High Blood Pressure

SwampDonkey · August 23, 2023, 03:49:46 AM

Hi folks, 10 days ago a cold developed, by week end my sinuses were infected and one ear blocked, I know because I have gone through it before 20 years ago, in both ears then. As long as you've got infection up there you're congested down there (air way). By Tuesday with no improvement; hard to sleep because laying down you tend to get more congested, your airway is dry as a vacuum hose, and all you do is nap now and again. It's not COVID.

So by now I decided I better get meds for this sinus infection. My family doc is out of commission these days with a life threatening illness. So with no family doc I go into emergency. I'm the only one there and get right in within 5 minutes. First thing, I'm being checked for blood pressure. The nurse says we need to treat this right away. 240 systolic. DOH! By the way, no head ache or chest pain, sure surprise to me. I told them their machines were broke, jokingly of course. :D I eat right, not overweight, don't drink, don't smoke, never did, get lots of exercise. Must be bad genes. My mom thinks they are full of it because she knows my lifestyle. :D So anyway, I'm all hooked up to a heart monitor and they start injecting syringes of stuff and I eat a BP pill as well. They monitor, the machine takes BP every 15 minutes. The doc comes with another shot after 30 minutes and continue to monitor, then says we've got it down to 180 now. I talk to the doc a couple of times through this and he confirms I need the antibiotic as well. So I leave there with two prescriptions, one for antibiotic and one for the BP pills ($50 bucks at the pharm). Got to go back for follow up Thursday. When I get a cold, it's a doozy. :D :D Bottom line, BP might be off and you don't even know it, even with a healthy lifestyle. Don't be fooled. ;)

Ianab · August 23, 2023, 04:55:58 AM

Yup, it can sneak up with no obvious symptoms, until you drop dead one day.

Treat it and you still won't live forever, but your odds of living longer increase significantly.

From a related thread about salt and blood pressure

A bit of research suggest we NEED about 1 gram of salt per day in our diet. You will probably get at least that from even unprocessed foods. Over 5 grams seems to up the blood pressure and increase your risks.

thecfarm · August 23, 2023, 05:17:22 AM

Well you are getting older. :D
I'm outside more then I should be.
Ask the wife. ;D
But mine is high too.
Or I should say was.
Meds keep it down where it should be.

doc henderson · August 23, 2023, 05:20:52 AM

sounds like you were really suffering. did you break down and do nasal decongestants? they are a simulant and do the opposite of a blood pressure med. In fact the old gen. good ones contained and ingredient used to make methamphetamine. shows up in urine drug tests, and why it is off the market. Or at least have to shoe a drivers license and reported to the state, so you can only get so much. You prob. know this, but a stuffy nose is not a sinus infection. Your nose mucosa can get infected called rhinitis, but it will them have a bad odor. mucus turning green or yellow means wbc in the mucus, but that is also with viral infections that require no antibiotic (read they do not kill viruses, cause they are already not living, so antibiotic do not work). a sinus infection is in the bone in an air cavity. It should be painful, and poss. no nasal drainage or stuffiness. pain in the forehead is frontal sinuses, and in the cheeks is maxillary, and behind the eyes is ethmoid or sphenoid. and so on. carry on! Doc.

if you wee on decongestants, retake your BP after being off for a few days.

SwampDonkey · August 23, 2023, 05:49:27 AM

I took Tylenol Complete for 5 days, and was off them for 3 days before going in. Not suppose to take them for very long according to the manufacturer. I have no runny nose, but am stuffy. Post nasal drip, yes. Cough now and again, sore throat. Cough more when lying down. Ear has reduced hearing, had some liquid exiting the ear canal (otorrhoea??) for about 3 days, but not for a 3 days now. I have no severe pain, just mainly pressure. I can hear every pulse beat in that ear to. :D Green phlegm coughed up in the morning, clear snot mostly and not running. I can taste and smell. Seen no changes in 3 days, good or bad.

Don P · August 23, 2023, 07:55:49 AM

If you are on a higher dose BP med than you need when that spike passes you'll be on the low side. If that does happen lots of water, to flush it, feet up and head down if you're getting lightheaded. I did something similar, they put me on 25mg and I about passed out a few days later as the real problem cleared. I'm still on 10 mg 10 years later. So I was a little high normally and then went pretty high when it was caught. The dose for that level was more than I needed.

SwampDonkey · August 23, 2023, 09:00:32 AM

I'm only on 8 mg a day Don. We'll see if things are adjusted Thursday.

doc henderson · August 23, 2023, 03:43:49 PM

I do not know what Tylenol complete is and afraid to ask. we buy things with one ingredient so we are not getting the cough stuffy nose sore throat so you can breathe medicine combo. look to see if it helps a stuffy nose. if so, that is a decongestant. they make them for people with high blood pressure but prob. not as good. sounds like you have a viral upper respiratory infection (300 dollars) or a cold (5.99). so antibiotic will not help. at the end, the mucus will be thick and green like a worm, and you may cough so hard you gag and throw up in the shower in the morning.

SwampDonkey · August 23, 2023, 03:53:17 PM

Contains 30 mg of decongestant pseudoephedrine hydochloride. They are 500 mg pills. I haven't taken them for days now. Says not to take for more than 4 or 5 days.

The doc examined my ear canal and decided right away, infection. Like I said, had it before, antibiotic cleared it up. If I recall, it took about 4 days to feel much change with the anti's.

Tylenol Complete

doc henderson · August 23, 2023, 04:49:42 PM

well, save that bottle of meds in case your blood pressure is ever too low. that may have been part of the problem. anyone with high blood pressure should not take a med with methamphetamine... sorry I mean pseudoephedrine.

yes if your ear is infected, go antibiotics. 8) yes, if you take them too long, you will get withdrawal nasal congestion.

SwampDonkey · August 23, 2023, 04:54:35 PM

Yeah, the manufacture doesn't recommend taking, or at least consult of doc, if taking it. But I didn't know. We do now. :D

Old Greenhorn · August 23, 2023, 05:31:44 PM

Swamp, what you describe is pretty much exactly what I had from January until late April of this year. I couldn't sleep many nights from the throbbing in my head, made me crazy and that left ear stayed plugged for many weeks. Got used to not hearing anything, then the right ear started plugging too. A pretty miserable set of circumstances that kept me in poor humor for a long time. Gave up using ear plugs when working.
I just toughed it out, probably dumb I know. It is miserable though.
I take clariton (generic) to keep the ears as clear as possible but just yesterday I heard the fluid building again and I restarted the clariton.
Hang in there!

doc henderson · August 23, 2023, 05:40:35 PM

It should be on the front of the box, but it is not.

Don P · August 23, 2023, 05:44:08 PM

What's that "Speed Kills"

21incher · August 23, 2023, 09:00:37 PM

I have never had a bad head cold in the summer before but am just getting over one myself. A little over 2 weeks ago I was scheduled to have cataract surgery on my first eye. 3 days before the surgery I started getting a head cold. The day before surgery I called and first thing I had to do was take a covid test and that was negative. They said if I felt better the next day show up for an evaluation before they would do the eye, but by then it was settling in my chest so we had to cancel. Finally out of my system and rescheduled in 2 weeks. Was told for some reason colds were going around the Rochester area then. Definitely be careful of cold remedies with high blood pressure. I found out that big problems start when I hit the 240 BP levels years ago. High blood pressure has run in my entire family so part of it seems to be caused by the environment and eating habits I learned growing up. I had reactions to some of the original blood pressure medications they started me on but eventually they found a combo that works. Funny thing is when I visit my doctor there is one nurse that always gives me high blood pressure when she takes it

. My doc always takes it again a couple minutes later and it's down. It ain't just salt that can raise BP :D.

Elderberry is supposed to be good for blood pressure and I am going to try making those gummies like they sell for snacks.

SwampDonkey · August 24, 2023, 03:31:16 AM

Quote from: doc henderson on August 23, 2023, 05:40:35 PM
It should be on the front of the box, but it is not.

There is a flap on the side that you lift for the details of the meds, including warnings. You got to know you have a BP problem first though. :D

SwampDonkey · August 24, 2023, 03:49:07 AM

Not a junk food consumer here and no sugar soda pop for years, probably 30 by now. I drink my own home made juice and that hasn't the sugar they add in commercial stuff, by far.

SwampDonkey · August 24, 2023, 03:51:59 AM

Quote from: 21incher on August 23, 2023, 09:00:37 PMFunny thing is when I visit my doctor there is one nurse that always gives me high blood pressure when she takes it . My doc always takes it again a couple minutes later and it's down. It ain't just salt that can raise BP :D.

He needs some uglier nurses maybe? :D

SwampDonkey · August 24, 2023, 10:17:06 AM

BP was still high today, went in as ordered Tuesday, added another BP pill and a fluid pill to the list. Waiting for call on kidney ultrasound.

Peter Drouin · August 24, 2023, 08:31:47 PM

It takes a while for the meds to work. I'm going this coming Monday to see the doc. Working on the right ones and doses.

mike_belben · December 30, 2023, 10:55:45 AM

If youve got high blood pressure, youve probably also got high triglyceride, low HDL, and arterial narrowing. If your white blood count is above 6 or 7, theres also sufficient inflammation to have inflammed arterial intima wall packing up triglyceride in the artery and setting the stage for a clot, heart attack, stroke. If your "cholesterol is high" the doc is gonna push a statin that just sends you to dimentia as a cause of death instead of heart attack. Just lower your insulin and exercise, and it will all reverse. The cholesterol in the arteries gets either calcified or brought back to the liver to be burned as fuel, but only if we manage for insulin and inflammation by diet and exercise. They havent invented a pill to solve this.

You can get a CIMT test, calcium scoring, an ultrasound to look at carotid artery calcification.. these can all see how close youre flirting with the silent killer.

if youve got any lab results at home there are a lot of peripheral indicators but the labs i keep seeing basically suck. If your lucky a lipid panel will have hdl and trg with wbc. Fasting glucose and A1c are useless.. they can say all clear the day before you die.

SwampDonkey · December 30, 2023, 11:33:19 AM

Not overweight here, exercise more than most, not diabetic, don't consume excessive sugar. Must be bad genes. I was taken off the fluid pill, was dropping the potassium levels, didn't need it anyway. Doc says it's over prescribed anyway. Only needed if you have swelling, I never have, nor since going off it. Getting some more tests on Jan 9th. Feel perfectly fine.

In good weather days I usually walk 4 - 6 miles a day in winter and far more in summer swinging a clearing saw and running lines. If some day the lights go out and that is the end, good way to go. Beats laying in bed in a nursing home for years. ;)