Wow. I just tried 15 minutes of breathing exercises...BP was 115/67, lowest in over a month!!! I sure hope this isn't a fluke, but I may have become an instant believer in this.

tamuprof45

Tam,

That is amazing!!! Please tell us exactly what breathing exercises you are doing. Fam

Tam,

That's fantastic! Are you talking about the Breatheasy programme? I've just tried the demo on the site and it's had little effect on me, but I'll persevere and hopefully see some long term results. I guess some people will see the benefits very quickly whereas for others it may take longer. One thing's for sure though, I certainly felt very relaxed after it!

Hux

Nothing more than 15 minutes of very slow breathing, that's really all, honestly.

tamuprof45

Well today's was 133/73. So much for breathing exercises.

Ok it gets interesting again. My therapist said to do deep, diaphraghmatic breathing DURING the BP test, not before...I just assumed to stay motionless you try not to breath at all during the test!

So today's was 113/65, which I think may be an all time low for me.

tamuprof45

Is this your therapist for the biofeedback training? Please explain exactly how you are doing this diaphramatic breathing? I find my b/p goes up if I do any kind of conscious breathing. Fam

Actually this is not the biofeedback...I kind of got bait and switched on that (long story, but it boils down to being told my clinic does it, and then finding out no one is actually qualified to do it...so I have to go outside my clinic and insurance to try it...sigh).

This was just slow, deep breathing NOT from the chest, but pushing out the stomach...6-10 breaths per minute.

tamuprof45

2nd time with deep breathing exercises: 104/67...THAT is the lowest BP I believe I have ever had, under any circumstances.

IF these keep up consistently, then something has gone miraculously right with my BP fight!

tamuprof45

I'm a great believer in breathing exercises. Those are great numbers. Well done!

Great job!!! Now you have me inspired to go try breathing exercises again. They worked great the 5 times I was in labor even with a 10.5 lb baby!!! Fam

My guess is, as an earlier poster on a different thread noted, that it is consistency that counts...doing it every day without fail. Sort of like taking medicine :(

tamuprof45

Breathing exercises won't potentially damage your body as drugs can. I practiced everyday after 3 months during my pregnancies so that I wouldn't have to be drugged & maybe harm my babies. I know it worked because if I stopped doing the breathing routine, I got terrible pain.

Another thing-C-pap decreases b/p about 10 points for those of us with sleep apnea so there maybe some lack oxygen component in this b/p puzzle. Fam

Well, it turns out my machine was malfunctioning...under-inflating...crap. So, used the back up and got a reading of 130/61, which has me thorougly freake dout that breathing exercises don't work, and now to boot, I get to worry about a catastrophically high pulse-pressure, and the prospects of "isolated systolic hypertension" that doesn't respond to, well, pretty much anything from what I read.

tamuprof45

Breathing exercises won't potentially damage your body as drugs can. I practiced everyday after 3 months during my pregnancies so that I wouldn't have to be drugged & maybe harm my babies. I know it worked because if I stopped doing the breathing routine, I got terrible pain.

Another thing-C-pap decreases b/p about 10 points for those of us with sleep apnea so there maybe some lack oxygen component in this b/p puzzle. Fam

Sorry to hear about the under inflating. Don't give up. How did you know your cuff was underinflating? Just didn't feel tight? I never look at the screen so I guess I wouldn't know exacting how high it inflates. I'm starting to practice. I felt so good for the rest of the day after doing some abd. breathing. Fam

There was an error message...the "double E" which in Omronese means "cuff under-inflated". Whatever. Its a setback, but dealing with BP is, by default, filled with setbacks as all of us know. So, rather than freak out, I'll choose to just deal with it and see what happens next.

tamuprof45