BP Issues

[DoctaJMa]

Ok so here is the deal,

I am Army HPSP. I went down had my physical and got all my waviers to join. They ran out of scholarships so I was put on the Order of Merit list to get commissioned in October.

The question I have has to do with blood pressure. When I went to my physical I had high blood pressure (134/94) but they didnt say anything about it. SO I was like ok....

However, a month or two after my Army physical I was put on blood pressure medication by my family doc. I called my recruiter to ask if that was ok, and he said it shouldnt be a problem. The only issue I have with this is that they say it doesnt matter what the recruiter told you half the time. They are not liable for what they say to you...

SO does any one know if this is going to DQ me? Or should I say something before I get my scholarship?

The problem is I do not know if they asked for a wavier for high BP. They never told me what the waviers were for.

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[xmsr3]

First of all, congrats on choosing Army HPSP and getting your waivers.

Now to answer your question, obviously I am no expert but it would seem to me that if they put you on the order of merit list and plan to commission you then your waivers should cover any issues your physical uncovered.

Also consider that the reason no one mentioned your BP was that 134/90 is not considered hypertension, since 120/80 is normal. Docs know that BP varies throughout the day and can become elevated due to many things including the stress of a physical.

As for the medication, I wouldn't think it would be an issue, since it could only lower your BP. Remember that Oct 1 starts a new fiscal year and the Army has over 300 scholarships to give out and needs good people to give them too. So if they gave you a waver for BP that was slightly over, and you go on meds to lower it you should almost certainly be fine, though again that's just my opinion.

Best of luck with med school and thanks for joining the army reserve.

 

[Gastrapathy]

OP: as I'm sure your physician informed you, a persistant diastolic BP > 89 mmHg is considered Stage I HTN. Whether to treat you with medication is a separate discussion and one that drifts into medical advice. If a waiver was not submitted and you went out of your way to inform them of this, it might cause a delay and require an additional waiver (and probably a basic w/u for secondary causes). It shouldn't keep you out entirely. One might consider waiting to start the medication and trying lifestyle modification first. For reading on all things HTN, google JNC 7.

 

[J-Rad]

...For reading on all things HTN, google JNC 7.

Excellent advice. One would do well to pay particularly close attention to the way blood pressures are supposed to be taken and how many times elevated BPs (measured properly) should be recorded before attaching the dx of hypertension (of any stage) to a patient.