bethsheba

You are welcome for the reply, fizzie!

The first pressure is the systolic pressure and ideally that should be at 120 or less. Yours is a bit high at 140-160 but it is stressful to see the old doc so we have to take that into account. The second number is the diastolic pressure and that should be between 60 and 80, and you report your diastolic as being between 38 and 40. I have never heard of a diastolic being that low....but I've never had low blood pressure. Are you certain of the figures? I would find it difficult to believe your doctor would prescribe 2 meds for pressures with the numbers you report.

Do you have any other compelling health condtions?

If you don't, based on what you've told us I would seriously queston the need for medication, especially TWO meds. Instead, I would encourage you to learn more about the low sodium DASH diet, and other lifestyle changes that you can make like losing extra weight, exercising, quitting smoking, eliminating alcohol, and screening for sleep apnea.

If you have no other compelling health conditions, and I suspect you don't simply because your physician has "monitored" your pressures for 9 months, I would strongly advise AGAINST taking medication at this point.

My advice:

1. Check the accuracy of the numbers that the doctor's office reported.

2. Buy a good blood pressure monitor so you can take your pressures at home where you should be under less stress...and get a truer picture of what your blood pressure is really doing.

3. Tell your doctor you want to try lifestyle changes first...take notes and compare your notes to what we're saying on this board. My best bet is your doc isn't going to cover all of the bases.

4. Read everything you can that is on this board...but don't believe everything your read...and go from there.

Bethsheba