Britany Stewart

Patient and situation specific. Ask your surgeon.

If you blood pressure is high lifestyle changes are generally the first approach to get it down. If your blood pressure is really high lifestyle changes plus medication will unfortunately be the first approach in order to reduce your risk for stroke, kidney damage, etc. The correct medication will be specific to your needs based on your medical history and demographics. The most effective lifestyle change to reduce high blood pressure is dietary changes. Dietary change takes a lot of dedication of front (learning to read food labels and learning better choices of foods you like and regularly eat) but is no work at all long term once the learning period is complete. This learning period most commonly takes a few months for individuals who are motivated and dedicated to the process. I strongly recommend the "DASH diet" but advise a 24 hour max sodium intake of 1200mg rather than the 2300mg the DASH allows. If you are someone who regularly adds salt to your food try replacing salt with the "No SALT" salt. It is potassium instead of sodium, but tastes like salt. This can cheaply be bought at any major grocery store chain. Some other simple dietary changes you can make if the DASH diet is too complicated or intimidating is to simply stop eating processed foods, boxed foods, canned foods, and fast foods. Avoid the isles on the inside of the grocery stores completely and instead shop around the edge of the store where the foods are all fresh or frozen. Fresh foods are your best bet. If you can't buy all fresh all the time frozen foods are your second best option. Beyond diet, exercise is the next most effective lifestyle change to make. You can Google "CDC exercise recommendations by age" to easily see what is recommended for your age group. If you are pretty sedentary but are physically able even just forcing yourself to steadily walk 30 minutes a day 7 days a week can make a notable difference in health. I hope this helps! You can do this!! Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>

Yes.

Have you had lab work including all your electrolytes checked since this started?