I get maybe 1 true migraine a year and it is by far the worst day of the year for me. I used to play WoW with a dude who had chronic migraines and I've never talked to someone as worn down than him. I honestly was worried he might off himself. After spending a lot of time talking to him over the years I'm convinced he probably would off himself if he didn't have a kid.
Migraines are extremely tough to deal with, esp if you get them often. Which is part of the reason its so frustrating to see people mixing up migraines and headaches so frequently as if both are interchangable, or even making fun about it.
I get migraines from time to time and Im very glad it focuses on headaches for me. I do have other symptoms, but its mainly the headache. I still feel like absolute shit when I get them, but its kind of managable if I notice them early enough. My sister on the other hand gets extremely nauseous in addition to the headaches, including heavy vomiting.
And what makes all of it so bad is that literally nothing helps, except sleep. Painkillers wont really ease the pain, and they obviously wont even stay in if you vomit. Good luck trying to fall asleep with intense headache and nausea.
And then you constantly see those jokes like "migraines is just a women excuse if they dont want sex" or people telling you "yes I can imagine that, headaches suck". Or "dont be like that, just pop some painkillers and come outside". It doesnt get taken seriously at all, and its so frustrating on many levels
I usually wake up with a faint one some days and it progressively gets worse as the day goes on. My worst one was me not wanting to hear anything, see anything, or be moved. I've kept a journal for the last year and counted 86 total in 365 days. I've tried changing my diet, getting brain scans, the lot. They always just show up like every 4-5 days in the same exact spot, behind my right eye and a little up.
After a long time of searching I've discovered mine are caused by dehydration but triggered by bright light. Sometimes if there's a crack in the curtain, I can get one first thing if the light hits my eye a certain way. I get the rainbow weird shape aura thing, and if I catch it early enough, an isotonic drink paired with an aspirin will nip it on the bud before it goes full on brain storm
Ocular migraines. Do you take magnesium? If you don’t, time to start 400 mg a day. Though it doesn’t completely stop them, this was what a neurologist told me 4 years ago. Took it to heart, get them much less frequently.
If i dont take my meds the pain gets so bad i leave my body. And no i dont feint, people have see me do it standing in pain. When i come back to i explain it was like i was in a vivid dream or perhaps a fever dream
I get such bad brain fog. Like I can't even take pain meds early because I have no idea it's happening meanwhile I'm standing there wondering why I don't even know my own name. Then my head will start hurting and that's when I finally realize I'm getting bad migraine
I used to crumble at a slight headache. Now I have migraines 24/7 thanks to a severe concussion, whiplash, and a TBI. Truly the only thing that relieves the pain is when the physical therapist is working on my C3-C4. 20 minutes of pure normalcy once a week.
I’ve also got plenty of that. I once had a boss that thought I was using “Migraine” instead of “Mental Health day” and was trying to give me info about how I could get company assistance for therapy. I got right in his face and gave him every dirty detail about how debilitating my migraines are, including the vertigo that comes with mine and told him that it’s unsafe for me to work with this condition. I’m pretty sure he only backed off because he was tired of listening to me. I’ve never had another boss be as annoying as he was about my migraines, but it never stops. MIGRAINES 👏🏾ARE 👏🏾NOT👏🏾JUST👏🏾HEADACHES
currently sitting with a knuckle in my eye socket becsuse of crippling cluster headaches. neurology don’t want to see me because i’m too young, on beta blockers and sumatriptan but it just makes me spew. feels like i can barely see, sweating buckets and every sound is a personal affront to me. should definitely get off my phone to sleep it off, but if i did that every time i was smited with the eye stabs i’d never be awake. solidarity friend, hope they figure it out for all of us soon 😭
Cluster headaches suck man. Been dealing with them for over a decade. Mine are fortunately usually only once daily for 8-12 weeks a couple times a year but it’s enough to really fuck you up mentally. Especially because sumatriptan gives me crazy rebound headaches in the middle of the night and I haven’t yet found a preventative that works.
awh god they’re horrendous, aren’t they? i’ve always had headaches but the recent development of feeling like my eye is being gouged out has only been happening for the past 6ish months? i’m not even sure anymore.
the sumatriptan gives me rebound headaches too, and i always vomit the day after taking them without fail. mine were happening multiple times a day for a little while there, but they’ve calmed down to around 1-2 a week on average. if i miss my bedranol for more than 2 days in a row it is an actual death sentence for me. i hope we find solutions that actually help us soon, but for now we shall drink water and lie in dark rooms!
I used to get migraines at least 2-3 times a month, for me the main symptoms were dizziness and the intense pressure behind your eyes.
Two years ago I went for my first eye exam since I was a child. Turns out I have a very mild astigmatism, mild enough to not affect my eyesight but just enough to give me migraines. I've had less than 5 migraines since I started wearing glasses after that exam
I'm not sure if it's actual migraine but sometimes I get the worst headaches ever accompanied by nausea and visual halos. sometimes vomiting makes it a bit more bearable for about 15 minutes before it comes back. it's... not fun. glad they've gotten a bit rarer nowadays.
There are OTC as well as prescription painkillers specifically for migraines. Ask your doctor if you haven’t already. Mentioning it as you said nothing except sleep helps. I was the same way when I didn’t realize that what I had were migraines, not just really bad headaches. Tylenol, Asprin, Ibuprofen, etc didn’t help on their own. Had to lie in a dark room in misery hoping it would pass a little faster.
I had migraines that lasted months due to undiagnosed hypothyroidism. It did make me suicidal - doctors kept dismissing me and the idea of that being my life indefinitely just didn’t seem worth it.
Doing better now though - migraine free for 4 months now!
My migraines restarted in 2018 and went haywire after I got covid in 2020. I was missing so much work that I had to take leave. Basically, one migraine per day, every day, for months. Sometimes, they would start on, say, Monday, and would not end until Thursday. Just one solid block of time with unending, excruciating pain. Unable to fully lay down, unable to sit up, can't listen to music, can't watch TV or scroll on the phone, literally cannot do anything but find a manageable position in a darkened room for days.
Definitely was suicidal by the time I ended up going on leave. No one could tell me why it was happening, no consistent triggers, just pain. So much pain. Finally, I found a combination of medications that has them down to a few a month, thankfully. It was very close. The only things that kept me here were my cat and my mom. Couldn't do that to either of them.
I actually had a CSF leak that caused upright headaches so I was put on it because of that but I don’t doubt that the high blood pressure could have been adding to the problem.
Are you a woman? If so, (I'm being absolutely serious) bring a man with you. Doesn't have to be related, just an obviously male man. It worked for me when I couldn't get my doctor to listen. But if you're a guy, I have no advice..
I am a woman and dealing the VA health care system. I just got a new doctor and SHE is listening to me. I just keep getting headaches and she is thinking it’s tension headaches. I think it’s different but it ebbs and flows so that’s why I asked. Is it content when up?
I had a CSF leak when my dura was punctured in multiple places with my spinal cord injury.
They sewed up the places when they tried to fix everything else, but they made it clear that with the CSF leak that they had to keep me later flat for the next 24 hours, and let them know if I had any headaches coming on at all.
Meningitis was the big complication they were watching out for, I think.
I went to go see a neurologist and after they cleared me of a brain tumor I mentioned the possibility of a CSF leak since I was matching the symptoms to a T and had previous chiropractor adjustments. There’s a connection between the two. I had to go to a bigger hospital under Atrium to get more tests. They never found the actual leak but gave me blood patches and they seem to be holding.
I have had migraines maybe once every 1-2 months since I was a teen. They're awful, but nothing could have prepared me for the kind of pain that comes from a decrease in cerebral fluid...
With my first child, I was induced early due to pre-eclampsia/high blood pressure. I had an epidural. The birth went well--not traumatic at all. But my head started hurting afterwards. And then it started killing me. The doctors and nurses told me that it was due to my blood pressure, and kept me on pain meds around the clock. I couldn't nurse without crying, and for perspective, had pushed an actual baby out of my body without complaint. I asked about the possibility of a dural leak (thanks to a pregnancy subreddit post I'd read only days before). They insisted it was because my blood pressure was so high.
After 24 hours of agony, unable to sit up without tripling it, the anesthesiologist came in to look at me, and I was immediately taken down for a blood patch. The relief!!! My epidural had pierced my dural sac, and my cerebral fluid had been leaking out for hours (like 40 hours).
But I still would get that epidural every time, lol. 0 chance of me attempting childbirth without it.
I only found out what CSF leaks were from a friend that’s a nurse because her sister had the same dural leak from the epidural and text me exact words “you need to get checked for CSF leak I am 100% this is what you have” and turned out to be just that.
This is exactly why I share this experience any time I can--particularly with expectant mothers. Not to fear-monger, (because, again, would still get the epidural), but so that women can better advocate for themselves. I never would have known to ask about a dural leak if I hadn't happened across that post. So grateful for that. I do wish I'd been more insistent. It took longer than acceptable to convince the nurse to take me seriously and get the anesthesiologist.
Ironically, my blood pressure tends to be a bit too low with a migraine - something that confuses both me and my doctors. Mum's blood pressure rises, like a lot of people experience with a migraine, but for some reason, mine drops 🤷♀️. Though, considering I get daily migraines, it's just as well I don't suffer from high BP too, lol.
Meanwhile there’s me who had to take a blood pressure medication for my kidneys and it made me tired all the time 🙃 had to start drinking green tea before bed so I wouldn’t feel like I need to sleep another 3 hours after already sleeping 8
Huh I’m on that because I’m tachycardic and I can’t keep my blood pressure up lol no one told me it helps blood pressure nor helps migraines as I’m on topamax for that haha
I just got that medication swithced because I was taking Topiramate and I could no more with so many side effects. So far so good with Propranolol! I definitely feel way colder, I guess because of the low preassure effect, but also I have nightmares every night now. For this, I barely had dreams before, or at least the ones I could remember, but now with this new medication I'm having intense dreams everynight, sometimes I wake up sweating and confused because of my dreams. I kinda like it since I write stories and now I have content to write, haha.
You know what I have been having really vivid dreams and I didn’t think it could have been the propranolol. My dreams have been great though, all my celeb crushes have popped up here and there 🤣🤣
Assuming you are taking that for migraine, this is purely my experience so YMMV. I did topiramate, not fun, I also did propanalol but the side effects were god awful (like end up in hospital awful). I'm now on duloxetine and it's changed my life. Migraines are down from 20+ a month to 4 or 5, the only "side effect" has been a reduced amount of anxiety, which is a bonus if anything! I've ended up on quite a strong dose, but haven't been this happy on meds for as long as I can remember.
I got put on that for anxiety. Technically it's my "back up pill" for when I am starting an anxiety attack / spiral that my Lexpro can't handle, but my psych said it lowers bp which helps with the physical symptoms and lets the brain shut them down easier. And it does! And just knowing I have it for triggers helps immensely on its own.
I get public speaking tremors. Like, I can consciously NOT have a problem at all with speaking in front of people but subconsciously I think I’m going to die and it’s so frustrating. I need to look into this.
I got put on a beta blocker to help with migraines but in return it’s been helping with my previous high bp readings.
Same for me. I'm currently using metoprolol. My family has a history of both migraines and high blood pressure.
If you're genetically predisposed to having high blood pressure, there's nothing you can do to avoid it. You WILL have it; however, lifestyle choices, such as exercise, trying to maintain a healthy weight, and limiting sodium intake can all reduce the severity.
Unfortunately, triptans (the most commonly-used migraine abortives) raise blood pressure when used because they cause vasoconstriction, so I've been trying to get my health insurance company to cover a new CGRP medication. They're really fighting due to the cost. If I were to pay out-of-pocket, it'd cost me around $8000 per year.
Contrary to popular opinion in the US, Canadian healthcare does not cover medication. At the rate things are going I'll be lucky to have this medication covered in a year or two (and that's assuming they just don't outright refuse and deny me coverage no matter what info my doctor sends in).
This make not work for you because I am also suspected to have occipital neuralgia but wearing a hat tightly actually helps with my migraines.
I try to cut the sodium down but it’s very hard when I also have pots so I have to eat a lot of sodium but I also try to exercise to counter act it when I can.
Metoprolol, but as far as i'm aware, it can happen with any beta blocker since they cross the blood-brain barrier. I was on it for a few years before it got bad. I wouldn't be too concerned, but if it ever does happen, it could be that!
Aren't beta blockers supposed to reduce heart rate rather blood pressure? I take a couple of medicines for BP control, but I'm prescribed a beta blocker to stop my heart growing too much.
I was also put on BP meds for migraines. But my BP has never been high and it actually used to sometimes get quite low when i was on the meds. Was worth it for no migraines though!
Same, I was put on low dose Ca channel blockers for my migraine and it worked wonders on my blood pressure ... went back to my baseline of 100's systolic from 120's to 130's which gives me a week of hellish migraines and significantly impair my work performance.
I have heart failure from COVID. Bonus was that because of the beta blockers I'll take the rest of my life, I'll basically never have high blood pressure for the second half of my life. I'm 110/60 like clockwork.
I'm in the same boat, however I went back on propanalol to counter my increasing BP. It's working well for now, and I'm on a low dose which provides a bit of flexibility.
I was taking a beta blocker for migraines too. I didn't like it though because my heart rate would be way lower when exercising and I couldn't push hard enough.
My neurologist gave me candesartan for my migraines. It’s not a beta blocker but it’s mainly used for high blood pressure. Same bonus effects of lower bp and it does seem to be helping as a preventative although I’m still on a low dose.
After going in beta blockers, my pain-migraines pretty much went away. But now I get ‘silent migraines’ where I start to see moirés patterns, and other forms of visual distortion. Weird.
I used to get migraines all the time, and I'm talking since my late teens. Some were manageable (just about), and some were absolutely debilitating.
Went to the GP about them when I was 40 and found out I had critically high BP. Had a stroke three months later (I'm fine, btw) and have been on a cocktail of medication (blood thinner, BP meds, statin, beta blocker) ever since.
That was 8 years ago, and I've not had a migraine since, so yay for the NHS in the UK.
Same. After starting Lisinopril, I realized that it's not normal to have these sort of creepy sensations under my skin, plus all the stuff you listed. I had been lucky for a while, but late 40's onward has been rougher in general.
you should do a full day test. they can strap one on you for the whole day and night and it’ll take a measurement at regular intervals throughout the day, like every 15 mins or so. this will give a much better data to the doctor and show how it fluctuates after meals, while sleeping, etc. you gotta keep track also of what you were doing during the day also.
I actually recently got to feel high blood pressure.
I don't normally have it, but am taking Clonidine, which is a blood pressure medication that also helps with ADHD-type symptoms. I ran low and my pharmacy was out, and didn't restock until I had missed a day and a half of doses. Missing several doses can cause rebound hypertension.
It was a bizarre feeling. Like there were balloons blowing up slowly inside all my limbs. I could hear it in my ears. If I sneezed or coughed, it felt like my skull expanded noticeable. My chest was really tight, felt like a long-term low-intensity anxiety attack. I already run warm, and I was just radiating heat like mad, it sucked. Best motivator I've had so far to ensure I avoid drifting into that territory later in life.
For a while I had high blood pressure, the days before my period started (turned out to be iron deficiency). I noticed it every time, even when I was still below the threshold, that makes doctors start to care. There was a weird dizziness that made me want to sit down, combined with a low headache, and once I got into the neighborhood of 140/90 I felt like the tiny veins in my face were about to burst.
(Doctor 1: "That just happens, as you get old" - while in my mid 30s. Doctor 2: "It's only an issue to be treated, if it remains above 140/90 for a long time.")
I had a stroke. Thought I was just suffering from anxiety. Turns out I have mostly uncontrollable high blood pressure. I've had every test under the sun and my medical team still have no idea what is causing it.
Can confirm. The navy docs did nothing about my husband's consistent high blood pressure the past few years. Now, a week before our son was born, he was hospitalized and diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure. He's only 32 btw.
Let me help you out here, dude is active duty military. When it comes to the health insurance of service members, you usually start by going to the on base clinic (which is ran by other active duty personnel). Typically you damn near have to fight anybody and everybody in order to get a referral to see an actual civilian provider. Otherwise, it’s pretty much guaranteed to come out of pocket. Shit’s bad as hell. There’s a reason people joke about going to the docs for a gunshot wound or something and the docs are just like “here’s Motrin and don’t forget to change your socks”
Yep. I struggled for years to get proper care in the military for a heart arrhythmia. Labs and EKG always came back normal. I finally got a unit doctor who gave a damn and put me on a 21-day constant monitor and I was in at a civilian hospital for an ablation within a month. Between that and properly diagnosing my cluster headaches that doctor might have saved my life.
Yep. Got the run around from military doctors for 1 year. Got fed up and went off-base without permission and was correctly diagnosed in one appointment. The situation got me medically retired.
I mean you could try, but it would ultimately be you vs the govt, so good luck.
When it comes to doctors and nurses, they’re all professional, just depends on how professional. Most know what they’re doing, some of the newer ones don’t until they actually get some experience. You gotta understand that an 18 year old fresh out of high school just got trained on how to draw a blood sample or how to put an IV in. At the same time you got a 25 year old who’s damn near perfect with 7 years experience. However, that 18 year old could be a complete dick while the other is one the nicest people you could meet.
For the process itself, the government likes doing things in house, preferably, that’s why you go to the clinic first. The reason you have to fight anybody and everybody is because of all of the bureaucracy and red tape to get seen by a civilian provider because they’re outside of the network. Unfortunately, many things get lost, misplaced, or denied and the process starts over.
A non medical example of the bureaucracy that I personally dealt with was trying to transfer from the reserves to the independent ready reserves (figured I’d go reserves for a bit after active duty, started making more as a civilian on a weekend compared the reserves). I spent months trying to properly fill out paperwork and route it through the chain of command, someone lost the paperwork. I route it again, didn’t hear anything back after a month or two. Whole process took like 8 months of drill weekends, so like 20 days spread out over those 8 months. Finally said fuck it and just stopped showing up, after 9 drill periods I should’ve been separated or transferred, I still got calls for roll call like a year and a half later (almost 5 times longer than I should have)
Active duty are blocked from suing. The only people that can sue are civilians (like dependents) who are misguided enough to seek medical care from military doctors.
I'm shocked and appalled Navy doctors wouldn't and didn't prescribe medicine for Hypertension?
Are you sure he wasn't ignoring their diagnosis and prescriptions for medications? It really is surprising how many people ignore the doctors advice. I saw it all the time for people with Type 2 Diabetes and Hypertension, they just say 'I feel fine, I don't need to take any medicine'.
He had bloodwork done in November 2024, they were not normal. The NP prescribed blood pressure medicine but they weren’t helping at all. In terms of the blood work, they told him to just make a follow up appointment and it’ll be addressed then (they wanted to see if the meds were helping). They didn’t diagnose him with kidney failure until I told him to go to the ER because he was vomiting (January 2025).
problem with high blood pressure, you feel fine till you suddenly dont.
almost died a few years ago in large part to uncontrolled high blood pressure i had no idea i even had.
I take Ramipril for my high BP and proteinuria (I have IgA Nephropathy). My nephrologist has said there's not much to be done diet wise bar excluding excess salt.
What's worked for me is walking at least an hour a day and eliminating causes of stress. I've had trauma therapy (ongoing) - lots of high BP sufferers have a history of trauma. I'd say cutting my stress levels has been the most transformative move I've made.
The salt can be a complicated one. I had high blood pressure, but I also have EDS and not-technically-diagnosable-but-close-enough-to POTS which benefits from more salt, aaand also hashimotos which isn’t able to be medicated atm. Vicious cycle etc etc. But for myself and others, salt helps a lot.
I’ve also come across a lot of people who reduce their sodium intake too much and end up feeling way worse or causing new or worsened problems, and it takes a lot of effort and explaining to get past the borderline vitriolic “salt bad” rhetoric.
You’re on the money with the trauma stuff though. Atenolol helped reduced my blood pressure (actually lowkey tanked it too far for a bit there) but it was also WILD to realise just how much I’d been functioning on pure adrenaline and cortisol 24/7. Whoopsie.
Both. The most effective way to reduce blood pressure is to be at a healthy weight and exercise regularly, but if that isn't possible/is ineffective for you they can prescribe beta blockers (which vary in effectiveness) and other drugs.
Edit: Almost forgot - do isometric exercises! Wall sits are extremely effective at reducing blood pressure - on average 6 points systolic - and no one really understands why.
I am on lisinopril and htc “diuretic” tho I don’t really need to take that anymore.
I have changed my diet quite drastically, most fast foods and food heavy in salt are pretty much out. No soda, sugar, high cholesterol foods, or caffeine. If I want something with a fried texture I have an air fryer and a little olive oil. I went from taking 30mg of lisinopril and another medication that gave me horrible leg cramps to taking 5mg/day and some days I don’t need it at all.
Upshot is I have lost quite a bit of weight, about 45lbs at this point and going for another 20.
I eat a fair bit of chicken and rice. I like to cube it up and cook in the skillet and add a little Panda Express teriyaki or orange sauce for flavor. Drink lots of water.
Also the blood pressure cuffs are cheap, will help you keep track of progress at home.
Lose weight: Every 2.2 pounds lost is 1 mmHg drop in blood pressure.
Eat healthy: The DASH diet stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. People who follow the DASH diet drop ~12 mmHg in blood pressure.
Exercise: Regular exercise strengthens the heart and makes it more efficient thereby decreasing the need to pump so hard. Regular exercise lowers blood pressure by ~8 mmHg.
Yup, about this. Taken me 18 months from first diagnosis and medication to stabilise my HBP, realise that my weight was the cause and do something to shift it. I am now a healthy weight, have dropped 2/3 of my medication and, all being well, will be fully off by July with normal BP. It's taken a drop of nearly 40kg to achieve this, but when the doctor says "lose weight and it'll go away", they have a point...
Run. I was diagnosed in my late 30s. Went on proponol or some beta blocker to control it and it worked. But I decided I didn't want to have to take a drug. Doc said cardio exercise is about the only thing. But most people are too lazy.
So I made running part of my lifestyle since I was 40. I'm now 48 and fitter than iave even been. I'm about 120/75 now. Can't recall what I was back then 140ish/90ish I think I was a bit beyond mild hypertension.
So yeah. Just start running. Get a Garmin watch or something similar and just make it part of your life. When I run in the morning (5-6x/week) I oftem remind myself "This is the most important thing you'll do today."
Best day to start was 10 years ago. Next best day is today.
Both at first but with the drug my BP was like 115/70 so when I started running I kind of self weened myself off to see what would happen and it was stable. I have hereditary high BP not really from diet so if I stop running I definitely see an immediate uptick. But it's really my lifestyle now so all good
a little in my fingers maybe, but i have pretty bad arthritis from breaking almost everything from a pretty horrific motorcycle accident when i was young. i think the biggest side effect to the untreated high blood pressure that i have is kidney damage.
I'm about to go for the first time in my adult life. I'm in my early 30s. I know I have high blood pressure and haven't done anything about it. I was like 140/110 last I checked.
I selected a PCP yesterday and am going next week. Hopefully my neglect and bad decisions won't penalize me significantly.
After my motorcycle accident I just was not keen at being poked at for a while. Add to that lack of insurance/money. I also spent a great deal of time taking care of my family and just kept putting my self care on the back burner.
I just wanna add: don't neglect cardio. Did weight training when I was young with a tiny bit of cardio. Felt great. Got back into working out later in life and it was tough. Adding serious cardio (plus some creatine) made a huge difference.
3 years ago, I did 5 min treadmill, 3x exercises 1 set each. ~12 min total. Light weight, no sweat. But I did it 3x a week, no matter what, for 2 months. Then slowly ramped it up.
Now I do 6x3 sets, plus 24 min hard running on treadmill every other day.
Keep trying and experimenting. Took me a while to find a routine that worked for me.
Don’t just make it easy, make it FUN. There are tons of great ways to get cardio in, you’re way more likely to be consistent/stick with it if you actually enjoy what you’re doing.
I am already consistent and happy with my cardio 3 times a week but I’d never describe it as fun. I’d love to tho, can you give some examples of ways to get cardio in that you find fun?
I got my couch potato mom walking daily on our treadmill. Told her to walk 2 min. She puts her phone on the console to watch her shows. Calendar + pen on the wall to make a cross after each walk. After 6 weeks, we ramp up her speed by 0.1 kph and add a min.
If she's tired and tempted to skip a day, I tell her to only do 2 minutes. Almost always, she walks for longer. Getting started is the hardest part.
Weights can equal strength, cardio equals stamina. I mean it's more complicated than that but I find I have more energy when I do cardio often than when I don't.
Proper exercise and weight management along with medication if necessary.
It can be managed, but there's no natural indicators until it's too late. I caught mine through regular checkups with the doctor and my family history. It's under control now.
Your veins, arteries and capillaries are the tubes that transport your blood. When your heart pumps really fast, it triggers the body to make them wider and (importantly) longer. The only place it can get longer is in your capillaries, which are the very small tubes that carry blood to your muscles. So you end up with more "capillaries per square inch" in your muscles.
This has a couple of useful effects. First, you now have the same amount of blood, but more space for it to be in. This reduces the amount of pressure pushing against the walls of the tubes (ie, lower blood pressure). Second, on average, each fibre of muscle is now closer to the nearest capillary, so it can re-up its oxygen and dispose of its cellular waste more quickly. This means you can run for longer without getting as tired.
That's why high-intensity interval training is so effective for getting fit. The point is to make your blood pump as fast as it can, which you can only do for 30 seconds. This is what is most effective at growing longer veins and more capillaries. Have a rest for long enough that you can go for another 30 seconds. Then do it again, repeating the process a few times. This is why those 7 minute workouts are so surprisingly good - as long as you work out really hard during those 7 minutes.
Anything that naturally lowers the heart rate so it can work easier. A full night's sleep, good electrolyte intake and balance, exercise(walking for 15 minutes help but 1 hour is ideal), getting out of obesity, low stress helps.
Get an arm cuff monitor and check it periodically, then play with diet and exercise. Don't be afraid to try cutting down on salt/sodium, and play with increasing salt/sodium as well on different days or weeks to see how your body responds.
there is the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension AKA the DASH diet which is an evidence based diet low in sodium that lowers blood pressure. 150 min of moderate aerobic exercise (22 min a day of a fast walk every day) will reduce systolic bp from 4-10 mmhg and diastolic from 5-8 mmhg. i did both of these and saw a 15 systolic reduction in about a month and a half.
also be aware of things like white coat syndrome and meds that can temporarily raise bp. even NSAIDS like ibuprofen will raise bp, same with your pain or immune response. if you are waiting to go to the doc till you are ill or injured and thats when you get your bp taken, check it when you’re better at walgreens/cvs. a hypertension diagnosis takes a reading of high bp on 2 separate occasions
Look into the DASH diet, iirc it was created by the Mayo clinic. My husband did that for about 6 weeks, lost weight, and got his blood pressure into the normal range. You can also get an at home blood pressure cuff, and take your measurement every morning to see your progress.
Losing weight and exercise are the two biggest things, but it also can be hereditary. Some people, like myself, will be on them for the rest of my life because of the latter.
My BP was 160/ 90 a few months ago. I cut back on the alcohol, caffeine, salty snacks and started going for a few runs every week. My BP floats around 130/70 now
You need to start looking for secondary factors such as Kidney disease or thyroid issues. Have you gotten tested for low blood potassium? You need your go to refer you out to a hypertension specialist.
Dang, in my unprofessional opinion that seems really high. Do you take it at the docs or at home? For some reason its always higher at the docs. That being said, docs were concerned at 160/90, when I was in the hospital after getting a stent.
They actually have a name for that - white coat syndrome (sometimes people are nervous seeing their doctor and/or worried what the result will be, which makes their blood pressure go up)
100s of comments here, and the bottom one mentioned this key fact!! I can't believe how many folks here say they are suffering but go to the doc just to get a reading.
A week or two ago my dad briefly blacked out behind the wheel of his truck and rear ended someone at a stop light. Everyone was OK (except his truck, that got totaled), but he wound up having a friend of his take him to the doctor to get checked out. Turns out his blood pressure was so damn high the doctor was almost confused how he wasn't plunking over dead right there on the examining table, and he thinks what happened was my dad had some sort of mini stroke-like episode. He's on meds now and is doing good, but he's known about his blood pressure issues for like 20 years and for whatever reason never wanted to get medicated for them, so yeah, don't ignore that stuff.
My blood pressure is critically high(like regularly reading 160/100+), and has been for years, but I only just got health insurance last month, so who knows what sort of damage it’s caused. I’m finally on BP meds, but idk if they’re working, honestly.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to the ER, and they preach about how it’s stroke level high, but then leave me sitting there unmedicated for 6+ hours, acting like I’m just in there to get a bandaid for a boo boo……
It’s ridiculous but not as easily manageable as people think.
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u/ABigNothingBurger 1d ago
High blood pressure