Almost exactly a year ago, I had a similar thing - my bp, which had always been on the low side, started running 145/90 or so. The docs wanted to put me on meds, but I tried them for a week or so and had awful side effects, so I decided I was going to try lifestyle changes. I had really let myself go and gained a lot of weight over the past several years, and I was pretty much a couch potato. And I had a strong family history of heart disease working againast me as well. So I went from halfheartedly exercising once or twice a week to 4-5x/week for 45 mins or an hour at a good clip (usually, I ride the recumbent bike and I'm usually dripping sweat by 20 minutes into it). I also cut back on salt and started eating healthier food and less of it. I've lost 50 lbs in the past year and my bp has been pretty good for the last 8 months or so -- it will still occasionally spike with stress or too much caffeine so I know I don't have the problem licked, but I am at least keeping it at bay. A few things you might consider if your bp is up even though you don't seem to have changed anything (and you don't have 50 lbs to lose like I did, LOL!). Some meds have the side effect of raising bp - these include antihistamines, cold medicines/decongestants and some antidepressants. If you've started any meds since the last time your bp was normal, you might want to talk to your doc about whether that could be contributing to the problem. Also, watch what you drink -- too much caffeine can definitely raise your bp. Also I found that all the diet coke/nutrasweet I was drinking seemed to be contributing -- when I was diagnosed, I was drinking probably 8-10 cans of diet coke a day. While researching high bp, I came across a page that said that nutrasweet breaks down into a chemical very similar to epinephrine and can raise your bp. So I quit diet coke cold turkey and within two weeks, my bp was much improved. I have since had diet coke a few times at parties and such and I always notice a bp spike afterwards (not sure if it's psychological though - maybe I'm just expecting it so nerving myself up). But if you drink a lot of diet soda or eat a lot of artificial sweeteners, you might try cutting them out for a week or two to see if it helps. Also, be sure you are eating enough potassium. Potassium helps remove water from the body in the same way that sodium retains it. Many folks do not get enough potassium in their diets and that in itself can raise bp. Try eating some foods high in potassium or taking some supplements to see if it helps. Finally, try amping up your exercise if you are physiucally able to - walk faster, work harder, and sweat more. Sweating removes excess water from the body and will help to lower bp, while the cardio helps strengthen your heart and overall health of your circulatory system. Good luck - I hope you are able to find something that works for you!

no actual recipes, but blood pressure is mostly affected diet wise by alcohol and salt so keeping those to a minimum is a good idea - I never add salt to recipes anymore, instead I use herbs to add flavouring. As far as cholesterol, the main culprit is not meat but the saturated fat that often comes with meat, so eating lean meat is fine, but you have to remove the skin from chicken and all visible fat from meat, use low fat mince (I buy l/f chicken mince) and l/f sausages etc. Changing your cooking oil to Olive oil can increase your good cholesterol levels which help can to lower your bad cholesterol levels.

I could not take it... I had a reaction to the HCTZ pat of the medication, hives. When I tried the Diovan alone w/o the HCTZ, my legs swelled up like balloons. Am now on Norvasc, seems to be ok. I am not a fan of combination medications, since I am sensitive to too many things. As I found out thru uncomfortable trial and error!

Lindsey is correct about men and women. But there is also the thing that because of some type of bias doctors tend to discount when women present with health problems that if a man presented with the same symptoms they would immediately be sent if not to the hospital for at least testing. I take the 5 mg of Lisinopril however I have problems with BP dropping after eating. I become extremely light headed and feel like my body is oozing into my chair. I am expecting to have a change in medication when I have my yearly later this year. kadefol ask that your husband be checked for adrenal problems as craving salt is one of the symptoms. I am lucky in that my high BP is not salt reactive because when I do crave salt my doctor at that time told me it was a symptom of an adrenal problem. Once I have salty food for a couple of days the problem goes away for a couple of months.