Coffee and high blood pressure - High & Low Blood Pressure Message Board

ANNETTE73 · 06-18-2006, 12:42 PM

Hi, I know that there is a thread here about caffine and high blood pressure but I can't find it. I drink I Ice Cappuccino a day lately because I a very tired due to my RA acting up. For two months my bp was 140/80 and This month it is up to 140/96. I didn't drink the ice cap. before I got my bp checked. But it increased the same month as my caffine intake increased. Does caffine increase blood pressure? If so then I will stop drinking them and live with the extreme fatigue. I rather be tired then have to add more medications. Thanks.

arlmon18 · 06-18-2006, 12:56 PM

I know that caffeine really isn't great for high BP. I can't "jump start" my day without coffee. However, I'm now trying to cut down, because I find that too much caffeine causes palpitations for me. I can't see how one cup of coffee a day can be harmful. Everything in moderation, as the saying goes.

pal7778 · 06-18-2006, 03:34 PM

The caffeine effect seems to vary a lot. It's easy for most people to develop a tolerance for it and make the effect small. One drink a day probably doesn't do much. I woudl stay with it, keeping the amount of caffeine you drink a day relatively small and pretty constant. My bp does spike right after an expresso based drink and can spike if I have a big meal with several cups of coffee. I'm not sure how significant those termporary increases are. You can't surrender every vice in the fight against hypertension, and I tend to think this one isn't one of the big ones for most people.

lane413 · 06-18-2006, 03:34 PM

there was a recent Health Watch on the news that coffee doesn't raise bp. However, my mom's bp was elevated every time she drinks coffee. We did a test to see how much her bp would rise drinking just one cup of coffee (med. coffee mug) and her bp rose 20 pts. Her dr. said she should drink decaf. but it can raise ldl and it doesn't taste so hot.

I saw a lady in the supermarket buy "lite coffee" so I asked her about it. She said it tasted ok. My mom decided to just stop the coffee, but it was hard bcuz she was addicted. She now drinks tea, black and green.

Lenin · 06-18-2006, 07:55 PM

Some people YES and some people NO. I am one of the NO's and I think it's becasue I have spent my life drinking lots of coffee starting out as a toddler. I had coffee and a roll before I went off to Kindergarten.

I think people who rarely drink caffeine might react more strongly to it.