How to Keep Blood Pressure Up

[Guest veryblue]

Hey there

I was wondering if anyone has tips on how to keep my BP up. I am a college athelete and need to keep on playing for one more year! (Then I graduate...Yeah) I play for the University of Nebraska and it gets pretty warm outside in the summer and fall, and I'm scared that will make my already low BP drop like a brick. (My BP is low on standing...and even worse givin the fact that I take a beta blocker) I am looking for a non medical way to raise my BP. Caffinene seems to help if I'm feeling bad...oddly enough it dosent effect my heart...weird huh? But any suggestion would be helpful...I need to keep playing...it's my life!

[ethansmom]

The most basic things that you can do are to drink TONS of water (and electrolyte drinks) as well as increasing your salt intake. I recommend celtic sea salt to everyone because it's got so many minerals compared to regular salt. Hopefully the others can give you some more suggestions as well. Good luck!!

[briarrose]

Plenty of water, gatorade, (actually my doctor recommended the sports drinks like Lance Armstrong drinks ) When things get bad you can put a packet of salt in your gatorade.

A very low dose of florinef or midodrine (proamatine) is suppose to help with this problem.

You need to be careful with coffee. It is very helpful, they recommend 1-2 cups a day as a vasoconstrictor. I have found that it depends on what brand you drink as to the effect you have. I pretty much know what brands of coffee will cause me to have tachycardia, others will not. It's a trial in error kind of thing

Good luck and have fun!

steph

[briarrose]

Oh one more thing. Because this is an area that I have problems in, like today. If you get desperate/dehydrated IV fluids are a quick way to replenish your system.

I struggle after my menstrual cycle because my flow is so heavy. I'm actually going to the doctor today for this problem.

Just make sure that you have a good primary care doctor to back you up and give you what you need.

[danelle]

I actually have started putting salt in my daily 2-3 glasses of gatorade(I get it pretty salty) but it doesn't seem to make that much of a difference in my BP, could be the atenolol-I wish if it were, that it would work on my heartrate the same way!!!! Is using that much salt bad? WIll it deplete my potassium?

[MightyMouse]

Hello, Here's what I do:

eat salty food in addition to the sports drinks... if you're going to be involved in sports, you might choose something like baked potato or tortilla chips. If you need a longer lasting boost of salt and energy, I eat beef jerky--very salty, low fat, and high protien.

You might consider support hose...if you can't afford the real deal stockings that press w/ 30mg of mercury, then you can buy support style pantyhose. I know it sounds hokey, but it can really help. Took me a very long time to do this for myself, but once I did I wondered what the heck I was thinking that I'd waited so long.

Coffee can help in moderation, as with other caffienated beverages. I drink one cup of coffee before leaving for work...and then sometimes have another beverage at lunch, such as diet coke, or a hot or iced tea.

gotta go...thunder is rolling in! Nina

[Michelle Sawicki]

One thing I've found that has a TON of salt in it is soy sauce. The one I have in my fridge has 920mg sodium per tablespoon. I put a couple tablespoons in stir-fry, or some similar food. A few times I've tried to just swallow a tablespoon, but I wouldn't recommend it. Besides making me want to gag, it made me feel really funky.

Michelle

[Deb]

I try to eat salty foods, but it doesn't seem to be enough so I started putting a half teaspoon of salt in a large glass of water each morning. It really has helped me. I've been doing it for about four months now. Sometimes I also have my salt water in the afternoon if I am going to be doing something more strenuous like grocery shopping. I also drink a large glass of water just before I take a walk or do anything more than I normally do during the day. It seems to help.

[Jersey Girl]

You could try tight fitting bicycle pants instead of support hose as well. I like Propel ( made by Gatorade) because it has vitamin B in it which seems to give me a boost. I have V-8 in the morning instead of OJ because of the salt content too. I don't know whether or not you could play (or if it would help) in a cooling vest. I admire anyone trying to exercise with this condition. You should let the trainer know too.

[pamyla]

I second the soy sauce I'm a big sushi eater and always feel wonderful after consuming all that sodium Also I buy those cup-of-soup things. I drink one of those when I need a little pick me up. And any kind of canned soup also has a ton of sodium in it too.

[Gwem]

for anyone sick of regular salt adding to their food....also try Lawry's seasoned salt i LOVE it. however, keep in mind it is NOT iodized so try to mix it with regular idoized salt. Also another tip are pickles, and also salt tablets which you can buy at the drug store and vitamin stores as well. also canned soups have a lot of sodium too. at least we don't have to watch our sodium intake! :-)

[MightyMouse]

Oh, I forgot about the pickles! I LOVE pickles!! See, there are some really tasty way to get more salt. My personal favorite, however, it liberally sprinkled on fresh hot McDonald's fries

[Deb]

I fogot about the fries! That's definitly the best way to get salt! I also forgot that if you like tomato juice, Campbell's brand has added sodium and potassium, and it's more than what is in Gatorade without the added sugar! I also love OLIVES!! I think that's a Pennsylvania thing. Hardly anyone here in Virginia seems to love them like I do. Too bad. There're great. Oh, and salted nuts. I like cashews. They have the added bonus of providing good-fat and protein. My diabetic husband is supposed to eat 1/2 cup of nuts a day for a snack, so I think they are probably good for most people.