High blood pressure

RanDomK · 10-03-2009, 04:12 AM

Hi,I hope this is the right place for this thread.
I'm in the army and just went through a regular health check and i was told i'm not qualified for a certain position because of high blood pressure.It was 180/110 i think.And i was stunned.I'm only 22 years old and a good athlete.I've played soccer my entire life and just recently got the maximum 300 points in the army physical with a 2 mile run time of 11:05.
I must admit i don't really take care of my body.I eat all sorts of crap and drink 3 energy drinks per day and atleast a few cups of coffee and i'm wondering if all of this can be the cause of my high blood pressure? Can anybody give me some advice on this and what i should do to lower my blood pressure.

loafyofbread · 10-03-2009, 10:04 AM

180/110 is exceptionally high...dangerously high. have you seen a doctor yet? otherwise, i recommend you see one first. also, you do not state your physical stats (height, weight bodyfat% etc) so its pretty hard to tell you where the problem lies.

you might want to reduce the cups of coffee you have everyday, they play a part in blood pressure. slowly cut the junk food down, but first...see a doctor, you need some medication.

TheRazorFrazer · 10-03-2009, 10:59 PM

Cut out the energy drinks, coffee and excess Sodium dude.

bobthebuilder · 10-04-2009, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RanDomK

Hi,I hope this is the right place for this thread.
I'm in the army and just went through a regular health check and i was told i'm not qualified for a certain position because of high blood pressure.It was 180/110 i think.And i was stunned.I'm only 22 years old and a good athlete.I've played soccer my entire life and just recently got the maximum 300 points in the army physical with a 2 mile run time of 11:05.
I must admit i don't really take care of my body.I eat all sorts of crap and drink 3 energy drinks per day and atleast a few cups of coffee and i'm wondering if all of this can be the cause of my high blood pressure? Can anybody give me some advice on this and what i should do to lower my blood pressure.

1. See a doctor, in case you have clinical hypertension.
2. Buy a blood pressure monitor and slowly cut out the crap food/drinks in your life. Did you eat/drink all that before the test??

Blood pressure can increase if you are doing more sports/weightlifting than normal - e.g. labourers have to have something like a month out of work sometimes if they want to take part in medical trials, the reason is high blood pressure.

What is your resting heart rate? Are you an anxious person? Does the caffeine etc make your heart race? I know someone who had a blood pressure similar to yours (173/90 and 176/90 under normal conditions then 180/90 before an operation)...but now he's been on mild betablockers (anti-anxiety medication) for a few months and his blood pressure is 128/85 at age 65. Anxiety can play havoc with a person's body, and the medication was really mild with no side effects except feeling calmer.

On the other hand, you could just have hypertension and in which case you will need medication to lower the blood pressure directly....it isn't a big deal and is more common than you might think.

bobthebuilder · 10-04-2009, 01:56 AM

If you cut out the coffee, energy drinks and sodium I'm sure your BP will go down quite a lot. Cut down gradually though...you don't want to go cold turkey. I bet it is all just your lifestyle/eating/drinking causing this, though you should get checked out properly at a cardiac unit e.g. a running test.

Machete Juarez · 10-04-2009, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RanDomK

Hi,I hope this is the right place for this thread.
I'm in the army and just went through a regular health check and i was told i'm not qualified for a certain position because of high blood pressure.It was 180/110 i think.And i was stunned.I'm only 22 years old and a good athlete.I've played soccer my entire life and just recently got the maximum 300 points in the army physical with a 2 mile run time of 11:05.

300? 11:05? motherf...

what's your MOS? and what are you applying for?

you should probably monitor your BP, and have it re-taken. mine sort of rises and falls all the time.

loafyofbread · 10-04-2009, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobthebuilder

If you cut out the coffee, energy drinks and sodium I'm sure your BP will go down quite a lot. Cut down gradually though...you don't want to go cold turkey. I bet it is all just your lifestyle/eating/drinking causing this, though you should get checked out properly at a cardiac unit e.g. a running test.

a blood pressure that high is not usually caused by diet/lifestyle alone. its usually a combination of factors like genetics, lifestyle etc etc. in which case, medications will be necessary.

Ranger · 10-04-2009, 02:37 PM

Its been said already... You're young and in the army, of course your PT is in order but yeah, those energy drinks are garbage. Cut out sodium and you may need a prescription. I have high BP but I'm 38. I eat well and exercise but my parents and sibling also suffer from it. Could be genetic. Cutting caffiene and wacky supplements can help keep it near normal. I add ZERO salt to my food, don't eat fastfood, and take a tiny bp pill every day- my BP before I do a PT test still ranges from 125/85 upwards to
135/90. My high (at age 36) was 165/100 and my personal physician got me on the meds immediately.

Warchild10 · 10-04-2009, 04:16 PM

Drop the Caffeine to a low or minimum. It causes stress in your body. Stress also causes your BP to elevate. If you need a boost get it from a B-vitamin complex. Add more fruit to your diet to increase your potassium intake. It'll also help stabilize your sodium levels. Co-Q10 & vitamin D, are must have vitamins.

Also Diuretics, to drop water weight for a short cycle will help drop your sodium concentration levels, and help lower your blood pressure. But while doing this, be sure to eat high potassium diet. Fruit is good because of the lower sodium content.

See your doctor and have them set you up to have your BP monitored for a few weeks. Then they'll be able to determine if you have a BP issue. Your shitty lifestyle and diet are big part of it, and from my personal experience this has helped me get my BP down to 119/79 as my current average without Drugs. It was an average of 174/99.

Edit: By the way I'm only 23.

bobthebuilder · 10-05-2009, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loafyofbread

a blood pressure that high is not usually caused by diet/lifestyle alone. its usually a combination of factors like genetics, lifestyle etc etc. in which case, medications will be necessary.

well I didn't mean it would go right down to 120/80...just it could go down a lot from 180/110. Also these things don't change over night, even if the bad food and drink is cut out it may take months of healthy living to see a large change.