FWIW, that 152/80 reading looks like a classic white-coat number. Usually, white-coat shows up more in the systolic.
In my case, my doctor was seeing readings like 150/90-160/100. However, my home readings were usually more like 135/85-140/90. So, I agreed that I could benifit from some medication. But, my doctor kept prescribing two drug combos and maximum doses of stuff. In fact, I gained 10 pounds in 1 month on HYZAAR which contains HCTZ. And, on top of that, HYZAAR did absolutely nothing for BP control.
After trying numerous others (He actually had suggested atenolol at one point. I said, "No way"), I finally recommended Benicar 20mg (no HCT). And, he obliged. My home numbers showed great improvement. On my 3 week followup on Benicar, my BP was 148/70 in his office. He was a little puzzled by the huge improvement in diastolic. And, yet the systolic remained about the same. He then looked at my charts of my home measurements and agreed that the Benicar 20 was doing its job. And, since I've been on Benicar, I've dropped those 10 "HYZAAR" pounds plus 15 more. In fact, I would even venture to say that Benicar may be helping with weight loss. Based on my HYZAAR experience, I suspect that the HCT version with HCTZ would totally ruin this drug for me. In fact, if he had prescribed COZAAR (HYZAAR minus HCTZ), it probably would have worked fine as well. Less is more!
Pal
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