Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Test Results...

Hi Mig, I was told the same thing by my doctor, he said that he was very surprised to see my BP that high considering that I'm not overweight and relatively young. I asked him if stress could be the cause and it said that although stress can certainly make it worse, it's not the cause of it.

For what it's worth, I am 35 and have always had low blood pressure (between 110/60 and 120/80). It's very consistent, whether I'm at the doctor's or not. I had a short period of time (maybe a month or so) when it went up to 145/90, which is not good. This was in my late 20s around the time my marriage was dissolving. The doc had me check it often throughout the day (at grocery stores, pharmacies, etc.) and it varied. I kept a journal and it was only high when I went to the clinic (which was at school). So, no meds needed, it just went down on its own and hasn't been a problem since. And it's stable regardless of what I'm eating or how much exercise I do.

My dad does a ton of aerobic exercise daily (he runs stairs for an hour and does weights and other stuff) and is in great shape and eats a diet very high in veggies and low in saturated fats, and now he has high BP and has to take meds for it. He is 64.

I have a half-sister who is overweight, 10 years older than me, and is a nurse and was one day helping her father with his home BP cuff. She took her own BP to see if the cuff was working and found that it was freaky, scary high. She went to the fire station and then the hospital. She's on beta blockers now and it's back to a good range. And the beta blockers aren't giving her bad side effects.

So, there are many scenarios, and exercise is always good, but sometimes you just have high BP and need meds. It's worth trying the exercise and diet route, of course. It's always a good thing. But I think that one should talk to their doctor about alternatives before deciding not to take prescribed meds. I know you're a smart cookie, Michelle, and that you'll make up your own mind, and won't base your decision entirely on what we're saying here.

Take care,
Moll B

good point mig,

but i'm not that old (45) or that heavy (125 lbs) and never ate that poorly, and i have all this stuff happening, so i'm speaking more from that point of view too. my mother was significantly overweight and is 20 years older than me and always had a sweet tooth and always ate too many goodies, and she and i are in the same place as far as BP, blood sugar, and lipids go. so her case is clearly a case of lose weight, clean up the diet, and mine is a case of luck of the genes. but i'm still going to hope that with militant exercise, diet, and weight loss back to 105 lbs if i can get there (when i was in my 20s and healthy) are worth a shot....if that doesn't work, then drugs. of course that's my personal choice.

sue

hi michelle,

if you are already doing that much aerobic exercise, then you're right that more exercise doesn't seem to be an answer for you. it was for me. now i'm finally doing the exercise you've been doing.

salt is another thing to try to cut out. i didn't even think of that because i've been low salt since i was a teen and decided that my family's putting salt on everything before they tasted it was just plain silly. don't know if you can cut back on salt or not. i couldn't....nothing to cut back on.......

but if you're doing all that exercise, then i can see where the doctor wanted to put you on meds.

molly's comments on temporary higher bp, reminded me of my temporary higher bp during my days of vioxx. the drug was causing fluid retention and raising my bp....borderline high (about 140/90) but it had always been normal til then.....for 3 years it was like that.....and the doctors didn't seem very concerned as it wasn't that high, but i knew something wasn't right, that it just wasn't normal for me.....and turns out i was right.....the higher bp should have been a clue to the doctors, but it took 3 years for my GP and me to realize i had edema which was causing all kinds of terrible issues.......

you mentioned a kidney problem.....could you have low level edema like i've had a few times (nonpitting so hard to detect)?......kidney problems can cause edema....but you probably already knew that.

one of the biggest problems i had with this low level edema was that all my tendinitises got worse and worse as the edema wasn't letting the inflammation settle down....and that's when my SI was a mess every day for about 2-3 years.

once i stopped the vioxx, the edema went away (or at least lessened) and things got better, not all better, but better.

just a thought. since i don't know all your medical stuff, this may not apply at all. but fluid retention can definitely increase BP.

sue

not sure what that link was, couldn't access it, not a member.

sorry, didn't realize that you knew what was causing the food to get stuck...
my husband didn't know til they scoped him.


sue

blood sugar and lipids and lipitor:

part 1.

again, if you are young and thin and having these issues, you sound like me, except that you've been good about exercise and i was being sporadic until now.

as for the statin. as i said before, the zocor gave me edema so i had to stop it. but that's a side effect that seems unique unto me as i've seen it written nowhere. and the doctor had never heard of it but thankfully believed me. but i took it for a month and it was amazingly effective. and i took a tiny amount. it did cause a little nausea but i lowered my dose. it did cause a bit of loose bowels but i lowered the dose. the two serious potential side effects of all the statins are liver disease and muscle disease but your doctor probably already discussed these with you. my doctor wouldn't let me out of the office without giving me careful instructions for the side effects that would indicate these and had me do blood work for a muscle enzyme and my liver panel before i started the drugs and 2 months after to be careful. the liver damage is supposed to be fairly rare. the really serious muscle damage is also supposed to be pretty rare, but the lesser muscle side effects are supposed to be fairly common but to avoid that side effect, i was told to take Coenzyme Q (ubiquinone). the part of the metabolic pathway for cholesterol that is blocked by the statin is also part of the ubiquinone biosynthesis pathway too, before the branch point. ubiquinone is an essential part of energy metabolism....the electron transport chain.....ATP synthesis....ATP is our main energy molecule......i was taking 100 mg of coQ with the statin and didn't have any muscle problems that way. i'd probably ask the doctor first before adding it in.

sue

blood sugar and lipids and lipitor:

part 2.

i don't know how much of this will resonate with you, but this is what i've been thinking for myself.

diabetes and heart disease run in my family. i've known this since i was in my teens and realized that the diabetes, blood sugar, insulin intolerance thing explained why when i didn't eat i'd get a headache, but more importantly, when i did eat, if it was the wrong thing, i'd be really out of it, really tired, really off. i've had to avoid too many sweets, certainly no sugar in the morning, and none by itself. but combined with fat and/or protein, and i could do it; so things like cheese cake or pie (with crust) or custards or ice cream were better for how i felt than eating things like candy or cake. and i learned i could only have a sweet after a real meal. but really, i was never a sweets eater. i always went for things like fresh fruit or plain dark chocolate for "desert". however, complex carbs never made me feel bad, so things like french fries or chips were my addiction. i just adore french fries! and chips with dip. however, i started noticing in my late 30s or early 40s that i also didn't seem to be able to handle my complex carbs very well either. noticed it especially in the beginning of my day. instead of my total cereal for breakfast, i had to start eating lunch meat, cheese, olives, and a little bit of the cereal, or i'd save the cereal for right before bedtime. now that i'm exercising every day, my glucose tolerance seems better. still can't have the simple sugars like before, but can eat cereal for breakfast if i want to, so long as i eat something else with fat and protein too.

but most people have no symptoms from blood sugar like i do, until their sugar gets into the diabetic range. then of course there are complications.

i don't know what you routinely eat, but i know you are a foodie like me from our late night discussions. of course now days i'm more talk than action....i still dream of french fries but i rarely eat them. i still love the thought of rosemary bread, but can't remember the last time i had it.

so what do we eat if we are trying to stave off diabetes through diet?
i've read sites about what diabetics should eat.
some (including the official national associations) say relax in regards to carbs, you can eat carbs, just in moderation.
then other sites say as little as 15 grams at each meal (3x a day) and 1/2 that at the 2 snacks in between. that's almost nothing by the way. at least to me. i've spent my whole life eating complex carbs along with the fats and proteins in moderation. all the things that seemed so healthy for me; the whole grain cereal, the pasta, the whole grain and wild rice, whole grain crackers. all the nice high fiber grains. but now i'm thinking, they may not be so good for me. so i've cut way back on them.

the one high fiber carb i've kept is the beans. beans are supposed to be very good for diabetics. they're a no no for the NSD and that's one reason i'm LSD and not NSD. they get broken down very slowly and late in the digestive track. they really do seem to be quite excellent for balancing my blood sugar. i love lentil soup, black bean soup, really any kind of bean soup.....i love succatash.....i love pasta fagioli (italian stepfather)....i just eat it now without the pasta in in so i guess its just fagioli ....i also make a white bean salad with just cannellini beans, EVOO, and italian herbs (lots of parsley, some oregano, maybe some thyme), sometimes i put shrooms in it too.

i've really increased my level of veggies. again, to have veggie variety, i just couldn't do the NSD. i love just about anything roasted: beets, carrots, butternut squash, brussel sprouts. i'm not a big fan of cooked swiss chard, but i like it raw in a salad; my husband grows it in the garden, i swear its for the spectacular colors; he can't really like the taste that much. the animals don't even bother it. the bunnies and deer and ground hogs all eat the spinach and lettuce but leave the swiss chard alone. that should tell you something. but its not bad raw. i love spinach, cooked or as a salad. i've been making all kinds of crazy salads that include veggies and nuts and my dressing is equal parts EVOO/balsamic/honey, then i use that sparingly.

i'll talk about chicken and fish and nuts and other good fats in my third installment.....

i've read in several places that cinnamon is supposed to be good at helping with insulin resistance, so i try to put it in and on things as much as possible now.

from what i've read, and for what i'm dealing with: diabetes runs in my family. i've been glucose intolerant probably my whole life, and have probably become more and more insulin resistant over time. and the extra weight all in my gut (even if its not a lot) is probably related. i've read that they used to think that gaining weight (especially) in the gut causes diabetes. now they think that maybe diabetes causes weight gain (especially in the gut). all i know is that for me it all seems connected. i finally had the glucose tolerance test and though i'm not diabetic, i am on the border (141 after 2 hours) and the doctor wrote down glucose intolerant. my fasting blood sugar has been around 110 no matter my weight (anywhere between 110 and 135 lbs) and no matter how much exercise i was getting at the time that the blood work was done. my GP thinks maybe i've been keeping full blown diabetes at bay by not being too overweight, eating fairly healthy (not too many sweets).

i don't know if changing my exercise to everyday, lowering my weight back down to 105 lbs if i can, and really trying very hard to keep the carbs as low as possible will lower my blood sugar or not. time will tell. i don't think it's all weight related or exercise related though as the blood sugar didn't seem to change when those two things changed. but maybe this low carb diet will do the trick?

sue

Hi Sue, the link was to an article about AS & Dysphagia....honestly, I was shocked when the doc told me that, I never in my wildest dreams would have connected the two, it's not that common in ASers, or at least I don't think so.

i'd never heard of it before, i don't think, but nothing really surprises me anymore when it comes to our bodies. i'll go google it, i'm good at that...me and mig....Alan's always giving mig a hard time about the googling, but its a way of life these days....and once you start, you just can't stop

sue

Hi Molly, that's encouraging, because I've always had textbook perfect BP, I have noticed my body changing this past year, I literally could eat 6 candy bars a day on top of 3 square meals and I mean big meals with salad, bread and dessert and never gain an ounce and no matter how much salt I consumed, my rings never got stuck on my fingers and believe me, cajuns eat a lot of salt, I think Hypertension is the #1 killer in the state of Louisiana... but now, I'm gaining weight...like 30 pounds in 4 months...thank God I'm tall! So something's going on but this time last year, I was half dead from a flare that had kidney involvement, I'm sure the alumni members remember that....they brought me a long way, I thought that flare was going to kill me and I lost tons of weight then, so, I'm totally confused.