The last two days I’ve had some weird and slightly worrying blood pressure readings.
Tuesday:
- 140/92 69bpm
- 144/91 70bpm
- 147/93 64bpm
Wednesday:
- 151/97 66bpm
- 151/99 65bpm
- 157/99 65bpm
This is in contrast to my last readings, taken after my BP seemed to stabilise after I adjusted my medication.
Two weeks ago:
- 133/89 58bpm
- 132/87 55bpm
- 133/86 58bpm
A jump of 10 points on systolic pressure isn’t awful in and of itself, but a reading that is either above 140 systolic or above 90 diastolic puts you into stage 2 hypertension. Given that both my systolic and diastolic readings were in stage 2, that’s a clear indicator. However, it’s still nowhere near the worst case I saw when I was first diagnosed with hypertension – I had readings like 201/128, 203/114 etc which are “hypertensive crisis” readings.
So a jump of nearly 20 points to yesterday’s figures is definitely slightly concerning, but not an automatic panic. Given the upward trend I decided to wait it out and see how things looked today, ready to call my GP if there were still high readings. It occurred to me that when we corrected my medication dose – effectively reducing my dosage by more than half by removing one medication entirely and halving the dose of the other – we may have over-corrected, leaving my vascular system lacking sufficient support to keep my blood pressure down.
That definitely wasn’t something I wanted to hear, but you have to listen to your body! If that’s what I needed, then so be it.
I was mid-36-hour-fast when I took my BP yesterday which is of course a stress on the body, and I was due for my mid-week swim yesterday evening. I often treat my Wednesday swim as a recovery swim, lowering my distance to 1km, and reducing my sets from 500m to 250m with a good rest in between sets, so I felt quite comfortable about continuing this routine.
I also contemplated breaking my fast early, but since I had no other symptoms – no light-headedness, no headache, no feeling of weakness etc – decided I’d just give it one more day.
Anyway, I woke up this morning and took my BP again and was very relieved to see a complete return to normal!
- 129/84 65bpm
- 122/83 67bpm
- 120/82 67bpm
It’s quite likely that the last two days represent my body still adjusting and adapting to my reduced medication, combined with the “stress” of my recent Paris trip – which almost certainly saw an increase in salt intake, as well as a blip in my carbs from hidden sugars – the result of which was a 6.1lb (2.7kg) weight increase. This was clearly just “water weight,” which I then shed literally within days of getting back on track.
Gaining and losing 6lbs of water weight is still a physiological stress – especially when you use aggressive ketogenic dieting, 36 hour fasts, and are increasing your exercise the way I have. So it’s quite likely my recent blood pressure spike was just a sign of my body adjusting to all this stress.
The fact that it’s settled back to a normal range today is definitely a very good sign. My GP told me way back that I shouldn’t necessarily take my BP every day as it’s perfectly normal to see ups and downs – the important thing is the overall trend. But I will of course, track it over the next few days just to see that today isn’t the blip in an otherwise increasing BP trend.
The human body is a complex thing, and it can adjust to almost anything – but it sometimes takes time. By being as consistent as I can be, I’m giving my body the best possible chance to adapt to my new lifestyle – regular exercise, consistent fasting, and a healthy eating pattern.
If you’re on a similar journey, I would always advise being both patient with yourself and reasonably vigilant. Don’t be panicked by what appear to be sudden and extreme changes – e.g., in body weight or blood pressure. But let yourself be guided by the data. If you are seeing long-term spikes in blood pressure, especially, it’s vital that you report them to your GP, who can take an objective view and, if need be, adjust your medication.
But also remember that consistency doesn’t mean forcing yourself and pushing yourself to the breaking point! Note that I’m listening to my body and considering my options, backing off a little where it makes sense in order not to take silly risks with my health.
Ultimately, this journey is about improving health – not about seeing numbers drop off the scale. As you have hopefully seen through my journey, weight is very fickle; it can bounce around by as much as 6lbs in a few days just due to fluctuations in salt and water levels.
I’m specifically watching my salt intake today to ensure I keep it below the DASH recommendation – which is around 3.75g of salt per day. It does seem like my vascular system is particularly sensitive at the moment so keeping an eye on this while also watching my electrolytes which I support through electrolyte tablets as well as diet – e.g. today I’m planning to have two avocadoes, one with my breakfast and then another will go into a smoothie which I’ll split, having half at lunch time and the rest after dinner as a dessert to satisfy my swett tooth.
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