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High bloom pressure low heart rate

I am 60 and healthy except for blood pressure of approximately 135/90. My heart rate is about 42.  There is some family history of high BP on my mother's side and low HR on my father's. I have been on atenolol for years to assist with the BP and have never had light headedness. I can raise my hear rate with exercise and without unusual shortness of breath. My HR has declined from over 52 before atenolol. I'm wondering how to,improve my BP, should I pursue a different strategy?
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Avatar universal
Hi,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post, I have a check up next week and have been concerned my doctor wasn't sufficiently aggressive (I've taken the view I should be 120/80).  Appreciate your comments.

Regards.
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1124887 tn?1313754891
Hello.

Is there a mistake/typo in your post? You say "high systolic", but your 135 systolic blood pressure is normal, and really not bad for a 60 y/o. 90 diastolic is borderline but still not considered very high. So I guess you can say: You are healthy, no exceptions :-)

That said, yes, your heart rate seems slow, but it doesn't sound like you have symptoms of slow heart rate, and you can increase your heart rate with exercise. That's a very good sign. My dad also have a resting heart rate in the 40s, with no symptoms. He is on beta blockers (after coronary artery disease and high blood pressure) and his doctor seems to think his heart rate is OK, as it's not bothering him.

If you had a heart rate of 52 (which is also a bit slow) before blood pressure treatment, I don't understand why your doctor chose a beta blocker to control blood pressure, from the universe of different blood pressure medicines he could select from. ACE inhibitors, diuretics, AT2 blockers and new calcium channel blockers do not/just minimally affect the heart rate. There may be other reasons that we don't know about, like protecting your heart against arrhythmias or other heart disease, where a beta blocker works better. Beta blockers are not the most effective in controlling the blood pressure.

I would ask the doctor if I was you. If you think your heart rate is too slow, maybe he could prescribe another medication to control your blood pressure?

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