Thread: How does a person know when it is time to start taking blood pressure medicine?

As I have gotten older, my blood pressure has gone from 90/60 to 120/80, and last year it was 135/85, and now, this year I am getting consistently higher readings of 145/90 and even up to 155/95. My doctors don't seem bothered by this, but am I right to be concerned? How does a person know when it is time to push the issue and or go on medicine to treat it?

it's time to go on blood pressure meds when your doctor tells you. everyone assumed that "normal" was 120/80 but as time roles on this is changing, what we used to consider normal has been changing over time, discuss your concerns with your doctor (and i mean actually sit down with im and ask him about these things)

never take wot your doctor tells as read.when you feel you can not control your stress levels.having problems with diet.get second opinion

You are right to be concerned. A blood pressure reading above 110-120/70 is a cause for concern. Try changing your diet to exclude salt and to include foods that help to lower blood pressure (those high in potassium).

Blood pressure does tend to get higher as you age. 120/80 is a normal pressure for young, healthy adults.

Your pressure isn't very high, and isn't high enough to begin a blood pressure medication regimen. Keep in mind that your pressure constantly fluctuates during the day, and what you have read at a doctor's office isn't always your average pressure.

If your doctor has been tracking your pressure, and isn't concerned, there isn't a need for you to be. Just try to stay healthy, eat right, exercise, and you shouldn't have to worry about your pressure for a while.

ONLY WHEN IT CHANGES !

-What has happened to your BP as you have described it is exactly normal, and happens to all healthy people.

The readings don't actually go up with age (although most doctors -including yours, and sadly, most on Yahoo Answers!- think they do!) -It's an illusion.

What happens is that the loss of elasticity of your arteries with age causes the high 'peaks' of the (pulsatile) pressures generated to be transmitted (without attenuation, -or being absorbed, that is) further down your arterial 'tree' and so the readings taken at your brachial artery (upper arm) APPEAR to be higher when you're getting older than they used to be.
But in reality, the heart generates very little more pressure when you're 80 than when you're 20.. .. it only seems to, if you believe the readings (and even those are not "real" .-- but that's another story!)

Difficult, perhaps, to understand, -especially because it contradicts all your Doctor has been spouting at you (and me!) these last 50 years.... But nevertheless, it's true.

Let me put it into context. If you go from a 'relaxed, resting' mode to working-out at Mets Level 4 on a cardio exercise machine -which is perfectly normal and you don't need to be an athlete to do it, the heart actually does in fact generate much HIGHER pressures than those classified by all doctors, the BMA, the AMA, the Hypertension Society, the WHO, and our Heart Foundation as "Hypertensive" (or "high blood pressure") and it's perfectly right for you to engage in strenuous exercise like this.

So, the answer to your question is "ONLY WHEN IT SUDDENLY RISES".

A gradual rise over the years is not only normal but essential. If it didn't happen (and often it doesn't) it means your cardiac function is impaired. i.e., your heart is gradually becoming unable to attain peak performance.

As a rule of thumb, most people's systolic pressure (the top one) is about "100 + your age". So are you about 55? Remember that your BP goes up and down all day and all night, so it can't be 155 ALL the time.. be honest to yourself.

I'm rising 81 and mine is 195 ! ..(Well, it ranges from 200 down to about 175) and I'm still going strong