My husband (aged 48) routinely donated blood at bloodmobiles until a year ago. My first question: Wouldn't they have disallowed him from donating if his BP was high?

The reason I ask is because I'm trying to narrow down when his BP got so high.

Six months ago he went to the doctor for an unrelated problem and his BP was 170/122. The doctor sent him home (no meds) and told him to get a blood pressure cuff, monitor his pressure for a few weeks, try to change his diet and get some exercise, and EMAIL him his BP log. The pressure went down a few points, but not significantly. He procrastinated and didn't email the doctor for over a month. But when he did, the doc didn't respond, so as human nature would have it, he got slack about taking his BP.

The BP cuff has a digital read.

A month ago I asked him to take his BP again to humor me. It was 170/122 again. I had him take mine too to determine if maybe the cuff was reading high. I was 115/70, which is normal for me.

Long story short - I made him go back to the DR. He was put on meds. His bottom number still didn't go below 100. They increased his dosage. I think his bottom number gets into the 90s now. I know that's still high.

I don't understand how BP can go up suddenly w/o an underlying condition. Granted there was about a 6 month period of time with no screening between the last time he gave blood and when he first saw the doctor about the unrelated issue. But within 6 months even seems sudden.

Comments? Couldn't he have stroked out? He's the most calm, mild mannered, non-complaining man I know. He's never sick.

I'm not a doctor, so this is a layman's opinion; I am very surprised thats his doctor would simply send him home and have him do his own monitoring and then suggesting an e-mail response of his log book with out a follow-up visit to find a reason for the high pressure.

You may want to consider a second opinion!!

First, as mrbojangle said, I am not a doctor. I however went through the same thing 2 weeks ago. My BP basically spiked up to 180/120. I called the ER on Saturday morning and asked them what I should do. They told me I had to come in right away that anything above 160/100 needs to be dealt with. I was given some BP pills for the weekend and told to see my GP on Monday. I went in to see my GP and my BP was still 160/100. Thats when they gave me atenolol for a week then switched me to lisiniprol.

People who have high blood pressure can donate blood (even if they are on meds). In fact it will even reduce your BP a few points cause there is less blood volume after donating.

170/120 is pretty high, you say your husband does not have an underlying cause for the HBP? Are you sure your Doctor did all the possible tests for HBP, it sounds like you may need to switch doctors to find one who treat your Husband's BP seriously.

Thanks for the responses. I have switched doctors myself. But my husband goes so rarely, he's noncommital about making a change. My husband has no KNOWN underlying condition. His doctor did zero additional tests. That's my concern. It seemed to me something else had to be amiss for his BP to go up so suddenly. But maybe it wasn't as suddenly as I assumed if in fact it was possible it was high even when he was giving blood regularly. He's on Benecar 40 mg right now. The BP is down significantly, but bottom # still in 90s.

Thanks again! I don't want him stroking out on me.

How long has he been on the Benecar? I just started having noticable problems 2 weeks ago, and I was on atenolol which is a betablocker. I saw very significant drops within 3 days, I was back down to the high 120's over 80s. I switched to Lisinipril about 7 days later due to fatigue issues. My BP has been in the 140's over the high 80s to low 90s. My physician who I just changed to 2 weeks ago due to issues over my BP has been very aggressive at trying to get it lowered. He told me on something like lisinipril it could take 3 to 4 weeks before you get the absolute results.

Hopefully your husbands BP drops. If not, time for him to see someone else perhaps.