# How high can BP go before you die? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 17, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-high-can-bp-go-before-you-die/295045 "2005-03-17T20:37:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-high-can-bp-go-before-you-die/295045/21 "2005-03-18T16:40:31Z")
I’ll believe the rule of the 1/3’s. I _am_ one of the diagnosed, uncontrolled folks. I went into my doctor’s office during my third year of law school. I was working three jobs, studying for finals and three bar exams, in the process of reorganizing to relocate on the opposite coast, living on caffiene, fast food and the vending machine in the lobby of the law school, and sleeping _MAYBE_ 3 hours a night. If I was lucky. My blood pressure was (on repeated measurements) 213/151. That was the average. On a couple of occasions that seemed to panic the hell out of my medical care professionals I dinged out at 230/165. I do not have whitecoat syndrome 😛 It was precisely the same at home. According to my BMI I’m somewhat overweight, but I was in good enough cardiovascular health to pass a fireman’s physical 😛 I worked out 5 times a week (cardio regimen mostly). I was hanging somewhere between 15 and 20% body fat. Not bad for a girl. I had no symptoms whatsoever. Or at least no symptoms that were definitively a result of ugly blood pressure - most of the symptoms I had could have been either the blood pressure or the stress or the lack of sleep or the mad caffiene consumption. Here’s what makes me diagnosed but uncontrolled. I have some quirky but exceptionally severe drug allergies. They’re not hard to avoid, but a number of fairly common drugs (including aspirin and several of the more common high blood pressure meds) trigger my allergies. The allergies are life-threatening. A couple of well meaning physicians damn near killed me a few times when I was young attempting to medicate me for fairly ordinary childhood illnesses. The meds I _can_ take make me sick as a dog. And I mean SICK AS A DOG. Unable to live life normally sick. The side effects are damn near as debilitating for me as cancer treatment drugs are for people. Constant nausea, perpetual head pain on the migraine range of discomfort, exhaustion, aches. Yes, high blood pressure is dangerous. Yes, it might kill me off. But the drugs weren’t any better. Plus they were EXPENSIVE. And at the time, I had no insurance. And I was broke - law students frequently are 😛 So I quit taking the drugs and hoped I didn’t die. Finished school, completed my move. Made a few changes in my lifestyle. Healthier diet (but really, how could I do worse?), maintained the exercise (would have anyway), did what I could to reduce my overall stress level. The blood pressure dropped some, but it’s still not in the range it would be to be considered “controlled”. I still refuse to take the drugs. And I avoid doctors like the plague. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-high-can-bp-go-before-you-die/295045/22 "2005-03-18T17:17:40Z")
There is also another whitecoat bp problem. Whitecoats who expect the bp to be higher and record a higher number than it is. On the cuffs that have mercury you can see you can watch that to know the approximate reading. My bp was being monitored routinely because I was pregnant. One nurse who is overly bothered by my weight always measured my bp much higher than it was. I got the doctor to retake it. and amazingly it was right in line with what is normal for me at the time, well within the normal range, and a bit higher than it is when I am not pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-high-can-bp-go-before-you-die/295045/23 "2005-03-18T18:33:37Z")
I’ve been on BP meds for some years now, and if I ever get my butt in gear and shed some poundage, I’d like to think I can get off it. Which got me thinking: If your BP is in the normal range, how bad would it be to be taking BP meds? Do you risk dropping in the dangerously low range? Same for cholesterol - if you get it under control with diet, will taking the pills have any effect? And not to worry, unlike some people I know, I do take the meds prescribed to me. If I think my Dr needs to be second-guessed, I’ll consult another. I’m not gonna quit taking my daily dosage just because I thing I know better. Just wonderd about the two cases I asked about above. ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-high-can-bp-go-before-you-die/295045/24 "2005-03-18T19:19:17Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > And not to worry, unlike some people I know, I do take the meds prescribed to me. If I think my Dr needs to be second-guessed, I’ll consult another. I’m not gonna quit taking my daily dosage just because I thing I know better. Just wonderd about the two cases I asked about above. Heh. I don’t view it as second-guessing my doctor as much as refusing to let them make decisions about my health and welfare without my input. I’m sure that there are any number of kind, compassionate, wonderful physicians who listen attentively to their patients and believe them when they describe symptoms, side-effects and drug allergies. I’ve just never met one. Every single physician I’ve ever seen dismissed my concerns out of hand. In multiple cases, despite being informed of my difficulties, they either a) assumed I was exaggerating the symptoms (despite, in at least one case, witnessing me too sick to stand up for a good hour stretch) or b) I was lying about the symptoms. Despite repeated attempts to explain the situation to several different physicians, one of them (the most recent actually) not only prescribed me a medication I informed him I was critically allergic to, he placed the medication in a bottle marked as another DIFFERENT medication. Yes I know this is against the law. He told me, after I had recovered from collapsing and going into shock in the waiting room that he assumed I was being untruthful about my allergies and their severity. I do not trust physicians. ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-high-can-bp-go-before-you-die/295045/25 "2005-03-19T17:28:07Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > My mother is a doctor, every time she takes his BP at home it’s much lower (although still too high) than the reading at the doctors office later that day. He’s had a 24 hour monitor reading that confirms that my mother’s readings are the correct ones. Happy? > > I got the rule of thirds thing from one of the cardivascular guys here. Seriously, you’d be REALLY surprised how many people go on little “drug holidays” and “forget” to take their medication. Especially for something like hypertension where the person feels ok, and the meds have side effects. It’s taken my dad trying 3 different combinations of 3 different kinds of drugs to get his blood pressure to 140/95- which is better than it was, but wouldn’t fall under “adequately controlled”, for which it has to be 130/85 or less. So, no cite, just antidotal evidence from one MD. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-high-can-bp-go-before-you-die/295045/26 "2005-03-20T04:52:50Z")
I know from personal experience that when I don’t take my BP medication for extended periods – months – my resting BP goes above 240/160. My doctor has told me that I would almost certainly die within two year with BP like that, probably much sooner if if underwaent some extreme exertion or stress. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-high-can-bp-go-before-you-die/295045/27 "2005-03-21T00:41:38Z")
What about the opposite? How low can BP get before one faints? Just on Thursday, my bp was measured to be 104/60. I’m not trying to brag–my mom’s side typically has low blood pressure. Sometimes I lose my vision if I stand up quickly. The only other time I’ve experienced that was right before the 2 times I’ve fainted. ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2005, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-high-can-bp-go-before-you-die/295045/28 "2005-03-21T08:51:15Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve been on BP meds for some years now, and if I ever get my butt in gear and shed some poundage, I’d like to think I can get off it. Which got me thinking: If your BP is in the normal range, how bad would it be to be taking BP meds? Do you risk dropping in the dangerously low range? Same for cholesterol - if you get it under control with diet, will taking the pills have any effect? It’s not an exact match, but almost every HTN med OD I’ve seen turned out badly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-high-can-bp-go-before-you-die/295045.md?page=1)