BP?

[tcujohnson]

Hello. My question involves head pressure. This occurs especially in the evening after driving home from work. As I stand up out of my car, I feel intense pressure and what appears to me swooshing sound of my pulse in my ears. My blood pressure has been with in normal ranges. these sensations do gradually subside. I do take zoloft and metropolo. I have been experiencing this for about 6 months, now. Usually, occurs after I have been sitting for a while. I know this is a brief description, but any ideas? Is this blood pressure? Thanks!

[is_something_wrong]

It's quite common to only look at one side of the blood pressure issue; how much blood the heart pumps each beat. Remember, blood pressure is determined by "cardiac output" x "blood vessel resistance". If you can sense the blood flow (pulse in your ears, palpitations, etc) your cardiac output can be high, but your blood pressure isn't necessarily high.

The fact that you can feel pulses can also indicate that your blood vessels are dilated (low resistance) and can also be a sign of low blood pressure. So can headache, dizziness and other symptoms we tend to link to a high blood pressure. When you stand up after stress, it's not uncommon to get a vasovagal response, where the blood vessels dilate and your heart beats either slow and forceful, or rapid. This is a normal response and I often get that after sitting for a long time and then standing up,

Maybe you should ask your doctor for a 24 hour monitor just to be sure, and based on the results, 1) forget this problem, or 2) get treatment..

[tcujohnson]

Yes, on Zoloft.

[erijon]

If your BP is high you could get these symptoms, but it would be very high and if you're normal most of the time, it would be less likely to be BP. The ability to hear your BP in your ears is also pretty common, but could also be a symptom of very high BP. Are you on the Zoloft when this happens?

In any case, you should mention this to your doctor to be safe.

Jon