I know for a fact that the global guideline regarding a normal bp is 120/80 and I thought for a long period of time that this was applicable to everyone.

So imagine my confusion when I got my grandmother checked by the doctor, got a 120/80 finding and was advised to aim for a much lower BP…

The doctor talked with my grandmother directly the whole time so I try didn’t try to interfere in order to prevent disrupting her train of thoughts.

Before we left the clinic, I asked the doctor to what extent should the BP be lowered?

She answered that a 100/70 or 110/70 will be fine.

I got really curious and asked that isn’t a 120/80 a normal finding?

The doctor’s was really interesting and it did open up a new kind of knowledge for me when it regards with hypertension.

The doctor started with there is a lot of misconceptions with BP findings. Sure there is the standing global normal range but that only covers people who are very fit and healthy.

When it comes to people who are, well, old, suffering from a couple of lifetime problems like diabetes, we tend to tweak the normal range to fit what’s good for the patient.

If you find that interesting, here are other common misconceptions on bp taking and bp in general.

 Myth: your cholesterol matters more than your high blood pressure

This is a great misconception because again this doesn’t cover everyone. Basically there are a lot of cases where  You might get  huge cholesterol findings but when your good cholesterol (hdl) is higher than you bad cholesterol (ldl) then you have nothing to worry about.

High blood or hypertension on the other hand is another story. There is no ‘good’ high blood hypertension.

A constant high blood pressure puts huge stress on your blood vessels and that’s really bad.

All that stress makes it easier for the bad cholesterol to penetrate your inner lining and hardened resulting to plaques. We don’t want any plaques forming in our blood vessels because these might become heart attacks in the near future.

Myth: If you are hypertensive and feeling weak and sick that means your high blood pressure is way up

That right there is so wrong.

There are a lot of things that can make a hypertensive weak and sick. And you shouldn’t blame your elevated blood pressure automatically.

Why?

Let’s make it simple. When you weren’t suffering from hypertension and you were sick and weak, wouldn’t we suspect a virus attack, stress or any other factor?

We should take the same approach here because any viral attack and underlying factors that may cause us to be weak also increases our blood pressure due to the adrenaline secreted by the body to compensate to any problem brought forth by the underlying condition.

So the best thing to do here is to relax and assess ‘other’ reasons for your sickness and pain.

Blaming it directly on hypertension will only worry you.

Myth: Hypertension + bad headache = impending stroke

This is a big misconception and here’s the reason why…

The whole hypertension plus bad headache equals stroke started a long time ago when medical studies weren’t as advanced as today. Right now, you don’t have to worry about stroke when you get headaches.

To elaborate…

People who had a stroke coupled wit bad headaches and hypertension have another serious underlying condition. They may be already weak and sick or were already suffering from an impending hemorrhage.

Today, a person who follows his medical regimen and practices a healthy lifestyle is far off from a headache-caused-stroke.

If you’re still worried here’s the acronym you should memorize when you suspect stroke:

F.A.S.T

Face. Ask the person to smile. A stroke can cause one side of the face to droop. Abrupt dimming of vision or a sudden, severe headache with no known cause is also warning signs.

Arms. Ask the person to raise both arms. If one arm drifts downward, that could signal a stroke, which can trigger weakness, numbness or paralysis of an arm or leg, particularly on one side of the body.

Speech. Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence. Stroke victims may slur their words, have trouble speaking or understanding speech, or not be able to talk at all.

Time. If the person has any of these symptoms, call 911. Stroke is a life-or-death emergency in which every minute counts.

Myth: hypertensive people should take their BP everyday

Blood pressure fluctuates greatly in a day but the average BP (the result you want to get and monitor) changes very slowly in a period of time.

The best move here is set a day every week to your BP and of course follow your medical regimen and watch your lifestyle.

Last myth for the day: The doctor’s BP findings are always higher and lower from my readings. So I should use my readings as basis.

First off, old automated BP monitors can become inaccurate. They need to be calibrated when reach a certain time, usually 6 to 12 month. The sphygmomanometers on the other hand that you see in the hospitals are way older than what we use at home but they are always accurate.

If you have ever experienced this situation never be shy to ask your doctor questions. In these situations, a doctor might recommend a portable 24 hour BP monitor which takes 40 readings in a day that equates to your real accurate BP reading.

You have just read some of the thing that majority of us believe about hypertension. It is a tricky condition so we must try everything we can to get ourselves well oriented with it.

A good compliance with medication and proper lifestyle is a good start. You should also have the things around necessary to monitor your hypertension and that means a BP monitor in the house.