Hi guys,

It's Melanie again. Remember, I was having all that trouble with dangerously low b/p? Well, since I last posted here, a LOT of very stressful things have happened, including the deaths of 3 very good friends, one due to a freak car wreck and the other 2 due to murder. I've also been under severe amounts of personal worry and stress, and severe anxiety. So.......I found myself smoking just a little over 3 packs of cigarettes per day, for about the past month and a half. I hadn't been taking my b/p like I used to, but was taking it once in a while, and noticed that every time I took it, it was higher than the last time. Last night I took it, and to my horror, it was 174/82. Now, I know that's not too alarming, but considering my b/p has been so low for so long, I'm worried about it. Could this "spike" be caused by the severe anxiety, severe worry and smoking so much? I've got anxiety disorder that seems to have manifested itself into hypochondria these days, why, I don't know. Started having tension headaches (b/p was still normal during those) and had myself convinced I had a brain tumor. So, for my peace of mind, dr. ordered CT scan and MRI w/wo contrast and it showed nothing except for infection in every sinus in my head. BUT......and please, don't scold me for this, I read on a brain tumor site that increased intracranial pressure from a tumor can cause b/p to rise, so that's what I'm thinking, even though I had both tests run from a very, very good hospital, and read by two very good radiologists. So now, I was just beginning to believe that I was okay, now this high b/p thing. I'm hoping it's just due to the smoking and the severe anxiety, stress, worry. HELP!!!!!!!!!

Melanie

I just want to thank you all for your replies. I hope none of you EVER have to go through what I've had to in the past 3 1/2 months. I should've known better to post on this board.

Thanks again,

Melanie

I just want to thank you all for your replies. I hope none of you EVER have to go through what I've had to in the past 3 1/2 months. I should've known better to post on this board.

Thanks again,

Melanie
Hello I just joined this site,I am not sure but you seemed upset. I dont really know anything about any thing...So I have no advice.....But I would like to offer you my thoughts and support. Goodluck and I hope you get your condition under control.

So sorry not to respond, but I thought that you wanted to vent. I'm sure you know the answer to your question...stop smoking and get some way to help with the stress and anxiety. I hope you feel better soon, it seems that not much has been going your way lately.

Thanks to both of you. I don't know much about blood pressure either, and so, being used to having such low blood pressure, when I saw that spike, it scared me. Before I even posted here, I "googled" for, "can smoking increase blood pressure" and one site said yes, and another said no, so I was confused. I know that stress and anxiety can IF you're in the middle of a panic attack, but I don't know if everyday stress and grief can cause an increase. And that's why I posted here. It's been rough the past 3 1/2 months, and continues to be so, and I don't know why. Unresolved grief, who knows. I just wanted to be reassured. Maybe partly due to the fact that the death of my Dad, David, Jerry and Steve has made me so much more aware of my own mortality, and now I'm finding myself stressing over every little symptom. I've never been like that before.
Thanks again. Oh, and I did cut down on smoking, and the last time I took my b/p, it was 100/57. So, I guess that did have something to do with it.

Melanie

Hi Mellie! I haven't been around here much for the past month or so, as I've found another message board to spend more of my time on. (Not on a health subject.) So I didn't happen to see your message until just now.

Yes, definitely stress has a LOT to do with increased BP. It was mainly because of stress that I was on BP medication for five years. (The first four of those years I was caring for my stroke-survivor husband 24/7, and he had enough dementia and I was so sleep-deprived that life was just one big long stress session.) It wasn't until more than a year and a half after his death that I was able to get back off the meds.

Another example for me of stress influencing BP was just last night. I had a major disagreement with someone on that other message board. And when I get uptight, I really get uptight. I took my BP and the systolic was 188. I can't remember the diastolic. I know that eating always brings my BP down, as I have postprandial hypotension. And I have had good experience in the past with bringing my BP down with deep breathing exercises. So I ate dinner, then did a few minutes of deep breathing and my systolic went down to 124 within about 15 minutes. If I had waited for it to come down naturally, it would have taken hours, or I might still have been uptight about it the next day. I'm just that way.

Next time you find your BP soar like that, why don't you try some slow, deep breathing exercises. Another thing you can do to bring your pressure down in a case like that is to soak in a warm tub. When my BP was really elevated due to getting uptight, I've brought my systolic down about 60 points that way, too. Just don't take a really hot bath, as that could actually raise your BP.

Good luck to you, Mellie. Sorry no one was around to help you just when you were the most stressed out and needing to talk to someone.

Hey Uff-Da,

Thanks. I just don't understand this b/p thing. Like tonight, after about a 3 hour nap, my b/p had jumped from low 90's/50's to 133/74. Why does it do that? I don't like increases in my b/p, no matter that it's still very much in the normal range, I just dont like it. It scares me. And I feel stressed out all the time. I think my dr. has over-medicated me. This is what he has me on, Toprol XL, 200 mgs. per day, Lisinopril, 40 mgs. a day, Skelaxin, 4 Hydrocodone a day, Pravachol, (for triglycerides, not cholesterol), Xanax, and I wonder why I'm tired all the time. He's being a jerk right now and is causing a lot of stress for me, so I'm in the process of finding another dr. I think maybe, well, hoping, that all these deaths, dealing with my husband who is a huge procrastinator, not a good mix with me being a perfectionist, and all that smoking maybe impacting my b/p. So, I'm making some major life changes, one getting rid of my dr..............finally. And even that's going to be hard, because I've been seeing him since October of 1988, and we had become so close, he once having told me that I was his favorite patient. So, on one hand, it's going to be hard, but on the other, I know I have to do it. I feel like he's partly responsible for what I'm going through now. He loves giving out pills. Probably because that's all he can do, he's just a PA. He can only write prescriptions and give shots, that's about it. So, he has the reputation of being a pill pusher.
Rambling now, I just need to be reassured, especially at this point in my life, that these little spikes are nothing to be worried about, and that's basically all I was wanting to know.
Warm baths bring my pressure down, but only temporarily. I'm just sick of it, it's either too high, or "in the toilet". The other night it dropped to 95/43 and I was SICK.
Okay, that's it and sorry for rambling so. Thanks for your help, and I'm sorry that I lashed out like I did. Good luck with your problem on the other board. I hope you can get it resolved.

Melanie

I just don't understand this b/p thing. Like tonight, after about a 3 hour nap, my b/p had jumped from low 90's/50's to 133/74. Why does it do that? A person's BP is typically highest first thing in the morning. I've read that some doctors think this might be because the body uses an increase in BP as part of the way to wake the body up. If that's the case, the same thing would be true in waking the body up from a nap. There is also the possibility that you might have had a bad dream or an exciting dream, whether you remember it or not, and that that caused the increase in BP. I have read some doctors recommend ignoring readings taken within an hour after arising. (Unless they are up in the high, high range, of course.)

I think my dr. has over-medicated me. This is what he has me on, Toprol XL, 200 mgs. per day, Lisinopril, 40 mgs. a day, Skelaxin, 4 Hydrocodone a day, Pravachol, (for triglycerides, not cholesterol), Xanax, and I wonder why I'm tired all the time. I'm not qualified to comment on your medications. It really does take a trained person who examines you personally and can take a look at the whole picture. But I agree with you that many doctors do tend to be "pill pushers." If you don't think the meds are warranted, you just have to resist. But I know how stressful that can be. For me, it sends my BP temporarily skyrocketing, like a systolic into the 180s. Perhaps your idea of finding a new doctor who can take a fresh look at your situation will be a good move for you. Have you visited the high cholesterol board about your triglycerides? Some people can get them down with just a change in diet; others can't.

I just need to be reassured, especially at this point in my life, that these little spikes are nothing to be worried about, and that's basically all I was wanting to know.BP goes up and down with exercise or rest, infections, stress, what foods we eat, cold or heat, etc. That's just part of how we are made and nothing to worry about. It is the long-term average pressure that is the only real concern - unless our pressure gets high enough that we blow a blood vessel.

Warm baths bring my pressure down, but only temporarily.I find it to be temporary only if the problem is still there which caused the anxiety in the first place. Like if the BP was elevated because of anxiety over the death of your friends, over a family illness, or over an impossible work situation that one does not have the power to change. But where I've found it to "break the chain" of BP problems is when I see my BP up, then I start getting upset that it is up. Well, once I've taken a bath and see that my pressure has come back down, then I realize I really can relax and not worry about the BP. In that case it usually stays down.

Also, once I'm relaxed after a warm bath, I'm much more able to say, "Oh, to H*** with it," and stop my going over and over in my mind about something which has aggravated me. Like my argument with that person on the other message board. After a relaxing bath, I just decided not to continue the discussion, even though I'm still certain I'm right. (It had to do with a legal matter, and neither of us are attorneys.) So she'll probably think I've decided she's right after all, but it is just not worth it to me to keep looking for more backup material. Takes too much time and gets my BP up too much thinking about it.

Thanks Uff-Da,

Now I know why my b/p is usually up a while after I wake up. And why did I worry over 133/74? That's not high. I am currently in therapy due to all these deaths and I'm hoping that he will help some. Also going through the big "M", and I wonder if that has something to do with all this anxiety/tiredness. I'm just sick of searching the internet for it, the 'net will scare you to death, I know, it did me.
Thanks again for explaining that stuff to me. And I hope, that someday, you WILL get the last word!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

Melanie