High Blood Pressure

[skiingmania]

Hi,
All I need is some sort of response to my question that I have.
I am currently undergoing my Medical to start a commercial aviation program, and I have come to a cross road and need to know if this is serious.
I am a 21 year old, very active, healthy individual, but when i went in for my medical I had high Blood Pressure. 140/90 to be exact. I think I was nervous which ultimately raised my BP. Because of this I have had blood test, chest scans, ultra sounds, and the specialist all find everything to be normal. The only think is they don't know why it is elevated. I am currently on a 24 hr BP machine so I will find out what my levels are over a day, but this whole ordeal has worried me. If I have high BP will my medical be rejected?
This is all very new to me and don't have any family history of bp problems which is very strange.
If someone could let me know their input, it would be greatly appreciated.

Another concern is if I am going through problems right now, what is the future going to bring me.

Any one that comments, I really do appreciate it. Two months away from my program start date so hopefully everything will be fine.

Thank

[deflux]

You probably won't get a reliable answer, no Doctors here...

What did the Doctor doing the exam say?

[AUGER9]

I was/am the same. Young, very healthy and active. Blood pressure was very high during all my exams. Higher than yours was actually. Doctors always attributed it to nerves. Any other time I've had it taken its been under 120/80. I doubt you'll have an issue, in my experience.

[Aviatard]

I'm not a doctor but I can tell you what my experience was. I had the same thing, 130/94. My family doc put me on meds for it. I just needed a letter from him stating that the medication was effective and well tolerated. No issues getting a Cat. 1 medical.

One caveat: only certain kinds of medications are approved by transport. Make sure you ask your aviation doc about which ones are ok, and tell your family doc about it. That's probably your worst case scenario, but check with your doc.

[Chelo]

I went through the exact same scenario you are going through just three months ago in getting my Cat 1 medical done.

At my examination my blood pressure was 150/90, and my heart rate was 95. I know this is not normal (my resting heart rate is in the 60-65 range) and the doctor doing the examination agreed. He had me go to my family doctor and have him take two separate BP readings and submit it to him. Unfortunately, I again had high BP readings and my family doctor was 100% certain I had high BP and wanted to put me on medication. I obviously questioned him (he didn't like it too much) and told him it made no sense at all that I had high BP seeing as I'm in very good shape and have an excellent diet. After more conversation he suggested I do the same 24-hour ambulatory blood-pressure monitor you are doing now to prove I have high BP. My average blood pressure over 24 hours was 123/75, well within the normal range. My family doctor wasn't too happy with me questioning him, but it turned out I was right to question him as he nearly put me on medication I don't need.

What I ended up having was "white coat effect hypertension". Simply put, the act of being in the doctor's office and having him take my blood pressure makes me anxious and raises my blood pressure. Google it and you will see it's quite common. It all made sense afterward, as I was nervous/anxious during all the BP measurements as my school acceptance offer was on the line. Of course, I'm not a doctor, but I'm posting this to show you there is some chance this is nothing serious.

Make sure if you do have a diagnosed white coat effect, or as the doctors say you're "normotensive", submit a copy of the results to your examiner and you may not have to worry about your blood pressure for a long time.

One last note. Although you are doing a ambulatory BP monitor, ask your family doctor if he/she is using a cuff that is the correct size for your arm. Incorrect cuff size is another common doctor error that skews blood pressure readings to the high range.

[loopa]

I'm a 5'11" guy with 250 lbs on my ass and i had grape fruit the night before my medical. Grapefruit brings down your BP significantly, so when you walk in and are nervous, it becomes perfect. Way to cheat the system eh?

I normally sit around 130/85 and on the medical i was 116/76.


It worked ! And the BMI tells me that I'm OBESE. While I'm really not.

[skiingmania]

Thanks for all of those posts,
I am at this very moment hooked up to the Bp machine. Things seem to be pumping away. I had to sleep with it last night and I found it not that hard to sleep with.
My 24hrs is up in a few hours so it is going to be very interesting to see what my reading are. I have also had more blood tests to see if my kidneys are okay, and doing what they are suppose to be doing.
I have talked to a specialist, and many doctors of the past few days and they don't know what the problem is. I guess thats why they are doing all these tests. I guess Transport just wants to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary.

Will post again in a few hours and let people know the outcome.

Fingers crossed

[E-Flyer]

If a Pilot was legally health checked every 6 months and still managed to die at the controls of a Boeing 777 with many passengers, then I'm sure you, a 24 year old fit guy with the life ahead of you should have no problem passing the medical

Any time you do your medical, think of something relaxing. Ask the doctor if u can listen to spa music or something HAHAH. It sounds weird but it may work.

[snowbear]

Another thing to watch is your cafine intake. If you are not a regular coffee or pop drinker and have a sensitivity to cafine a single cup can raise your BP significantly (personal experience). If you actually have an elevated BP but are otherwise healthy then a CAT 1 medical is still very possible with TC approved controlling drugs.

[structurespilot]

I'm A CPL whos working on My Multi. I've had a family history of HBP. Really didn't want to start on Meds, so I've spent a fair bit of time researching this. I finally found a product at the health food store that is working great. Its made by a company called BELL. Its called High blood pressure relief. Its all natural, and no side effects. It brought me down from 160/100 to 130/81. I have no problems passing the Medical now, and I shouldn't need meds. I've tryed everything, even expensive naturalpath doctors. My Aviation Doctor gave me an "unoffical" year to get it down to under 140/90 and I did. I may even start exercising and see if I can go lower. Good luck. I found this product at Morning Sun Health foods, there in all the Malls, and it was 23 buck for a months supply.