Expert: Brandon Briggs, MS - 5/2/2011

Question
I've been seeing a cardio and she put me on beta blockers for PSVT. She told me no exercise until I do stress test over and see if the meds stablelize me. She never said anything about high blood pressure during exercise or anything so I figured it was fine. Also when I did my last stress test I was exercising almost everyday already and could not finish because I was out of breath/dizzy(this was the start of it all..but she did tell me no exercise before I go see her which was a 1.5 week wait.. so up until that time i was exercising everyday) Well I'm getting restless and tired of sitting around.. So I wanted to check my pulse/bp during exercise to see if it is okay.

I did this walking circles around my kitchen island at a slow pace..just walking. Keeping arm level(not hanging or holding up) and griping onto something(just a dish rag lol)


163/140  - 135bpm
172/152  - ERR w/ pulse(I assume over 200bpm)
170/150 - ERR w/ pulse(I assume over 200bpm)
168/148 - 192 bpm


Could that be right, could the diastolic get that high? Are these normal for exercise?

Answer
Candice,

I do not think you were getting accurate readings at all. A diastolic blood pressure that high would come with serious complications. If you were using an automatied BP cuff during exercise, they are not accurated for activity. I would suggest that you speak with your MD after your test and see if you can go into a supervised medical fitness program for a few sessions to be monitored.


Brandon