If you have swings in your blood pressure, get with a new med

The massive swings in the value of bitcoin over the past few years has been pretty amazing.

Take what happened to Norwegian Kristoffer Koch. In 2009, he was writing a college thesis on encryption and spent about $27 to buy 5,000 bitcoins.

But, according to Marketwatch.com, in 2013 he discovered they were worth about $886,000. Later that same year, bitcoin’s value crashed to a low of $50. By December 2017, it hit $19,498.

A couple of months later, it was down to $9,030. Must be pretty hard on investors’ blood pressure! Fluctuations do take their toll, according to a new study. Researchers recently found that if your high blood pressure fluctuates between doctor visits like the value of a bitcoin, you and your cardiovascular system are in big trouble.

The cause of those fluctuations might be related to the antihypertensive meds you are taking.

Alpha blockers and alpha-2 agonists are associated with an increased risk of variations in HBP readings, say the researchers, and those variations correspond to an increased risk of mortality. The researchers concluded: “Blood pressure medications that produce more consistent blood pressure [show] better mortality outcome ... Those medications include ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers and thiazide diuretics.”

If you have HBP, ask your doctor about doing a multi-day monitoring test to determine how variable your readings are. If they are not steady, talk about finding a treatment that will maintain even control of your blood pressure. It could save your life.