Blood pressure too high for surgery

User

Posted 31 Jan 2025 at 17:15

You need to record your BP 3 times a day for a week, take it three times each time and use the lowest of the 3 readings.

With this evidence the hospital should accept you for treatment.

User

Posted 31 Jan 2025 at 19:40

I was also told at pre op that I had to reduce my BP or they wouldn't go ahead with it. Having my BP tested makes my BP increase too. My gp put me on a 24 hour monitor that took readings every five minutes or so. It gives all the data on a print out and he took the average and reported it to the hospital. It was fine and the op went ahead. Maybe worth asking.

I'm on BP meds now and when the annual review is due I do like Frankij says. 2 or 3 times a day for a couple of weeks and keep a log.

Cheers

Bill

User

Posted 31 Jan 2025 at 19:57

Hi Bill

Was your surgery delayed or were you able to get the 24 hour BP monitor quite quickly ? I asked the GP about this but she said these aren't readily available and there would be a wait to get one.

I do think my BP is a bit high but nothing like it is at the GP, so it does need to come down anyway. But I also don't want to be taking any risks as I'm already scared of the thought of surgery anyway. Not sure what I'd do if they told me there would be an additional risk that I'd need to accept if they agreed to go ahead.

Cheers

John

Edited by member 31 Jan 2025 at 19:59 | Reason: Typo

User

Posted 01 Feb 2025 at 06:27

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

I don't know if HT for a while before surgery is an option to give the BP more time to come down ? Does anyone know why they don't do this, apart from surgery is usually done reasonably quickly so isn't needed ? Does HT affect the surgery ?

Hi again John.

https://prostatecanceruk.org/prostate-information-and-support/treatments/hormone-therapy#:~:text=Hormone%20therapy%20is%20not%20usually,make%20the%20treatment%20more%20effective.

'Hormone therapy is not usually given to men having surgery to remove their prostate (radical prostatectomy), HIFU or permanent seed brachytherapy.'

In my case though, I was put on bical for a couple of months before the op. I think it was because I had a high Gleason score and capsular breach. They wanted to stop disease progression, whilst they decided whether I was suitable for surgery.

As surgery was your preferred treatment plan, despite the blood pressure delay, I'd try and stick with it mate.

Edited by member 01 Feb 2025 at 07:13 | Reason: Add link

User

Posted 01 Feb 2025 at 10:05

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Hi Bill

Was your surgery delayed or were you able to get the 24 hour BP monitor quite quickly ? I asked the GP about this but she said these aren't readily available and there would be a wait to get one.

I don't live in the uk so had to travel for my first meeting with the surgeon. The initial pre op was done then. Surgery was offer 2 weeks later but due to a planned holiday it was booked for month later. So my gp had a month to get my BP down. The monitor was booked within a few days.

Cheers

Bill

User

Posted 04 Feb 2025 at 12:01

Question for Adrian if you're still following this thread.

You don't need to answer but I'd be interested to know what your BP readings were when you were away from the hospital and what they were when they postponed your surgery ?

As I said, I've now got a BP monitor at home and my readings are a bit high (maybe in the 130s) when at home but they shoot way up when at the GP and worse when I was at the pre-op at the hospital.

I can't just put this down to white coat syndrome. I'm totally stressed out when I'm at the GP now because I know I need to get the readings down, which is just making it worse.

My readings at the GP before all this started were around the 140-145 mark which I could say was partly due to WCS. I didn't have a home monitor at this time. These were just routine checks at various times. I think a rise of about 10-15 points is fairly normal when in a medical setting. If I got these readings now I'd probably be good to go.

Cheers

John

User

Posted 04 Feb 2025 at 14:15

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Question for Adrian if you're still following this thread.

You don't need to answer but I'd be interested to know what your BP readings were when you were away from the hospital and what they were when they postponed your surgery ?

Sorry mate, I missed your post. My actual blood pressure was in the acceptable range 140 something over 90, I think. Their concern with me was that an angiogram, I had two years earlier, had shown that the main arteries to my heart were heavily calcified and at that time I was suffering with quite a bit of angina.

They adjusted my medication and it got rid of the angina. However, the anaesthetist who did my pre prostatectomy assessment was still concerned that my blocked arteries presented a possible problem. There then ensued prolonged discussions between the anaesthetist, my urologist surgeon, and my cardiologist before I was finally passed fit to operate on.

User

Posted 04 Feb 2025 at 16:49

Thanks Adrian

Were you NHS or private ? I see you've mentioned a few times that you spoke to particular consultants and anaesthetists etc and followed up with them. I'm not getting to speak to anyone apart from the specialist nurses assigned to my case and so am finding it increasingly frustrating, although they are trying to help however they can.

While the initial diagnosis process was fairly good, it pretty much involved each of the disciplines doing their bit and passing you on - e.g. MRI, Biopsy, results, oncologist, urologist, pre-op assessment

Now that there has been a delay I feel a bit abandoned with simply being told - you need to get the BP under control. I don't even know what "under control" means as no-one told me. Is it one "good" reading at the GP or does it need to be low for a specific period of time. I can't get a straight answer to this. Not expecting you to answer this - just rhetorical :-)

Cheers

John

User

Posted 04 Feb 2025 at 17:29

Hi John.

I was NHS. I was so disappointed with the indecision of those involved that I complained to PALS. I didn't think they'd be much help but they were.

I then contacted each party myself through their respective secretaries and got quite a speedy resolution. I've found with the NHS you have to be pretty assertive to get things done.

User

Posted 08 Mar 2025 at 11:54

Hi All

Well I finally got my op the other day. My BP was ridiculously high on the day but, very luckily, they took into account the readings I'd been taking at home which were completely fine. So investing in the home monitor was money VERY well spent. They would definitely have cancelled with the numbers I had on the day.

Anyway, I've been home for a couple of days and my only real issue so far is that I've not had a bowel movement even though I feel completely bloated. I don't know if the discomfort is just the bloating from the gas or the surgery site, or both.

I know that this is meant to be common for a couple of days but it's really not pleasant. And worried that the longer it goes on I'll end up getting completely blocked up. I've got some Laxido at home which I've taken a couple of times but it's not really doing anything.

Anyone else experienced this and have any suggestions ?

Thanks

John

User

Posted 08 Mar 2025 at 12:20

Hi John

I used Lactulose instead of the Laxido (Movicol) that I was prescribed and it worked so much better and was still gentle. I'd read that Movicol just didn't seem to work for a lot of people and having used Lactulose in the past, I knew it worked for me.

All the best in your recovery. It's early days, don't try to rush things!

Best

Seb

User

Posted 09 Mar 2025 at 19:36

Thanks Seb

Got some Lactulose today. I did have a bit of "success" a couple of hours ago but it wasn't much. I'm still really bloated and very uncomfortable.

I know this is usually expected after surgery but don't know how long it can last or when to be worried. That's 4 full days since my surgery. I've been eating fairly normally and trying to be a bit active without overdoing it.

Anyone else reading the thread experienced similar ?

Thanks

John

User

Posted 09 Mar 2025 at 21:12

Keep very well hydrated with lactulose. I used linseeds(table spoon) and chia seeds( teaspoon) in water soaked for 30mins then neck it. Seeds, fruit and vegs plus soups sorted me out fairly rapidly post op. Green veg worked well for me. And some dried fruits like figs etc

guts don’t like all the manoeuvring down there and take a while to settle. It will come but can take a few days. I wouldn’t panic.

User

Posted 09 Mar 2025 at 21:43

Thanks

Not quite at the panicking stage yet but I'm VERY uncomfortable. Probably shouldn't have started to just eat normally right away. Don't know if this will have had any adverse effect (i.e. blockages) or it will still just work it's way through eventually.

Cheers

John

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Blood pressure too high for surgery

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