Matt Whiting wrote:
Jay Honeck wrote:

Well, I'm officially old. After watching my blood pressure slowly
climb over the last three years (strangely, the years we've owned the
hotel -- coincidence? :-), my doctor has decided that my ineffective
weight loss efforts aren't going to do the trick.

Here are the facts: BP is 155/85. Weight: 197. Height: 6'.
Exercise: 30 minutes every day. Family has a history of strokes and
high blood pressure.

The good doctor says the elevated BP isn't being caused by my weight,
which isn't too far out of line for a 46 year old guy. (Although
losing 15 pounds would certainly help.) He has prescribed Vasotec
for me, which *is* on the AOPA's list of FAA approved medications,
thankfully.

For those who have already been down this road, did this medication
cause any side effects? The doc says the most common one is a nagging
cough, for no known reason.

Thanks!


I had the same thing happen when I was 37 (I'm now 45). I started out
on Vasotec also as best I recall. I think this is in the class called
ACE inhibitors, right? I've taken a couple of different one's since
then, mainly due to requests by my insurance company, and am now taking
Atacand. I think most all of the ACE inhibitors are FAA approved and
I've never had a side-effect attributed to the BP meds. I've always
taken the smallest dose available and it has kept my BP under good control.

It was my AME that spotted my sugar problem. My primary physician put
me on dyazide (diuretic) and later switched me to lisinopril, an ACE
inhibitor that also helps with diabetes. I am on 5 mg per day but the
AME said he starts patients on 40 mg!

There have not been any ED problems. The AME was completely satisfied
with my BG record that I bought in. I have a program that reads out the
data from my BG meter and lets me plot it over a selected date range.

I don't have full blown type-2 but am able to control blood glucose
and blood pressure through diet and exercise (uggggh). Avoid white
things: rice, bread, pasta. Avoid salt but it's almost impossible to
get your calories and keep Na down to 1500 mg per day (recommendation by
the ADA).

I haven't had a beer in 2 years because of the starch in it. "Low carb
beer" is an oxymoron anyway. However, alcohol does _lower_ blood
glucose and blood pressure. It's just fattening.

If anyone out there has an alternative to the treadmill and Nautilus
machines, please let me know. Exercise is the most mindless activity I
an imagine. A standard day involves 8 hour of sleep and 8 hours of
work, leaving 8 hours for everything else including exercise. An hour
of exercise wastes 12.5% of your "usable" life. As things stand, I can
stop exercising but would have to take a diabetes-specific drug for the
rest of my life. That would void my 3rd class Medical Certificate.