high blood pressure advice - High & Low Blood Pressure Message Board

helenc26 · 02-26-2008, 02:32 PM

Hi all

Had a really traumatic experience at the weekend, had a nose bleed in the morning, which was heavy but went after ten minutes. at around 6pm i took 2 asprin, and within 3 hours my nose began bleeing again, at this point i couldnt stop it, it bled for an hour and a half and i had to call an ambulance as i live alone. when i got to the hospital they tried several things but still couldnt stop the bleeding so packed the nose and put me on a ward. it was still bleeding at 4pm the next day at which point the doctor told me it could be related to my blood pressure which is high. I will now tell you I am very overweight, drink and smoke heavily. He told me to try and calm down or the bleeding would not stop (he gave me some diazapam which helped

it finally stopped at around 9pm, over 24 hours after the bleeding started. I am convinced this was a blood pressure nose bleed as the blood was coming from what felt like the back of my head, not a nasal cavity. I was discharged and am seeing my gp tommorow and may be put on meds but believe me this has been the wake up call i needed and some major lifestyle changes are being put into place. However, it is unrealistic to change everything at once, so id like your opinions.

Im terms on cigarettes, i smoke 30 a day, i intend to initially reduce that to ten.
In terms of alchohol, instead of 6-8 drinks most nights, i intend to have 2 nights a week with a few glasses of wine and a friday or saturday night with a few more.
Food wise i will be cutting out high fat and salt ridden foods 80% of time time.
And I am also going to take up (initially) light excercise like walking every day for 45 minutes.

I dont feel strong enough to do more than this immedietly, do you think this will be enough to lower the pressure naturally? I will be asking my doctor but also wanted some other opinions

thanks

dmer · 02-26-2008, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by helenc26

Im terms on cigarettes, i smoke 30 a day, i intend to initially reduce that to ten.
In terms of alchohol, instead of 6-8 drinks most nights, i intend to have 2 nights a week with a few glasses of wine and a friday or saturday night with a few more.
Food wise i will be cutting out high fat and salt ridden foods 80% of time time.
And I am also going to take up (initially) light excercise like walking every day for 45 minutes.

I dont feel strong enough to do more than this immedietly, do you think this will be enough to lower the pressure naturally? I will be asking my doctor but also wanted some other opinions

thanks

You have a challenge but the good news is you have acknowledged it and know the nettle you must grasp.

Speaking as a former smoker (40-60 per day), my suggestion is not to cut back but to quit. If you want to segment your goals, perhaps put this first. Reducing the # is ineffective and 10, by and large, are as harmful to you as 30. You might be better served embarking on a nicotine gum regimen. In the years I smoked, my mother in law always told me the obvious " you will stop when you want to". I think you want to and you certainly have good reason, therefore, stopping wouold be a better objective.

Combined with your alcohol consumption, the cigs are really lethal to your health. But you already know this.

My suggestion would be to stop smoking and probably eliminate the alcohol until your situation improves a little. When you have some comfort with that, introduce a little exercise. You will be amazed at how you can progress.

As mentioned, I'm a former heavy smoker who after quitting, ran a marathon. In the inervening years, my diet and exercise lapsed and I put on 6 stone to wind up here talking about HBP. I've lost 3 1/2 of those and am getting back to a previous fitness level. If someone like me who liked to sit in the pub and smoke Players can do it, anyone can.

Do it for you, you won't regret it!