High blood pressure . . . how bad is this?

[George111]

How bad on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being almost dead) is 184/99 for a 40ish year old male in otherwise reasonably good health ?

[grumbledoak]

I'd say about a 7. The doc will want to medicate you - they don't like over 90 diastolic.

[Burrow01]

George111 said:

How bad on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being almost dead) is 184/99 for a 40ish year old male in otherwise reasonably good health ?

Otherwise reasonably good health has just gone out of the window, those are pretty high numbers

I'd grade it as a 6

I've been between 85 and 100 Diastolic and avoided meds until last year

The 184 is very high though

[George111]

Ummm, ok, thanks, I wonder what causes this ? I think this means changing GP to one that I can get to see.

[UnderTheRadar]

The medical profession starts getting quite interested about a systolic over 140. 184 I'm guessing will get them very interested. It is definitely worth addressing as consistently high blood pressure can lead to kidney damage with the possibilty of unpleasant dialysis (sp?) for the rest of your life. I don't know common this is but I know of such a case, which has made me change my ways

[mattikake]

UnderTheRadar said:

The medical profession starts getting quite interested about a systolic over 140.

Or more than 160 as of 2010. Doctors don't care about a systolic pressure of 140 now, but they used to.

In 2009 140 was hypertension. In 2010 hypertension is now 160.

If I have a prospective client who has a BP of 160 or over, I give them a doctors referral. 184? Here's yours. Go.

[Insanity Magnet]

Mine was mid 180 / mid 140. Doctor very interested and I was put onto ramipril and then beta-blockers toot sweet.

As others have said, see a doctor.

[BadRotorFinger]

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou...


See GP if it is consistently High, fear the reaper.

[goldblum]

You have hypertension, get to the docs ASAP.

[Flibble]

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HighBlood...

Reckons you should be down the hospital right now. I'd get it checked out if I were you mate.

[GT03ROB]

George111 said:

How bad on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being almost dead) is 184/99 for a 40ish year old male in otherwise reasonably good health ?

It's the stepkids.... get shot of.... then get down the quack. That is bloody high.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

I'm 50. Had mine done the other day. 119 over 80. I'm about 4 stone overweight (having lost 2 stone in last few months) but I exercise daily. Don't smoke and rarely drink alcohol. I never add salt to a meal. Doc said it was very good but I need to keep losing weight. Was 19st, now 17st, want to get below 13 over the next 2 yrs.

Hearing that someone else has 184 over 99, maybe I've been lucky. I have no idea what the figures mean.

[Pickled Piper]

Make an appointment to see your GP.

Is this just a single iscolated reading? You need to take several at the same time every day to get a history. Don't panic as this will just push it up even higher.

pp

[Trevor450]

Go and see a doctor ASAP. I am only 36 and had a heart attack last year which was attributed to high BP caused by stress. I was marginally overweight but otherwise pretty fit at the time and I exercised at least three times a week.

ETA - Don't panic as my issue was sustained undiagnosed high BP over a long period, but it does need immediate investigation.

Edited by Trevor450 on Thursday 18th October 10:40

[JumboBeef]

George111 said:

How bad on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being almost dead) is 184/99 for a 40ish year old male in otherwise reasonably good health ?

No enough info here to comment. When was this reading taken? How was it taken? What were you doing just before it was taken? What stresses and strains do you have in your life currently? Any worries? Do you drink more than the recommended maximum per week? Do you smoke (at all?)

184/99 consistently with you at rest (and having rested for at least 15 minutes), taken with a manual sphygmomanometer rather than an electronic one (particularly a cheap one bought from a High Street chemist), with no overriding worries or stresses in your life is cause for concern.

Otherwise, still go to the GP for a check up but you might not actually be hypertensive, just not rested/over read/stressed.

PS: I work for the ambulance service and see BPs daily.

[mattikake]

JumboBeef said:

rather than an electronic one (particularly a cheap one bought from a High Street chemist),

Is there really much variation? Surely there has to be a standard these things have to comply to when dealing out 'advice' associated with health. I mean, what if a sphygmomanometer told you your BP and HR was fine, you went out for a run and then had a heart attack because it wasn't?

[JumboBeef]

mattikake said:

JumboBeef said:

rather than an electronic one (particularly a cheap one bought from a High Street chemist),

Is there really much variation? Surely there has to be a standard these things have to comply to when dealing out 'advice' associated with health. I mean, what if a sphygmomanometer told you your BP and HR was fine, you went out for a run and then had a heart attack because it wasn't?

Yes, there can be. BP alone will rarely give you a MI (heart attack): raised BP is more of a risk for CVAs (strokes).

[George111]

Thanks for all the comments, managed to go to a walk in clinic and had it measured again at 150/110 and got a prescription for some tablets and a suggestion to try again to get an appointment with my own doctor but that's almost impossible these days so I'm going to find another surgery.

[superkartracer]

mattikake said:

UnderTheRadar said:

The medical profession starts getting quite interested about a systolic over 140.

Or more than 160 as of 2010. Doctors don't care about a systolic pressure of 140 now, but they used to.

In 2009 140 was hypertension. In 2010 hypertension is now 160.

If I have a prospective client who has a BP of 160 or over, I give them a doctors referral. 184? Here's yours. Go.

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Thebasics/Bloodpressurechart

^^ just incase people are taking the guys advice... please don't as it's bks.

anything over 120 is pre-hi BP

http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-press...

Over 60's get a bit more slack..

[mattikake]

superkartracer said:

mattikake said:

UnderTheRadar said:

The medical profession starts getting quite interested about a systolic over 140.

Or more than 160 as of 2010. Doctors don't care about a systolic pressure of 140 now, but they used to.

In 2009 140 was hypertension. In 2010 hypertension is now 160.

If I have a prospective client who has a BP of 160 or over, I give them a doctors referral. 184? Here's yours. Go.

http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/BloodPressureandyou/Thebasics/Bloodpressurechart

^^ just incase people are taking the guys advice... please don't as it's bks.

anything over 120 is pre-hi BP

http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-press...

Over 60's get a bit more slack..

Wow, it took you 18 months to dig that out? Useful.

Not.

I go by ACSM's guidelines. Unlike a UK site they go by global averages, not national ones (naturally this average then includes Americans ). The committee tends to change it's mind as the scientific community produces more studies on what is acceptably high, something I notice they have adjusted again. btw ACSM says 129 or less systolic is normal, not 120. But I wouldn't be naive enough to then claim the above links are bks.

Regurgitating what my accrediting body decides isn't bks.

What is bks is putting people with a BP of 160 on Ramipril to artificialy lower it and implying it's fine to continue sitting infront of the TV eating pies. All the clients I've had dependant on this drug have come off it once I've got it to around 120 systolic in a few weeks with simple exercise and good diet... NB: that's a 100% success rate so far.