This is for NS here in Ohio. The testing physician said that if I saw my doctor and got it below 160 over 100 then I would be okay.
Bummed but hopeful.
BBear
Passed everything on my DOT physical except for blood pressure (a bit high) do I get another chance?
WOW that’s high! Instead of being “bummed”, you ought to be thankful they found out your blood pressure was that high before you really had some problems!
You can always get another chance or for that matter another job. Consider the results as a chance to sidestep what I went through last summer…a nearly fatal blood clot in my heart…trust me on this…you do not want to have that experience…make your well being a priority and the rest will take of itself…life is really alot shorter than we understand it to be…I hope you take the time to get this checked out.
The old BP standards considered 150/90 as the maximum “acceptable” pressure. That was in my days as a FD paramedic.
Now my doctor says 120/80 is the acceptable top end, and suddenly she has me swallowing pills 2x a day to keep it there.
So your BP needs immediate attention, man, especially if you have to “get it down to 160 over 100.” Otherwise you’re staring at a stroke, headaches, heart disease, aneurysms, heart attacks, etc.
My wife says my taking a couple meds a day to keep my blood pressure under control is very, very manly. [(-D]
Poppa’s pretty close. 120/80 is now considered the low end of ‘borderline’. Simple and basic changes will impact that. Getting more active and eating a better diet may help immensely. As a personal trainer I can give you some tips/advice if you’re interested. PM me if so. Good luck and be glad you caught that now, as was stated.
Depending on its causes, high blood pressure can be taken care of with reduction of weight, moderate but consistent near-daily aerobic activity that gets you sweating for about 20 minutes (40 minutes would be ideal for the weight reduction), reduction of salt and sugar in your diet, fats too, walking as much as you can,…
To add what Poppa Zit stated, kidney failure, loss of vision due to damage to the optic nerve, macular degeneration (going blind in areas of your field of vision)…
Look at it this way…if you are that far above the norm, chances are good that you would not be selected for many types of employment, so this is a wake up call to do something in order to get work that you desire, but also to live a normal life with normal longevity.
Just a thought.
The emphasis used to be on the diastolic reading – the second/bottom number that indicates mmHg when your heart is resting between beats. It was thought that a constant high (diastolic) pressure reading did most of the damage.
Now the health industry has done a 180-degree flip and is more concerned about the systolic (top or first) number, which measures pressure under the outward force of a heartbeat. Current thinking is a person needs to control the maximum pressure exerted on arterial walls, etc., to prevent damage and all the other bad things listed above.
Step away from the salt shaker and no one gets hurt.
Plus what everybody else said.
If they didn’t look at it during the physical, consider a cholesterol check as well when you visit your doctor. Sometimes these things go hand-in-hand, and that’s not a good thing.
Take a serious look at your diet. Maybe even keep a food diary for a few days or weeks - you might surprise yourself. If you can do it before you go to the doctor, so much the better.
Since my “incident” it’s diet and exercise. These guys are right on the money with their advice. I had no warning signs. I was awakened from a sound sleep with the feeling that a Boeing 727 was sitting on my rib cage.
I, too, have meds (more than one) to keep my b/p down within the normal range, when I’m lucky. I’m sure a better diet will help out, but I’m saving that for when I grow up.