Q: Recently I have been experiencing bad headaches and my blood pressure has been really high even though I have been put on meds to help with this what could cause this bad headaches?
A: If you are over 50 with new onset headaches, you need to see your doctor. New headaches in people over 50 can be a sign of a serious medical problem that needs treatment. It is also possible that the medicine you have been given to treat your blood pressure is causing your headaches. Some blood pressure medicines known to cause headaches are ACE inhibitors, alpha-blockers, angiotensin II receptor blockers, and calcium channel blockers. You should discuss this further with your doctor.
I have gone through ALL the drug classes of HBP meds……….I get severe side effects from all of them either from swelling, coughing, itching, headaches, dizziness, sleepiness, nausea……it’s a never ending battle ;-(
I have the same problem. Sometimes I think the doctor think I make it up but I have tinnitis and all the medicines make it really bad. Plus most make my heart race and give me horrible heartburn. So what do you do for it?
Why does Dr. Rowena not tell you that a symptom of high blood pressure is headache. When my blood pressure is high, it causes a headache. If I take Ibuprofen, the headache dissipates, but that just masks a real problem….uncontrolled hypertension.
I agree, headaches usually means the BP is high in people with HBP. Also if you’re not used to having them, headaches can be a sign of other serious problems like a brain tumor or aneurysm. I notice I get headaches when I eat sweets. I never ate a lot of salt and don’t like salty foods, so a HBP diagnosis was surprising to me.
It’s been a year now and I notice my pressure always goes up when I eat sweets (I have normal blood sugar levels) and that is when I get headaches as well. The Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar is definitely a help as it stabilizes blood sugar levels, but I don’t take it all the time (usually a teaspoon in a glass of water in the morning). I am working on coming off of my HCTZ and my daily BP readings average 117 over 77 and as low as 105 over 70 when I follow the DASH diet, which is the way all humans should eat anyway. Good luck and see your doctor.
Nitrates and nitrites in foods such as processed meats are some of the usual suspects for headaches. Also B-12 sometimes helps the headaches go away.Magnesium is good for relaxing muscles and sometimes bringing down BP a little and helping aleviate headaches. Mild excerise often helps BP and headaches.
For me, age 58, the first sign of high blood pressure has almost always been a headache. I have heard that hbp is symptomless but not in my case.
I have had HBP since 1978.The medicine that I were taking lowered my BP to 141/101 all the time until about 8 months ago when I started drinking Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar. My BP readings now are 114/75 every morning. It works for me
HOW MUCH ARE YOU DRINKING EVERY DAY? HAVE YOU CHANGED ANYTHING ELSE?
I did not realize that Bragg Apple
Cider Vinegar would bring down blood pressure. I am 80 and in rather good health, but high blood pressure is a new problem for me. I,too, would like to know how much vinegar to take. It would be an easy solution. My blood pressure medication has bad side effects. I have had headaches and pressure in my eyes, which I know is not good. Sometimes my blood pressure is normal.
You do indeed need to be cautious. I had horrible headaches back in early 1986 and it turned out to have been an aneurysm on the brain which ultimately burst – by the grace of God alone I am alive today to talk about it so do not fool around with that.
Many doctors have the common belief that HBP has no symptoms. Really? Ask someone with the headaches you mention. I could always tell when my BP would go up because I’d get an uncomfortable, squirrely (for lack of a better description) feeling in my chest. Very disconcerting.
My Dr. believed me saying some people do indeed feel when their pressure rises. You need a doctor who listens and believes you. Good luck with that.
My headaches and high blood pressure used to be connected. However, the meds can do that too. The calcium channel blockers are the absolute pits. I’m on a diurectic and it controls the numbers and no headaches either.
My doctor indicated that the symptoms of HBP (if any) are headaches, hearing your heart pound in your ears, shortness of breath, dizziness, flushing and blurred vision. Meds don’t get to root cause. Eliminate animal protein, dairy and oil and change your diet radically until your numbers improve. People need to understand that BP is simple to control with aggressive nutritional intervention.
Nutrition is not always the complete answer. There can be underlying medical problems, such, as in my case I am just learning that my long term use of an RX to control another medical condition has resulted in impaired kidney function. And so, it had puzzled me why a vegan diet had failed to make a substantial change for the better in my bp numbers. Now,I am beginning to understand that I have secondary hypertension(in my case Renovascular Hypertension) due to the kidney damage. I just read a book on bp by Samuel J. Mann,M.D. which explained secondary hypertention. By using diuretics, I was simply draining my body of potassium and opening myself up for more problems. The journey goes on. Resperate, so far, has been helpful.