how to lower blood pressure with medication?

Question

my moms pressure was sky high and she is on medication is there any thing else to do besides exercise and less sodium and cholesterol

Answer 1

There are several ways to help lower blood pressure. Click these links, they will tell you what she can eat, what will help, and different things she can try. These sites give great info on helping lower high blood pressure.

Click these links for more info:
http://www.fcs.uga.edu/pubs/PDF/FDNS-E-58a.pdf
http://www.umm.edu/features/blood_pressure.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FKA/is_7_66/ai_n6080506
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=578
http://www.webmd.com/content/article/132/118422.htm
http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/mission/partner/physical_activity.pdf
http://veganmomma.com/blog/2007/07/18/high-blood-pressure-six-ways-you-can-lower-your-blood-pressure-naturally/

Best wishes.

Answer 2

I assume that her blood pressure is now controlled (you said it was sky high).

Stay on the medications (good compliance is crucial). Your MD should look for a cause of high blood pressure. The younger your mother is the more likely the MD will find a treatable cause.

95% of high blood pressure is considered primary hypertension and is treated with medications, diet, and exercise.
5% of people with high blood pressure in which a cause can be found and treated thus getting rid og the high blood pressure.

The basics as you know are good diet, exercise, lower stress levels if possible, good compliance with medications.

Answer 3

I strongly recommend you join the Yahoo! bloodpressureline group. The doctor who runs it specializes in difficult-to-control hypertension and is remarkably responsive.

Off the top of my head, a few possible things to do:

1. Keep weight low enough to have BMI < 25.
2. Quit smoking, if necessary.
3. Reduce alcohol consumption, if excessive.
4. Check for sleep apnea. (Does she snore?)
5. Increase potassium intake (eat more fruit, including bananas and oranges).
6. Study the DASH and/or rice diets.
7. Recent study suggests that just a little dark chocolate (the equivalent of 1.5 Hershey's kisses per day) can bring systolic BP down about 3-4 counts. (Chocolate goes well with fruit, too!)
8. If she doesn't already have one, get her a digital BP cuff (available at most drug stores for about $50... ask your pharmacist for a recommendation). Taking BP daily can give the same sort of feedback that hopping on a scale every day gives. Yes, it can change quite a bit from minute to minute or day to day. But taking it regularly and logging the results can help develop that intuition about what works and what doesn't.
9. The list goes on. These are just off the top of my head...

As to medications, it's often good to try different ones that she will respond to better. This is something to strategize on with her doctor. Beta blockers are tending to fall out of favor because they can really sap your energy, but they really bring down BP well in some patients. Other meds may or may not help as much. So it's a balancing act. Bringing down BP with lifestyle changes is generally going to be a much more healthy way to go than relying on the meds!

Answer 4

My Doctor says the simplest and cheapest way to lower your blood pressure is to lose weight by exercising, eating healthy, cutting back drastically on sodium {salt} and watching your cholesterol. Watch your alcohol intake and cut back on your soda pop intake. Eat plenty of veggies and fruit and oatmeal for breakfast works good.

Answer 5

Strictly diet control of caffein, alcohol, salty, spicy, fat/cholesterol, optimal weight, and excercise.
Described medication includes of three major blockers of beta, ace and calcium, and some other minor blockers. Beta-blocker has largest consumption with over 50% hypertension people because of its healthy benefits. Another kind of nitro-family medicine which also has strong affect on BP by increasing body's production of nitric oxygen for relax of vessels. They are nitroglycerin, nitro ointment or similiar pills and over-the-counter nitricoxide. Another group of blood-thinner medicine is primarily used to prevent blood clots although it can also lower some BP. The last group of medicine is diuretic pills which have mild affect for BP treatment and it's mostly helpful for people with excessive water retention. Most of medicine have side effects, unpleasant sometime. Consult with doctor until geting the best fit of medicine.

Answer 6

tell her to see the doctor, so that the doctor could do simple blood tests and prescribe her the right medication because i dont think there is any otc blood pressure medication... i use to take one when i was obese... my doctor called it water pills and it makes you pee a lot... my doctor said it makes you lose extra water weight and along with it is the extra sodium... anyway if her doctor prescribes that to her make sure she is always near a restroom.

Answer 7

Get your head out of the medical box and start studying nutrition. Vital Zyme X... google it. The body knows how to correct itself with the proper nutritional tools.