Why am i so against BP meds?

[aggypantha]

Idk why but i have a hard time taking them, i will a valium or xanax, yet bp med no?......Idk I keep thinking im 21 and it will sort itself out, im 49 now and it was 113/170 one day in the gp office. ANyhow i started taking 1/2 so that's something i guess!!!!!!!  If i walked daily and lose some kilos?......would i resume to 120/80.?? thanks

[achillea]

It sounds as though you'd like to think your high blood pressure (probably 170/113, since the diastolic pressure is almost always higher and is listed first) will go away or at least prove temporary, like your anxiety.  It's called denial.

At age 49, the odds are that with that 170/113 value--which really is alarmingly high!--you now simply have high blood pressure, that that is who you are, and that you are going to need to take medications for the rest of your days if you don't want to either stroke out or be disabled by a stroke well before you get old.  

Losing weight and getting regular exercise can lower blood pressure a few points.  Most articles on the subject say that it can bring the numbers down by 4 to 9 points.  That would still leave you *well above* the 120/80 that is considered healthy.

If I had your BP numbers, I would very quickly get interested in regular medication.

[achillea]

Ooops!  The systolic is the higher number and is usually listed first.  Good grief!  Sorry about that.