Hi Im new and worried about my oartner...

[rieturnbull]

Hi Im new here, I stumbled upon your website having been worried about my partner for some time now. He has has loads of ECG's, Eco's 24 and 7 day tapes and now we have bought a blood presure monitor as advised by our GP and over the weekend it has fluctuated between 140/90 - 181/101 it sickens me that the Gp keeps telling us to go to hospital and after 7 hours there we were told to go and see his GP. Any kind advise?
Rie - Durham

[Fiona Head]

Thank you for your post Rie

It is not clear whether your partner is currently on any blood pressure medicines. Following UK guidelines, doctors will prescribe medicines, if a person's readings are consistently seen as being 160/100 or above. Meds may be started earlier if that person is diabetic or has a high cardiovascular risk. If your partner is not taking medicines, then this would be something to discuss with his GP.
You mention that your partner is home monitoring. We have a lot of helpful tips about monitoring on our website that you both may find helpful:

http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/BloodPressure ... wtomeasure
http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/BloodPressure ... ntomeasure
http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/BloodPressure ... ourmonitor

It is very important to be consistent with home monitoring. Taking readings at the same time in the morning and evenings in order to compare like with like. Our blood pressure will fluctuate a bit during a day, but if readings are fluctuating by large amounts it should be investigated (to try and establish a cause).

If your partner's doctor is unhappy with his blood pressure, or is finding it difficult to lower and control, a referral to a blood pressure specialist, and, or a cardiologist (if he has not seen one already) could be the next step. A blood pressure specialist may carry out a number of tests - such as blood or urine tests, to check that the body's chemicals and hormones are balanced.

I do hope that this information will be of some help. For more general information about high blood pressure, please see our website information.
Best wishes, Fiona Head - Blood Pressure Association.

[rieturnbull]

Hi and thanks for your reply. He was discharged from the cardiologyst in july of this year, he has had every blood test going and they have all came back negative. He has has numerous scans, ecg'd, echo's and was even sent to a neurologyst to see if he was epileptic all to no avail. He is not taking any medication yet however, his blood pressure does seem to go down if he goes for a walk, comes home and takes it, it seems high if he is sitting playing on his Xbox360?
His GP has given him a monitor and form to fil in over one day and h has to take it six times, then they say they will investigate it. The Gp we saw yesterday said she felt irate as the words'' normal blood pressure'' shouldnt exist as they is no such thing as a norm.
Rie Turnbull

[Fiona Head]

No problem Rie.

I am wondering if your partner has just been given a standard home monitor (complete with upper arm cuff) or something called an Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor (ABPM) also referred to as a 24-hour monitor. These are great because they can give doctors a very clear picture of what is happening to a person's blood pressure throughout a complete 24 hour period. Here is a link for more details about this:

http://www.bpassoc.org.uk/BloodPressure ... 4-hourtest

Our blood pressure can change a little when we change our physical position.
Some people's blood pressure will drop when they stand up. If the changes are more significant than normal, further tests may be required.
The 'optimal' blood pressure reading is 120/80 or lower. The closer we can all be to this kind of reading, the better. For some people reaching this level will be more difficult; however, with a healthy diet and lifestyle, and by taking medicines (if prescribed by your doctor) this kind of level may be more attainable.

Best regards
Fiona

[Liz Pidgley]

Hi Rie

Just a thought - there is quite a bit of anecdotal evidence to show that video gaming can have an adverse effect on blood pressure.
Could it be that when your partner goes for a walk he is releasing the 'pent up' engery that computer games can induce & by default, return his BP to a healthier level?

Here are some links I found that might help.

Video games, adrenaline, & high blood pressure
I have recently been playing Need For Speed Most Wanted on PC, it is a very fun game, but I have been experiencing some sporadic high blood pressure/heart racing symptoms as I am playing at times. Not all the time, but during some races, I don't know if it is adrenaline, blood pressure increase, or both, but this has happened couple of times so far since I started playing the game about a week ago. I am googling video games and high blood pressure, but am getting vague results. I have a digital blood pressure machine, and was thinking of doing some before and after experiments. I think that it may just be a very intense game, my heart is racing, and even some adrenaline is flowing at times. I have been an avid video gamer for years, but never gotten a rush like this from any game before. It doesn't seem to last long at all though, my heart was racing when I started typing this thread, and I'm almost completely back to normal now.

What effect do video games have on blood pressure?
Just like any shocking event, it can raise blood pressure temporarily, if something excite or scare one during a game. One more cause, which can also damage heart, is indirect one. Frequently, people abuse of play: sleep and move less, sometimes eat more, especially if ones consume food during the game. All this can lead to obesity and as the result blood pressure may be increased permanently.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_effect_d ... d_pressure

http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2005/Projects/S0324.pdf

Best Wishes
Liz