Does anxiety affect your Blood Pressure?

[_anne_]

For the second time in a week i felt dizzy in the morning and went to measure my BP...at the pharmacy they said both times i had a high minimum blood pressure for the maximum that i had... (it was 7,5 - 10,9 today) They said they are too close and that leaves me worried wondering if it is the effect of anxiety... Should i be too worried?

[Hidden]

Hi anne

Some think blood pressure is due to anxiety , others not

I started having high blood pressure years ago , I do no when I go & have mine took , GP always takes it twice , as because I am anxious , the first reading is always high , but then when she gets me to relax , the second reading is normal

So if you were feeling anxious ,then chances are your BP reading will read higher than if it was taken when you were more relaxed

If you have any worries , go & see your GP , they would monitor it , if they felt there was any need for concern

When mine started , they took age & other things into account & then monitored me for a couple of years , it still wasnt going down , so in the end they put me on meds , this keeps it how it should be & there is nothing to worry about

Check with GP , let us no how you go on

Love

whywhy

xxx

[Gambit62]

'white coat' syndrome is quite well documented - that's when blood pressure goes up because you are at the doctors - my brother gets it badly and I get it a bit - I believe the current recommendation is that people should be given a 'through the day' monitor rather than just diagnosed as hypertensive if they have three readings at the doctor that give high blood-pressure.

stress is certainly something that can push the blood pressure up - it's a natural reaction - getting ready for the fight or flight.

posture is another thing that can affect blood pressure - if you are all tensed up that is likely to be making the heart work harder, so I always try to make sure that my posture is relaxed when my pressure is being taken.

It is bad news if the low and the high get too close together because it means that the heart isn't being very effective when it tries to pump blood around and as it is via the blood that oxygen gets delivered around the body that can be effected.

If you are worried it may be worth seeing if you can make an appointment with your practice nurse (rather than the GP) as that is often less stressful and can result in a more accurate reading.

[evilimbic]

Anxiety can affect your blood pressure. Normal (in inverted commas!) blood pressure is 120/80 - yours is slightly below that but not something I would be worried about.

[Bigguy]

Hi when after Xmas I was keeping a very close eye on my BP and found that when I had a panic anxiety attack that it went threw the roof I would then do my breathing to bring it down again but as I was not eating I lost loads of weight and my meds have been lowerd to the lowest dose happy days

But that's a tempory thing it goes up and comes down again fast I hope this is usefull for you

[Bigguy]

By the way at the time my normal was 158/100 and when it went up few it was scary as high 190 105 eek so don't worry mine us now 130 over 80 with meds I hope to get rid of my tabs using exersie and a diet