Blood Pressure Meds and Valsalva

[Manimal]

My brother went to the doctor and his BP was 160/100. We have a machine at home and are monitoring him every day, his numbers are consistently high but none match that first day at the docs office. If he does need meds what is everyones experience using Valsalva? Im concerned that the forced drop in BP accompanied with the rises and drops caused by the Valsalva will cause blackouts.

[Carlos Daniel]

I have never heard anything concerning that. Unless your brother's BP is made too low with the meds (which he should take to his doc if it's the case), he should be fine and the training will probably help with the BP.

[Carlos Daniel]

Out of curiosity, which meds is he on?

[Mark E. Hurling]

I have some rather troublesome blood pressure issues that seem to have tracked over several generations of Hurlings. Strokes have taken the men in my family for the last two generations that I know of. Maybe more, but the medical records are buried in the mists of time. I take Diovan HCT in the mornings and Hytrin at night for my overnight blood pressure which creeps up if I don't use it.

I have taken a deep valsalva for as many as 4 reps in the bench press and 3 in the overhead press and ground out the reps in one haul with no tweetie birds chirping around my head and not going grey. These would run from 6-8 seconds on one lungful. I'm 61 and while I am now doing one rep per valsalva per Rip's advice on the matter, my blood pressure was 122 over 80 at my last medication review three weeks ago.

[Manimal]

Glad to hear that is should be a non issue. He's not on meds yet but we have an appointment set in 2 weeks to check it again and give the doc our daily record of the 1s we've taken. So then the only thing I should be concerned with is the starting of the medications and the possible side effects while his body adjusts to it?

[Carlos Daniel]

Tell him to tell the doctor that he exercises, some meds aren't very good for people that train heavy. He should be fine either way.

[Culican]

I take lisinopril 10mg/day for BP ~145/90. Lowers it to 120/70. Never had a problem with blackouts, except for dizzy feelings sometime on powercleans (but many not on BP meds experience that).

[quaw]

I am 57 and after years of having borderline hi BP of 140/90 it went to 150/100 and higher over a year ago. I am now on amlodipine. I started SS 3 months ago after being sedentary for quite a while. I am 5'9" and went from 134 lbs when I started SS to 143 lbs today. I was 125 lbs most of my adult life. When I first did deadlifts I almost passed out. My BP goes too low. I have to breath out on the way up, anywhere between the bar passing my knees to when I get to the top. I take another breath and lower it and breath again.

When it first happened I used my BP machine to see what was happening. Doing the Valsalva lowers my BP and while standing it lowers it quite a bit. I just tried it and my BP went to 86/66 while standing although I did not feel like passing out as I did when I first tried it 3 months ago. I tired it again several times to confirm the numbers but 3 times it just read "error". I think it was too low to get a reading but again I did not feel like passing out but it did take something out of me.

When I told my Dr when it first happened he said that because the meds are controlling my BP my body isn't using it's normal means to control BP and that Valsalva will drop one's BP.

I do not have problems with any other lifts. I still have problems with the DL but not quite as bad and I suspect it is because I am not totally out of shape now.

[Manimal]

Hey Quaw, how do you breathe during your other movements more specifically the press?

[macorn63]

I'm only 35 and have to take Enalapril daily (for about 2 years now) for high blood pressure. Not overweight, don't smoke, crappy genes I guess.

I would advise taking a couple weeks off when he first starts meds. The doc needs to dial in how much he needs ... after seeing how he responds. I went through a couple different meds until I found one that worked well.

Biggest problem, and the reason I advise waiting a while after starting meds, is that after living w/ high blood pressure, it feels really, really, strange for it to be low. Takes a while to get used to.

But after that, have had no probs. at all with valsalva.

[quaw]

Hey Quaw, how do you breathe during your other movements more specifically the press?

I have no problem with the press even though I am standing. I guess part of the problem is the change that happens when I stand up. Also with the DL the weights are heavier as well the greater effort needed to keep the back straight. With the press I take a breath when the bar is at shoulder level and take a breath when it is there again. A large part of how I stabilize myself is by contracting my glutes as hard as I can. This keeps my lumbar from extending too much as well as helping me keep my knees locked so I don't cheat there. Because of this as well as the lighter weights and no change of position by standing up I do not need as much pressure from the Valsalva compared to the DL to stabilize my torso. I have also refined my DL technique from when I started so it is much easier for me now but I still have to be conscious of my breathing.

With the BP I breathe every rep when the bar is up. I do not have problems with my squat, go figure. I breathe with every rep of the workset, of course at the top.

[MRP]

The valsalva maneuver is also a called a vagel maneuver. When you bear down you stimulate the vagus nerve which in turn lowers your heart rate and possibly your bp. It is used in pre-hospital medicine to treat SVT (supraventriculartachycardia) prior to using drugs or cardioverting the patient. The drop in bp is a normal physiological response. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagus_nerve