Blood Pressure Increasing??

[Don1970]

Been back riding for the last couple of months after the summer hiatus (very busy at work in summer months and just cant cycle unfortunately!) - up to around 80km twice a week, with the idea of getting up to 100km twice a week.

Now, usually my blood pressure eases back a little once I start riding - I am on a low dose blood pressure medication but the pressure still reduces somewhat whilst in riding mode. This year however, my blood pressure seems to be increasing slightly the fitter I get - whats the go there?

I generally eat well, am a healthy weight for my height, however I do have some high blood pressure in the genes. Will be going to the GP shortly for the bi annual check up and skin sizzling, so will get an answer there - just interested if anyone else has had this happen?

John

[casual_cyclist]

just interested if anyone else has had this happen?

Not to me. Mine went down. Are you drinking enough water?

[Don1970]

I thought I was - usually about 2L/day if in the office, 3-4.5L when outdoors working. On an 80km ride I go through about 3.5L when about 23 deg C.

[Crawf]

Define exactly 'I generally eat well'...

[Venus62]

just interested if anyone else has had this happen?

Not to me. Mine went down. Are you drinking enough water?

Dehydration usually causes BP to drop, not increase.

[Don1970]

Define exactly 'I generally eat well'...

Very little take away food (once every couple of weeks), plenty of veges, salad sandwich for lunch, some fruit, yoghurt, rolled oats for breakfast. Not big on chocolate etc - only sometimes and limited amounts.

[casual_cyclist]

just interested if anyone else has had this happen?

Not to me. Mine went down. Are you drinking enough water?

Dehydration usually causes BP to drop, not increase.

Oh! I thought it increased BP.

http://www.optimumhealth.ws/Dehydration ... _Pres.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[matagi]

When exactly are you measuring your blood pressure? Blood pressure usually rises during exercise as a normal physiological response but drops back after exercise.

[Don1970]

When exactly are you measuring your blood pressure? Blood pressure usually rises during exercise as a normal physiological response but drops back after exercise.

I measure and record it first thing in the morning and before I go to bed - for about 3-4weeks before I need to go to the GP to get a new script. This was his suggestion as he said one or two readings when I visit the clinic is not a great indicator.

[Dr_Mutley]

Control the controlables as hard as u can, which will minimise how much u will need to control the genetics pharmacologically....

[blokeinamoke]

1.increase in BP whilst exercising is a good thing, it will co-incide with your HR to effectively provide o2 to your muscles.
2. What anti-hypertensive are you on?
3. How are you measuring your BP? (manually or with a machine)

Trying to determine what the issue is, is it that your BP is increasing even though you are getting fitter? or that its not? The hydration part is fine, dehydration will cause a lower BP and higher HR.

[Don1970]

1.increase in BP whilst exercising is a good thing, it will co-incide with your HR to effectively provide o2 to your muscles.
2. What anti-hypertensive are you on?
3. How are you measuring your BP? (manually or with a machine)

Trying to determine what the issue is, is it that your BP is increasing even though you are getting fitter? or that its not? The hydration part is fine, dehydration will cause a lower BP and higher HR.

BP is increasing even though I'm getting fitter - not a lot, but the last couple of years it usually drops.
I measure it with a machine (Omron)
I'm on Perindopril Arginine 5mg - so I think its fairly low dose.

John

[blokeinamoke]

The increase can be from any number of things, muscle mass can sometimes hinder and give a false reading, the truly biggest one is that its a machine taking the BP rather than a manual cuff + Stethoscope.
5mg is a usual starting dose (4mg is tbh) usually only like that for a month or so... perhaps ask the doc to re-assess and uptitrate the dose?

If youre not getting headaches or distress from it then play it cool dude....

(p.s. im a nurse... just so you dont think im spewing this stuff from my ass... )

[Don1970]

Thanks for that blokeinamoke, will be seeing the gp shortly so ill see what he has to say.

[BoardRider]

Just seeing the doctor puts my BP through the roof.I ended up having BP tablets then loss balance became dizzy and found out they can damage my kidneys. Not a great choice.
Eventually I was taken off them using the same strategy of monitoring my Blood pressure ,losing weight even though I was fit.
I hope it works out may take some time.

[Don1970]

Im the same boardrider - bp generally always higher at the gp. Hence his suggestion to monitor myself over a longer period.

[Dr_Mutley]

The increase can be from any number of things, muscle mass can sometimes hinder and give a false reading, the truly biggest one is that its a machine taking the BP rather than a manual cuff + Stethoscope.
5mg is a usual starting dose (4mg is tbh) usually only like that for a month or so... perhaps ask the doc to re-assess and uptitrate the dose?

If youre not getting headaches or distress from it then play it cool dude....

(p.s. im a nurse... just so you dont think im spewing this stuff from my ass... )

The starting dose is 2.5mg depending on which brand of perindopril u use... Max is 10mg.., so your on a mid range dose... With room to move to 10 if needed...

[Don1970]

Thanks Dr Mutley

[blokeinamoke]

The increase can be from any number of things, muscle mass can sometimes hinder and give a false reading, the truly biggest one is that its a machine taking the BP rather than a manual cuff + Stethoscope.
5mg is a usual starting dose (4mg is tbh) usually only like that for a month or so... perhaps ask the doc to re-assess and uptitrate the dose?

If youre not getting headaches or distress from it then play it cool dude....

(p.s. im a nurse... just so you dont think im spewing this stuff from my ass... )

The starting dose is 2.5mg depending on which brand of perindopril u use... Max is 10mg.., so your on a mid range dose... With room to move to 10 if needed...

Thanks for the clear up Doc, never seen a 2.5mg start dose

[Dr_Mutley]

The increase can be from any number of things, muscle mass can sometimes hinder and give a false reading, the truly biggest one is that its a machine taking the BP rather than a manual cuff + Stethoscope.
5mg is a usual starting dose (4mg is tbh) usually only like that for a month or so... perhaps ask the doc to re-assess and uptitrate the dose?

If youre not getting headaches or distress from it then play it cool dude....

(p.s. im a nurse... just so you dont think im spewing this stuff from my ass... )

The starting dose is 2.5mg depending on which brand of perindopril u use... Max is 10mg.., so your on a mid range dose... With room to move to 10 if needed...

Thanks for the clear up Doc, never seen a 2.5mg start dose

It's pretty common in GP land especially in patients new to antihypertensives... In very conservative docs u might see 2 or 2.5mg tabs being broken in half!

Here's all the available strength as per the pbs...

http://m.pbs.gov.au/search.html?term=PE ... lyse=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Don1970]

Doc, on that list I see perindopril erbumine 4mg is a few places above perindopril arginine. Does this mean it is a lower dose?
Reason for asking, went to pick script up from chemist and they said do you mind if its in a box instead of a bottle. I said no, but when I got home it was the erbumine 4mg not arginine 5mg. Will be ringing the gp also just to check.

John

[matagi]

They are equivalent, so 5mg of the arginine salt equals 4mg of the erbumine salt. It was remiss of the pharmacy not to alert you to that fact.

Change of perindopril (Coversyl) salt from erbumine to arginine

Published in NPS RADAR

Date published: 01 August 2006 About this date

The PBAC has approved the change of perindopril salt from erbumine to arginine. The decision was based on bioequivalence of the two formulations of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. The new salt has improved stability in high humidity but there is no change to the effectiveness of the medicine.
.........(snip)
The new product has retained its brand name — Coversyl — which may add to the potential for confusion by medicine users not expecting the appearance of the medicine to change.

The table shows the therapeutically equivalent doses of perindopril. Note there is no increase in dose in moving, for example, from perindopril erbumine 2 mg to perindopril arginine 2.5 mg.
Perindopril arginine (new) Perindopril erbumine (replaced)
2.5 mg (white, round) = 2.0 mg (white, round)
5.0 mg (light green, rod-shaped) = 4.0 mg (white, rod-shaped)
10.0 mg (dark green, round) = 8.0 mg (dark green, round)

[Dr_Mutley]

Yeah as above... 2,4,8 = 2.5,5,10... It's silly and confusing for the general consumrr

[blokeinamoke]

I wish i were a GP

Just had a wonderful skim through my MIMs though

[Stefan_A]

Now, usually my blood pressure eases back a little once I start riding - I am on a low dose blood pressure medication but the pressure still reduces somewhat whilst in riding mode. This year however, my blood pressure seems to be increasing slightly the fitter I get - whats the go there?

John

1. maybe the fitter you get, the harder you are pushing yourself. ergo, doing more damage to your tissue or elevating your HR higher for longer. this could be raising your BP in addition to your resting HR. are you taking on more challenging routes (hills), attaining faster average speeds, doing higher volumes?

2. it's wiser to look at BP in conjunction with other health factors - cholesterol, insulin, thyroid, social and work related stress....and especially quality and quantity of sleep. many cyclists cut into sleep to up the k's.

3. when you say your BP is elevated this year, what are we talking ?