Talked to my mom today. Got her numbers from when she was at the dr's the other day. Looks like she is at stage II high blood pressure. They wouldn't even let her walk out of the office before she took a pill. I am sure they would have actually let her if she would have put up a fght but I think she realized this is pretty serious. She had actually went in for another reason and the conversation quickly turned into her blood pressure.

I really just need the facts on this. I have googled the heck out of it but I want it from real people and who have loved ones or have been through it themselves. I need to know the chances of something bad happening to her.

I will tell you right now, she is a smoker, a poor eater, a highly stressed and sensitive person. She has ALWAYS been this way.

I just lost my aunt last year and I am in no way prepared to loose my mom, I don't think that you could ever be prepared but this has me pretty scared. and a bit emotional.

Thanks for any info or prayers.

I don't have personal experience with blood pressure - but we do unfortunately have a family history with type 2 diabetes.

With that said, I just want to encourage YOU, especially as a mom with little ones to take care of, to realize that this now may present itself as a "family history" issue for you that you'll need to watch out for. It was one thing knowing my elderly grandfather was diagnosed with diabetes, but then when my aunt was, too, it was a hard blow/reality check. It means that for different reasons/diagnoses, you and I and uncountable others have to take good care of ourselves, get annual checkups, etc., because the "family history" is a risk factor we can't control.

So, what I'm saying is just prayers for your family, and for you, both in how this may affect you emotionally but physically as well.

Thanks ABC. Diabetes also runs in my family. High blood pressure runs in my husbands side, so I guess now it's both. I take my exams very seriously anyways since all of the women on my moms side had to have full hysterectomies by the time they were in their early 40s.

My uncle also told my mom the other day when they talked that it does run in their side, that my grandparents both had high blood pressure (he is a nurse also). He wants her to get on certain things but so far her dr's have only gave her a diurectic. I guess she is supposed to try that for two weeks. That's not soon enough for me. I want a magic pill! Too bad it's not out there yet.

Her cholesterol was high for a while and she was on a strict diet from that for a while. So she at least now already knows what she needs to eat, it's just a matter of getting her to eat it. She doens't mind it, she just doesn't like paying for it. Fresh fruits and veggies aren't cheap. and my mom is a cheapo. lol.

The good thing is that she has lost a few pounds since she was diagnosed with high cholestrol. and she has started to actually eat breakfast. Something she never did before. This alone may help her.

I am just stressed a little. It's just months away from us coming home and now this. I want to be there to yell at her in person, not over the stupid phone!

I don't have any loved ones with this disease but I can probably answer the questions since I have it.

The first thing, other than medications, that the doctor is going to say is quit smoking. Smoking constricts blood vessels which raises blood pressure. Next, if she is overweight at all, the doctor will probably tell her to lose weight. The more you weigh, the longer distance the heart has to push blood around the circulatory system. If she has high cholesterol, which apparently she had, then she will be told to watch that also.

For stage II hypertension, she will probably be on a multi-medication regimen. This will be a permanent lifestyle change in that she will need to take the medication every day at about the same time. For most, exercise (along with the smoking cessation) will reduce BP somewhat. It doesn't work for me but it does for many, particularly overweight people.

The chances of something bad happening to her rise the longer it goes untreated and the higher the BP goes. This is like taking a little water hose at your house and trying to hook it up to a fire hydrant pumping at full pressure. Eventually that water hose is going to rupture.

It may take a while to get her BP stabilized. Some people can do it with diuretics, others with ACE inhibitors and some with calcium channel blockers. Sometimes it takes a combination of drugs. The doctor will just have to play with it for a while. I would suggest getting a home BP monitor and start checking and logging the BP on a regular basis to assist the doctor in prescribing the proper medication.

One side effect of diuretics that I had was that I always needed to be drinking something which also meant a bathroom break about every hour. I was the meeting alarm clock at my company. If I had to leave the meeting then it was time for the meeting to be over. And once she does get on medication, no more donating blood. You would not want to give blood containing BP lowering medication to someone that already has low BP.

I am conscious of my BP but it doesn't affect me a whole lot other than keeping up with the medications. Hopefully her insurance company will let her take some of the multi-drug medications, if she needs them, rather than having to take the individual pills.

Thanks mturnb. I really appreciate it.

A little bit more about her. She is only slightly over weight. Well maybe more since I am not sure what she should be at because of her age, only 54. but she is 5 7 and weighs roughly 160. So she isn't obese by any measure.

She did go to wal mart once wth my dad just a few weeks ago and played around with that blood pressure machine because she was bored watching him. lol...well she told him that she should be dead. When she said the results the told number was 220!!! over something, I always forget the bottom number because the first one always floors me. My dad immediatly took off his jacket and tried it and his came out normal. That's when he told her she needed to go to the dr. She didn't go until she started getting really light headed and sometimes falling from it. Turns out there was dirt in her ear...but that's hwen they started her on the meds so I don't really care what the reason was that she was falling.

She already has to go to the bathroom a lot due to having 5 kids and a fallen blader that's already been sewed into place once, and then has fallen again. So, that she is used to and has already complained about. I just tell her to keep drinking hte water.

SHe also LOVES her coffee.

I know it's going to be hard on her to quit smoking and I don't want to be the nag in the room (on the phone really) but I will be and she knows it so hopefully we can figure out somethng.

I am going to be looking for books this week to try and send to her and help her learn more about it herself. My mom is a smart women, but VERY STUBBORN.

We all have tried to get her to quit smoking before. Everyone of us kids have smoked, only my little sster and I have quit. Me, the only reason I did was because I was pregnant with my oldest and realized how gross it really was. My mom on the other hand, smoked through all of her pregnancies and while breast feeding. She says "as long as you don't drop the ashes on the baby it's okay". So this wll be a tough one to help. I am hoping if I get the science behind her it will help.

The doctors will tell you that diastolic (little number) is actually more important than systolic (diastolic) blood pressures. However, 220 over anything is serious (that was my range). It can cause vertigo and lightheadness. Some of the BP medicines exacerbate this too. Hopefully it was dirt in the ear blocking the Eustachian tube causing vertigo but it is something to watch out for.

Oh, yeah, caffeine goes off the list too. It also is a vasoconstrictor. At least I didn't have to quit smoking (did that years ago when I realized how stupid it was to be burning up the little bit of money I was making) but I did have to give up a gallon plus a day habit of iced tea.

Unfortunately, smoking and caffeine are two (I can't believe I just typed that all three ways) big contributors to HBP. She also needs to be careful with antihistamines as they can raise BP. I tried to take one of the HBP allergy medicines but it didn't work for me. I just am cognizant of what it can do to my BP.

Best of luck on helping to get your mother on a healthier lifestyle.

That's why I brought up the caffiene. I know it plays another big role. Luckily though she has slowed down on it in the last few years. So now it's maybe 2-3 cups instead of a pot or two.

I know the smoking will be hard. It was hard for me and I had only been doing it for 8 years. She just keeps finding cheaper ones so that $ part isn't effecting her too much. Right now she is buying some that are $1.98 a pack.

She also gets headaches a lot. From looking up this stuff it seems that the high blood pressure could be causing some of those, which makes sense too.

She seems to listen to me more than most. Maybe because she knows I am serious and not dramatic when I say things to her. Or she just trusts my judgement more. Who knows. So when I yelled at her to go to the dr when she was falling because of being dizzy she actually went. I really hpe that it was from the dirt and not the BP.

This is all just nuts to me. I knew my mom would have issues but I never thought she would be so young when they would start. Like I said before she is a highly stressed and over emotional person. So we all saw this coming later on in life.

Thanks for the info on the allergy meds. I never knew that. Well I guess I did but I never put them together. She takes a lot of sinus pills and pain relievers so I need to remind her of that hwen she does her follow up and make sure she asks them which ones would be okay.

Thanks again for all the info. I am feeling much better today than i was yesterday when I first posted. All I kept thinking yesterday was "oh god she's gonna have a stroke". Also her bottom number is always above 100 as well. So we shall see how this goes in 2 weeks. Hopefully some kind of difference is made.

Headaches are a side effect of HBP also because of the pressure on the blood vessels in the brain.

Unfortuantely, HBP doesn't wait until a cdertain age to kick in. I was diagnosed with HBP when I turned 40. For a couple of years I was being told to go see a doctor by the people that checked BP when I gave blood. Each time I was able to get my BP down through a little biofeedback and they took my blood. It finally reached a point where it would not go down low enough and I finally went. I probably should have been on HBP medication for a couple of years at that point.