DEAR DR. GOTT: I am a person with a type A personality and I am in my late 50s. I remain overweight in my entire life. I practiced a very active lifestyle with weight training and walking. Usually, I take a deep breath before sleeping just to calm down my body because I am very active both physically and mentally throughout the day and it is very hard to sleep for such kind of persons.

I have maintained a blood pressure which ranges around 120/80. But, last summer my blood pressure swelled up to 130s and 140s. My doctor prescribed to use atenolol and continues usage of atenolol leads to a feel of pressure in my chest. My doctor told me about the side effects which may occur due to the usage of atenolol, so I was prepared to face the issues. Continues use of atenolol reduced my blood pressure level to 90s and low 100s. A stress test was conducted and the doctor found that I was normal and released me from medication.

Nowadays I have a blood pressure of around 110-120/80. It rises up to 160s after exercise and remains the same for few hours. I have pulse rate above 90. My doubt is that whether such variations are common in blood pressure patients and is it needed to go back on the hypertensive medication and any other drug available which would not result in chest pressure?

Dear reader: Variations in blood pressure after physical exercise is normal. Blood pressure is dangerous when it continues to be in abnormal range consistently. The normal blood pressure level for adults is around 120/80.

It is better to avoid medications if your blood pressure consistently rises above the limit. You can ask you doctor to give another drug if atenolol makes such unpleasant side effects. Request your physician to give enough samples for a week or two as trail. This will help you to identify whether the drug is right for you or not.