The FastDay Forum

Hi dhana, systolic pressure minus diastolic pressure = pulse pressure. If you google it you'll find quite a lot of info about it (if you haven't already of course...)

Dominic I have done that and found it all very worrying. Really don't know if it's a case of 2 and 2 making 5, or actually that I should be pretty worried. Doc (whom I have confidence in) is not unduly concerned) so feel the best I can do is continue with this WOL, keep losing the weight, eat better (which I am doing) and exercise more - which I am not. It's on my to do list, honest! I am having heart mri scan and investigations to see if I have HOCM- hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy = a genetic heart condition, which I really hope not to have because of the implications for my children and adorable granddaughters.

[carorees]

Hi dhana

I think it may be an age thing. In the elderly isolated systolic hypertension is an issue. I found this:
"Isolated systolic HT (ISH) accounts for 60–75% of cases of HT in older people [Franklin et al. 2001]. It is characterized by systolic blood pressure (SBP) at least 140 mmHg with diastolic blood pressure (DBP) less than 90 mmHg, and consequently high pulse pressure [Mancia et al. 2009b]... ISH is an age-related condition, as SBP increases with advancing age and DBP remains unchanged or even decreases after the sixth decade of life [Pinto, 2007] " (taken from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3539267/ )

Skimming through the article I note that
"If β blockers are part of pre-existing therapy, given for arrhythmia or secondary prevention of myocardial infarction, they should not be discontinued; however, they may show a limited effect on SBP."
They suggest an ACE inhibitor is a better choice.

I also found this in a paper about treating isolated systolic hypertension:
"Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II-receptor blockers should be considered in combination with diuretics or with a dihydropyridine calcium antagonist. β-blockers seem to be less effective for cardiovascular disease protection in comparison with other antihypertensive drug classes, such as diuretics, dihydropyridines, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II-receptor blockers." (from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23244357 )

So if you are concerned, perhaps it's worth asking your doc about changing to an ACE inhibitor (e.g., ramipril).

I thought I would report back on my original post back in March - my husband's blood pressure is now averaging about 110/70. It has steadily fallen since starting the fast diet (though it was high on fast days). Now it is consistently low on fast and feast days. He said he hasn't had this low a BP since he was a teenager.

[Betsysgr8]

That's great news!