High blood pressure thread

[Hardartery]

Today i was training at work with a colleague. Hypertrophy 10-12 reps at machines. He told me he has never seen someone whose neck veins would press out like mine. And that those veins would get very big. I guess i look like the baraki meme. Pretty sure this kind of breathing is not even necessary for this and maybe should only applied for heavy lifts.
He proceed that this would be not good especially for the kidney, which could get damaged and lead to chronic elevated blood pressure.
Barbell medicince states out that weight training does not lead to chronic elevated bp, but only acute. And the valsalva manuver is safe regarding bp.
High bp was diagnosed one year after i started training. Of course this doesn't mean a correlation.

I am just curious if you could fuck up the valsalva maneuver or breathing while training to fuck up your bp. Or do too much valsalva even if it is not necessary.

I have minimized every else risk factor for bp.

Nope, they are unrelated. Valsalva actually helps to keep things springy and in shape. It won't hurt any internal organs, not even even in a Squat or DL suit. Something else is driving the BP. Could be lack of aerobic conditioning, could be weight gain, could be fluid retention. I have a weight cutoff, sort of. I need to be 265 lbs or under to have totally normal pressure, generally speaking. Driving some cardio will give me a buffer and help to get me back down. Going keto knocks enough water off to make a difference when I am needing to cut.

[Tommy1507]

That's what i was thinking.
So my last shot is to try a low sodium and caffeine diet for a month.

[Allentown]

Why are people so opposed to taking BP medications?

[omaniphil]

Interesting finding after I decided to cutout alcohol completely a few weeks ago. I was a pretty heavy drinker (at least one bottle of wine or equivalent in whiskey around 4-5 nights of the week)for the past few years, picked up a bit during the pandemic. I've been on BP meds for a while, amd in the last few years have been on a combo of an ARB and a CCB. It was controlled-ish, but still high (130-135/80-90). Anyways, the last couple of days after not having anything for a few weeks, it's been low. Low enough that I've felt a little light headed when standing up. Today I got a reading of 106/67. I scheduled an appt with my PCP to reassess dosages, but it appears my HBP was possibly entirely alcohol driven.

[Hardartery]

Why are people so opposed to taking BP medications?

Side effects. Sometimes they are quite bad, and frankly most people would be entirely better off making some lifestyle changes instead of relying on a pill to fix it.

[Allentown]

Why are people so opposed to taking BP medications?

Side effects. Sometimes they are quite bad, and frankly most people would be entirely better off making some lifestyle changes instead of relying on a pill to fix it.

Well yeah, eating healthy, sufficient cardio, weight loss and waist size are all good changes regardless of blood pressure. I don't think anyone here (unlike other site) would say "BMI 30 waist 40" bottle of liquor a day no cardio is fine, just hop on the pill." But I also think the "no medicine at all costs" sentiment is less than helpful?

[mbasic]

Why are people so opposed to taking BP medications?

Side effects.

I read that cialis lowers blood pressure

lol

side effects?

boners that can cut thru steel beams

[Brackish]

Interesting finding after I decided to cutout alcohol completely a few weeks ago. I was a pretty heavy drinker (at least one bottle of wine or equivalent in whiskey around 4-5 nights of the week)for the past few years, picked up a bit during the pandemic. I've been on BP meds for a while, amd in the last few years have been on a combo of an ARB and a CCB. It was controlled-ish, but still high (130-135/80-90). Anyways, the last couple of days after not having anything for a few weeks, it's been low. Low enough that I've felt a little light headed when standing up. Today I got a reading of 106/67. I scheduled an appt with my PCP to reassess dosages, but it appears my HBP was possibly entirely alcohol driven.

I know I've read there's a correlation between alcohol consumption and high blood pressure. Mine, historically, has been really, really low. I've never had any symptoms from it, but a reading of 90/60 wasn't unusual for me. Used to drink two nights a week (Fri/Sat) and limit that to 3 drinks, 99% of time. Here and there I'd go out with the boys and really throw down, but that was rare. My drinking patterns shifted drastically during Covid, and I started drinking daily. Not good, I'm aware. The last few times I've been to the doctors, my blood pressure was consistently reading similar to yours with the meds - 130/80ish. And that's after I had gone from 170-180lbs down to my current "zone" of 150-160lbs. So, I definitely think there's something to that.

[Hardartery]

Why are people so opposed to taking BP medications?

Side effects. Sometimes they are quite bad, and frankly most people would be entirely better off making some lifestyle changes instead of relying on a pill to fix it.

Well yeah, eating healthy, sufficient cardio, weight loss and waist size are all good changes regardless of blood pressure. I don't think anyone here (unlike other site) would say "BMI 30 waist 40" bottle of liquor a day no cardio is fine, just hop on the pill." But I also think the "no medicine at all costs" sentiment is less than helpful?

There is a subset of people with inherent distrust of pills. I don't mean the woo-woo holistic medicine people (Although they have that distrust too), I mean people that just don't take anything. Sometimes they have a reason, sometimes they just will not for no defined reason other than they will not. I am related to some of those people.
As an aside, I personally won't take any of them, but that's because they don't work correctly on me or don't work at all. I have some genetic polymorphisms that screw with meds, mostly through two different enzyme pathways. So BP meds have mostly had zero effect, and a few times a very bad one. Like homicidal anger on one and a bit of a psychotic break on another that almost ended very badly. I won't try any of them period now, not worth the risk to me I'll just beat my bodyweight back down to under 265 and do some cardio.

[KyleSchuant]

I also think the "no medicine at all costs" sentiment is less than helpful?

Agreed.

What I would say is that non-medical interventions should be tried in parallel with medical interventions, and sometimes first. It's the same as when someone's doctor has told them they'll get a spinal fusion in six months - any doctor will agree it's better for them to be strong before the surgery than weak, the rehab will be quicker and easier. You have to wait six months for the surgery either way, so use that time to get as strong as possible. The best that could happen is you'll turn out not to need the surgery, the worst is you'll still need it but recover more quickly. And the person who doesn't need surgery in six months will benefit, too - be less likely to need it in six years.

Likewise, things like eating more vegies, going for a walk every day, stopping smoking and drinking, these are all good things to do and likely to help with issues like high BP, back and knee pain, digestive issues and so on. They may mean the person doesn't need medication, or needs less - but at least they're likely to mean the person doesn't need more medication.

To my mind, medicine is like financial debt - sometimes you need it, but as much as possible try to arrange your life so you don't need it.