Systolic blood pressure dropping, should I worry?

[Deja Q]

Over the last ~9 months, my blood pressure has gone from ~140/80 to 108/80.


It was cool, seeing it drop to ~122. But it's never been as low as 108.

Are there other signs of abnormalities that I should look out for?

Thx!

[trotsky]

1. You mean, apart from that third arm growing from your stomach?

n/t

[Deja Q]

2. I call that one "Mr. Happy"

:evilgrin:

[mikey_1962]

3. As long as you diastolic is 70 to 80 no problem

[slackmaster]

4. Do you have any possible explanation for the change?

Have you lost weight, started or stopped some medication, quit smoking, changed alcohol consumption, reduced your stress level, etc.?

[Deja Q]

6. You'll LOVE this:

Gained weight (up to 218 from 212)

No medz

Never smoked a ciggie

Haven't smoked anything else despite my apparent personality here on DU

No alcohol at all

A TRUCKLOAD of work-related stress, namely workload with more work a'comin' until they phase out PC support in ~2 years or if anotehr budget crunch forces the manager to fire more workers whil pursuading the execs that he needs more supervisors... :eyes:

No social life.

No love life.

I love computers but that's giving me neck pain.

Saurkraut.

[HuckleB]

7. OK. Maybe you should see your doc.

Or is that where you get your BP checked?

[trotsky]

8. Just you shut up right now. lol

Here I am with my borderline high BP (today was 138/88) even AFTER I have lost 10 pounds (I'm now hovering around 160), am eating less salt, AND have been exercising 2-3 times a week for over a year.

I absolutely don't want to go on any meds, but I'm at a loss to figure out what else I can do!

[Deja Q]

9. I thought mine was too low!...

Given the circumstances, I don't think it should steadily be dropping like that...

If it's of any consolation, I can't hold on to a tin can of cola for more than 10 seconds before my hand freezes and that I also need to protect my hands in 45 degree weather or they get cold and numb.

[Snow]

12. Oh-ho, HuckleB, I think we may be closer to a diagnosis.....

And how long has this cold sensitivity thing been going, my friend?

[Snow]

13. And by the way, do you get cold feet, too?

and do your fingers change color when they get cold?
(this is a rule-out, HuckleB)

[HuckleB]

18. Yes, good question.

Should we be concerned that the patient up and left AMA?

;)

[Snow]

19. What's AMA? The American Medical Assoc?

He does seem to have left without sticking around to help us solve this. Daggone patients; they're always doing that. Any future docs, here's a dose of reality. Now watch HypnoToad show up again in a week, pissed that we haven't fixed him yet.

[HuckleB]

20. AMA = Against Medical Advice

As for the rest of your post:

:headbang:

[Snow]

23. Oh, yeah!

see, we epidemiologists don't use the jargon enough....;-)

[Deja Q]

22. For some time. People tell me not to worry about it...

Oh well. :-)

[Reverend_Smitty]

25. Some people have an allergy to cold

It's a relatively normal condition, you just have to be extra careful if you are out in cold weather. I believe it is called Raynauld's Phenomenon

[Snow]

27. See follow-up question above, about fingers changing color

when they get cold.
And are the feetsies & toesis unhappy with cold also?

[Deja Q]

28. Yes, toes and feet start to go cold on me too.

:-(

It's not as bad as the hands though...

[Snow]

29. Color, man, color.....

do they change color when they get cold?

And heart rate - do you keep an eye on that, know whether it's lower than it used to be? By any chance is your skin dry and itchier than it used to be?

(we'll get to the bottom of this yet!) (by the way if you answer 'yes' to the color thing and tell me what the colors are, we may cancel the itchy skin question. Maybe not, though - dogs get ticks and fleas).

[HuckleB]

5. Who's taking your blood pressure?

It is a bit odd that you were at 140, with a diastolic at 80, and now that your systolic is dropping, the diastolic hasn't changed at all. I mean it should be somewhat different each time you check it. But...

108/80 is what I used to be all the time. It's quite normal, especially if you are very active and eating well.

Have you had a full check up lately? With bloodwork? Anything else different at all?

I don't think you have much to worry about, though. Has your heart rate gone down as well?

Are you a morning coffee drinker?

[Snow]

10. *chuckle* Maybe the med asst checking your bp is having hearing loss -

I had that happen midway through a study, once - what a mess!

Wait, though, that should affect diastolic too....
Hmmm. HuckleB is right, this is very odd. No med changes, no diet changes, no exercise changes, you're not slowly dripping blood (are you?) (oh, yeah, then the diastolic would drop). I love a good mystery!

[IconoclastIlene]

11. I take Diovan

My blood pressure was 187/97.

I and my spouse are raising a teenager, enough said?

Both of my parents had hypertension..no wonder they raised two teenagers.

[SarahB]

14. My systolic hovers between 95 and 110

I'm fine, but that's normal for me.

[SendTheGOPPacking]

15. That's still a good blood pressure. A better one.

It's not abnormal.

The first one was a bit on the high normal side.

[camero]

16. No

My last reading was 118/68 which is normal for me. They just took me off the kidney med because my BP dropped to 82/50. Was sleeping alot.

[strategery blunder]

17. A couple of years ago, I had 80/52

but it wasn't a problem at all. My pulse was 54 so the doc said I must have had a really healthy ticker.

Now I think it's 112/80 with a pulse in the 60's...I need to start exercising again.

[DemoTex]

21. I was 110/75 for years. Then, on 9/10/2001 I hit 180/95

Like Owen, in Throw Mama from the Train, I was GROUNDED! Next day (9/11/2001), it hit about 215/115 for most of the day. In the course of the medication experimentation I saw readings like 92/48 (Avalide, actually, after the dose was doubled by a B/P expert). I could not get off the sofa that day.

The big problem with the angiotensin-2 inhibitors (Avalide, Atacand, and others), the ACE inhibitors (Zestril), the calcium-channel blockers (Norvasc), and the otherwise debilitating alpha-channel blockers, is that they all induce a wicked cough that progresses to bronchitis in me. The big B/P guru, Kaplan in Dallas, had his #1 examine me. He said, as did my internist, that I have a bronchial hyper-sensitivity to those drugs.

I do tolerate the beta-blocker Atenolol. At least I tolerate it with respect to the respiratory system. It does make me sleepy and lethargic. That's why I am medically retired from the airline cockpit.

[Nikia]

24. Mine's rising again

A couple years ago, I started having panic attacks and was unhealthy (sinus and stomach problems). Each time I went, I had high blood pressure 140-160/90-100. They eventually perscribed a beta blocker. I also went to an anxiety support group/class. I also took up a friends offer to try marijuana. I got better anxiety wise and my blood pressure dropped to 130/80 and then ended up in the 120 range/70-80 with occaisionally being even lower. The last time I went to the doctor a couple weeks ago, it was 140/90.
Maybe, it's because I am going through withdrawal(quit for a potential job with a long interview process which I am unsure if they do testing). Seriously, does smoking small amounts of marijuana regularly lower your non intoxicated blood pressure? I have also been feeling more anxiety lately for a variety of reasons (maybe part of that is withdrawal too). I only had the one high reading. I have been afraid to check it at Walmart on my own since. Maybe I should.

[Snow]

26. I'd get a bp monitor if I were you -

they run about 40 bucks. Get one that deflates automatically & gives you a reading, pulse & bp, but I'd avoid the ones that inflate automatically. Also the finger or wrist models - upper arm models do the best job. The ones commonly sold all seem to be made by the same outfit, Omicron, and there're reports in the medical literature of accuracy, so you can take a peek at those. Make sure you've been sitting, legs not crossed, for 10-15 minutes when you check it. If you're really a bp geek you'll get the non-automated kind & your own stethoscope.

But anyway, pot & bp. Hmmmm, don't really know. Should be easy enough to do a search on though. You mention sinus problems - pain will do a nice job of raising bp.