I've noticed a number of visits to this blog from the Blood Pressure Association website, and one reader has asked whether the low sodium/low alcohol diet has lowered Mr. C's blood pressure. We're 6 months into it, so now does seem a good time to ask that question.
Of course we can't really know without doing the proper scientific thing and hooking him up to a monitor for 24 hours, but the new diet certainly seems to have helped. He can certainly feel the difference, and has lost over a stone in weight too. The average of 8 "spot" measurements which he took with our home monitor 6 months ago was an alarming 174/112. The great news though is that a spot measurement by the GP last week was 141/99, which is still high, but is an excellent reduction without taking any medication (especially as it includes the white coat effect).
So the low sodium diet stays (it has become a habit now), and perhaps we will try Resperate too?
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4 comments:
Hi, I am glad to hear that your husband is improving. I am also in my early 30s and I have had a couple of high readings (140ish/90ish) and although I haven't been diagnosed with bhp I have started to take a keen interest on the subject.
This site is very useful and I tried your curry recipe at the week end which worked really well, thanks.
I have seen a post where you say that your husband is reluctant to measure his pressure, I am in a similar position as I bought my own monitor but don't like taking a reading which I suspect doesn't make the situation any better. Do you have any thoughts on this? How frequently does your husband take a reading?
Thanks again.
Mr V
Hi Mr. V -
Glad to hear you're finding the blog useful - and sorry I haven't posted in a while. I am building up to posting a flurry of useful information I promise :-)
I don't have any advice on taking readings other than to say the more often you do it, the more you get used to it. Remember it can vary hugely throughout the day, so don't worry if you get the occasional highish reading. There's a diagram to give you an idea of the daily variation here:
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=875
You can see that it's at its highest at the very times when you might take a measurement (just before or after work). So later in the evening is better. And obviously try to take readings at the same time each day, if you're comparing them.
I am lucky if I can get Mr C to take a reading once a month (I will be in trouble now when he reads this!).
I have been a little lax with recipes. A good "cheating curry" tip is the packs of pre-prepared spices you can get in some supermarkets (M&S do them too).
GPs seem to take high/higher than normal BP more seriously as you get older, so well done for trying to tackle it while you're young.
Good luck with reducing your sodium intake, and do look at cutting down on alcohol too.
A
Hi AnnC,
how's Mr C blood pressure now? Is he still using Resperate?
Take care,
Volt
Hi Volt -
Sorry I've only just got around to responding to you! We have had a really busy few months with moving house, changing jobs, and travelling, and we have let ourselves lapse a little on the diet front. We are getting back into it now though, and with Resperate too. There is a new iPhone app which does the same as Resperate, which Mr. C has been using - I am going to do a post on it today. We haven't measured his blood pressure recently (like you, he doesn't like it) and I think he feels it's up a little. So we need to get back into our good habits!
A
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