Alcohol Opinions Please?

[goldenboys]

Hi everyone...so glad this board is here...I just read alot of various topics and would like some opinions. I joined this board in March after going to my dr. with 180/90 BP & pulse rate 110 out of the blue. He put me on Atenolol & Plendil and told me it was my genes. Well trying to sort why I developed high BP I now believe that I am hypersensitive to wine as I was drinking every night 3 glasses which sometimes would cause blackouts and I really wasn't exercising like I normally did. This was probably a 4 month period. At the time of the visit I never mentioned alcohol as I didn't connect the 2 till I read topics on this board. Before I started drinking my BP was fine. I guess my question is in your opinions could my drinking have been the total cause of this? I stopped the Plendil and I want to wean off the atenolol as I have way too many bad effects from it. I would like to wean off w/o my dr. knowing and hope come my Aug. visit I can have normal BP and tell him its because I changed my lifestyle. I don't drink anymore and have 120/70 BP but don't know how much is medicine effect. Oh another thing my last visit 2 months ago I took my NEW Ormon BP with me but everytime I took my BP it came back with an EE so the dr. told me to let him take care of my readings. Came home and unit worked fine. Sorry this is so long. Thanks for reading.

[mgraylorn]

Don't let your doctor put you off. You have a right to calibrate your monitor with what they get. Insist on trying it again.

Alcohol can raise blood pressure. Try gradually weaning off the Atenolol and see what happens. Take your own blood pressure readings during this time. If you wean off and still have consistent readings under 140/90, then you don't need drugs. You don't say if you have done anything else besides give up alcohol. If you are overweight, drop some pounds, reduce salt in your diet and try to eat more fruit and veggies. Also if you don't exercise, start. It can be as simple as a 30 minute walk most days. These things also reduce blood pressure.

Good Luck!

[goldenboys]

Thanks mgraylorn...yes I have gone back to my old healthy lifestyle in the past 3 weeks....my exercise schedule use to be pretty strenuous which is a real struggle right now with the atenolol but I'm getting a minimum of an hr a day thanks to my golden retrievers. I'm not overweight, I never add salt to anything (I actually hate salty products) & I am a salad, veg. fish person. I guess that's why I'm hoping that this isn't genetic and it was the wine I can't wait to get off the Atenolol .... that stuff is poison.

[Uff-Da!]

HBP coming on suddenly could also be stress if you had some major ongoing stress problem start about that time. Some of us are more influenced by stress than others. I was on meds for five years due primarily to stress, but am back off meds now. My unmedicated BP is now averaging about 126/76, about six points higher systolic than before I went on meds. But then I'm five years older, too, and I hear chronic stress can do bad things to the body.