I can take them. I heard that Garlic, Vitamin C and Omega 3 can be taken for a very long time but what about B Complex, Zinc and Magnesium??
3- Diet and exercise, how many months does it takes to reduce blood pressure with them?
If you reduced your blood pressure without medication please help me and help the others and encourage us, tell us how you did it. I think it can be done.
Thanks,
Michael

For every 20 points your systolic is over 115, your risk of heart attack doubles. At your age, the initial risk is small, so even doubling that is still small. But if you keep that pressure up over a period of years, by the time you are 40 or 50 or 60, it will have taken a toll on your arteries and you won't be able to correct the damage done. So while it may be worthwhile to take a year or so now to try to get it down without medication, if you aren't successful, I'd urge you to go back on medication.

B complex vitamins are safe long term, the body just excretes any extra you don't need. A person with kidney problems wouldn't want to put a heavier load on the kidneys than necessary, but for most people it is safe. The tolerable upper limit of magnesium supplement is set at 350 mg daily in the US, plus whatever is in the diet. You might check the web to see if other countries set a different tolerable upper limit to get a different opinion on the matter. A person usually starts getting diarrhea if they are taking too much magnesium, so that's a pretty good clue if you are getting too much. I'm not sure what the tolerable upper limit of zinc is; you might want to do a web search for that.

I was on blood pressure medication for five years and was able to get off the meds this past January. The primary reason for my HBP was stress and accompanying chronic sleep deprivation. Once I no longer had to deal with the stress, I was able to reduce my meds from 30 mg Lisinopril daily to 10 mg. It was likely changes in eating habits that allowed me to drop the meds altogether. My primary changes: less meat, pasta, potatoes, breads and full-fat cheese and more fruits, vegetables and non-fat or low-fat dairy. I'm now what you might call a semi-vegetarian. I do eat a little tuna and a little chicken, but I can make one can of tuna last three days! I'll often use a little bit of roasted chicken on a mixed vegetable salad or in a casserole, but don't eat it just as a separate dish very often. I eat a lot of legumes: bean or pea or lentil soup, bean salads, etc. I often top my salads with garbanzo beans. Because I have a cholesterol problem, I avoid most prepared foods. I practically live on soups and salads plus skim milk and plain yogurt. Potassium and calcium are two nutrients important for keeping BP down, and my diet includes plenty of them.

Did you read this other thread on the same topic? There are some good ideas there. http://www.healthboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=204515

Thanks Uff-Da, so you are saying that 140/90 is not good enough and I'm still on a great risk in the future?
I will give it a try for 1 year and I will add Green Tea, Cocoa Drink, Hibiscus to my plan.

When I was 20 I was less than my current weight by 20 Pounds and my blood pressure was 120/80 in summer and 140/90 in winter without any diet or anything else.

I took off the medication 40 hours ago and now it's 140/100 but I will work to reduce it. Anyway, thanks to you and to everyone on this forums for helping each others.

I will keep you posted with anything new or anything that reduce blood pressure :)

Michael

No, 140/90 is really not good enough. That's the point at which almost all doctors would start medicating, and if a person has other risks, they often start medicating at a lower level. Optimal BP is now considered to be 115/75 or lower. If you could lose that extra 20 pounds again, that could bring your BP down. Even ten pounds might do it. For some people, though, staying on the slim side of the normal range works best.

Good luck, and yes, keep us posted.

Michael, good luck on your quest to lower your BP w/o meds. Uff Duff gives good advice. My hubby is in a similar situation as you. He's trying lifestyle modifications to try to lower his BP. It's hard for a meat and potatoes kind of guy, but he's making progress :). He is a little older than you are but I would rather he try like a mad dog to lower his BP before going on meds. He has other risk factors which he's working on as well, and a family history of heart disease so I don't want him to wait forever to get it down. (His is 130/100 at his docs). I wonder if he might have a bit of the "white coat" anxiety because his BP is more normal when I take it 2-3 times a day at home. He goes back to the doc today so we'll see what it is then.
You sound like you are doing good things. I think I might even suggest the hubby take up some of what you are doing.
Good luck!!

Potatoes??? potatoes raise blood pressure? I didn't hear this before. :confused:
Thanks for the good info and I will do a search for it online.
Michael

Potatoes are one of the most potassium-rich foods on the planet. I wouldn't associate that food as one which raises BP. In fact, just the opposite.

Pal