Stopping high blood pressure medications

[smokey234]

I had been taking 150 mg of avapro for 10 years for high blood pressure. I recently lost 25 pounds and was able to maintain my blood pressure on 75 mg. in fact with a home machine my blood pressure is consistently low. It never goes above 106/70 and most often is 90-97/70-75. Would it be safe to stop taking the medication to see if I can keep the pressure from getting high?  Or would it be safer to cut the pill in half and if so, for how long?  Also, is there a rebound effect when you first eliminate medications? M

[markdresdon]

This is an excellent question and doctors often do not reward their good patients by reducing the medication. I had the same issue. So I searched in the app world that could help me show the doctor that my BP readings are consistent and I am active, sleep well and eat low salt food. After some research I found this android app called "jivayu" (https://www.jivayu.com), start logging my BP and also wore the activity tracker from Jawbone.

It creates a chart of my BP, activity, sleep and salt intake in a single page. So when I took the chart to the doctor, he noticed the consistency in my numbers.  I asked if he could reduce the medication. He thought little bit and said, let us try. But he also wanted this chart again the next time as well so that he could see if lowering the medications or changes in lifestyle is increasing the BP numbers.

Hope this helps!!!

[Cincy513]

see your doctor....make a chart of your reading on a daily basic and take it into him on your next appointment