High Blood Pressure in Seniors - High & Low Blood Pressure Message Board

donsabi · 04-12-2005, 06:43 PM

I have come across several reports that state the guidelines for blood pressure in people over 60 are higher than for younger people. In fact I came across one report that recommended no treatment for seniors with a systolic of 130-150. This recommendation was based on the consideration of side effects for BP medication. I find this information a little annoying because I have been seeing a new cardiologist who has insisted on putting me on two different BP meds even though I am over 60 with an average of 143/80 and an occasional high of 150/90.
Comments appreciated. Thanks.

pal7778 · 04-12-2005, 08:39 PM

Wouldn't one low dose of something get you under 140 systolic? I'm not sure why you
should go lower than that if you're otherwise ok.

Uff-Da! · 04-12-2005, 11:00 PM

Do you have other risks? Sometimes that makes a difference in how low they want a person's pressure to be.

Lenin · 04-13-2005, 04:27 AM

don,

I agree with you that there are SOOO many levels of spin put on hypertension that it can sometimes set one's head spinning.
I'm in the same boat with close to the same numbers with White Coat thrown into the mix.

Last time my GP said, Gee, you haven't been here since last October...I just stared at him. He said " It's the blood pressure battle isn't it" (he got two points for perception there!) I said, "Of course," and I think a glimmer of an idea crossed the darling's aura. The rest of the visit was actually, not unpleasant.

Of course, when I laid out my mass of data and the averages, conclusions etc. all spelled out in a nice spreadsheet for him he said "the numbers are pretty good but we like to see 130 (I clearly showed him 127 over long periods on 2 drug thereapy and 128 on monotherapy with thiazide), he did the "oh, there are a couple of 140's" and I sighed and went into my chant: "AVERAGE, SUPINE, RELAXED; AVERAGE, SUPINE, RELAXED;AVERAGE, SUPINE, RELAXED." I don't know if he was listening (I actually said it three times...just like I wrote it.)
And then some babble about alpha blockers and clorazepam (sic) and I just looked up at the ceiling!
Maybe next time I'll say: "GOOD MORNING: AVERAGE, SUPINE, RELAXED" as I walk in the door.

We simply must decide for ourselves what numbers are good enough. After 50, nobody is going to have the arterial suppleness of 20 years olds and that's just the way it is. To say, at YOUR age with YOUR heart just belies the fact that the doctor is ageist. Isn't it preposterous to demand a lower pressure because one is old or has heart disease???

To my mind and to the mind of most practical experts in the field, 140/90 is good enough. For pill pushers (doctors and pharmaceutical manufacturers alike) 130/85 is WAY too high!

Isn't it awful that they have to resort to shenanigans like that just to keep people coming back over and over with our wallets wide open for their itchy fingers?