Exercise

[bugsee]

I’m 53 and went to ER a couple months ago after palpitations that turned out to be PVCs. Had an echo and a treadmill stress test. Found mild ventricular hypertrophy and my blood pressure went up quite a bit with exercise. They stopped the test at a systolic of 240. At rest my BP is usually normal. I have been quite active and ran my first marathon last fall. I was put on Atenelol (25mg) but couldn’t deal with it very well because of the fatigue and because I believe it triggered an episode of depression. The first episode since I started running 15 years ago. Am now on Prinivil (5mg) which seems to blunt the rise in BP pretty well but I still seem to have side effects of something like periods of dizzyness/anxiety that started with the prinivil.



I dearly love running but would hate to have it kill me. Do I need to continue medications? Are there better medications? Are there ways to self monitor blood pressure while running (I need to stop a minute or so for the wrist monitor to work)?

[CCF-M.D.-CRC]

Dear bugsee,

There are a number of different medications available for the treatment of hypertension.  Prinivil is a good drug but may be causing some side effects.  You could ask your doctor about changing the dosage or ask about a calcium channel blocker.  These are well tolerated and should not interfer with your running. You do need to continue treatment of your hypertension and running actually helps in lowering overall blood pressure although it is higher during exercise.