I am 39yrs old, and my blood pressure has hovered around 150/105 (pulse 61-75) for the past 3 days. I was on 20mg of Benicar HTC, 4 months ago, but stopped taking it due to excessive water retention. My DR prescribed water pills that lower BP and bloating, but that didn t do much for the water retention. To combat having to take pills for BP I have dropped 22lbs in the past 2 months and have a regular exercise regime, and eat practically a zero salt diet - but still don t see much of a difference for BP. High blood pressure is in my family, but never effected me until I gained 50lbs over the course of the last 5 years - I always had 120/80 prior.