Suggest Treatment For High BP

Posted on Tue, 4 Nov 2014

Question: My blood pressure has been 150/90 twice in one day when I got tested at the doctor and 150/92 yesterday when I got tested at the supermarket. My mother also has high blood pressure and is on medication. Is it safe to try a lifestyle change before going on meds? If so how long would you recommend? I have recently started following the DASH diet. I am 31 about 5'8 and 183 lbs. I am wondering if my recent issues have affected my blood pressure as I tend to worry quite a bit. Another doctor a year ago wondered if I had hypertension and had me do three tests and on the last one is was back to normal. At the time I had a UTI and was worried. The write up for my recent issues is attached. For the past couple days I have also been noticing a yellowish stool. The stool itself looks more brown than yellow but the toilet paper is yellow. The stool is also loose.

Answered by Dr. Benard Shehu (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Continue diet changes for 3 months before drugs..

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXXX

I advise to continue with diet and lifestyle changes for 3 months. If no improvement, should consider drug therapy for hypertension. Meanwhile, you can continue measuring your blood pressure, record the results to get evaluated by your physician.

If your stool are yellowish with a foul-smelling, might be due to malabsorption. Further investigations are advised including:
- examination of stool for ova/parasites
- culture of stool
- liver/kidney function test
- complete blood count

to determine the right cause (intestinal parasites? food intolerance? liver/kidney issues?)

Hope it helped!
Dr.Benard

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E