My blood pressure is too high!
 

Hi!
pretty new here. I've been on Atkins for 11 days now. I've followed it almost to a tee. Lost a few pounds, but I went to kickboxing the other night and felt like my head was going to explode and I was extremely weak afterwards. I went to Kmart last night to do a quick blood pressure test and my BP was
158/96. I tried it 3 times. My BP normaly runs 110/75. Has this happened to anyone else? BTW I do have an appt. with the Doc tomorrow. I'm afraid he will tell me to get off the diet or put me on meds. Any advice, suggestions? What can I take, eat, not eat to get it down naturally?
thanks,
Lori

loreal...

my blood pressure actually went down quite a bit on low carb. It would help if you could post what you've been eating and drinking. Maybe we can spot some problem foods for you.

Hi Lisa,
Menu: basically bacon or sausage and eggs for Bfast. Lunch: salad with cucumbers and celery and romaine and Blue Chz dressing, chicken salad on pork rinds. Actually quite a few pork rinds throughout the day with cream cheeze or cheddar chunks on them. Dinner: steak, scallops, bacon chz burger, with salad. Spinach salad W/ hot bacon dressing.
No sugar at all. A few SF jello's in the past week. 2 diet CF sodas per day. Hebal tea. a few Vienna Sausages, oh and more pork rinds!!! My big "cheat" was a few glasses of white wine a couple of times in the last 6 days. I'm sure I'm leaving something out.
Maybe all the preservatives and salt. Dunno!

suggestions anyone? please
 

I need some help asap as I won't have access to a pc tonight.
Thanks,
Lori

Lori...

I'm not a doctor, so I could be totally off base with this, but you are eating a LOT of salt! Pork rinds especially are very high in sodium and you're also eating a lot of processed meats such as bacon, bacon grease and vienna sausages. I think it would definitely be a good idea to cut back on the salty foods and see if that blood pressure comes down. I wouldn't be surprised if you are retaining quite a bit of water, too.
Some people are just very sensitive to sodium and it can cause you to retain a lot of water which will also make your blood pressure go up.
Keep checking and if that blood pressure doesn't come down again by cutting back on the salty foods, definitely contact your doctor.

Thanks so much for the reply! Will def cut down on the sodium. Will also try to eat earlier in the eve. I work late into the eve. That could be another culprit.

Blood pressure can fluctuate a lot during the day. You had just gotten some exersize and that can deffo affect it! You should also sit quietly for a while before you have your BP taken.

I am glad you are going to the doc, though.