unstable bp readings - High & Low Blood Pressure Message Board

andrewdoan · 12-08-2005, 11:08 PM

Please help anyone! I am a smoker ( 1pk daily) ,no drinks and 51 yrs old male. I accidently tried Zoloft 25mg for my insomnia ( 2 weeks). First day of Zoloft, I had a bad reaction (?) that made me felt heavy pulse on the back of both of my knees and extremely anxiety. The second day of Zoloft, I felt tremendous amount of headache an sometimes early in the morning, my left arm was cold while the other was warm..I quited Zoloft on the fourth day and woke up with a steammy body from my heat to my shoulder to my pennis are all "hot" as high fever. My bp then jumped from 112/72 to 156 /85 . My body especially the head,neck and hands and feet are always feel steammy heat. All the follows test are negative : thyroid mri, lung, abdomen, adrenal glamds mri...I was put on Norvasc 5mg but I couldnot handle the rapid beating of my heart and the weaken of my body ( Extremely fatigue). My Bp went up 145/95/98 after I quited Norvarsc..Cr put me on Altace which keep my bp at normal 125/79/80 after couple days. I was lucky without the cough but The Altace made my body and face and neck hotter and redder then the sore throat..swollen liips...I have been off all meds for a week now. I consume a lot of garlic and celery in hope to keep bp low. Still 120/80 in the early morning...124/84/85 after shower...but inthe afternoon and evening, i feel very hot on my face and neck and bp readings go up to 140/90/92...I am afraid of dying from stroke or heart attack but the side effects of CCB ( Norvarsc) and Altace also freighten me. Please have me advised anyone. Thanks.

pal7778 · 12-10-2005, 03:41 AM

If your average bp at rest is under 140 systolic, you probably can do without the medicine. Because all the pills have strange effects on you, you should, of course,
spend several weeks without any of them. You'll probably find you're ok. You won't
dying of a stroke or a heart attack just because your bp hovers around 140/90 part
of the day. If you do decide you need a bit of bp help, go with a low dose diuretic
or ARB first, in my opinion. You certainly don't need much help.

andrewdoan · 12-10-2005, 06:55 AM

Hi PAL 778. Tks for your reply. I am thinking abt going back to 5mg Norvacs since mr. Dr. was kind of upset with me with all my strange effects abd he didnot know why. Do you know why my bp readings so good in the morning ( without meds) around 124/82 but in the afternoon and especially in the evening around 6 pr 7 pm , it gets so bad that I feel dizzy, tight in my head, all over my body getting hot and my readings last was 156/97 then the second reading was 140/90. The heart rate was around stably 80/81 ? I know you are not a licensed Dr. but sometimes experience is the best. Tks in advance. Andrew

pal7778 · 12-10-2005, 07:15 AM

Bp often goes up during the day. People vary in how their bp fluctuates during the day, but everyone fluctuates. It's normal, in other words, to experience a rise, although 156 is more than borderline high. But, still, mildly high bp shouldn't cause all those symptoms. The danger would be longterm. Look elsewhere for causes--maybe to anxiety, which by itself can easily cause isolated high or even very high readings. Your symptoms (more than your bp) are pronounced enough that you need a sympathetic doc who won't look to hbp medicine for the remedy. Here's the impossible-to-follow advice: Relax! It's unlikely you're in immediate danger. And consider the various nonmedicinal methods of getting calmer, beginning with regular, moderate exercise. Stop smoking, of course. Finally, if you do use a CCB--
try a low dose of diltiazem, which in my experience is more likely to be side-effect free.

Uff-Da! · 12-10-2005, 07:18 AM

From what I've read, the majority of people have their highest resting BP of the day just upon rising and it goes down within the next few hours. I strongly suspect if your pressure is higher later in the day than in the morning, that is due to stress. Do you have a stressful job, stressful commute, or personal problems that cause stress?

Stress is a known factor in raising BP. I'm a good example. My BP was usually 120/80 in the doctor's office until my husband had a stroke and I became caregiver 24/7. Within a few months I had to go on BP medication. I stayed on a high dose (30 mg) of Lisinopril for four years until about seven months after my husband's death, when I was able to reduce the dosage to 10 mg. Another year later after making dietary changes, I was able to get off the meds altogether. Whether it was the long-term stress that caused it or the fact that I'm now six years older, I don't know, but I haven't been able to get my SBP average back down to 120, it has been running 125-127 most of this year. Currently it is up from that, but I've been having unrelated medical problems recently which are affecting it.