I’m keen to chat with any cardiologist cyclists or others treating high blood pressure here. Of course, not looking for medical advice but rather just to get educated. I have an MD, but he’s not an athlete. Specifically, I’m keen to understand if there’s any relationship between heart rate and blood pressure? or are they entirely independent systems? Also, I’m keen to understand what a typical daily variability of blood pressure should look like. In my daily monitoring I might see stage 2 at wake up, and high normal / normal post work out. So a very wide range is observed. Is this usual? Thanks all.
With respect to Hypertension and the effect of meds on training, I personally don’t see any impact, though I am on a relatively low dose of meds.
One thing I have learned though is that my BP is lower after training and higher on days off, particularly higher if my HR is low (mid/high 40’s)
Given the positive effect of training, I train before visiting the Doctor for a BP reading and it kind of offsets the “White Coat” effect that always created abnormally high readings and concerned looks from the Doctor!!
Just as an FYI, my BP was very difficult to get under control and I went through a variety of meds before we found a combination that worked. I currently take a daily dose of HCTZ, Amlodipine, and Telmasartin and don’t think they have any side effects or impact on training. However, during our trial-and-error process to get the right combination I was briefly on a Beta Blocker. It was devastating from a workout standpoint. Couldn’t get my heart to beat faster than about 120. It was like trying to drive a car when you couldn’t get the engine to rev higher than idle. I went back to the Doc after a week and told him it was ruining my life. BUT…it seemed to really lower the BP!
I have suffered from Tachycardia in the last couple of years and the Cardiologist I saw said for avoid the medication route (beta blockers) to solve the problem, due it lobbing a chunk off Max HR.
My HR doesn’t get high at the best of times, so i took no convincing.
I’ve actually got the Tachycardia under control by easing back a bit on my training. MV plans rather than HV for example. A little less has been more!
I can’t have you guys rolling around using my competitors’ products ….hit me up if you want another BP unit. . We’ve got a great unit with Bluetooth, touch screen, great backlight, etc.
I’ve started out with 5mg of amlodopine, which I understand to be sort of a half dosage. No side effects so far and it does seem to have lowered BP. However, so may variables it’s hard to be certain.
@gshotts - Thanks you. I’ve started out with Amlodopine 5mg 1/day and as far as I can tell it has helped without any side effects. I think I probably need to have it twice a day, but will wait to see what the MD says.
….hit me up if you want another BP unit. 