Blood pressure medication and cycling

[Andrew]

My doc put me on 5mg of ramipril a day a few weeks back, this following months of tests and prevarication (mine) to find the cause of high blood pressure.  I felt ok at first but then things just got worse. Flatulence (funny at first then just plain annoying), gut ache, head aches, dizziness, lethargy (no, MORE than usual ), anxiety (ditto) ... I really felt like I was falling apart!

So, 2 days ago, I stopped taking them and now... I feel great! I'm riding PBP (2 weeks time) and simply could not afford any more time feeling carp in the hope that my body would adjust to the side effects.

Once PBP is out the way then I'll go back to the docs and discuss the options but, I have to say, that I'm really not keen on taking pills and would really like to explore non-medical options.

My diet is good and I'm otherwise in excellent health. Non smoker, drink bugger all, not overweight, plenty of exercise, cholesterol level ok.

Do the panel have any personal experiences to offer? 

[hellymedic]

I don't know how high your blood pressure was off or on treatment.
The main risks with untreated high blood pressure are stroke, heart and kidney disease. These could all seriously cramp your style.
Discuss all these things with your GP.

[interzen]

What Helen said.
I'm taking lisinopril (10mg/daily) as an adjunct to the various medications I'm taking for diabetes and whilst I felt like hammered shit for a couple of weeks, things have been fine since that 'initial' period modulo some postural hypotension which can avoided fairly easily with a bit of forethought. I wouldn't say it has affected my cycling all that much.

Sudden discontinuation is definitely not a Good Thing, though, PBP or not - your circulatory system doesn't give two figs whether you're riding in France or not.

[Andrew]

your circulatory system doesn't give two figs whether you're riding in France or not.

No, but I do! I've done too much to get there, I've no wish to DNS due to continuing side effects. My BP has probably been high for many years so I reckon I'll risk it for another 3 weeks!

In response to hellymedic's post, my BP was variable; anywhere between 150/90 and 135/80 as a rule. Border line hypertensive rather than anything to get myself to A&E over.

[hellymedic]

Do you have a home blood pressure machine? They're pretty cheap now.
Feed your GP with data of what your blood prssure does away from the surgery.

[Andrew]

Do you have a home blood pressure machine?

Yes. I took my BP daily for over 6 months and gave the figures to the doc. I also wore a gizmo for 24 hours that took my BP every 20 to 30 minutes (called a MAPA here in France). It was the MAPA results that convinced the doc to prescribe. My 'white coat' readings were silly, 180/100 sort of thing, so he had to relay on 'independent' readings, as it were. He even had me on tranquillisers for 3 days just to see if my BP was stress or anxiety related!

[Marmitegeoff]

I was on B-Blockers and they seemed to hold my max pulse down to @100 any more and I felt really bad. so I complained to the Doc / Consultant and they changed me on to Ramperil with the warning that I would still have a max pulse, which for me now seems to be 130.  If I go over this on a ride my performance suffers for the rest of the ride and for the next couple of days, stay below 130 and I am fine for a 200 and OK in the days after.  I havn't gone further than that since I have been on the drugs.

Geoff

[bikey-mikey]

Spooky or what?  You may not believe this, but on a whim this morning, on account of it being my 20th wedding anniversary, I took my blood pressure with the home machine from Boots, which is still sitting beside me in bed - it was longer ago than I can remember that I last did it......

The results looked pretty good, so I thought I would do a post onto YACF with the readings and ask Hellymedic et al for comments.

So I went online and clicked the Health & Fitness section and b@gg@r me if the top post wasn't about blood pressure....   

Anyway, I got a reading of 127 over 84 with a resting pulse of 46 and am for another 9 days aged 57 and weigh 61.2 Kgs as of just before I got back into bed this morning, having been downstairs, emptied the dishwasher and made myself a Latte with a double shot (not drunk yet, so no caffeine in my system)...

Mikey

PS - If the readings are so good, and I have done at least 5 recent hilly 200k's and over 2000 miles in the last 2 months, and I weigh marginally more than a sparrow, why can't I climb the bloody hills at the same speed as the guys I rode with in the West Bay & Back 200 ??

[hellymedic]

Bikey-mikey, your readings are fine. Put your BP machine away or, better still, lend it to a friend.
Check your blood pressure again for your 59th birthday.
Enjoy life without becoming a health freak while you can.
Many can't.

[Andrew]

So, has anyone explored non-medical methods of reducing BP?

[Marmitegeoff]

So, has anyone explored non-medical methods of reducing BP?

Loseing weight is working slowley, and I still have a way to go.   Also a 200km bike ride will drop my bp for 3 or 4 days, or untill a bad day at work.

Geoff

[Jakob]

So, has anyone explored non-medical methods of reducing BP?

Yeah, working out (alot) more did wonders for me.

[AndyK]

So, has anyone explored non-medical methods of reducing BP?

A daily glass of beetroot juice. It's the nitrates in it.

[Andrew]

A daily glass of beetroot juice. It's the nitrates in it.

Have you tried this yourself?

We grow beetroot - I could be my own pusher! Or perhaps that ought be peddler!

[phil d]

From the NHS website commenting on a Daily Mail story ’Drinking beetroot juice dramatically lowers risk of heart disease and strokes’

The research behind this story aimed to look at whether nitrates may be responsible for the blood pressure-lowering effects of beetroot juice. It found that drinking beetroot juice or taking nitrate capsules resulted in short-term reductions in blood pressure in healthy volunteers with normal blood pressure.

The study is limited in that it was in a small number of healthy volunteers (only nine people drank beetroot juice), who were only monitored for three hours. It did not look at long-term outcomes such as heart disease or stroke.

So not exactly a ringing endorsement.

[Andrew]

So not exactly a ringing endorsement.

None-the-less, worth a try. From little acorns etc.

[Wowbagger]

My brother has high blood pressure. It's odd really, as he's 5' 11" and less than 12 stone, I'm 5' 10" and more than 17 stone. My BP's normal.

His problem is that he has a very low pulse rate (40 to 50 at rest) and can't take beta blockers, which I think are the usual way of reducing BP. I don't know what he takes but I've never heard him complain of any of the symptoms you mentioned.

As with most medication there are usually several possible remedies so I think you should discuss the side effects with your doc so that he can give you something more suitable.

[AndyK]

A daily glass of beetroot juice. It's the nitrates in it.

Have you tried this yourself?

We grow beetroot - I could be my own pusher! Or perhaps that ought be peddler!

Yes. I had anxiety related hypertension. I reacted badly to all BP meds. So I tried the beetroot juice. My BP was routinely 10 to 15 points lower when drinking the beetroot.

[why1040]

Stroking pets is supposed to be good for lowering BP.  Lots of research that proved that IIRC

Presumably only if the pet is friendly and you're not superbly allergic though