Blood Pressure

[ColleenC71]

I'm a 38 year old female and have always had blood pressure of 117/74 or lower.  The odd time it would be 120/80 but this was rare.  For the last 4 days i've checked my pressure and it has been on average 129/76 (i check it very regularly at the drug store).  I've very concerned that it is this high so quickly.  I've always battled my weight and am currently on the Weight Watchers program.  I don't smoke, don't drink and really don't have alot of stress in my life. I had a stress test approximately 4 months ago and received the highest possible score of 7+ minutes walking at a fast speed. Is this something I should notify my Dr. about?  What could cause bp to raise to such a high level in such a short time and stay there?

Many thanks.

[NTB]

hi, Colleen. It's not really a high level, though your systolic is up that 12 points. I wouldn't guess that most doctors would treat anything less than 140/90 with drugs.

The DASH diet changes your mineral balance and can improve BP. That plus weight loss and exercise are generally the way to go - you seem to be doing that already.

In my own case, I experienced a sudden hypertension after a cold virus, which I believe affected my arteries, maybe by causing less nitric oxide. That's mostly reversed now.

But first of all, I'd check BP at another location, to make sure it's not just a measurement error. Maybe that machine went off.

Other causes of sudden changes are usually hormonal, but you'd expect much higher BP in such cases.

[ed34]

most people would give their right arm for blood pressure like that. I would continue to monitor it for a few weeks and see if it goes back down. As stated already, it could be
you have some kind of virus which has increased your pressure temporarily.

[Heartgrl]

I don't really know what could have caused this but keep monitoring it and write it down somewhere if you can. My BP is on average 117/77-133/90. I am 14 years old and not overweight at all. My cardiologist just started giving me meds for that kind of blood pressure(Atenolol, 25 mg twice a day) so I kinda have to disagree with the first poster. I don't think my blood pressure has ever reached more than 150/100. I have prehypertension and was untreared for 2 years. Even though my blood pressure was high but no the high, because untreated caused my mitral valve regurgitation and left ventricular hypertrophy. If this conitnues please do see a doctor.