Does heart diseas cause headaches?

[Angie684]

I'm just wondering if heart disease causes headaches. I know I read somewhere that it did but that was the only place I saw anything about it.

I've been having headaches almost everyday for a while now. I get the on the top of my head and they will come on very suddenly and then they can go away just as suddenly. It doesn't feel like any kind of headache I've ever had before. It doesn't feel like a tension headache or anything like that. Plus, I though it was very odd that they come and go away so quickly. I don't know it just kind of scares me. I have other symptoms that make me think I might have heart disease but this is just one of many. I know to go to the doctor, I just went but I forgot to mention this among my many other symptoms. Just wondering if you all could give me any advice concerning this. Thanks.

[ed34]

Low or high blood pressure can cause headaches. If I take nitrates, the sudden drop in blood pressure causes a real throbbing head pain which lasts for anywhere between 30 mins and several hours. There are many reasons for blood pressure variations and are not heart related, but of course if your heart is not able to pump sufficiently to keep the pressure up, then you will suffer symptoms. However, I think you would suffer more symptoms than just headaches. Even something as simple as not drinking enough fluids can cause your blood pressure to drop.
There is also a small muscle at the base of the skull, at the back which, when it goes into spasm, can cause some blinding headaches. Mine went into spasm about six years ago and my headaches were that bad I was holding bags of frozen peas on my head. It took an injection of a muscle relaxant to cure it. I would go back to your doctor for a good check up.

[Jerry_NJ]

Yes, head ache can be caused by heart problems.  I may not have this exactly right but share to get the discussion going.

I think low blood pressure can cause dizziness, but not headaches, and high blood pressure can cause headaches but not dizziness.   I went through the two-sided "drill" just to say what I understand about blood pressure.  You may want to measure you BP often, say every time you pass one of the public BP stations at a pharmacy (including Walmart).  This would be especially important if you were also having a sudden headache at the time of the measurement.

Just on possibility.

Good luck,