Blood Pressure/Heart Rate
in [Thyroid]
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From: Dee on 9 Jul 2008 12:57 I've always had low pressure; and a high(ish) heart rate all of my life. I finally think I'm on right track with dessicated thyroid, so out of curiosity, I've started taking my blood pressure. Started the medication on July 5 @ 15 mgs - on that day my bp was 105 over 70; and my resting heart rate was 84 (it's always in the 80's). On July 8, I decided to increase my dose to the doctor's starting-out recommendation of 30mgs. On July 9 (just 4 days later), my bp is 112 over 72; and my resting heart rate is 72. This is the *first* time my heart rate has been in the 70's. Is this what I should expect with the medication? To bring my bp up a bit (hopefully just a bit); and to lower my heart rate?
From: Jerry on 9 Jul 2008 15:46 Dee wrote: > I've always had low pressure; and a high(ish) heart rate all of my life. right, as you know, if BP is low, then the body will try to get adequate blood flow by increasing the Heart Rate... or vice versa that's in normal individuals, not under stressful conditions like climbibg stairs etc > I > finally think I'm on right track with dessicated thyroid, so out of > curiosity, I've started taking my blood pressure. > > Started the medication on July 5 @ 15 mgs - on that day my bp was 105 over > 70; and my resting heart rate was 84 (it's always in the 80's). I've found that BP monitors didn't do a good job on measuring HR but HR monitors work great, like exercisers use... or the fingers to the throat method > On July 8, I > decided to increase my dose to the doctor's starting-out recommendation of > 30mgs. On July 9 (just 4 days later), my bp is 112 over 72; and my resting > heart rate is 72. This is the *first* time my heart rate has been in the > 70's. since nobody else answered, I'll offer some words: I think you'd expect both to rise from increasing TH. my suggestion, if you haven't done so: take many measurements over days and look at averages. Also look at trends. BP can vary depending on time of day, e.g. my own BP can fluctuate a lot (being "labile"). If I get a reading that looks unusual, I'll immediately take it one or two more times. The so-called gold-standard (that I got from a BP doc/researcher online) is to take the 1st, throw it out, then average the next two. That might seem excessive :) > > Is this what I should expect with the medication? To bring my bp up a bit > (hopefully just a bit); and to lower my heart rate? if your measurements are valid, and that's what you get, then you can say you're lucky :) ideal is now considered 115/75, btw - so you are effectively at ideal do you exercise? how's your sodium intake?
From: Dee on 9 Jul 2008 16:40 Thank you for your reply, Jerry. My first thought was that if my metabolism is increasing, it's kind of funny for my heart rate to decrease (but a nice surprise). Then again, as you said, as the bp gets higher, my heart rate should decrease (hopefully). Yes, I will take my measurements every day or two (at different times of day), and average things out. I probably shouldn't get too excited after only two readings. : ) I guess I'm looking for the average response I 'should' expect as far as my health goes if my medication is working. This is all so new to me. My hope is that I remain lucky : ) . Yes, I do exercise - not like I used to (which was pretty intense 2 hours a day kind of thing about 10 years ago). I stopped for awhile, but forced myself to start back up again a year ago, and I'm walking almost everyday and stretching. Nothing over the top, though - what I can handle at this point. I can't really tell you what my sodium intake is - I don't usually eat salty foods (junk food snacks); but I do add small amounts of salt when I'm cooking meats or vegetables; and now I'm using sea salt for most of my seasoning. I've never really worried about my salt intake since my bp was low, and I don't have retention problems. Now I worry about salt because of the iodine, though. Thanks again for answering my questions. Dee "Jerry" <Jerry(a)nospam.not> wrote in message news:g534jo$upi$1(a)aioe.org... > Dee wrote: >> I've always had low pressure; and a high(ish) heart rate all of my life. > > right, as you know, if BP is low, then the body will try to get adequate > blood flow by increasing the Heart Rate... or vice versa > > that's in normal individuals, not under stressful conditions like climbibg > stairs etc > >> I finally think I'm on right track with dessicated thyroid, so out of >> curiosity, I've started taking my blood pressure. >> >> Started the medication on July 5 @ 15 mgs - on that day my bp was 105 >> over 70; and my resting heart rate was 84 (it's always in the 80's). > > I've found that BP monitors didn't do a good job on measuring HR > > but HR monitors work great, like exercisers use... or the fingers to the > throat method > >> On July 8, I decided to increase my dose to the doctor's starting-out >> recommendation of 30mgs. On July 9 (just 4 days later), my bp is 112 over >> 72; and my resting heart rate is 72. This is the *first* time my heart >> rate has been in the 70's. > > since nobody else answered, I'll offer some words: I think you'd expect > both to rise from increasing TH. > > my suggestion, if you haven't done so: take many measurements over days > and look at averages. Also look at trends. BP can vary depending on time > of day, e.g. > > my own BP can fluctuate a lot (being "labile"). If I get a reading that > looks unusual, I'll immediately take it one or two more times. > > The so-called gold-standard (that I got from a BP doc/researcher online) > is to take the 1st, throw it out, then average the next two. That might > seem excessive :) > > >> >> Is this what I should expect with the medication? To bring my bp up a bit >> (hopefully just a bit); and to lower my heart rate? > > if your measurements are valid, and that's what you get, then you can say > you're lucky :) > > ideal is now considered 115/75, btw - so you are effectively at ideal > > do you exercise? how's your sodium intake?
From: Jerry on 9 Jul 2008 16:59 Dee wrote: > > Yes, I will take my measurements every day or two (at different times of > day), and average things out. well, I was thinking every two hours for five days straight :) (but not during sleeping, of course) no kidding > I probably shouldn't get too excited after > only two readings. : ) I guess I'm looking for the average response I > 'should' expect as far as my health goes if my medication is working. This > is all so new to me. if you hang around this group for a while, you might end up teaching your doc some things :) they have some sharp people here. I'm more or less in a blaze of frenzied learning for a bit. > > My hope is that I remain lucky : ) . Yes, I do exercise - not like I used to > (which was pretty intense 2 hours a day kind of thing about 10 years ago). I > stopped for awhile, but forced myself to start back up again a year ago, and > I'm walking almost everyday and stretching. Nothing over the top, though - > what I can handle at this point. exercise actually changes the inner lining of the arteries (the endothelium) and so it gets to producing more of the chemical(s) that make arteries relax (like Nitric Oxide aka NO) > > I can't really tell you what my sodium intake is - I don't usually eat salty > foods (junk food snacks); once upon a time, I began to look at labels. Sodium is absolutely everywhere, in high amounts in almost all packaged foods - even like spaghetti sauce and of course anything canned. Strangely, I know someone whose cardiologist advised her to take *more* sodium. (She had high levels of calcium.) That was to raise her BP and hopefully lower Heart Rate. It didn't work, btw. > but I do add small amounts of salt when I'm > cooking meats or vegetables; and now I'm using sea salt for most of my > seasoning. I've never really worried about my salt intake since my bp was > low, and I don't have retention problems. Now I worry about salt because of > the iodine, though. Thanks again for answering my questions. glad to have been of some little help
From: amanita on 9 Jul 2008 17:05
Dee wrote: > I've always had low pressure; and a high(ish) heart rate all of my life. I > finally think I'm on right track with dessicated thyroid, so out of > curiosity, I've started taking my blood pressure. > > Started the medication on July 5 @ 15 mgs - on that day my bp was 105 over > 70; and my resting heart rate was 84 (it's always in the 80's). On July 8, I > decided to increase my dose to the doctor's starting-out recommendation of > 30mgs. On July 9 (just 4 days later), my bp is 112 over 72; and my resting > heart rate is 72. This is the *first* time my heart rate has been in the > 70's. > > Is this what I should expect with the medication? To bring my bp up a bit > (hopefully just a bit); and to lower my heart rate? Yes, I have pretty much the same experience. If I'm undermedicated, my BP is low (say 105/65) and pulse raised (say 85). Increasing meds usually brings BP up to 115/70ish and lowers pulse to around 75. |