posted March 11, 2012 11:38 AM            

Stress and hypertension. 1/3 of all Americans entertain this term, hypertension, as part of their diagnosis list.

I realized that hypertension and stress are so interwoven one can cause the other.

Ofcourse we all know that stress can and does, to varying degrees, cause hypertension, but hypertension cause stress....YES!!!

I have always had a high diastolic (bottem) number of my blood pressure. Come to find out several years ago, I have left diastolic dysfunction, which means my left ventricle is a little stiff, thus keeping the bottem number higher. Untreated, can lead to left sided heart failure.

I was on beta blockers for a while, but the dose that was required to keep my abnormal heart rhythm away was making me a sludge. Never a high energy person, anyway, I found myself unable to rise in the morning!

So my docs told me to wean myself off and just keep an eye on my blood pressure. Which I have done for years, and all has been well.

I was placed on Lexapro for hormonal issues and I noticed that the SSRI kept my arrythmias away. I am conviced my heart issue was caused by PTSD so it makes total sense that an SSRI would help my brain relax and keep the nasty catecholamines at bay, thus keep my heart beat regular.

And it worked!

But after I hurt my back, I decided to detox, live healthier, etc as I turned 50 recently and I really have to mind myself!

So I quit all meds cold turkey, except for my lipid medicine, my triglycerides are reaching for the sky and the birth control pill, to keep me from bleeding 24/7.

Since I am planning putting my house on the market, I have been packing up some things, boxing and I managed to loose my blood pressure machine.

So, I blew it off.

Then came the drs appts. when I hurt my back. My blood pressure was thru the roof. I chalked it up to pain, my Doc, a coworker and friend listened to me and did not worry about it either.

Until, I went in for my work clearance and my bp was so high they refused to assess me.

So I bought another blood pressure machine and I was horrifed as to my readings. I even left the cuff on one night as I slept and every time I woke I took it...still way high for a sleeping, resting individual.

THen I got scared.

My bfriend gave me some of his meds and we got it down nicely till I can call my doc in the morning and get my own rx.

So I began thinking...why in the world would my bp get so high???

Have been off work, have been gardening lightly, cleaning the house and doing alot of reading...but still our old friend stress was ever present...insidiuosly.

I lay down last night, and began to meditate and all these ideas came to me.

Stress is both physical and emotional and they go hand in hand.

What I have discovered is that not only does stress cause hypertension, but hypertension can cause stress, both emotionally and physically!

I have never been a good sleeper, sometimes so keyed up at night, mind racing (Aqua Mercury ), I find myself in a ball of nerves. My heart would pound and I am sure my bp was up, but I did not think about it till now, how not sleeping was affecting my bp, and how my bp could not correct due to the stress of not sleeping.

So, my theory is, while stress causes, obviously our blood pressures to rise, a rise in blood pressure causes stress to our bodies and souls.

Two intangled lovers who need not to be together. Both codependently feeding off of eachother.

After getting my bp to an acceptable range yesterday, thanks to bfriend, I slept like a dream....I was relaxed, respirations even, heart rate normal, no irregular heart beats....

NO funky dreams!!!

It would be nice to be able to lower bp naturally, and believe me I am working on this too, but I realized that I cant lower my bp with out destressing and I cant destress fully without my bp cooperating!

Our bodies work in such a beautiful way, so very precise, as reflected by our creator and the universe...

When something gets out of sync all things do. Our bodies reflect the inherant nature of all things of life...balance.

Stress what a friggin killer, we all know this, but when something physical is causing the stress and stress is causing somthing physical..time for some BIG changes!

Thanks for reading...pass on, I hope only to help others~

posted March 12, 2012 10:53 AM            

Always wondered when/if my previous (1st and last) would kill me and why it hadnt yet. I thought I kept functioning pretty well, despite having a drunk, with a gun, hovering over me most of the night...

I was very proud of myself, keeping my little family together, allthewhile planning my and my daughter's exodus.

Not knowing allthe while, the stress was killing me inside and out.

All patients in the hospital get prescribed, during their stay, protonix, or pepcid to aviod "stress ulcers." As a young nurse I wondered why....thinking stress is a personal response...

Well I grew up on that one...and realized that while we may not know it,, stress could be eating us away as we speak!

posted March 13, 2012 01:20 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Lexxigramer:
Oddly stress will often lower my bp to very low not good shock like levels.
So will lying down.
When not stressed, or lying down, it is normal to whoa high.
And it also depends on which side I am lying down on.

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Lexx I have been thinking about this, reason I have not responded, cause I want to figure this out, lol! (The clinician in me)

I think you said it, it seems to me that your body gets shockey when stressed, so you vasodilate and your bp drops.

Again not such a good thing, but another example of just what stress does to us!

posted March 27, 2012 02:38 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Yin:
Agreed.

Sometimes stress is unconscious. Your body suffers but your mind doesn't register it for a while. I know I've experienced that. I usually look for triggers in what has happened recently in my life. Sometimes I'll be stressing about something that happened last week, last month or even last year! Once you [b]see what's causing it, you can begin to address the root of the problem. Temporary fixes don't usually work for me, putting solutions off doesn't work, waiting makes things worse... I tend to shelter myself and take less chances just so I can avoid all the stress associated with taking risks.
Makes for a somewhat boring life at least outwardly.[/B]

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posted March 27, 2012 04:26 PM            

Thinking I am handling things ok, cause, I feel ok..

Then years down the road, here I am...

sigh...