Why do I need to take blood pressure meds when my blood pressure is normal?

One of the great aspects of my practice is working with various age groups and making them understand their cardiac assessment.  I work with many facilities in terms of educating them about prevention.  This question came from a person at Cypress Village rehab center and struck me as a question that most people share who are dealing with hypertension.  One obvious answer is that your blood pressure is normal because you are taking blood pressure medications. This may sound simple but I come across many patients that discontinue theie blood pressure medications because they feel that it is normal. However, they usually get admitted to the hospital later on with hypertension urgency (systolic greater than 180mmHg or diastolic greater than 110mmHg).  At times, it leads to hypertensive emergency when your blood pressure is elevated with symptoms of organ damage such as stroke, myocardial infarction, kidney damage, aortic dissection, and etc.. Therefore, it is very imperative to keep a log of blood pressure readings and to make sure your blood pressure remains normal which is <140mmHg systolic and <80mmHg diastolic and if your diabetic then <130/80mmHg.

Because I like to keep my patient’s very active and dealing with athletes in sports cardiology, I usually test my patients who have risk factors for hypertension on a treadmill. Most people have normal blood pressure readings at rest but when they are exerting themselves they become very short of breath and feel winded fast. One of the reasons is because they have an inappropriate hypertensive response with increased activity level. I may not place all of these patients on blood pressure medications right away but I am very aggressive in managing their blood pressure with diet, exercise, and perhaps even finding ways to reduce their mental or emotional stress load. So contact us and let us know how we can help you reduce your blood pressure. Also, let us know if you want us to come to your facility for a free education session and help live a full healthy life.