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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Do I have high blood pressure?
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
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Do I have high blood pressure?
by englishlad, Jun 14, 2006 12:00AM
Im a 25 years old and for the most of my quarter of a century of life, i have been pretty normal. In February of this year i had eaten an extremely large meal and felt very light-headed afterwards. My symptoms were a racing heart and a feeling of fainting. I didnt know what was going on so i began to panic due to the fact that i had never felt that way before. I went into my car and locked the door and just lied down hoping it would go away which it did eventually. My dad was with me and he had said "son, u just ate too much" so the anxiety kinda went away, or did it...? For the next couple weeks i had returned to normal but in the back of my mind i thought "what really happened that day". I begen overdwelling on things afterwards such as arm pains , headaches, ect ect..which eventually brought back the same feeling. I had told my parents about my feelings and my mother had told me to go to the supermarket and have your blood pressure taken at the pharmacy, so i did...I went in feeling very nervous and as the machine squeezed my arm i began to feel my heart race. My reading was 152/92 and i FREAKED OUT and had a full blown panic attack! I somehow drove myself to the hospital and they calmed me down, gave me an EKG which was normal except for the beats per minute obvoiusly and they were able to calm me down and once my blood pressure came back down to 130/80 they let me go and told me to try taking xanax. I went online and read the side-effects and decided that i shouldnt start taking medication at my age.I decided to visit a carteologist just to be safe. When i was there, i was extremely nervous and my "bp" was 140-100 . They really didnt say much about that probably due to the fact that they knew i was nervous, however my heart overall was fine. It is now june 2006 and have developed an enormous phobia about blood pressure and decided to purchase my own blood pressure monitor for my home(this made things worse) and everytime i apply the cuff i get nervous and it is always high. I decided to visit the hospital again and try and overcome the fear again so i could convince myself i didnt have high blood pressure. Once again i started to feel nervous and began to have another anxiety attack(arms tingling,heavy chest, ect ect) thus when they took it, it was high. They gave me a xanax pill and came back about 30 mins later and my blood pressure was 128/78. The following day i went back to the hospital again and took a xanax and it was 120/70.My blood pressure phobia is slowing deminishing, however my new worry is that "is my blood pressure only normal when i am on xanax" is xanax made to lower blood pressure and if someone that has hypertension took xanax, would their blood pressure come down too? I feel as though i am losing controle of my life and have a fear of developing "ocd".Do you think i have hypertension,or is this all in my mind? When i come home from the hospital i am ok for a few hours untill allthe "what if's"enter my brain!help!
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Jun 15, 2006 12:00AM
, Jun 15, 2006 12:00AM
This is a rather typical anxiety reaction. It does not have to become ocd or anything if you try to get a perspective on yourself and your life right now, either a alone, or through some sort of meditation or by seeing a therapist for some brief counseling.
Xanax does not control high blood pressure with someone who has it, only anxiety. throw away your blood pressure machine and stop testing, that's what I suggest.
Xanax does not control high blood pressure with someone who has it, only anxiety. throw away your blood pressure machine and stop testing, that's what I suggest.
Xanax is not a blood pressure medicine...it is strictly for anxiety and it has a sedative effect. Once you are calm, your body settles down from the fear and anxiety.
I went to several doctors because I just couldn't beleive that my symptoms were not real..rapid heart beat, hyperventalating, lightheadness, hot flushes..etc. Thousand and Thousands of dollars later, and a clean bill of health, I know it is anxiety. I have learn to deal with it and I put things in perspective. Learn to deep breath from your stomach, it will stop the hyperventalating and rapid heart rate. Also when you start to panic about how you are feeling, reassure yourself that you are okay and that you have experience this feeling before and you turned out fine...There are many great self-help books out there that will assist in understanding this problem and how to overcome it.
Best wishes to you.
I've been through very similar symptoms about one year ago. Now i know that i had a panic attack disorder. Almost every night i was not able sleep and i was thinking i was having a heart attack or a stroke. My arms would get numb, i would feel duzzy and lightheaded, i would also get a numb sensation inside my head, i would become swetting and throuwing up, and i felt like someone tied a belt around my chest, since i could not sleep. It would most commonly happen at night, after trying to fall asleep, and my heartbeat would reach 120 beats per minute, and my blood pressure would sometimes reach 140/100.
After many visits to the emergency room and many exams for my brain and heart, the doctors told me that i'm completely healthy, and that i need to pay a visit to mental health professionals about this. I didn't beleive at first, that these are purely phycological problems. But after getting a treatment from phycologist (therapy for 3 months) and psyciatrist (prozac 20mg per day), and after learning A LOT about panic attacks, i was panic attack free for a year and embrased life.
What really helped me, was understanding what happens in my body when i'm having a panic attack. Imagine, your car got stcuk on a railroad track and the train is approaching. Any person's reaction would be to try to get out of the car as fast as possible. In order to do this, the body would undergo several changes in order to assist you in this task. The blood pressure would increase (hence the high blood pressure and sweting), the blood would concentrate in the torso (hence numb feet and hands), the adrenaline would rush into your blood (hence high heart beet) and so on.
In many people for not known reasons sometimes these reaction happen even if no emmidiate danger is around us. The person's reaction to these changes is what can start a panic attack!!!!
Imagine, you are sleeping, and suddenly you are getting all the above mentioned conditions! There is no immediate danger around. YOUR MIND then comes into play and starts looking for danger. If there is no train coming at your car right now, but you are sweting, it must be something inside you! You are probably having a heart attack or a stroke!
As soon as the mind found the reason, the loop is closed. Now the body will react even worse, since the REAL DANGER is found, and the more severe reactions