I am 53, female reasonably fit, have had no blood pressure problems in the past except when Graves disease is active { twice only] Decided to join a gym and at the assesment was supprised B/P was 160/97,i had to have Dr's clearance , blood tests were fine and second visit to Dr BP was fine so he gave me the OK.Its been amonth now and the gym take my B/P on a regular basis and are not happy, it averages 160/87.Pulse rate at rest is between 51 and 70 after exercise B/P drops to about 154/84 and during exercise pulse is about 140 which is ok. I do get a bit short of breath on the bikes . I don't know if I should go back to the doctor, if I did what would he test for ? Anyone have any input I would be grateful. I am only about 7 lb overweight and my cholesterol is slightly elevated.

He would test your BP. Possibly, the BP machine at the gym is not accurate, but he may also decide to do a ambulatory monitoring (where you where a device that checks your BP every 15 minutes). There is no blood test for hypertension. If its not a mercury BP cuff, don't trust it. Also, since I'm assuming an automatic machine, they are particularly bad at overestimating the top number which is the one that seems to be out of line.

pls follow it up with health leave no stone unturned..cross check with BP machine at stores

crystal,

I'd forget those health club numbers completely. They are measuring your body under the probably highest stress state of your whole day.
Buy a cheap home BP unit and use it for several days when at rest in front of the TV. (You can always return it for zero cost but I'll bet you keep it. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/biggrin.gif)

If you get nearly consistent readings below 140/90, don't give BP another thought. If, however, you are consistently higher mention it to your MD on your next visit (earlier if you get anything like 160/100 at rest.) Doctor will invariably start you on one of a zillion drugs if he finds HBP. A sensible start is cheap hydrochlorothiazide diuretics.

Don't panic. You'll merely be joining most of the rest of the adult population.



[This message has been edited by zip2play (edited 10-17-2003).]

Thanks everyone but it appears that I do have a problem. All my readings at the gym were before exercise and on following it up this week the same thing was happening at the surgery,the doc took it about 5 times sittin and standing with readings sometimes way up and others normal, labrile or somethingg like that he said, can't give me a reason why just says its inherited most likely as kidney tests and thyroid are fine. Started me on ramipril 2.5mg to build up to 10mg in a fortnight also gave me venlafaxine for anxiety, one of them is making me very squirmish in the tummy, but I will perserve for the fortnight and see what happens.

crystal,

A downside for ramipril (ACE inhibitor) is the VERY frequent nagging cough.
I'm just mentioning it in case you start coughing, don't assume you've caught a cold- it's the drug. Many people (me included) simply CANNOT take this class of drug because of the hacking.