High blood pressure in young person!

wakka12

So my mam recently got a blood pressure measure and I thought Id try it out of interest! Assumed itd be grand as Im fit and 22 years old! I got very nervous just before trying it, dont ask me why, I get irrationally nervous all the time, with a thudding heart and it was 180/110 or something mad, I googled what average blood pressure is and it said call if its 180/110 call 999 its a medical emergency! As youd imagine this had my stress absolutely up the wall and had several very similar readings immediately after this..after calming myself down and lots of breathing exercises and relaxation(very difficult seeing as I apparetly was at risk of a heart attack any minute now!) I managed to get this down to low thirties /over low 80's about ten minutes later, which is fine, even got 120/80 there a few minutes ago which is perfect , I had finally gotten quite calm.

Anyway, I find it frightening that stress can cause such incredible spike in blood pressure in such a short time frame, I suffer from a general anxiety condition and this got me wondering if the stress I generally am under in life is regularly spiking my blood presure and damaging my heart and vessels longterm. Would a doctor be able to tell me if my organs had been damaged by stress induced high blood pressure? Im very fit and eat very healthy, very slim, 22 years old, male, non smoker, drink moderately,sleep 8 hours a night, not really any particular familial heart problems of any note..Ive generally been quite proud and confident in being a healthy person but those initial readings really shook my confidence in myself and made me terrified of mortlity in general

Ten of Swords

wakka12 wrote: »

Would a doctor be able to tell me if my organs had been damaged by stress induced high blood pressure?

I had a longer post written out but with this type of thing I'm always wary of the medical advice rule!

In a word, yes, your doctor can help you with your BP if necessary and tests can be run. Drawing from my own experience your doctor will first see if a BP spike is an acute event (one off, or infrequent) or chronic (continuous, ongoing) and depending on that the root cause can be determined. You say stress induced/general anxiety but there are a number of things that can cause BP spikes so your doctor may explore a few options.

In my own case I was hospitalized a few years ago when I was in college, I was 20 at the time and in excellent health. My experience was the result of a severe reaction to something and my BP on admission was considered to be a hypertensive emergency. I was subsequently told that I had hovered very close to stoke and organ failure. Although hypertension often has no symptoms at all I had ignored some warning signs the previous day (seeing stars when standing up, ringing in ears, momentary rushes of dizzyness).

The doctors ran several MRI scans on me over several days to monitor the blood vessels in my body and thankfully these revealed no damage or weaknesses.

wakka12

Interesting, I think I will go to a doctor and see what they say. And I think its stress induced just becasue it was extremely high when I was stressed and then went back to normal soon afterwards

Do you mind me asking what you reacted to? And what are some things that can cause dramatic sudden rises in blood pressure then? and also Im guessing your high blood pressure was just a temporary thing then and not longterm? And well I dont blame you for not following up on those 'warning signs' when you are 20, I dont think any young person would

silverharp

Look up some videos on YouTube, there are a few basic steps to ensure you don't get a false reading. Chances are if you measure it over a month or 2 you will get a reasonable average. One basic nutritional angle if not a one off might be a potassium deficiency. (Eat some bananas)

Ten of Swords

There are many factors that affect BP. Lifestyle choices can be a factor, though from your description you lead a healthy lifestyle. Lack of exercise and being overweight don't help but these won't apply to you based on your post. Some diet based risk factors are chronic alcohol intake, excessive caffeine, excessive sodium (salty foods) and deficiencies in potassium or calcium. Apart from these factors which you have control over there are many medical conditions that can also adversely affect blood pressure, the most obvious one is diabetes but a doctor would probably need to rule out other conditions too.

My situation was a one off event which is why there was no lasting damage but my readings were so high I was kept in hospital for 10 days and treated with beta blockers to bring my BP down. I took something harmful, lets leave it at that.

Acute hypertension, though dangerous in itself, is not as harmful as chronic hypertension which can weaken blood vessels as well as cause permanent damage to eyes and kidneys. You may know this already but the blood pressure calculation is systolic (the pressure your heart exerts on arteries when it beats) / diastolic (pressure exerted when your heart is between beats), the first reading you posted is 150% of the recommended levels and even if you were able to calm yourself relatively quickly it's worth a trip to the doctor just to be safe.

Jeff2

Some Phermacies or your Doctor can give you a kit you wear for 24 hours it checks the pressure every 20 minutes.
You go back the next day and they check the data readout and tell you how it is.

Jeff2

I was checking online about the 24 hour test and it seems to be €50 from the Phermacies now, it was €20 when I did it 3 years ago.
On a plus side you could get this done first and then know if you need to go the doctor and you can bring the results with you.

wakka12

Thanks for all the help everybody
Appreciate it!
Just took my readings again there, tried to relax before but was a bit nervous. First reading was 155/110..high! Second was 135/100..third was 128/94 which is fine(though the dystolic is a little bit too high)..then I left it at that and went to bed but probably it would have gone down a few more minor points if I tried another one or two goes..do many people expereince this rapid decrease between their readings? These are less than a minute apart

Also weird that a few days ago my systolic was generally considerably higher and the dystolic was generally is high seventies or low eighties but now its generally around low nineties with lower systolic. This is all very annoying tbh, this little monitor thing.

Im going to visit my GP monday and get a cuff monitor for 24 hours just in case, better safe than sorry

Car99

Wakka , get you doc to check your bp, and try not to self diagnose an issue that most likely doesn't exist. I often wonder if Dr Google contributes negatively to people in general. No matter what ailment we think we have we always zone in on the most catastrophic reason for our "symptoms" rather than the most common least serious reason.

Jeff2

Good god don't be taken reading a minute apart.
That's not a good thing to do.
Imagine how your going to fell let alone your body fell doing that.

Taking a blood pressure reading means that the machine has to restrict your blood flow.
No something you want to do every minute and expect a good reading.

Jeff2

wakka12 wrote: »

Im going to visit my GP monday and get a cuff monitor for 24 hours just in case, better safe than sorry

See your GP as alone is causing stress.

wakka12

Jeff2 wrote: »

Good god don't be taken reading a minute apart.
That's not a good thing to do.
Imagine how your going to fell let alone your body fell doing that.

Taking a blood pressure reading means that the machine has to restrict your blood flow.
No something you want to do every minute and expect a good reading.

It says online to take readings roughly a minute apart? I felt fine, the cuff is supposed to be loose enough that a finger can slip downit

jimmycrackcorm

Buy a BP monitor. I think either Aldi or Lidl have then Atm. Just check it regulatory and it'll give you a good idea of where you are generally as you could be fine all day long and then have a doctors appointment and it could spike enormously.

You're not gong to do dead suddenly and add your young then just get an idea of what it shows up regularly as.

wakka12

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Buy a BP monitor. I think either Aldi or Lidl have then Atm. Just check it regulatory and it'll give you a good idea of where you are generally as you could be fine all day long and then have a doctors appointment and it could spike enormously.

You're not gong to do dead suddenly and add your young then just get an idea of what it shows up regularly as.

Google would nearly tell you otherwise! I know that BP is serious but as another person said, dont google illnesses, it gives worst case scenarios and a lot of illnesses of varying severity have many many overlapping symptoms which will just make you very worried and anxious and produce more bad symptoms

embee

Go to the GP and get it checked manually, the manual spyghmomanometer is far more accurate. Also, don't keep checking it repeatedly, give time between checks, doing repeated BP readings in a short space of time will just give you inaccurate, false high results.

Jeff2

wakka12 wrote: »

It says online to take readings roughly a minute apart? I felt fine, the cuff is supposed to be loose enough that a finger can slip downit

It says online..........

Do no go to your doctor and say it says online.
But do go to the Doctor.

Also I felt fine but now on tablet for life and my own pressure monitor.

dvdman1

I feel theres a touch of hypochondriac here...just saying!

wakka12

dvdman1 wrote: »

I feel theres a touch of hypochondriac here...just saying!

You were right! Doctor said it was all in my head today and completely anxiety induced and that I dont have longterm hypertention or any problems with my arteries or heart and actually she recommended me to a psychologist, but at the same time she said it was the right thing to visit a doctor for their opinion when I was getting readings that high. Thanks everyone for your help

Gael23

Go to your GP and get the 24 hour monitor would be my advice.
Your BP fluctuates many times during the day so maybe try to take it early in the morning or late in the evening when your relaxed.

skallywag

Problem that I find at least is that my BP is nearly always high when measured at the doctors, quite a common effect it seems.

I would take a measurement every morning on waking and take a look at the stats over a month or so. An isolated very high reading is in itself not something that I would worry about, I have often had the same.

wakka12

Yep its called 'white coat' hypertension . Funnily enough I got much more nervous taking it at home than from the doctor at the office, I think being in a GP office makes me feel safe because if theres a problem they tell you what can help straight away. The best way to get an overall picture is have a 24 hour cuff that also takes readings while youre sleeping

EdgeCase

You can rule all of these things out with a 24h ambulatory blood pressure check. You just wear an accurate, automatic BP monitor that takes a reading every 30 mins or every hour over night. That gives you proper data.

If you're concerned about your cardiovascular health get a one off cardiac check up. A cardiologist can check you out with an ECG (monitor electrical activity), echocardiogram (ultrasound thwt looks at your valves and chambers) and some blood tests to check various things. It's all very non invasive.

I've high BP myself and have had since my early 20s. It's always been unexplained.

I'm actually just out of the doctors and was fitted with a 24hr blood pressure monitor. They are uncomfortable (a bit) but will be worth it.

wakka12

My doctor was saying readings on 24 hour monitors can also be a bit elevated due to the person being very aware of it being on their arm all the time and not fully relaxing

Dardania

wakka12 wrote: »

My doctor was saying readings on 24 hour monitors can also be a bit elevated due to the person being very aware of it being on their arm all the time and not fully relaxing

That's why I think what Apple et al. are doing with smart watches is great - they will be little continuous health monitors that you are fully yourself around...

EdgeCase

It's quite difficult to take BP without something somewhat annoying. If they can come up a passive, external sensor that doesn't involve squeezing your arm it would be very handy.

B0jangles

Was just about to say that it's 99% likely your anxiety that's making your bp spike. Well done on going to the doctor though, always a good idea when any symptom is worrying you for days on end. but (and I speak from personal experience) try not to go googling random symptoms to find out what might be wrong with you,

Google + anxiety condition = You're literally dying RIGHT NOW, time to panic!

beertons

Turn off the internet and go to your doctor.

B0jangles

B0jangles wrote:

Google + anxiety condition = You're literally dying RIGHT NOW, time to panic!

I did that today. Right before I saw my doctor. I hate anxiety.

silverharp

if you do some deep breathing exercises for 3 or 4 minutes before you test it normally helps, mine drops 10 points doing that alone.

Gremlinertia

Closing thread as it's veering close to medical advice which is against the forum charter and i believe all concerns have been addressed, any further questions please feel free to PM myself or another moderator of this forum