Blood pressure hit 150 over 95 on this blast, what are you actually using to bring it back down?

Had 155/98 at week 8 on test 800 and EQ 600. Donated blood, added telmisartan, cut sodium down hard. Three weeks later sitting at 128/82. The blood donation alone dropped it 10 points. Do not underestimate that one.

Telmisartan is the move. 40mg daily knocked my BP down fast. What people miss is you need to stay on it consistently, not just take it when the reading is high. Daily use is what stabilizes things. My cardiologist knows I use it and is fine with the protocol.

BP management is non-negotiable if you are serious about longevity in this sport. I have been on telmisartan for 3 years now. Keeps everything in range even during heavy blasts. Get a doctor who understands performance athletes and get the script. Do not mess around with this one.

The ambulatory monitor recommendation from BERLINER above is correct. Single readings are insufficient for clinical assessment. I had my GP prescribe a 24 hour monitor at year 2 of blast and cruise. Average daytime reading was 138/86 on a 750mg test blast - managed with telmisartan and cardio without needing dose reduction.

Cardio fixed my BP more than anything. Was hitting 148/92 mid blast. Added 4x weekly zone 2 cardio at 135bpm for 30 min. Six weeks later reading was 131/84. No meds. Just consistent low intensity work. People underestimate how much cardio moves that number.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring over 24 hours is more reliable than single readings. I wore an ambulatory monitor during week 8 of a test 600 EQ 400 blast. Average daytime was 143/91, nighttime dipping pattern was preserved which is the important finding. Single readings in the gym after training are always elevated and meaningless.

My BP at week 6 was 138/88. Not alarming but higher than my baseline of 118/74. Added zone 2 cardio 4x a week and started watching sodium. Down to 128/82 three weeks later. Did not need medication. Glad I caught it early.

Telmisartan sorted my BP on this blast. 40mg daily, within 2 weeks the reading came back down. Donated blood at week 6 as well which helped. Those two things together did more than anything else. Lifestyle stuff alone was not moving it fast enough once I added EQ to the test.

BP monitoring is something I take seriously given the altitude factor. Living above 5000 feet already pushes hematocrit higher than sea level - adding EQ on top of that seems like asking for trouble. Sticking to test only for now and watching the numbers closely.

blimey 150/95 is well high mate. hope u get it sorted. gonna check mine proper now - been using one of those wrist monitors which i heard aint accurate. gonna get a proper upper arm one

BP crept up on me at week 8 without me noticing. Only caught it because I started tracking it after reading threads like this. Added cardio 4x a week and watched the sodium. Came back down within 3 weeks. Monitoring is the key thing - most guys only check when they feel symptoms.

Mid blast on 600mg test plus 400mg EQ and my home cuff is reading 150 over 95 consistently. Sat down rested, same time of day, multiple readings. Not great. Cardio has dropped off the last 3 weeks while I've been hammering the gym and I think the combination is catching up with me.

Not ready to pull the dose if I can fix it with lifestyle and maybe an ARB. Hematocrit is also high so I'm donating this week which should help a bit on its own. Cardio going back in tomorrow, 4 sessions a week steady state, and dropping sodium right back.

What else are people actually using to get the number back into normal range without dropping the cycle? Telmisartan keeps coming up, anyone on it long term and does it actually leave the gains alone? And at what number do you genuinely call it and pull the dose, I don't want to push through something I shouldn't.

Blood pressure threads always end in the same place, hematocrit and cardio first, then telmisartan if it wont come down. If you are at 150 over 95 sustained dont be a hero, drop the dose by 200mg and reassess in two weeks.

Telmisartan changed my life on cycle. 40mg a day, BP dropped from 148/92 down to 128/78 in about a week. Get it through a private GP, costs nothing, and unlike some of the older BP meds it doesn't blunt strength gains at all. Before that I was doing all the cardio and hydration stuff and still couldn't get it under control on 750 test. The hematocrit angle is the other one, donating dropped my reading another 5 points on its own. Worth doing both.

One reading at home doesn't tell you much, the white coat effect is real and so is the post workout spike. Take it seated, same time each morning before coffee, for a week and average them out. That's your actual baseline. If it's still 150 over 95 after a week of proper readings then you've got something to act on.

Take it seriously. Plenty of lads lost mates to this and convinced themselves the readings were nothing. Pull the dose back, sort the hematocrit, get the bloodwork done. No blast is worth a stroke at 45.

Telmisartan is the one that keeps coming up because it doesn't blunt strength the way some beta blockers can. Daily low dose, prescription only, you need a doctor monitoring. Worked for me at 40mg sitting around 130/85 on a 700mg test 400mg EQ run, was previously 155/95.

Before any med though, donate blood. Hematocrit drives a chunk of the pressure on EQ heavy stacks and a single donation can drop the reading 5 to 10 points on its own. Hydration and steady state cardio at zone 2 stack on top of that. If you're still at 150/95 after all of those then yeah you've got to look at pulling the dose back, no way around it long term.

One thing before you start stacking meds, get a proper reading first. Sit rested 5 mins, same time of day, a few days running, then average it. A post workout or stressed one off at 150/95 is not your real baseline and plenty of guys panic over a single number. Once you have a true average the cheapest lever is hematocrit, if you are on EQ or high test the blood is thick. Donate and you often drop 5 to 10 points off the pressure before you even touch telmisartan.

Good thread. Just to add for anyone reading, get your hematocrit checked before you assume its purely the dose. Donating blood brings a lot of guys numbers down on its own. And take the reading seated and rested across a few days rather than acting on one spike after training. If it stays high after all of that, get a doctor involved and sort it properly.

First thing I would check is your hematocrit. Test and EQ together thicken the blood and that alone drives the pressure up, a donation often knocks the reading down on its own. Then get steady state cardio in 4 or 5 times a week at 130 to 140 bpm, cut the sodium right back and sort your hydration, that lot moves the number more than people expect before you even think about meds. If you still want a tablet, telmisartan is the one the lads keep coming back to, clean profile and it does not blunt gains like some beta blockers, but that is a script and you want a doctor watching it. And do not panic off a single reading, take it seated and rested at the same time over a few days, a post workout spike is not your real baseline.