Medication for hypertension

[Dhboner]

I am seeing my doctor tomorrow because I have been unable to bring my blood pressure down with diet and life style changes alone. I am pretty sure he is going to put me on medication. I am a long distance runner as well as a diver. Now I know that diuretics and Beta Blockers are contraindicated for someone who runs long distances (according to a number of sports medicine physicians articles I have read) but are there any similar concerns with diving? I want to make sure that any medications he prescribes will not place me at greater risk when I dive. Thanks!

 

[Hawkwood]

Bummer.

I'm in the same boat. With my diet, fitness level, etc. medication is my only option.

Luckily I have been able to tolerate the ACE inhibitors, Coversyl in my case. No persistent cough, which is a side-effect. If I could not tolerate the ACE inhibitors I doubt I would be diving if I was left with only BETA blockers as an option.

The ACE inhibitors are preferred for diving as the BETA blockers can decrease exercise tolerance and can have an "effect" on the airways.

DAN has a number of interesting articles on hypertension and BP meds and diving.

 

[Diver0001]

My blood pressure is normal but I've periods of intermittent heart arrhythmia since I folded from job related stress in 2004. Boom........ boomboomboomboombooomboomboom .... boom................... boom .............boomboomboomboomboomboom....... boom.......

R..

 

[dlofting]

I've been on beta blockers for almost 25 years. The only thing they do that has an effect on exercise is to hold my heart rate down. As an example when I ride a stationary bike in the morning (I take my medication at breakfast) my heart rate peaks at around 125. When I ride it in the evening it peaks at around 140. I hike a lot and sometimes my upper leg muscles hurt a bit when I'm going uphill....other than that I have no problem with exercise. I could see that if I did a lot of anaerobic exercise it would probably have an effect on me, but I don't.....everthing is at a moderate pace. This of course includes diving, which doesn't even come close to exerting me as much as hiking does. My hypertension is caused by my body producing too much adrenaline, so beta blockers are the medication of choice for me. You may be different, of course.

 

[Dr Simon Mitchell]

Hello,

There are many factors that may have a bearing on the choice of antihypertensive medication, but all other factors being equal, beta blockers are probably not the optimal agents for managing hypertension in an active diver. There is some anecdotal evidence of a link between beta blocker use and risk of immersion pulmonary edema. The association makes physiological sense and is probably real, but I don't believe that the risk is high enough to consider beta blockers "contraindicated" in diving; especially where are are good reasons to be on them (such as those articulated by dlofting). Nevertheless, to summarize, if you have a choice and no particular reason to use them, I would avoid beta blockers for diving.

Simon M

 

[spectrum]

I have been on Atenolol (a beta blocker) longer than I have been diving. HTZ had the BP under control but my heart rate was up hence the beta blocker. HTZ was discontinued and it's be 25mg of Atenolol for the better part of 20 years now.

I share most of dloftings observations. I would have to agree that it does put something of a cap on physical performance but I have still been able to tow divers in, enjoy the carriage trails of Acadia NP on my bike and don't think twice about stairways. Being out of shape will be much more performance diminishing.

Some of this is metabolism and specific dose driven. A coworker became dysfunctional on the stuff and got switched to something else.

If it is the correct treatment I'd give it a shot and see what the effects are.

BTW, I'm a medical zero, just medicated diver.

Pete

 

[Dhboner]

Well..excellent news. I went to see my doctor this morning and my blood pressure was within the normal range. He thinks that it may have read high previously because of timing (shortly after coffee) or a single stress episode. He wants me to buy a monitor and keep track of it daily for a month or so and if it stays within the normal range for the majority of the readings, he sees no need to medicate! As a bonus, it turns out he is a certified scuba diver (he says he is mostly a vacation diver but he did know enough to assure me he will consider my diving needs if/when he prescribes medication).

 

[Hawkwood]

My GP is a diver as well. That's a bonus.