Hypertension?

Low blood pressure, when it occurs, is usually a female problem. I think it's the females that give us the high bp..haha. Interesting point. Not to be too risque here, but I did an article on impotence once, and I was surprised to find that high blood pressure in males, at least over the short term, leads to harder erections. (Over the long run, of course, it hurts blood vessels and can contribute to impotence.) As the medical literature has convincingly proven, as evidenced by no shortage of Internet products, females clearly prefer erections with the rigidity of "cold blue steel." I don't think that it is at all paranoid to suggest that women, in hopes of short-term thrills for themselves, are inducing high blood pressure in men. Absolute selfishness on their part, if you ask me. Particularly when they do this in guys like me and have no intention whatsoever to have sex anyhow. Low blood pressure can be a sign of thyroid problems. My 18 year old's thyroid problem was discovered by by a couple lbp readings. Perhaps she and I could somehow help each other balance things out? Of course you really need to have a thoughtful internist who knows you to put this into perspective... I was always taught to worry more when then diatstolic is elevated on a chronic basis than when the systolic is elevated alone. Systolic elevation by itself can be from pain or stress. As a kid (14 yrs) I had elevated systolic BPs (although labile) with relatively low diastolics. My BP was often 140/ 70. I had a big workup at Boston Children's and then the nephrologist told me "you swimmers often have this.." I don't know what that meant, if anything. I am not sure if anyone still believes its true, but it was reassuring at the time and my blood pressure didn't become and issue again for about 25 years. Are you taking your BP yourself? Or are you in a nervous situation when its being measured? If you are using a home cuff check it against a professional's to be sure its calibrated, have someone else take it for you, try to relax when it is being taken and don't look at the machine when they are doing it. As far as anti-hypertensives...again you have to talk to your own doctor about what's best for you. There are some good reviews about athletes with hypertension which you can peruse or share with your physician. Personally I like the ACE inhibitors (like lisinopril) they work well, are available generic and don't appear to limit athletic performance. YMMV (as they say). Disclaimers: This is my opinion and should not be taken as specific medical advice. I am not an expert in adults with hypertension, I am a pediatric pulmonologist. I am also a middle aged man who began swimming again, recently, after 25 years "away" in an effort to treat his own hypertension, obesity and mood lability -- so I've thought about these issues some in recent months. Thanks Pendaluft! Joking aside, I think one of my first fears (after exploding head--again, I refer you to my short film at forums.usms.org/blog.php -- fast forward to the end, and you won't have to listen to my pointless blather) --was the thought that any medication I might have to take would reduce my swimming abilities. There are a bunch of studies now on ISH in older Americans. A summary for us laymen, courtesy of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, can be found here: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/.../whathbp.htm For what it's worth, I am no stranger to various physiological anomalies that may be related to swimming. For example, I have first degree AV heart block, which sounded terrible when the doctor told me, but much less so when he explained that it's not uncommon in people who train a lot and get a lower resting heart rate as a result (the interval between beats has to elongate somewhere, he said, and this is one way the well-exercised heart does it.) I have also been diagnosed with mild anemia for almost a decade now, with no apparent ill effect. One explanation that made sense to me, and I am sticking with so as to not worry about it, is that I may have sports anemia--a pseudo anemia caused by increased plasma volume from regular endurance exercise, thus diluting the RBC count, etc. Could my ISH (like your boyhood version of it) have anything to do with swimming? Is it possible it's not actually a bad thing, but rather the effect of swimming regularly over the decades? Am I worrying for naught? I suppose it's possible. It would be great if this were the case. I wonder if treatment norms are based on average Americans, the vast majority of which are pretty sedentary at age 57. So far, I haven't gotten any treatment for my anemia, and I sometimes wonder if this would do me more harm than good, especially if it really is the dilutional "sports" variety. If my ISH remains unchanged, I will ask my doctor's advice, and probably do what he says (if I can afford it.) If so, I will definitely bring up the lisopronil endorsement. Thanks again! And best of luck with your return to swimming. Quite possibly, the best one-stop apothecary available! Note: you mentioned mood lability. If you get Swimmer, check out my article on swimming's effect on mood in the current issue. You (and anybody else who is interested) can also email me at Jamesthornton1@comcast.net and I'll send you .pdf copies of this story plus a recent story I wrote for Men's Health on the multitudinous benefits of masters swimming.

Low blood pressure, when it occurs, is usually a female problem. I think it's the females that give us the high bp..haha. Interesting point. Not to be too risque here, but I did an article on impotence once, and I was surprised to find that high blood pressure in males, at least over the short term, leads to harder erections. (Over the long run, of course, it hurts blood vessels and can contribute to impotence.) As the medical literature has convincingly proven, as evidenced by no shortage of Internet products, females clearly prefer erections with the rigidity of "cold blue steel." I don't think that it is at all paranoid to suggest that women, in hopes of short-term thrills for themselves, are inducing high blood pressure in men. Absolute selfishness on their part, if you ask me. Particularly when they do this in guys like me and have no intention whatsoever to have sex anyhow. Low blood pressure can be a sign of thyroid problems. My 18 year old's thyroid problem was discovered by by a couple lbp readings. Perhaps she and I could somehow help each other balance things out? Of course you really need to have a thoughtful internist who knows you to put this into perspective... I was always taught to worry more when then diatstolic is elevated on a chronic basis than when the systolic is elevated alone. Systolic elevation by itself can be from pain or stress. As a kid (14 yrs) I had elevated systolic BPs (although labile) with relatively low diastolics. My BP was often 140/ 70. I had a big workup at Boston Children's and then the nephrologist told me "you swimmers often have this.." I don't know what that meant, if anything. I am not sure if anyone still believes its true, but it was reassuring at the time and my blood pressure didn't become and issue again for about 25 years. Are you taking your BP yourself? Or are you in a nervous situation when its being measured? If you are using a home cuff check it against a professional's to be sure its calibrated, have someone else take it for you, try to relax when it is being taken and don't look at the machine when they are doing it. As far as anti-hypertensives...again you have to talk to your own doctor about what's best for you. There are some good reviews about athletes with hypertension which you can peruse or share with your physician. Personally I like the ACE inhibitors (like lisinopril) they work well, are available generic and don't appear to limit athletic performance. YMMV (as they say). Disclaimers: This is my opinion and should not be taken as specific medical advice. I am not an expert in adults with hypertension, I am a pediatric pulmonologist. I am also a middle aged man who began swimming again, recently, after 25 years "away" in an effort to treat his own hypertension, obesity and mood lability -- so I've thought about these issues some in recent months. Thanks Pendaluft! Joking aside, I think one of my first fears (after exploding head--again, I refer you to my short film at forums.usms.org/blog.php -- fast forward to the end, and you won't have to listen to my pointless blather) --was the thought that any medication I might have to take would reduce my swimming abilities. There are a bunch of studies now on ISH in older Americans. A summary for us laymen, courtesy of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, can be found here: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/.../whathbp.htm For what it's worth, I am no stranger to various physiological anomalies that may be related to swimming. For example, I have first degree AV heart block, which sounded terrible when the doctor told me, but much less so when he explained that it's not uncommon in people who train a lot and get a lower resting heart rate as a result (the interval between beats has to elongate somewhere, he said, and this is one way the well-exercised heart does it.) I have also been diagnosed with mild anemia for almost a decade now, with no apparent ill effect. One explanation that made sense to me, and I am sticking with so as to not worry about it, is that I may have sports anemia--a pseudo anemia caused by increased plasma volume from regular endurance exercise, thus diluting the RBC count, etc. Could my ISH (like your boyhood version of it) have anything to do with swimming? Is it possible it's not actually a bad thing, but rather the effect of swimming regularly over the decades? Am I worrying for naught? I suppose it's possible. It would be great if this were the case. I wonder if treatment norms are based on average Americans, the vast majority of which are pretty sedentary at age 57. So far, I haven't gotten any treatment for my anemia, and I sometimes wonder if this would do me more harm than good, especially if it really is the dilutional "sports" variety. If my ISH remains unchanged, I will ask my doctor's advice, and probably do what he says (if I can afford it.) If so, I will definitely bring up the lisopronil endorsement. Thanks again! And best of luck with your return to swimming. Quite possibly, the best one-stop apothecary available! Note: you mentioned mood lability. If you get Swimmer, check out my article on swimming's effect on mood in the current issue. You (and anybody else who is interested) can also email me at Jamesthornton1@comcast.net and I'll send you .pdf copies of this story plus a recent story I wrote for Men's Health on the multitudinous benefits of masters swimming.