How to lower blood pressure before physical

Congratulations and KEEP UP the good work. I would like to clarify something that I have been posting regarding the DOT blood pressure standard. It clearly states that a person CAN be issued a 2 year card if upon examination the blood pressure is 140/90. This reading is considered first stage hypertension by many sources. I spoke with my doctor about this and she said that it would be possible but not very likely that a person would come into the office with a blood pressure of EXACTLY 140/90. When the blood pressure cuff is inflated on your arm, it disrupts the flow of blood in your brachial artery. As the air is slowly released in the cuff, sounds known as Korotkoff begin to be heard through the stethoscope. If you would like to hear what they sound like, type in Korotkoff sounds on You Tube. Learning to measure blood pressure takes effort. Ear/eye coordination is essential. Listening carefully for the Korotkoff sounds while watching closely at the mercury column or needle on the aneroid gage. Correct cuff size is also important. I hope you can begin to see that measuring blood pressure has to be done correctly or a wrong and misleading reading can result. Now back to the 140/90. Three years ago my blood pressure during my DOT physical was 122/74. That was well below the cutoff. Over the next two years I began to gain weight and neglected my exercise routine. When the time came for me to sit on the exam table for the DOT I got the bad news. Blood pressure 148/86. I was issued a one year card (my first) and put on medication. I also went a strict diet and started to exercise. A year later my pressure is down to 122/74. I feel great and no more medication. My point is this: For two years I was driving around with a blood pressure that was going up. If I had been issued a two year card with a pressure of 140/90 my pressure at the end of the two years would have been 164/100 (just estimating). Thats not healthy. I know two women drivers who have one year cards. I encourage then to make some simple lifestyle changes. The one has stopped taking her medication and both of them are not having they're pressures checked. From now on I'm going to tell people that you can get a two year with a blood pressure of 140/90, but to play it safe try and get you pressure lower than that. Its possible and will pay off in the long run. Again to "LakeErieHillbilly" continue with what you are doing. Best of everything to you and yours. Stay healthy and be safe.

 

I can't believe we got 80 posts on lowering blood pressure. Guy "busts his butt" for three weeks. All kinds of talk about it.
When it's very simple. BREATHING EXERCISES...You can find how to do it on youtube.
I've posted this before on other blood pressure threads.
My last physical. They didn't even check my blood pressure. I told them I knew about the breathing exercises. Mine would start a little high The medical community knows about the breathing exercises. So they didn't even bother.
... But beware!... There are plenty of physicians out there who don't want you to know this. They want to put you on their blood pressure medication. Which leads to other medications to take care of the side effects. Doctor gets kick backs on this. Makes him money.

 

Quit driving trucks......that's all I got.

 

Physicians and Hospital administrators generally don't get kickbacks directly. What they get though is vacations and other kinds of paid-for perks. The author Robin Cook et al exposed this many years ago. Eating healthy get plenty of exercise over time will do wonders with regard to high BP. Sadly it takes life-changing events such as what happened to me to cause people to make lifestyle changes. Now I am forced to take medications. I was looking at the VA website at the list of my prescriptions and as of today, it's sitting at 28 items. This is not counting the stuff I buy from outside the VA pharmacies.

I have written about this subject many times now. I will be 64 in a few days. I have noticed most of the truckers of my fathers' generation mostly did not live to see 80. At least once a week I see an obit from my hometown in Georgia where someone I knew who was a driver has died. In fact, there is a current OBIT right now in one. It is what it is. The lifestyle and the availability of healthy eating choices is a major problem. I might also add it is not just truckers. Everytime I got out I see women with butts so large they look like a 5th wheel. Men with stomachs so large they look like they are having a baby!

Breathing by itself might work in some marginal situations but it will not work across the board. It is what it is, I'm sorry because I really wish that comment about breathing would work in all situations.

 

I'v had a systolic below 50 a few times. That is a whole different set of problems.
The point is tho that doing things to lower your blood pressure can create a low reading and should be monitored.

 

Get a blonde, brunette, or red head take her home, close the doors, and have your way all night long. If I were a betting man, the red head will lower your blood pressure the most

 

The way you write. You have tried the breathing exercises? You know it won't work? How do you know it will work only in 'some marginal situations'?
I'm 62. Almost died from diabetes 20 years ago. I can't begin to agree with you.

 

Before I retired my BP was marginal. There were many times I was told to go lay down on my right side and relax. I would relax and do several minutes of getting deep breaths. Then would see my BP get low enough that I was OK for a 2-year card. I am not saying deep breathing won't work. It most certainly will. I am saying it is not a cure for high BP caused by diet and lack of exercise. Deep breathing works to help with things like white coat syndrome and being nervous. In fact, to be properly diagnosed with high BP the doctor is supposed to take several readings after you have had a chance to lay down and relax. I am also a diabetic, add to this I have CAD. I am also an epileptic. The absolute BEST way to cure high BP is to eat right and get plenty of exercise PERIOD! Then if you get a high reading lay down for a few minutes and take some deep breaths as you relax and the BP will go down. A while back a friend died of what is called the "widowmaker" once his tombstoning heart patterns were noticed in the ER he was sent to the cath lab, but died en route. His wife told me his BP was very high. In my case, I am being slowly weaned off my BP meds. I eat right now and get as much walking in as possible. The below was posted on the 17th. I had just returned from a walk.

 

Carbohydrates do not raise blood pressure. There is not a 100 200 gram limit per person that post increases fat from glucose conversion. Every person has a unique calculation based off of age, body weight, height, gender, and activity level. Hypertension has multiple contributing factors and should only be diagnosed by a medical professional.

 

Also supplement with Hawthorne heb tabs, these also help. Take 2 500 mg tabs per day and also Mens Mutli vitamins, make sure you get enough Sun or take 1000 mg Vitamin D, these all help. Cut out Carbs and and sugar HFCS filled soda’s or soft drinks. The idea is we want the body to burn fat in keto, and presence of sugar stops the fat burning process. If you are a smoker stop that right away, it constricts he blood vessels in all organs of the body