I Am 69 And Taking Blood Pressure Medication , But

Posted on Wed, 31 Oct 2018

Question: I am 69 and taking blood pressure medication, but my blood pressure is still high. I asked my GP for a higher dose and he said I should wear a blood pressure monitor for 24 hours. After a few hours I noticed the monitor giving an error message & returned to the clinic where a nurse downloaded the existing data and reset the monitor, increasing the parameters because my blood pressure was over 200. I have an appointment with my GP in a couple of hours to discuss the findings after the monitor is removed. I was planning to go to the gym beforehand to check the effect of 30 minutes cardio workout, however my monitor reading a short time ago was 200 over 103. Is it wise to go to the gym?

Answered by Dr. Dr.Arnab (39 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
no, please don't go to the gym, take rest, recheck the blood pressure without any further delay...

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to 'Ask A Doctor' service...
I've gone through your query in details...
I can understand your concerns...

The answer to your query is no, it's not at all recommended to go to the gym, in fact, a blood pressure of 200 over 103mmhg could be extremely deleterious for the body, hence I'd request you to recheck the parameters (perhaps get it manually checked by any nurse practitioner or any nearby clinic).

Probably the monitor gave error message due to the high reading only, so I'd request you to take rest, call up some paramedics or urgent care personnel for a prompt cross-checkup (including an EKG) as further dose modification of your existing medication need to be done based on this blood pressure reading.

In the meantime, just take deep breaths, and stay rested. However, I'd certainly agree with you, as despite taking Lercanidipine the readings still remaining in this range warrants for an addition of a new regimen (ACE inhibitor or Angiotensin Receptor Blocker class of antihypertensives or a Beta-blocker)...

Please discuss this with your doctor and proceed accordingly...
Let me know if I can assist you further...

Take Care
Kind Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee