I am 20 week pregnant and have been on aldomet from day one for chronic high blood pressure. My doctor wants to take me even though I told him it will get to high. What do you suggest?

Aldomet is a serious medication and if you stop it suddenly, it can cause your blood pressure to rise again. But fortunately, the effect of Aldomet is dose dependent. The side effects are generally mild for low doses and become higher for high doses. If you ease off aldomet gradually, you will probably be better off. If your doctor wants to ease you off it because of concerns about your pregnancy, or other issues, I would follow your doctor's advice. You can find some information about this drug on PubMed Health's Page on Aldomet. It's generally very safe to ease off a medication like this if you do it slowly and if you take other measures to lower your blood pressure at the same time.

There are numerous safe, drug-free ways to lower your blood pressure that will have positive effects on your health. These include exercise and activity level, nutrition and diet, and stress. I actually have written a page about ways to lower blood pressure naturally, which goes into more depth. During pregnancy, you have unique demands placed on your body. You may want to consult a nutritionist and let the nutritionist know that you are being eased off your medication and want a diet that can promote overall health and a healthy pregnancy while lowering your blood pressure.

Probably the easiest thing to do, diet-wise, is to cut processed foods out of your diet and eat whole, natural foods. This will probably reduce your salt intake and refined carb intake, and this alone can significantly lower your blood pressure. Staying active is also very important... it doesn't need to be vigorous exercise, just be active, stand up and walk around throughout your daily life, try to walk places as often as possible, take stairs instead of elevators, take time to stretch and move periodically, little things like that. Between diet, exercise, and reducing stress, you can lower your blood pressure significantly, in ways that will have positive overall effects on your health and pregnancy.

Good luck.