Hyperstension medication and exercise

[axlmed]

I am 2 weeks into my Diovan dosage. I take 80 mg, but the dr. told me to just 1/2 the pills to start and take 40mg. I did not listen cause my symptoms were unbearable. no, i have a steady concentration in my blood of this medication, and at rest it is perfect-o. The doctor said that it was ok that i was at 80mg.

Now that i am feeling better i want to start exercising again. Only problem is, is that my blood pressure drops severely, and i get light-headed with a very high pulse rate.

I know diovan is an ARB (angiotensin receptor blocker). I know that it blocks angiotensin from constricting the blood vessels so as to reduce blood pressure. I know when you exercise, the body compensates for the increase in cardiac output by constricing the blood vessels. I am figuring that the Diovan, is blocking my natural need to constrict during exercise, and my b.p. is dropping.

Do you think I should 1/2 my dosage, and see what happens?!

I just got down doing moderate aerobic activity and my bp is 86/60!

thanks

[Stumper]

Originally Posted by axlmed

I am 2 weeks into my Diovan dosage. I take 80 mg, but the dr. told me to just 1/2 the pills to start and take 40mg. I did not listen cause my symptoms were unbearable. no, i have a steady concentration in my blood of this medication, and at rest it is perfect-o. The doctor said that it was ok that i was at 80mg.

Now that i am feeling better i want to start exercising again. Only problem is, is that my blood pressure drops severely, and i get light-headed with a very high pulse rate.

I know diovan is an ARB (angiotensin receptor blocker). I know that it blocks angiotensin from constricting the blood vessels so as to reduce blood pressure. I know when you exercise, the body compensates for the increase in cardiac output by constricing the blood vessels. I am figuring that the Diovan, is blocking my natural need to constrict during exercise, and my b.p. is dropping.

Do you think I should 1/2 my dosage, and see what happens?!

I just got down doing moderate aerobic activity and my bp is 86/60!

thanks

If your BP is dropping that drastically then you are probably getting to much med.

[Lenin]

Axlmed,

A couple thoughts:
Diovan is not a strong hypertensive and the usual starting dose is 80 mg. with most people moving up to 160 mg.
I don't think that you are correct about the normal vasoconstrictive effect of exercise...probably the contrary is true lest our muscles would be starved wheen they most need nutrients. My BP goes up CONSIDERABLY during exercise and for a short time afterwards...then it falls.
What kind of numbers are you getting with the 80 mg. at rest? How long after you stop exercising are you taking your reading?
Anyhoo, If you really are getting 86/60 EVER, then I think maybe you might be a candidate for no BP medicaltion at all. <Always a BLESSED finding>

[axlmed]

Originally Posted by Lenin

I don't think that you are correct about the normal vasoconstrictive effect of exercise...probably the contrary is true lest our muscles would be starved wheen they most need nutrients. My BP goes up CONSIDERABLY during exercise and for a short time afterwards...then it falls.
What kind of numbers are you getting with the 80 mg. at rest? How long after you stop exercising are you taking your reading?
Anyhoo, If you really are getting 86/60 EVER, then I think maybe you might be a candidate for no BP medicaltion at all. <Always a BLESSED finding>

your blood pressure goes up, because your cardiac output has increased. also, your sympathetic nervous system kicks in when you exercise.. this causes vasoconstriction skin sweating. this further increases your blood pressure. my problem is that i think 80 mgs is too much for me. cause i can't constrict at all. i dont' know.

i started doing 1/2 pills today. i'm going to give it a week. before diovan at rest i was 150/100. now at rest i'm 120+/7+. so that's great. i just can't exercise

i did a 1/2 mile jog (which is easy for me)..and became severely light-headed.. checked my blood pressure... 65/45!!!!!

[Lenin]

this causes vasoconstriction skin sweating.

Nope, can't agree here. Sweating is the body's way to release heat. The way the body gets heat to the skin is to DILATE the blood vessels in the skin. Same with muscles. Vasoconstriction occurs to other organs (like stomach, intestines) so that blood isn't "wasted" during exercise but the working muscles override any vasoconstrictive signals that other organs accept.

Your body seems perhaps more trained than most to allow heavy blood flow to the dilated muscle vasculature and, under the influence of the ARB, perhaps NOT to signal the rest of the system to constrict.

(I realize we might be talking apples and oranges here and I also realize that I am probably not getting the vasoDILATION of the muscles and skin that I should during aerobic exercise <which I abhor> (I like strength exercise)thus my BP rises considerably during a run, and yours doesn't.)

Most ARB's are vasodilatory and maybe you are getting dilation to parts of the body that don't need dilation...most BP drugs are VERY non-specific.

What happened to your BP during a run back in the days where your BP was 150/100 at rest?

Smaller dose (or a different drug) seems the answer for you, like you suspect.

If you want to do an interesting experiment, RUN, take BP immediately, then PLUNGE one hand into ice water for 10 seconds (HUGELY VASOCONSTRICTIVE) immediately re-take BP on the other arm...see what happens, it might shed more light on the mechanisms going on.