HowlinAtTheMoon At least your husband is taking the meds - not the best option IMO but still better than doing what mine is doing - nothing. I continue to nag him about taking the dog out every day as the dog really benefits and she has no choice and he complies with that. I've given up on the rest.

Dagmar

And here I am, waiting for my doctor's appointment to discuss my high blood pressure. I have done all the dietary things to bring it down. Going off birth control pills helped slightly, but not enough. I expect he will put me on meds for it. I read an article the other day that even slightly high blood pressure in the long run is bad for one's health. Mine is typically 140/90 or higher.

Good luck, Allison. There is only so much we can do with the genetic deck we've been dealt.

Tonight is my James Beard Chef experience.... excited... nervous about the food and worried about work tomorrow.... as I normally don't drink and am planning on eating and drinking whatever I'm served! And taking an uber of course. Dh seems excited too. It will be a late night and of course, we are taking our school photos tomorrow so I should look fantastic. My hope is to get out of work early enough to get a good gym workout in first. Dh says he will come home early and take Ellie on a big walk so that saves me time.

Aack! I better not eat the rest of the day! Just went online to check the details of our dinner and the description says, "Glad you are planning to join us for an amazing night of food, wine, chefs and cocktails. There will be a reception to welcome everyone and then a 6-course sit down dinner." I can only imagine what my weight will be tomorrow!!

Ellie and Dewey are both feeling better. Not 100% and still on meds and a bland diet but they are feeling much more playful now-- they were trying to wrestle on their morning walk today so I assume they're feeling better! Poor Dewey lost a pound he didn't need to lose-- he went from 13 to 12 pounds and looks all ribby. How come that doesn't happen to me when I'm sick?

Michele, when we do our monthly Wine Women dinner, it is typically 5 dishes as well as passed hors d'oeuvres during cocktail hour. I find that they do NOT serve large dishes and one is always a salad. Don't expect 5 or 6 huge dishes.

Michele, glad to hear the dogs are feeling better. Enjoy your meal tonight!

Allison, what are the dietary things you have tried for your bp? Just cutting out sodium won't do it. I found that I had to actually lose the weight I wanted to lose, start getting closer to the recommended 4700 mg per day of potassium, and be consistent with moderate exercise to see a long-term improvement in bp. Before the lifestyle changes, my bp was sometimes up in the 150 range. Now it has been in the 120ish/70ish every time. High levels of potassium have been found to be actually more important than low sodium in having normal blood pressure.

Blood pressure meds have undesirable side effects, so it might be worth it to continue to pursue other changes. It is hard to get enough potassium (eating a banana won't do). I had to start tracking it. Now I eat lots of veggies, mushrooms and greek yogurt every day to bring up my intake, and I occasionally use potassium salt (nu salt) to help bring up my daily intake. But I agree, the meds are necessary if you can't control bp any other way.

Dagmar, I guess it's good that at least my DH takes the meds. But the sad thing is, he thinks he's healthy and his doctor tells him what great bloodwork he has (on meds). I don't try to change him.

Alice~I bought a book that tracks nutrients in foods and started to eat more potassium rich foods. I rarely use salt so that was already taken care of. I eat practically no prepared food (cook it all myself). Granted I still need to lose a few pounds (but that is becoming harder and harder). I'd like to lose 20 but really 10 would be great, too. I'm not obese and I'm within a healthy BMI.

It's the obsessive tracker in me, so please don't be too annoyed with me for asking, but have you added up the daily mg of potassium you are getting on average? I am happy if I get 4500, but I have to make an effort to get there. The other factor might be exercise. When you were doing your workouts every day, did you notice a drop in BP, or are you not monitoring that at home?

And of course I'm not discounting that, after all that, you might need the med anyway.

I was reading an article today that stated that mild hypertension, defined as BP of 140-159/90-99, does not increase the risks typically associated with high blood pressure. This is from research done in the past 3 years.

The article further said that there is no convincing scientific evidence that giving drugs to patients with mild hypertension provides any benefits. On the contrary, side effects of the drugs are common and often severe.

Exercise and weight loss along with relaxation practices such as yoga or meditation were noted as being a better approach. Increased potassium was also mentioned.

If anyone wants specific references, PM me.

Alice, I can't remember where the level of potassium ended up each day--it was over a year ago and I got tired of looking everything up. Basically I looked at high potassium foods, made a list of the best (and ones I like) and try to eat a lot of those.

When I exercise I do see a drop. If I check before and after exercise, the BP is lower afterward, but on a daily basis, regardless of exercise, the BP is still high.

That is part of what I read as well, but the article I read said that even mild high BP is dangerous. The article didn't go on to say meds over behavior change is a better approach but that in the long run, lowering BP to normal is better overall.

Did the doctor recommend meds for you then, Allison.

My dinner was amazing.... but I indulged way too much in the alcohol... and I'm miserable now. One of the many reasons I never drink. I'm at work and I just want to crawl under my desk and sleep. Going to be a very long day I think.

I've been at work since 7:30 this morning. With DH working his new 7-3 schedule it means I have to take DSS to school in the mornings. School is just a few minutes from my office, so at my desk by 7:30. No way I'm staying here until 5:30 today! I'm sleepy!

Allison - did your doctor recommend meds?

My normal work day is from 6:45 or 7:00 AM until around 3 PM. I like that, but we've got the guys on mandatory overtime (7 AM to 4 PM) four days a week. This week, we had a meeting regarding insurance and the insurance rep was late. I didn't get out of the office until way after 5 PM. Yesterday, being the last day of the month, I was busy invoicing and didn't leave until almost 5 PM. 10+ hour days are not nice! I go home, feed all the animals, clean up after them, empty the dishwasher and get dinner started. It's so rushed that I have a hard time relaxing. I'm going home really early today (which won't be the best relaxation because my housekeepers will be there).

My doctor appointment isn't until the 15th. I'll let you know what he recommends then.

Ah hah.. I thought it was yesterday for some reason.

DH's doctor is a big fan of statins, and has always wanted him to take them. After the physical last year he gave in. He took them for a few weeks and stopped, the side effects were terrible. This year, the doctor told him his cholesterol was down, and said that the statin treatment plan must be working. Um. No. He only took them for five weeks, a year ago.

This doctor is the same one DH goes to. He put DH on statins about 3 years ago. He hasn't had any side effects that he has told me about. But he did develop type 2 diabetes and is on Metformin now, too. This is the article I read--it does state that aggressive treatment is good.
LA Times

Another article said that taking BP meds at night reduces type 2 diabetes.

Shannon, what were the side-effects DH had from the statins?