High Blood Pressure and Anxiety Attacks

[jwhitleyjr]

Since my father's passing. I have been dealing with, I guess say major anxiety attacks. I guess my question is. Does having anxiety attacks cause a major boosts in high blood pressure? In my most recent attack I felt extremely dizzy where I felt I could not get up. Lately it feels like the anxiety attacks hit my head. I just wanted some views on this. just wonder how bad blood pressure can get with anxiety attacks. I don't mean to dwell on this. I have dealt with General Anxiety Disorder for almost three years and I still have fears about heart attacks and strokes. I am on my meds by the way.

[Agora1]

Dear jwhitleyjr My deepest condolences on the passing of your father.

Losing a parent at any age is extremely difficult to accept whether it be expected

or not. In a list of the 5 most stressful events in someone's Life are:

Death of a Loved one, Divorce/Separation/Moving/LongTerm Illness as well

as Job Loss. Of course there are others that produce an over abundance of stress

as well.

Grieving the death of a parent takes time to accept and process. There is no right

or wrong way as to the length of time it takes. While going through this grieving

period, Anxiety can hit it's peak in physical symptoms including high blood pressure,

heart palps, dizziness etc. As we tend to get stuck in the cycle of fear, our body

doesn't get to relax as we live in the state of "fight or flight". After all, our whole

world has just been turned upside down.

I would suggest getting grievance counseling to work through these emotional

feelings that in turn will be able to bring down some of the adrenaline reactions.

Your doctor may even be able to fine tune your medications for a while in helping

you internally level out some of the stress.

I went through this myself when my father passed unexpectedly. I was able to

stay strong during the wake and funeral and then several days later, fell apart.

I did get grief counseling which help me immensely. I'm sorry that you are struggling

but know that it is very natural to experience these symptoms. xx

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Agora1]

Thank Agora. First sorry about your father. I will look into grief counseling. I was looking into in person support groups You are right about the Cycle of Fear and it's still hard for me to break that cycle. I just remember a doctor's meeting I had in the past where a nurse told me if my blood pressure was super high, I would feel it. So I equated the dizziness to having deadly high blood pressure.

[Agora1 in reply to jwhitleyjr]

Actually, that's not exactly true regarding feeling the effects of high blood pressure.

Some people can tell but many go on their way each day living with high blood pressure

and not having the slightest inkling of it.

The best way is to have your b/p checked by your doctor. Make sure you are

hydrating especially in this heat. It allows the blood to flow better.

Don't forget, doing your breathing exercises can also bring down the numbers. xx

[012703060610]

So I need to check my BP three times a day to keep track as mine is all over the map and no one knows why. I have woken up, been blind in an eye and my BP was 90/60. Then later in the day it could spike as high as 160/110. I suffer from bouts of syncope as well. When in a Drs office and it's elevated, they always say to me it's because I'm nervous. Once I get to an appointment, I have no issues. It's the anxiety of getting there and then I'm fine. I keep saying this is a pattern and if they looked in my chart from two years ago I was a solid 120/80 every day type of person with a lot of anxiety. I have to get to a cardiologist since heart disease is big on one side of my family. I do think BP can spike in a really heavy panic attack. Please take care and get checked if you are concerned. You just never know and we all need to be safe!