Posted by Kaye

In Reply to: One More Thing posted by naomi

> Another thing that occurs to me is that high blood pressure, while
> certainly a serious problem, is NOT a short-term problem so much as
> a long term one. You are not going to drop dead from it tomorrow, or
> next week. So if you are having no symptoms, it might also make
> reasonable sense to simply not worry about treating it for a while,
> (or try non-medical ways of reducing it, like weight loss, reducing
> salt, etc. and see if that helps) and then, once your baby is weaned,
> you can start medication if necessary.
>

With hypertension as high as the poster describes (190/112), lifestyle
modification is not the recommended course of action. She
most likely belongs NOW on medication. Her hypertension is
seriously high, not in the range where the doctors will recommend
just what you recommended. Lifestyle modifications are tried and
recommended in a lower range (say, 140 or 150 systolic over
90 or 95 diastolic.

Hypertension IS a long term problem an is often referred to as the
Silent Killer because sufferers often don't know they have it, since
there are few if any symptoms associated with it. This is no reason
to let it go untreated as soon as you know you have it. The blood
vessels are damaged by the pressure of the blood going through them
and a stroke can happen once a vessel gets damaged enough that
it pops. So don't let hypertension as high is this go untreated by
medication.

I was diagnosed with hypertension when in I was law school. My daughter
was 2.5. When I was pregnant with her I had low blood pressure throughout
the pregnanct (95/55) but when I was diagnosed, it was 150/115. (And
that diastolic alarmed my doctor enough to start me immediately on
medication.) I was on several different medications, and nursed
throughout. The current medication I've been on is known as an ACE
inhibitor, when causes something with the production of protein in the
kidneys (don't know exactly what). Nursing was apparently not a problem but
getting
pregnant would be, since it would restrict the flow of blood to the
placenta.
Recently my doctor prescribed a new medication (actually, one of the oldest
treatments for hbp) and although it is cumbersome (3x daily) pregnancy is
OK on it. We'll see.

As to other causes of hypertension, your doctor should definitely be
performing kidney function tests and heart tests for you. Although most
people diagnosed with hypertension have "essential" and unexplained
hypertension, the ones who do have heart- or kidney-related reasons need
serious medical help. Kidney related hypertension in particular leads to
some pretty nasty medical consequences. Blood and urine analysis
will show whether the kidneys are involved.

Good luck,

Kaye

P.S. There are some herbal treatments that can help lower blood pressure;
in particular, hawthorn berries, I believe. Don't take this stuff without
the approval of a doctor who is treating you. And if you don't have a hbp
monitor, get one. Blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day, and you
and your doctor will want a log of what yours looks like through a normal
day. Mine this morning was very low (81/59) but this afternoon it was
higher - 101/77. The digitalized monitors are available at pharmacies -
get an automated one (spend the extra $$), you will be glad you did.

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