High blood pressure question

[Praline]

I am wondering what make my blood pressure so high? I have never had high blood pressure in my life until now. When I went to post-op last week, my pressure was quite high. The doctor prescribed meds. I have been taking them for a week.. this morning it is 155/56 with a 72 HR. When I first came home from the hospital and the visiting nurse came over, my pressure was below 120/ 70 everytime and I was not on blood pressure meds. In the hospital it was also normal.
I am 6 weeks post-op tomorrow. I am wondering if there is anything I am doing or not doing that is causing this. I walk almost an hour each day.
I have an appointment with my cardiologist tomorrow and I will ask him about it .

 

[Phyllis]

I am wondering if there is anything I am doing or not doing that is causing this.

I doubt it- could it be white coat syndrome since it was high at the post-op visit? Ask your doctor tomorrow and see if he would go along with taking it at home and keeping a chart for a week before prescribing meds.

 

[aussigal]

ahh Praline..

one of my fave subjects...the intricacies of High BP...

I can tell you it takes around two weeks or so for blood pressure meds to get up to theurapeutic levels...and that also you should sit quietly (still) for about 3-5 minutes before you take your BP...any exercise ..even just standing up will change your BP, as will coffee or other such things in your diet ie: diet coke etc...
stress actually raises my BP more than anything-else

I take 3 readings of my BP and then accept the average out of them as about right...

I have rarely managed to have a stable BP and am considering asking them to try me on a few different types of BP meds to see if we cant get better stability...The Labile BP that comes with a BAV though makes me wonder though if I will ever have stable BP.

I currently take 100mg metoprolol twice a day and 8mg perindopril once a day and together they are doing a fair-job at keeping my BP lower than before.

oh yeah...your morning BP is usually lower than your evening BP...I dont know about a difference of 100 mg or so...that seems quite a big difference...
definately keep a track of it and put it all on your list of questions ..

all the best

 

[Eric]

I never had high bp until after my surgery. Now I need to take 220mg Diovan, 75 mg Atenolol and 10mg Norvasc to keep my bp at 110-115 and my hr at 57. I don't get it. I am very active, though and that may be a factor.

 

[Barbara Stewart]

High blood pressure

High blood pressure

I have taken BP meds since I was 30 (I'm 56 now) and since my surgery I take less BP meds than before and my pressure is much lower. I don't have an answer for that one and neither do the docs so maybe your question has the same answer (no answer) so go figure.
I'm sure this is no help, but the whole question of what happens after surgery seems like it is often a mystery.
Barbara

 

[tobagotwo]

You're still new to your new heart. Your blood pressure may shoot up and down for a while. Mine started out low after surgery, then went pretty high for a couple of months, and is now back to normal. These swings are common during recovery and remodelling. They shouldn't be considered a permanent change, and in my view, you and your doctor should not consider the BP or the meds to be permanent.

I was fortunate, inthat I talked my physician out of increased meds for the short time my blood pressure was high as a wait-and-see, and mine came back down. I don't know how adding meds might affect that. Your blood pressure is a very complex system, and I don't know if meds will interfere with it finding its balance again or not.

Certainly, if your blood pressure is dangerous or threatening, the meds aren't optional. But if it's just "high" shortly after surgery, push back a little, and see what your cardiologist says. I think most will grudgingly allow some wait-and-see time, if they feel you're being monitored well, and that you'll come in if it doesn't go back down.

Keep on top of this, so you don't wind up with unnecessary meds.

BEst wishes,