20 years old and high blood pressure? - Please Help!

[pslam 91]

Oh yea, I drink a capful of apple cider vinegar in my water everyday. it has to be the unprocessed kind with "mother" in it. I get mine at the health food store. I is suppose to be high in potassium and other great things that our bodies need. Do a search on apple cidar vinegar. I use "Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar". It is recommnded for high b/p and cholesterol. It does'nt taste too bad. It kind of adds a little zip to my water

[wr6969]

Sorry nospin, I've not had any experiences with verapamil specifically. I was on Plendil (that didn't agree with me because it caused some palpitations as well as tachycardia!) and Norvasc (didn't regulate my BP well enough!) and am now on Diovan, which so far, works. I'm not saying that calcium channel blockers don't work, but they affect people differently. I would hazard a guess that while you may see some results after starting this medication, it will take some 2-4 weeks before its full effects are felt - so if you decide to take your BP a couple of times daily with the spiffy new machine, jot it down for record purposes, and see if there's a trend downwards. Of course, if your BP comes down immediately to "healthy" levels, then there's nothing to worry about!

Personally I haven't done a blood test in over a year, so I don't know whether my potassium levels are low/high, and whether excess salt is being retained in the body. I do drink a lot of water now to "flush" any toxins and salt out; so far it's been helping I think. I do take magnesium supplements though to see if they help with my ectopic heartbeats ("skipped"/premature beats)...

[zip2play]

nospin,

Let me add a couple central nervous system symptoms to zuzu's list.

Don't be surprised with 3 hours sleep, amphetamine-like energy with occasional instant bursts of RAGE.
The mood swings are incredible (but not on the depressive side, that's good)...you'll certainly get LOTS of work done but be careful not to suddenly snap at people .

Keep me posted.

CNS Side Effects:

Cerebrovascular accident, confusion, equilibrium disorders, insomnia, muscle cramps, paresthesia, psychotic symptoms, shakiness, somnolence, excitation, depression, rotary nystagmus, vertigo, tremor, extrapyramidal disorders, muscle fatigue, hyperkinesis

[alptraum]

I am 22 years old and have the same issue you have, isolated systolic pressure. I too am under a lot of stress in graduate engineering school and wonder if that is what is causing it. I'll keep you updated on what I'm trying and if I find something that works for me.

Thus far I've tried going vegetarian, excercising 30 min per day on a rowing machine, apple cider vinegar and garlic, all with mixed results. Yesterday I just started cayenne, I got 90,000 HU at a food coop, much hotter than what you can buy in the grocery store that is typically 30,000 HU, I've heard of good success with it, I'll keep you posted if it works for me.

[nospin06]

Alptraum,

Best of luck with the cayenne. Definitely update us with results.