My doctor took my BP last week and it measured 150/100. That’s the highest it’s ever been in my entire life. The last time it was high (140/100) was during my father’s funeral, I didn’t sleep at all for three days (probably slept for only an hour or less each night) and had a pretty poor diet, had tremendous stress, anxious and nervous that was the first time he prescribed me 50mg Metoprolol twice a day. I began feeling even more lethargic, my pulse was very slow and I felt even more anxious. I stopped taking it after a while and even after stopping my BP was very normal it was 120/80 and even lower. I got a new job as an Online English Teacher and this job is very sedentary, we sit in front of the computer 9 hours a day… I have a diet that is high in fat and sodium (i’m not proud of it either) NO exercise whatsoever other than walking to work and back home and I’m pretty much stressed about the most littlest things and I think I’m a hypochondriac since I think I have every single disease on the planet.
I got an ECG, blood test and even a 2-D Echocardiogram? last year and everything was perfectly normal. My family has no history of hypertension either. The temperature in my country (Philippines) can go as high as 38 degrees Celsius which is about 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit and the lowest is about 35 even at night time it’s 28 degrees so it’s pretty hot, that alone causes me unbearable stress. So last weekend my cousin who’s a GP took my BP and it turned out to be 150/100 then he said I have to ALWAYS take metoprolol for maintenance. He only took it once. I started research of my own and found out the bad side effects plus I’m wondering if I’m really hypertensive. What should I do? Please help! Thank you very much in advance to those who can contribute.
P.S. I’m also changing my lifestyle, I’m starting a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet from now on, exercising daily with aerobics, I don’t smoke, drink or even take any coffee. Please help!
One high blood pressure reading does not mean that you need to be on medication. You need to get one of the blood pressure monitors for home use and take it with you to a doctors appointment to make sure it registers your blood pressure correctly. Then just take your blood pressure a couple of times a day and write it down. Take those results to your doctor who will determine if you need to be on medication.
I personally don’t think Metoprolol would be indicated as a first blood pressure medication. I have been on different high blood pressure medications for years and usually the doctors start out with a diuretic. I take Metoprolol now, but that is because I was diagnosed with afib in addition to my high blood pressure. Of course I am not a medical professional, just giving my opinion based on my own experiences.
I can tell you that Metoprolol does slow your heart rate and make you feel really tired and crappy at first, but your body does get used to it after a while.
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