Off Blood Pressure Med

After 11 months on CPAP and losing about 20 pounds, I was able to stop my blood pressure med recently. Before CPAP, my blood pressure did not vary much when my weight went up and down. Now, it is consistently either good or excellent, even without the meds.

Breathe Jimbo wrote:After 11 months on CPAP and losing about 20 pounds, I was able to stop my blood pressure med recently. Before CPAP, my blood pressure did not vary much when my weight went up and down. Now, it is consistently either good or excellent, even without the meds.

CONGRATZ!!!

I hope to avoid the BP med completely now that I've started on CPAP.

Congratulations, Breathe Jimbo!!!

Well, there's just one thing to say:



That's "Conga Rats" for those who are wondering.

JohnBFisher wrote:That's "Conga Rats" for those who are wondering.

I'm stealing that animated gif. Thanks.

Excellent news, Breathe Jimbo.

My son (The Doctor ) just told me there are new BP guidelines that just came out for older people...140/85 will now be considered an acceptable(normal) range. I was thinking it was my imagination that Mike seems to have more energy when is BP is a little elevated and more tired when it's a little too low. I don't know if anything's changed for the younger population.

If the pipes are narrower, it takes more pressure to pump the same volume of liquid through them per minute. Doctors have now caught up with plumbers on this point.

I believe these are the new BP guidelines for the non-elderly:



This is a comparison with the older, pre-2003 guidelines:



The numbers are higher for the elderly because the medication side effects can be more problematic for them, especially when they must take 2 or more meds to get lower BP.

Breathe Jimbo wrote:After 11 months on CPAP and losing about 20 pounds, I was able to stop my blood pressure med recently. Before CPAP, my blood pressure did not vary much when my weight went up and down. Now, it is consistently either good or excellent, even without the meds.

hey Congrats!
You are doing this under a Doctor's supervision, right?

Congrats! I, too, was on a med for bp... just HCTZ, but my pressure would often be in the low hypertensive range-- around 155 over 85. Since I started cpap almost 1 yr. ago, I've stabilized it to the point I no longer take the HCTZ at all, and my pressure today was 127 over 78! My doc is very pleased as well as for the 25 lbs. lost.

Keep up the great work..... I hope you continue to reap the rewards of cpap!

The people who sell expensive new blood pressure medicine keep getting the doctors to drop the acceptable pressure numbers. Sounds like they finally got some pushback.

Vader wrote:You are doing this under a Doctor's supervision, right?

I experimented after losing 20 pounds. My numbers remained in the ideal to low pre-hypertensive range for systolic and stayed ideal for diastolic. If the numbers had gone up appreciably, I would simply have resumed taking the med. I was able to stop because I have made huge lifestyle changes with respect to diet and exercise, have no co-morbidities like diabetes or heart disease, and have lost a substantial amount of weight. I will continue to monitor my BP for changes. Really nothing for my doctor to supervise at this point. Under both the old and new guidelines, I no longer need to take BP meds with the numbers that I am seeing. And since I am unemployed and have crappy COBRA coverage with a huge deductible, I really need to save money wherever I can.

For example, when I took my blood pressure yesterday morning, it was 111/64 - about 2 weeks after I last took my BP med.

Breathe Jimbo wrote:

Vader wrote:You are doing this under a Doctor's supervision, right?

I experimented after losing 20 pounds. My numbers remained in the ideal to low pre-hypertensive range for systolic and stayed ideal for diastolic. If the numbers had gone up appreciably, I would simply have resumed taking the med. I was able to stop because I have made huge lifestyle changes with respect to diet and exercise, have no co-morbidities like diabetes or heart disease, and have lost a substantial amount of weight. I will continue to monitor my BP for changes. Really nothing for my doctor to supervise at this point. Under both the old and new guidelines, I no longer need to take BP meds with the numbers that I am seeing. And since I am unemployed and have crappy COBRA coverage with a huge deductible, I really need to save money wherever I can.

For example, when I took my blood pressure yesterday morning, it was 111/64 - about 2 weeks after I last took my BP med.

That's fantastic! and you obviously seem to be taking charge of your own health, and monitoring things nicely.
That's something we are kind of forced to be good at, as cpap users.

p.s. : watch the salt intake!

Vader wrote:p.s. : watch the salt intake!

I do ... most of the time. However, I have seen medical news recently suggesting that salt may not be as bad as generally thought. The only things I ever add salt to are tomato slices and corn on the cob. Nothing else. Still, the sodium levels in many processed foods are appalling.