I have been on medication for hypertension for over 20 years. Over time my pulse rate was reduced to 40 from a norm of 70. I was advised that the drop in rate was caused by the medications. This concerned me as this represents a significant (40%) reduction in the number of beats per minute and I believe in the volume pumped which could reduce oxygen to the brain and distal parts. I now have a pace maker and a pluse rate of 60-70.
hrongey
The product of the pulse rate and the systolic blood pressure is an indication of the power dissipated by your heart. If your arterial condition remains about the same and your body is at rest, this product should be reasonably constant (averaged over the daily cycle). Where there are small changes, they may well be inverse under these conditions. Larger changes in the short term may be hormonally induced.
If this product changes substantially in the longer term, then your arterial condition may well have changed. I am not taking any pharmaceuticals but some symptoms of mild angina have caused me to supplement with a number of o.t.c. nutrients and to exercise daily on my elliptical trainer. In about six weeks, my blood pressure has dropped from about 140/80 to about 120/77 (these will vary over any 24 hour period), and my pulse rate has risen from about 62 to 70. Therefore the product has gone from about 8680 to about 8400. In addition, the increased pulse rate suggests that my heart is pumping more blood per unit of time.
I had a stress echocardiogram and consulted a no-nonsense cardiologist about six weeks ago and he wanted to put me on an ACE inhibitor (a reasonably conventional suggestion) but I decided to try life style changes first.
I cannot say which of my several life style changes accounts for most of this change. They are: exercise, arginine, l-carnitine, ubiquinol, carnosine, niacin, pomegranate juice concentrate, dark chocolate, vitamin k2, vitamin D. You can find info on all of these thru google.
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Dear trillium:
I would recommend that you check out http://www.healthcentral.com/high-blood-pressure/find-drug-24289-25.html for more information on Benicar and its common side effects. Likewise, you might find it helpful to consult http://www.healthcentral.com/high-blood-pressure/lifestyle.html for easy, non-medication ways (i.e. exercise and maintaining a healthy diet) to lower your blood pressure. By combining lifestyle changes with Benicar, you may find that your pulse no longer drops or increases with the medication intake. Hope this helps,
BrendanS