High Blood Pressure

[Eric]

I'm now 6 days post op and my BP is 135-140. As most of you know I had my ascending aorta replaced. My doc doubled my meds to 320mg/day of Diovan and 100mg/day of Tenormin, which lowered my BP to 115-120. When I wake up in the morning it's 135-140. Two hours after taking 160mg Diovan and 50mg Tenormin, it settles down to about 120.

My BP, pre op, was always around 110 or so.

Anything to be about?

Eric

 

[LLJ]

Eric: Good question. What is your diastolic number? The 135-140 isn't crazy high,but always,when in doubt call your doctor's office. This is where having a good cardiologist comes in handy. Mine was a little high on and off for about 2 months following surgery. Once it got as high as 180/100 and I was very worried. It seemed to even out to normal and my doc made me monitor it and write it down throughout the day for 5 days.
Make sure the cuff on your blood pressure monitor is big enough. Bigger arms with small cuffs give high readings. I don't know what your size is, but for some reason you look pretty buff and tall in your photo (Even though you're wearing a sweatshirt!)
Laura

 

[JohnnyV_46]

Thats 180 deg opposite of what my Blood pressure did after my surgery. Of course I used to be a smoker and I quit a month and 2 days ago. I used to take a handful of drugs for my high blood pressure and it always pretty much hung around 140/90 even on the drugs. I was on Diovan, Sular , Benicar, Toprol XL, a Water Pill....nothing really brought it down to where it should be. Since the Surgery and stopping smoking, its usually right around 100/66 Without any medication. I'm still taking the Toprol, but no other blood pressure meds. I don't know if it's all cigarette related or if changing that valve, the repair of the anneurysm and the triple By-pass lowered it or what.

 

[Cris N]

My bp has slowly been coming down since surgery. I wasn't on any bp meds until I complained about it being too high.. 155/90. I'm down to 115/65 now... I attribute the drop more to exercise than the medication... seemed like the meds didn't do anything, but the more intense workouts (at least intense for me ) made a big difference. I'd say give it some time... you're fresh out of surgery & lots of things are happening to your body.

Also, I take about 3 readings when I check mine... there can be a huge difference even a minute apart!

Cris