The Oblong Web

At a doctor's direction, I started taking home blood pressure readings on a daily basis back on July 27, 2023. The doctor didn't tell me to keep doing it indefinitely but I did, taking a reading first thing every morning ever since. The only gaps in my record were last March, when I went up to Knoxville for Big Ears, and last Thursday, when I holed up in a hotel room near Winder, Georgia to ride out Hurricane Helene.

Based on my readings, I can confidently state that the various medications the doctor prescribed for my blood pressure (Lisinopril, and 25- and 50-mg Losartan) didn't make any statistical difference in my blood pressure. But my exercise and diet regimen since last April have had a profound effect on my blood pressure, lowering my average systolic pressure from a Stage 2 hypertensive 140 mm Hg to a "normal" 108 (diastolic pressure dropped from 84 to 71). 

Based on those results, I quit taking the meds back on September 5 and kept up at the exercise and diet. My blood pressure barely changed. My average blood pressure since last April while exercising, dieting, and taking 50 mg of Losartan was 110/69; my average since September 5 on just exercise and diet alone was 108/70. 

Until today. This morning, my blood pressure was 125/78, still a good reading but technically in the "elevated" (but not "hypertensive") range. It was my first reading above the "normal" level of 120/80 since June 1.

I don't know if this morning's higher reading was due to remaining stress over this week's Hurricane Helene, although one would think that the profound relief I experienced when I got back home and found my house undamaged and still with power would have negated any effects from the previous 48 to 72 hours of tension and suspense. It's worth noting that the last "elevated" reading back on June 1 was the morning after a visit to the urologist, a source of tension if ever there was one.

This morning's "elevated" reading may be due to a change in diet in the previous 24 hours. On the road Thursday, I ate fast food (Chick Fil A) for the first time since last March, and yesterday morning, I loaded up on the hotel's breakfast buffet (eggs, potatoes, sausage, and biscuits), not knowing if the food home in my fridge had spoiled or not. Was that sudden fix of starch, fat, and sugar enough to bump my blood pressure up from Wednesday's 108/69 to today's 125/78, or was the lack of medication finally catching up to me after three weeks?

Of course, this morning's reading may be perfectly normal, statistically. My average readings since dropping the meds was 108/70, but my maximum reading during that period was 117/75 and the standard deviation was 6 (systolic) and 2 (diastolic). The standard deviations during the longer, six-month period of diet, exercise and medication were 11 and 4. In other words, a reading like today's 125/78 may not be a statistical anomaly, especially considering the previous two days of stress, poor diet and limited exercise.

I'm not going back on the meds. . . yet. I will keep taking my daily morning blood-pressure readings like I have for over a year now and see whether the results drop back into the "normal" range or if they stay elevated. If the latter, I'll resume taking the medication (which the doctor reduced from 50 to 25 mg). In either case, I'll keep on going with the diet and exercise.