Young with hypertension

[Saylor23]

Hey everyone thanks in advance for those of you that are reading this it Is greatly appreciated of any feed back. First of I'm 22 years of age, male about 6'2 kinda muscular 228 pounds, and pretty active. I've been diagnosed with hypertension and was put on losartan 50mg/hctz 12.5mg by my cardiologist when my blood pressure was running about 150-160/80-90 consistantly about 2 months ago. When I first started taking it worked pretty decent in a few days it was around 130 range/80, I stayed active I played pick up basketball, walking/jogging and working out occasionally. Here recently this is the 3rd month I've been taking these my systolic has been running in the 150 range, diastolic(bottom number) has been anywhere from 65-80 but usually at 70's. I'm not understanding why my top number systolic is staying so high with my Bp meds? I can only take certain Bp meds because my heart rate is in the 40's when resting. It's worrying me my half sister has high Bp she's 26 but its not as high as mine. I've had an heart echo, ekg, chest xray done by my primary doctor 3 months ago. All was normal just my heart just had a small leaky valve he didn't seemed concerned about it said it was common. Basically I'm wondering why my top number (systolic) so high but bottom is normal?? I check my Bp about 3 times daily an its usually 145- 157. It's frustrating where I'm healthy according to the doctor right now, but they seem very slow about treating this and it's been this high for half a year now. It's scary to think my life being shortened and me so young because of this.

[Saylor23]

I'm mostly concerned at this point...no longer stressed though it does suck. So you say it's just my heart pumping blood strongly ? Cause I also have a low resting heart rate usually 50's and 40's...I play pick up basketball alot this hypertension caught me by surprise. I don't want my life cut short cause something fatal with my high systolic cause I can't control it. The meds I'm on aren't working either its been 2 months the doctor says give it two more

[is_something_wrong]

The reason why your systolic is elevated is pretty simple. Your heart is strong and is pumping a lot of blood when you are stressed.

The fact that your diastolic may be low in the same setting may be a result of your good physical condition. When exposed to adrenaline, your blood vessels dilate (so-called beta 2 stimulation) and your heart pumps faster and heavier (so-called beta 1 stimulation).

To explain pretty simple: If you have a blood pressure of 150/70 your pulse pressure (systolic minus diastolic) is 80 mmHg. We all have our unique relationship between cardiac stroke volume and pulse pressure (with age, pulse pressure:stroke volume ratio tends to decrease), but in young healthy males it can be approx. 1.7. Which means, if your pulse pressure is 80 mmHg, stroke volume may be 136 ml.

When I'm exercising at peak intensity, my blood pressure is approx. 200/70 mmHg. Which means, my heart is pumping lots of blood for each heart beat.

It's really that simple. Your heart beats with high force. Maybe targeting your anxiety will help you.