Unusual blood pressure
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Dr Jekyll

Original Poster:

23,820 posts

290 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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Question for medics

How high does BP have to be at normal check up to count as unusually high? Not just higher than ideal or higher than healthy, but high enough to remark on it to colleagues, say the 95th percentile.

Dakkon

7,829 posts

282 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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An older guideline, not sure if it is still used, was 220 minus your age should be your max heart rate during exercise

Monty Python

4,813 posts

226 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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Dr Jekyll said:
Question for medics

How high does BP have to be at normal check up to count as unusually high? Not just higher than ideal or higher than healthy, but high enough to remark on it to colleagues, say the 95th percentile.
Anything in here answer your question?

http://content.digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB09300/H...

CAPP0

20,850 posts

232 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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I think about 140/90 is the point where they start looking at it?

Dr Jekyll

Original Poster:

23,820 posts

290 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
quotequote all
CAPP0 said:
I think about 140/90 is the point where they start looking at it?
Sure. But I'm morbidly curious as to the level where it's no longer.

"Yet another patient with high BP, take more exercise eat more veg have a prescription, next patient please'
But
"Yikes! Is my machine broken? How come this guy isn't getting headaches and nosebleeds?"

FlyingMeeces

9,932 posts

240 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
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Dr Jekyll said:
Sure. But I'm morbidly curious as to the level where it's no longer.

"Yet another patient with high BP, take more exercise eat more veg have a prescription, next patient please'
But
"Yikes! Is my machine broken? How come this guy isn't getting headaches and nosebleeds?"
Seem to half-remember from somewhere that the 'ohst' threshold is properly high - I might have imagined it but 220 systolic? Guess that's the kind of thing to fervently hope is always discovered in the chronic kidneys clinic at the hospital, not halfway through the morning's appointments at a GP surgery…

I'm used to things getting 'interesting' at the other end of the scale, got my post-op PCA confiscated when I was sitting at 65/32 some years back.

Dr Jekyll

Original Poster:

23,820 posts

290 months

Tuesday 11th July 2017
quotequote all
FlyingMeeces said:
, got my post-op PCA confiscated when I was sitting at 65/32 some years back.
bow

Mr R

116 posts

196 months

Wednesday 12th July 2017
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If it helps I was sent for urgent investigation after reading 180/115 (aged 31)...

Jetblackonetenth

694 posts

238 months

Wednesday 12th July 2017
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I have recently had reading of 203/118 and 199/111

Put me on tablet to bring down whilst wait for test results


E65Ross

36,729 posts

241 months

Thursday 13th July 2017
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Dr Jekyll said:
FlyingMeeces said:
, got my post-op PCA confiscated when I was sitting at 65/32 some years back.
bow
Jeez, I'm surprised you were even concious at that. I had a bout of low BP a while ago, went down to 77/48 and I couldn't really stand up on my own accord. I tend to have low Bp (usually about 105/65-70) but that was far too low!!

BP is also age dependant. 140/90 may be considered quite high for an 18 year old, but someone who is 80, it's absolutely fine.

FlyingMeeces

9,932 posts

240 months

Thursday 13th July 2017
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E65Ross said:
Dr Jekyll said:
FlyingMeeces said:
, got my post-op PCA confiscated when I was sitting at 65/32 some years back.
bow
Jeez, I'm surprised you were even concious at that. I had a bout of low BP a while ago, went down to 77/48 and I couldn't really stand up on my own accord. I tend to have low Bp (usually about 105/65-70) but that was far too low!!

BP is also age dependant. 140/90 may be considered quite high for an 18 year old, but someone who is 80, it's absolutely fine.
Well, I'm a wheelchair user so can't stand up on my own accord even without a respectable amount of IV morphine on board after an op wobble. But more relevantly I have a condition that makes blood vessel walls stretchier than they ought to be, which was both what made that very very low BP possible and also I imagine what let me be awake and relatively lucid during it - my body's used to it! I think they were almost more weirded out by my being awake and talking than by the actual numbers.

judas

6,234 posts

288 months

Thursday 13th July 2017
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Recently been diagnosed with seriously high blood pressure (197/136 was my highest reading) and I've been on ramipril for the past three weeks or so. BP has come down quite a bit to around 150/95-ish but the side effects of the medication have been a bit grim: haven't had a solid dump for over two weeks and it's made my already dodgy joints even more painful (which has finally, after over 30 years of specialists shrugging their shoulders, been diagnosed as fibromyalgia - yay!).

On top of all this I've had a radical change in diet, more exercise than I've had in years - but I'm losing weight, getting fitter and the amitripyline I'm on for the fibromyalgia seems to be working!

There's a strong history of stroke in my family, and without treatment I'm a ticking time bomb, so I can't moan too much biggrin

lunarscope

2,901 posts

271 months

Thursday 13th July 2017
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A few years ago I had a reading of 205/176. The Doctor was so concerned that she called at my house on a Friday night after her GP surgery closed. She said it was the highest she had measured and wanted me to go to hospital there and then. Unfortunately, the next day Wales were playing in the Six Nations and I had arranged to watch the match with some mates in the pub so I had to decline her offer of a referral. Now I'm on five tablets a day for the foreseeable future. Wales won though so it was worth it. smile

meehaja

607 posts

137 months

Thursday 13th July 2017
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working in acute medicine, the people I deal with a generally poorly and a bit anxious. I work on 100 plus age as perfect figure, with adjustments for illness. Systolic, anything below 100 and over 200 i start to worry. Diastolic over 100 is a red flag, but normally this is slightly more than 50% of Systolic.

BP as a stand alone figure is worthless. IF it matters to you (for actual health reasons) get a cheap monitor and test it every morning, lunch and bedtime, then draw an average off that.

judas

6,234 posts

288 months

Thursday 13th July 2017
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meehaja said:
working in acute medicine, the people I deal with a generally poorly and a bit anxious. I work on 100 plus age as perfect figure, with adjustments for illness. Systolic, anything below 100 and over 200 i start to worry. Diastolic over 100 is a red flag, but normally this is slightly more than 50% of Systolic.

BP as a stand alone figure is worthless. IF it matters to you (for actual health reasons) get a cheap monitor and test it every morning, lunch and bedtime, then draw an average off that.
I have a neat bluetooth monitor that works with a phone app to record all the measurements I take. These are then transferred to an Excel spreadsheet for analysis and trend tracking. Happily the trend is downwards, but is levelling out after my ramipril dosage was reduced due to the side-effects.

Tri_Doc

613 posts

163 months

Friday 14th July 2017
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I start paying attention with anything over 200/100

J4CKO

46,821 posts

229 months

Friday 14th July 2017
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Mine is a bit strange, Systolic is between 120 and 135 when I take it, usually late 120's into early 130's, however the Diastolic is always in the sixties, seems to be quite a big difference between the two, 60 to 70 mm/hg, when ideal is said to be 120/80, i.e. 40 difference, pulse rate is usually 50 something.

Not on any drugs for BP.

Dr Jekyll

Original Poster:

23,820 posts

290 months

Saturday 15th July 2017
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Nimby

5,691 posts

179 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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J4CKO said:
Mine is a bit strange, Systolic is between 120 and 135 when I take it, usually late 120's into early 130's, however the Diastolic is always in the sixties ...
I'd occasionally checked mine with a cheap Braun wrist monitor, getting systolic around 95 which seemed perfect. But while at the doc's a few weeks ago she measured 188/65.
Hoping it was "white coat syndrome" she suggested I got an upper arm monitor as the wrist ones are notoriously inaccurate. Got an Omron M3 and was getting systolics over 170. Then read up about relaxing, sitting posture, arm position etc and get systolic anywhere between 130 sitting properly to 175 if not in any way. (Diastolic always mid-60's). So still higher than ideal (I'm 64, very active, not overweight, but do like my wine).

Conclusion - a single reading at the doc's is meaningless so don't panic.

She's put me down for a 24-hour monitor next month which should be fun ...

judas

6,234 posts

288 months

Monday 17th July 2017
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Nimby said:
She's put me down for a 24-hour monitor next month which should be fun ...
Did that last week - pain in the arse and a complete waste of time.