
I have high blood pressure, I have had it since I was 18 years old. I didn't start being treated for it until I was pregnant with my daughter at the age of 27, so I was in and out of hospital throughout my pregnancy, in the end they induced me by 4 weeks as I kept getting nose-bleeds that wouldn't stop. The only upside to this if you can call it that, was that I was in labour 45 minutes, the most painful experience I have ever had, I thought my stomach was going to burst open, but was told everything was so quick because my body was trying to expel what it thought was causing high blood pressure. Directly after I had my daughter my blood pressure reading was 260 / 130, so I was wired up and put on a drip with all sorts of drugs being added to it until it came back down to a normal reading.
I had all sorts (not bassets) of tests done, Kidney scans, a whole weekend of collecting urine (nice), ECG's you name it I had it, and they still couldn't find any underlying cause for it. My brother who is 18 months older than me, also was diagnosed with high blood pressure a couple of years later, but they found a scar on his kidney which they attributed to him having high blood pressure, my mum also has high blood pressure so I think it is a family thing.
Though if I have to see a different nurse or doctor than my norm, my blood pressure is always higher, but when I am in the surgery waiting room, I can feel the anxiety coming on, I get hot and sweaty, and seems like I can hear my heart beating, but still comes out as an ok reading. I currently take Atenolol which is a beater blocker and and another tablet with is Lisprinol which also works in a different way to the Atenolol.
The usual thing that is advised is a downtake in salt consumption, lose weight if need be, increase exercise, and eat healthy, no alcohol (sp) and no smoking.
Jane
Jane