Need Advice On Blood Pressure, Possible Medication and More

WhiteMousse

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Severe anxiety runs in my mom's side of the family. I don't act up or freak out but I usually end up very stressed. My blood pressure runs high, and the act of taking blood pressure raises my blood pressure. I have my own cuff at home I use to read. I can watch it go down as I take multiple readings as I stop stressing. BPM go down with multiple readings. For example last night it started out at 146/83 at 114 BPM. I got it down to 136/83 at 74 BPM. This morning I took it and it was 128/74 at 63.

But when I'm with my doctor it can spike high. I spoke with him online this morning and I told him I was willing to consider BP medication. He said he will prescribe Lisinopril. The thing is, I'm reading that it's not good for kidneys. My creatine is 1.5 and the top of normal range is 1.2. My BUN, Bld is 26 and top of range is 23 (It was 26 in 2019 as well, dipped to 19 last year). And my GFR Estimate CKD-EPI is 59, lower than the bottom of normal range of 60.

So my question is-- why is he wanting me to take this medication if it's bad for my kidneys?

Some extra factors-- first of all I'm a 42 year old male. So:

1) This is all prompted by the fact that for about two months now, I've had very low energy. Late December/early January I got sick. It may have been Covid, but I just don't know. Had a sinus infection afterwards and got an antibiotic. But since then getting up in the morning is harder than usual. After lunch I'm more tired than usual. At night when I get into bed, I'm out. Like out out. My libido has completely plummeted in the last month. I normally want to fuck everyone I talk to. Now I have zero interest.

2) Some time in January, after I started hitting the gym a little harder (holidays), I had what felt like a slightly pulled lower abdomen/groin muscle. Lasted for maybe two weeks, and seemingly healed. Also in January I experienced what I can only describe as a slight surge of acne. It was on my face, shoulders, back and chest. It subsided and it's not like I was pizza face, but I did notice it, and felt it was odd.

3) My testosterone looks great from a medical perspective. Total is 847, with the normal range for 20-49 year olds being 249 - 836. My free testosterone is 9.40 within a range of 2.02 - 16.64. This does lend itself to a low % though-- free is 1.11% of total, which is at the very bottom normal range of 1.11 - 3.15%. I have no idea if this means anything. I've never looked at my testosterone before because I've never had reason to. I was actually hoping for low T because it would explain what the hell I'm dealing with.

4) I go to the gym every day. I lift 3x a week, generally 40 sets. I do five sets of: Bench, pull ups, shrugs, lower back extention, lateral raise or dumbell for lats, dips, incline bench, abs and rows. I follow it up with 35 minutes of cardio. I can get my heart rate up to 165-170 on the bike. I do cardio and abs every day regardless of whether it's a lifting day or not. If I just do stairs I keep it around 140 - 150. Once a week I will forego the cardio add legs, 25 sets. Leg press, both abductors and adducters, leg curl and leg extension.

So my week is this:
Sunday- Workout and leg workout. No cardio. 65 sets.
Monday- Cardio
Tuesday- Workout and cardio. 40 sets.
Wednesday- Cardio.
Thursday- Workout and cardio. 40 sets.
Friday- Cardio.
Saturday- Cardio.

Some of my workout is more extreme than others. I use 90 dumbells for shrugs. I start at 135 for bench and max at 2-3 reps at 225. Pullups are... well... pullups. But for the rows and such I don't go too hard. Maybe 100 lbs to start.

I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. The most alarming thing in all this is the lack of sex drive I have. I don't look at porn but normally I definitely have an urge that I have to fight. For about three weeks now, no urge whatsoever. Are there any other hormones that affect energy and/or libido?

My friends say I'm depressed. But I don't feel depressed.
 
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You are depressed. Depression and anxiety work together. The anxiety is what is causing your blood pressure to spike. Do not take blood pressure medication go fix this. I have to give you this advice because your doctor is probably dumb enough to prescribe them to you.

Taking cold showers or cold plunging daily will resolve all of your issues. Getting adequate sunlight or at minimum a vitamin d supplement is can affect positively affect mood and even testosterone levels.
 
Lisinopril is nephroprotective. ACE inhibitors and ARBs have shown to have that quality vs other blood pressure medications.
 
Well I took my first one yesterday and this morning my BP was 113/51. So it has definitely tanked. The weird thing is the doc said it can take 3-4 days for it to have an effect.
Also yesterday morning, before I took it, it was 122/80, which I believe is perfectly acceptable.

One caveat-- I didn't work out yesterday. To compensate I only ate about 1000 calories, but I gave myself a rest day to see if maybe that has been causing my energy issues. Not sure if that's what caused my BP to go down to the mid 120's as opposed to the usual 140-150
 
You are depressed. Depression and anxiety work together. The anxiety is what is causing your blood pressure to spike. Do not take blood pressure medication go fix this. I have to give you this advice because your doctor is probably dumb enough to prescribe them to you.

Taking cold showers or cold plunging daily will resolve all of your issues. Getting adequate sunlight or at minimum a vitamin d supplement is can affect positively affect mood and even testosterone levels.
good point on sunlight/vitamin D. If some of his symptoms started in January it could be a touch of SAD (seasonal affective disorder)
 
Well I took my first one yesterday and this morning my BP was 113/51. So it has definitely tanked. The weird thing is the doc said it can take 3-4 days for it to have an effect.
Also yesterday morning, before I took it, it was 122/80, which I believe is perfectly acceptable.

One caveat-- I didn't work out yesterday. To compensate I only ate about 1000 calories, but I gave myself a rest day to see if maybe that has been causing my energy issues. Not sure if that's what caused my BP to go down to the mid 120's as opposed to the usual 140-150
I hear stuff high in nitric oxide like beets helps lower BP. there are beet juices, gummies and supplements out there now. so you could skip the meds for a week or two and try something more natural
 
good point on sunlight/vitamin D. If some of his symptoms started in January it could be a touch of SAD (seasonal affective disorder)
I'll try this. I live in Florida but haven't been getting out recently. It's also possible that I'm working out too hard. I tend to push myself. Like when I'm doing cardio I'll keep my heart rate up around 160.

The thing is it's hard to stop this routine because I know how to make it work. Right now my body is almost perfect. I haven't heard a whole lot about it, but some do say that pushing yourself too hard at the gym will tank your energy and libido
 
I'll try this. I live in Florida but haven't been getting out recently. It's also possible that I'm working out too hard. I tend to push myself. Like when I'm doing cardio I'll keep my heart rate up around 160.

The thing is it's hard to stop this routine because I know how to make it work. Right now my body is almost perfect. I haven't heard a whole lot about it, but some do say that pushing yourself too hard at the gym will tank your energy and libido
yeah overtraining seems like a real thing. I hear fighters sometimes mention how a training camp went too long or too hard...and it just sounds intuitive we need to give our bodies plenty of rest to counter the wear and tear. maybe you need more time between sessions. are doing any sort of low carb diet? I'm not that knowledgeable on that stuff, just spitballing
 
I have terrible white coat anxiety and my BP looks horrible at the Doc's office. At home I'm pretty much completely average.

Has your Dr ever ordered a cystatin-C along side your regular blood work? It's a much better test for kidney function for athletes and highly active people. If you work out and lift weights, have higher lean tissue on your body, and eat a good amount of protein your creatinine may be out of the reference range without any actual impairments to kidney function. And it tends to peak 48 hours after working out. High creatinine itself isn't harmful, just an indicator that something might be off.

I've seen mine as high as 1.63 during a hard week of hard training sessions, while also being kind of dehydrated during the blood draw. Next blood work showed 1.22 which I purposely did a deload that week and also had a cystatin-c done which showed me well within the reference range.
 
I think if you can take multiple readings and watch it go down, you can probably learn to control it without medicine. Also, it's really not that high. I can get readings like yours, and I have no interest in medicine. My wife on the other hand has consistent high readings, has a family history of it, and would get readings much higher than yours. She is on medication. A lot of doctors love to medicate, I'd be skeptical.
 
I think if you can take multiple readings and watch it go down, you can probably learn to control it without medicine. Also, it's really not that high. I can get readings like yours, and I have no interest in medicine. My wife on the other hand has consistent high readings, has a family history of it, and would get readings much higher than yours. She is on medication. A lot of doctors love to medicate, I'd be skeptical.
Thank you for this. What about like 150? Would you say that's dangerous? At the doc it was like 170/90 but I'm almost positive it doesn't normally get that high, and probably only when it's being taken. I don't know how to explain it other than to say that even the sound of the device activating starts freaking me out because I'm afraid it will be high. Worrying about it being high... makes it high. It's like one of those goddamn snakes eating itself.

I think I MAY have found the answer to the low energy and low libido. Training too hard, or not eating enough, or both. Like I said when I do cardio I go hard, getting my heart rate up to 155 to 165, and keeping it there for 30 minutes (35 minutes total). It may be that I just can't do this anymore. Anyway on Thursday I skipped cardio. Yesterday I did a slightly less intense workout and again skipped cardio. I made my girlfriend and I cheeseburgers, then a slice of cheesecake I made for her birthday. The thing is earlier in the evening I was just exhausted, and had no drive. Later that night after dinner we fucked for three hours. I blew inside her twice.

I don't know if this is the answer or not. But something is going on, and something has changed such that the condition is improving. I'm lucky the factors are so controlled that I have a reasonable chance of isolating what's happening.
 
I have terrible white coat anxiety and my BP looks horrible at the Doc's office. At home I'm pretty much completely average.

Has your Dr ever ordered a cystatin-C along side your regular blood work? It's a much better test for kidney function for athletes and highly active people. If you work out and lift weights, have higher lean tissue on your body, and eat a good amount of protein your creatinine may be out of the reference range without any actual impairments to kidney function. And it tends to peak 48 hours after working out. High creatinine itself isn't harmful, just an indicator that something might be off.

I've seen mine as high as 1.63 during a hard week of hard training sessions, while also being kind of dehydrated during the blood draw. Next blood work showed 1.22 which I purposely did a deload that week and also had a cystatin-c done which showed me well within the reference range.
I will definitely ask him about this because I would like to avoid taking any and all medication whenever possible. I already hate this blood pressure medication because it gives me fucking diarrhoea.
 
Cause all medication has side effects.
You need good sleep, excercise - train hard, and a healthy diet.
And mental stimulation / relaxation.

Calmness is spiritual.
 
Cause all medication has side effects.
You need good sleep, excercise - train hard, and a healthy diet.
And mental stimulation / relaxation.

Calmness is spiritual.
How do I relax? How do I get calm?
 
How do I relax? How do I get calm?

Asmr. Enjoying Health foods drinks. Talking to God. Questioning why you are stressed. Accepting your fears and darkness. Creating a better mentality trough thinking. Appreciating the things you have. Improving relationships with your family and friends and surrounding people. Talking to trusted friends about your fears. Being passionate about and exercising seriously. Drinking enough water. Reducing sugar, cheap fats and unhealthy food. Eating plants. Going to the sauna. Taking a long hot bath. Getting a massage. Praying. Asking yourself bout existiance and the universe and appreciating yourself for existing as a gift from God. Telling a trusted friend your secrets. Listening to music that triggers real emotions bout things you worry about as a form of therapy. Allowing sad emotions. Being proud you survived thus far. Loving yourself. Creating art. Playing a videogame. Talking a long walk in nature. Building a meaningful relationship with someone who is as imperfect as you are. Petting a cat. Grooming yourself. Dressing nicely.
 
Severe anxiety runs in my mom's side of the family.

Anxiety is natural if you are living your life accidentally.

I don't act up or freak out but I usually end up very stressed. My blood pressure runs high, and the act of taking blood pressure raises my blood pressure. I have my own cuff at home I use to read. I can watch it go down as I take multiple readings as I stop stressing. BPM go down with multiple readings. For example last night it started out at 146/83 at 114 BPM. I got it down to 136/83 at 74 BPM. This morning I took it and it was 128/74 at 63.

But when I'm with my doctor it can spike high. I spoke with him online this morning and I told him I was willing to consider BP medication. He said he will prescribe Lisinopril. The thing is, I'm reading that it's not good for kidneys. My creatine is 1.5 and the top of normal range is 1.2. My BUN, Bld is 26 and top of range is 23 (It was 26 in 2019 as well, dipped to 19 last year). And my GFR Estimate CKD-EPI is 59, lower than the bottom of normal range of 60.

So my question is-- why is he wanting me to take this medication if it's bad for my kidneys?

If you're worried about how the medication can effect your kidneys, maybe you should try other methods.

From the Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases...ure/in-depth/high-blood-pressure/art-20046974

1) This is all prompted by the fact that for about two months now, I've had very low energy. Late December/early January I got sick. It may have been Covid, but I just don't know. Had a sinus infection afterwards and got an antibiotic. But since then getting up in the morning is harder than usual. After lunch I'm more tired than usual. At night when I get into bed, I'm out. Like out out. My libido has completely plummeted in the last month. I normally want to fuck everyone I talk to. Now I have zero interest.

If the antibiotic went through your digestive system, your gut microbiome probably got completely and utterly fucked. If you're not eating a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds and fermented foods, you will have a hard time unfucking it. I can't comment on if your low T has any relation to this, I can't comment on low T at all, I don't know enough about it. I can say that the gut microbiome has effects on your overall health.
 
BP 113/51 really doesn't looks fun at all.:(
BP 122/80 isn't dangerous...:)
While what to do I can't tell, I'm not some kind of MD with license and cert, while ewen in such case patient should be seen in person etc things here.
 
Lisinopril is nephroprotective. ACE inhibitors and ARBs have shown to have that quality vs other blood pressure medications.
When I had high blood pressure the only thing that worked for me was a good beta-blocker instantly dropped my bp by 10 points.
Doctors like to prescribe garbage like hydro-chlorothiazide and lisinopril because it’s cheap like, $3 for 90 tabs as opposed to a good blocker wich run like $200+ a bottle.

To TS take Hawthorne berry and garlic throw fish oil in there to before it gets out of hand.

(all of the above were doctor prescribed btw).
 
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