Anyone with hypertension/high cholesterol?

I've always struggled with high blood pressure...found out I had it in a biology lab class in college. I've had renal scans, 24 hour urinalysis, etc and no doctor can tell me why I have hypertension. I'm 5'8" and even when I was 135 lbs before my wedding and on a sodium and caffiene restricted diet I was hypertensive.

Anyway, I'm now 180 lbs and have high cholesterol...LDL was 202 and HDL was 55. The doctor has me on Benicar HCT for hypertension and wants me to take Crestor for my cholesterol but I'm only 30 and determined to try to lower my cholesterol without more medication. If it doesn't work I'll get on medication but I hate the thought of being on all of these drugs at this age, knowing that I'll have to take them the rest of my life.

So....I've decided that it's time to change my filthy ways, lol. No more saturated fat laden foods every single day. Exercise as much as possible and try to drop down to a healthier weight.

Anyone else here trying to lose weight/eat differently for MORE than looks?

When I first started this journey it was for the reasons you list plus I was borderline diabetic.  I was able to lower my cholesterol 30 pts in 4 months just by eating right and exercise.  No more fast food - fried foods and junk.  202 really isn't that bad and less than 200 does not require meds so I think your chance of being able to avoid statins will be met just by eating right.  Get the "8 Week Cholesterol Cure" book for starters.  Its available at most drug stores.  Eat chicken fish and oatmeal.  Also take niacin to raise the good cholesterol.  Also check this forum for the thread of lowering cholesterol with diet. 

As far as the hypertension, sounds like this might just be something you do have to learn to live with by meds and might be heriditary or something.  I do think eating right and exercise is going to help as well.

I wish you much success.

At 30 I think you are very smart for questioning your doctor's suggestion for starting medication.  The Benicar HCT is not familiar to me but you can check the side effects and warnings at http://www.drugs.com/mtm/benicar-hct.html

There are many ways to naturally reduce your cholesterol and blood pressure just search around the internet and fit things into your life that make sense to you to try.  I used to be on 2 different blood pressure meds and now I am off all and actually register a little low these days.

Good luck.

Another great option is to eliminate most or all of the meat from the diet. Dietary cholesterol is found only in animal products, such as meats, eggs, and dairy products. Vegans consume absolutely no cholsesterol and therefore have a far lower HDL mg/dl.

If this is too drastic, oatmeal is a great way to naturally reduce cholsesterol. Also, the meat/animal products with the lowest cholesterol are (as dbackerfan said) chicken and fish. Red meats, full-fat dairy, and egg yolks have the most. (Low- and fat-free dairy and egg whites have lower cholesterol.)

Thanks for the support and suggestions, everyone.

For the last few weeks I've had oatmeal every morning (or Kashi's Go Lean hot cereal). I've increased my brown rice/barley and whole grain intake as well as lots of fresh fruits and vegetables (with lightly steamed in the case of veggies I can't handle raw, lol). I've almost cut out all red meat and have a small portion of chicken breast (grilled or baked) a few times a week. I can't stomach fish (I even tried a nice grilled swordfish the other night...gag) most of the time so that's out of the question. I also can't stand eggs and I've been modifying my recipes to using egg substitute or egg whites so that's no cholesterol there. I am also exercising 4-5 times a week in an attmpt to lose weight AND strengthen my heat. I have a LOT of heart disease history in my family so I really want to get my act together...especially for my children.

The hardest part of this has been trying to modify food for the entire family. My husband is a die-hard "high in saturated fat red meat and potatoes" kind of guy. I'm trying to gradually introduce him to newer foods...hey, he now likes spinach...but I know he's not liking meal time. I don't want to cook separate meals for everyone because eating healthier is a good routine for ALL of us...it's just convincing the boys in my family that it's not sooo bad. Trial and error.

Thank you again for all of your support. I go back to the doctor in three weeks to retest my cholesterol so I'm crossing my fingers!!

It's going to take at least 90 days to improve with diet.  During that time you'll have to be scrupulous about not having saturated and especially trans fats.  Get plenty of fiber and drink at least 2 liters of water a day.   Have the doctor check again after a few months.  If it's still high, then take the pills.  I'm betting you'll be able to make a big improvement by yourself!

I was thinking the same thing - 3 weeks isnt a very long time to let your body adjust and lower your cholesterol.  My dr gave me 4 months.

Can you handle Tuna or shrimp?  or is all fish / seafood out of the question?  Oh and one thing I did was make spaghetti with extra lean ground turkey instead of hamburger and my family never knew the difference.  I now make chili with ground turkey also. 

My doctor had me on Crestor for awhile, I don't remember my numbers but they weren't really high...I think he over reacted...I eventually stopped taking them because of the cost...my numbers didn't change much...

I've been taking benecar hct for over a year and when I go back in a few weeks I'm going to ask if i can be weaned off those too...I believe my high blood pressure was stress induced because I always had normal to low pressure running 105/70...But then I blew out my back quite severely and was on all kinds of pain meds, steroids, and spinal cortizone shots...Who wouldn't be stressed?!  My BP spiked to 135/80 for awhile...that's when the benecar HCT started...

Now I find that my bp is way too low...I have a home machine that has been checked several times and is totally accurate and most of the time my bp is running 87/53 to 92/57...I get dizzy all the time...I find it very difficult to work in the yard cause I have to stop and rest everytime I get dizzy because it happens so much...

Please keep us posted on how you make out!

Blood pressure = cardiac output x SVR

Cardiac output= number of heartbeats x blood volume

SVR (systemic vascular resistance)= blood vessel rigidity + blood vessel length/ blood vessel diameter

I may have mixed something up in there somewhere, but you get the idea. Your blood pressure is a measurement of your heart rate, the amount of blood you pump, the rigidity of your vessels, the length, and the diameter. Now consider that for every pound of excess fat on your body, there is nearly a quarter of a mile of blood vessels to support it. Add into that the fact that high-sodium diets increase blood volume (water weight), and high-fat diets create increased blood vessel rigidity and diminish that vessel's ability to dilate and expand, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Some people just naturally have bad blood pressure, and that's unfortunate. Before you decide that you're one of them, remember that once you're on those drugs, they're with you for life. You're doing the right thing in trying to lose weight and eat healthy first.

I had high cholesterol which I manage with diet.  I was first diagnosed with high cholesterol when I was only 12years old so I have been living with this for a long time.

The cholesterol in food affects your bodies cholesterol very little!  It is a common misconception that we get most of our cholestrol from food.

What is important to manage is the fats such as saturated that tell your body to produce more cholesterol itself.  Because that is the major problem.

Also what is more effective at pulling cholesterol out of your body then oatmeal is barley, I eat barley all the time now and I definately would recommend it.  You can use it at dinner instead of rice or at breakfast instead of oatmeal it's very versatile and in my opinion tastes better lol

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=food spice&dbid=127

I'm not a doctor, and I don't know about the medication you are taking, but some blood pressure meds are known to affect your lipids. And some increase your blood glucose. And it seems some actually lower your resting metablolic rate (eg beta blockers that reduce your heart rate). Nobody tells you this when they start you on them! If you are lucky enough to be able to lower your pressure with diet, that would obviously be the healthiest. But it doesn't seem to work for everyone - some of us just have a different set point, I guess. But I suppose it's all better than suddenly having a stroke.
I'm working on losing weight and eating much healthier because of my  blood pressure (which was always highish even in my 20s). and now since I've started the blood pressure meds my cholesterol went from healthy to borderline (recheck in summer for me). Plus I have foot pain which limits my favorite exercise (hiking). This will surely improve if I'm 20% lighter. So having better fitting clothes will just be a bonus for me.
I wish you a lot of luck with your efforts

I was diagnosed with HBP at age 23, but probably had it before that.  I had all the tests to find out why and the doctors could not tell me why other than that it had a genetic component.  Right now my meds are keeping the blood pressure under control.  Luckily my glucose and cholesterol are under control.  I want to get to the point where I can control the blood pressure with diet.  I want to get down to 160 lbs (the lightest I have been since HS).