Anxiety and high blood pressure

1. Yes anxiety can caused raised blood pressure.

2. stop checking it regularly

3. can visit a dr who will probably start with either blood pressure medication or maybe a beta blocker such as atenlol

now myself I am 30, male, overweight for my height but last year started having panic attacks then checking my bp about 3 times a day but was getting high readings so went dr and was told to stop checking it daily because the anxiety waiting for it to pump up and get a reading causes it to rise and even if it is lower than the time before in my head it is too high still which is a vicious circle.

I was started on amplodopine but within a couple days my heart rate went sky high so doc said stop the meds and reassured me I was not going to die or start urinating my kidneys (something I read online) and that lorry drivers generally speaking have high blood pressure and they can still work but when I go drs they still check themselves and it is still a bit high but put down to being in doctors environment

none the less I have waited almost a year for a cardiologist and will see them next week hopefully for clarification

I'm about 70, but have always been in great shape. I still lift or run every day. My BP had always been great until about year ago. I also began to have anxiety issue perhaps a year ago, and resolved them through counseling and progressive muscle relaxation. My high BP drove me crazy; I began to check it daily until I could see my doc. He said I had "white coat syndrome," but when my BP issue continued, he put me on pills. Anyway, my anxiety returned about month ago, with very brief periods where I felt a little panicked and could feel my pulse rise and my BP go up. Over the past few months, my controlled BP averaged around 115/70. Well, when I went to the doc lat week, it was 160/72. To your point, my doc was unphased. He agreed that my anxiety was the root of my problem. I get in a vicious cycle, where my stress about BP results in high BP. So, he's having me try sertraline. He also ordered my not to check my BP. When I visit him in a few weeks, his nurse will check my BP, but not tell me the reading. If there's an issue, the doc will address it; for now, I'm trying the sertraline and following the doc's order to "chill." I do, however, suggest you have a doc give you a complete checkover to be sure everything's okay.

My bp is on the lower side when im relaxed but when im very anxious/nervous its sky high. My dr told me this was normal.

Take your bp after waking in the morning before walking/moving around.

Same! I am also 20 year old and today when i had a panic attack. Had troubled breathing , jaw pain , left hand pain I rushed to my college nurse and when she took my bp it was 130/80. Generally my bp is around 110/70 so this scared the s**t out of me. She had to give me bp med just to calm me down.

Hi Emma,

Really sorry that you're feeling this way. It will get better!

Definitely go to your GP and get checked out for an anxiety disorder, they will be able to prescribe you with an antidepressant or help you get therapy. To stop your heart pounding - Propranolol is a drug which helps a lot.

If you are really panicking and need someone to talk to speak to the Samaritans on 116 123

Hope you feel better soon,

Ben

Hi Emma,

Really sorry that you're feeling this way. It will get better!

Definitely go to your GP and get checked out for an anxiety disorder, they will be able to prescribe you with an antidepressant or help you get therapy. To stop your heart pounding - Propranolol is a drug which helps a lot.

If you are really panicking and need someone to talk to speak to the Samaritans on 116 123

Hope you feel better soon,

Ben

Emma,

If you take blood pressure readings when you are anxious about getting a high reading you will always get a reading which will be very much higher than your true blood pressure. You are very unlikely to have a blood pressure problem.

All anxiety problems are just vicious circles where some symptom causes anxiety and anxiety causes the symptom. For example a fast heart beat causes anxiety and anxiety causes a fast heart beat. The ONLY way to stop this, whatever the symptom, is to learn to accept the symptom and learn to live with it. When you accept it rather than try to cure it, your fear reduces, the anxiety reduces, and, over a period of time the symptom reduces as well. This is true of all anxiety symptoms. If you have a panic attack it is a normal reaction to a rush of adrenaline. There is nothing wrong with you. If you let it wash over you and don't try to stop it, it will eventually fade away. It won't kill you and it won't do you any harm. If you can realise the truth of this, you will start to become less afraid of it happening again. You need to think of a panic attack as an unpleasant nuisance and not fear it, just as you would if you had, for instance, a muscle pain in your shoulder. Eventually as you care less your fear will reduce and it will stop happening.