In my mind... Chest pain = heart issues.

[Weasley123]

I don’t think so. I would also question how u know u have hypertension. My dr has always been unconcerned because my bp comes down. It does cause me some anxiety but usually only around the machine. I really woujd never want ti take meds

[Dracom]

I don’t think so. I would also question how u know u have hypertension. My dr has always been unconcerned because my bp comes down. It does cause me some anxiety but usually only around the machine. I really woujd never want ti take meds

I was diagnosed with hypertension about 10+ years ago when I was a teen. I was very, very unconcerned with my health and ate my way to morbid obesity, resulting in sleep apnea as well. As I didn't have HA back then, I would not get anxious about my doctor's visits and my BP would be high even when I was completely relaxed. Now, with my weight loss and with my medication, my sleep apnea is cured and my BP is normal at 110-120 when I'm relaxed. Ironically, while my HA was and is the main motivator for my weight loss, it's the anxiety that is sabotaging all my efforts.

[Weasley123]

Oh ok I get that then. I’ve always been slim and walked a lot. I love to eat but I try to eat heKthy during the week. Weekends are another story so there’s no physical reason my bp would be high. You sound young too. I bet your high bp. has been cured with your weight loss etc. You can probably even come off your meds if you get your anxiety under control. I’ve been using cb oil. It seems to help

[Dracom]

I am happy to say that I've gotten rid of the machine. However, that led to a rather severe anxiety attack in the afternoon when I went out of the house. It started out okay at first, but then I thought about my blood pressure and that made me anxious, making me worried that I had elevated my blood pressure even more. Long story short, I managed to calm myself down after awhile, but without that reassurance every week that my BP is in the 110-120 range, it's hard to stay relaxed and happy and focused on the task at hand.

[Weasley123]

It will get easier. Do not measure at all. No pharmacies etc

[Dracom]

To give some history for those who don't know, I was very, very fat (morbidly obese) when I was a teen and was then diagnosed with hypertension. I can't remember how bad it was back then, but I have been on vasodilators for over a decade. Recently, I've also been taking beta-blockers to reduce my heart rate and palpitations due to anxiety. Before this, I was never worried or concerned at all about my health. However, after becoming more knowledgeable about these things as I became older, I began to freak out about how much damage I could have possibly done to my body already.

With my recent spate of anxiety and panic attacks, I made several trips to the ER and doctors and my BP will always be in the 160-170-180 range, once hitting a high of 194. They decided to make me stay for observation and when I was completely relaxed, my BP dropped back down to 112, which was a complete shock and surprise to me... that my BP could actually be that... normal.

Regardless, I purchased a blood pressure monitor to monitor my BP at home because of white coat syndrome. The thing is, I found out that it wasn't the white coats that were making me scared, but the act of measuring my BP itself. So, even at home, my heart would start racing and my BP would be once again 160-170-180 before dropping down to a respectable 120 average. However, that gave me the reassurance that I needed that my BP was indeed normal, or at least could, be normal. Sometimes, it would even go as low as 108!

This then evolved into fearing those initial high readings as well and I posted here about it. I was worried that those high readings would damage my arteries (heart attack, stroke, kidney damage, yada, yada...) and eventually cause my resting BP to rise over time. But without that constant reassurance of seeing my BP at 120-ish, I would start to get anxious, thinking that that anxiety would raise my BP as well. Essentially, I was in a negative spiral/Catch 22 situation.

So, I took the advice from you guys and have gotten rid of my blood pressure machine (gave it to my grandma). However, these past few weeks have been a rollercoaster ride of emotions for me. Sometimes, I'd be perfectly fine and relaxed, but at others, whenever I get anxious or paranoid or even when I exerted myself by moving around or doing light exercise, I would constantly worry that I would be raising my BP and damaging my arteries once again causing me even more anxiety. Since I don't have a way to quantify my BP anymore, I feel like I don't have a way out.

So, I guess the big question of this unnecessarily long post is... As fellow HA suffers, do you guys also suffer from BP worries? How do you guys get the confidence to go out and do things without knowing what your BP is every single minute of every single day? For those of you who have been suffering from anxiety for many, many years... is it possible to damage your arteries from BP spikes from anxiety alone? I would really appreciate if you'd share your experience, wisdom and advice.

(Note that I have since lost 20kg since I was a teen and am continuing to eat a healthy diet. Unfortunately, I'm still struggling with exercise because of my fear of heart palpitations and overexertion and I work long hours at a desk...)

[Weasley123]

U judt need to nit think about it. I have intrusive thoughts about bp. I try to push them down. I’m not overweight but today I had a Pain aux raisin Pastry for breakfast, pierogis for lunch, anchovy pizza for dinner and ice cream. Oh and I’m drinking wine. I suppose I could eat salad everyday, I eat healthy during the week but it’s no guarantee of living forever and I’d likr yo enjoy life. I can’t do that focused on bp and neither can u. Eat healthy most of the time, I’m very healthy Monday thru Thursday, move, I walk a ton, but remember to enjoy life. U r a young man. I’m almost 41. I’m baffled as to how thst happened time fies

[Dracom]

I had a tooth extraction done in the morning. Because it was rather early, I didn't have anything to eat before going. Thankfully, the extraction was quick and painless but because of the post-extraxtion care, I could not eat or drink anything until the bleeding stopped. The thing is, this took until early evening and by the time the bleeding stopped, I was starting to feel a little faint and clammy and my heart rate started to rise. I immediately had something to eat. The only thing I had at hand that was soft enough was ice cream, so I downed half a tub. While I did get better, soon after, my heart rate spiked to an average of 100bpm for a couple of hours, maybe even three (with skipped beats to boot!). I didn't feel panicked (I don't think) as I did not have any of the red flag symptoms (dizziness, nausea, chest pain, blurry vision, etc...), but it was really uncomfortable and I was contemplating going to the ER before it subsided on its own.

Is this something that happens when you go for many hours without food or water and suddenly ingest something? I hope I didn't do some irreparable damage or anything...

[Josht]

No food and then a ton of sugar? Yup, that sounds like it will cause all sorts of issues!


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[ankietyjoe]

Completely normal.