Blood pressure and Migraine

Hi,

Some may recall that I have an issue of high blood pressure. Well I saw my GP about it today and she confirms that it needs treating, but wants me to record readings over a two week time frame. The thing is she said take the reading when you are relaxed and do not have a headache or migraine, easier said than done seeing as I have mostly daily head pain.

Does anyone here have blood pressure issues or does anyone know how much a migraine can effect the reading?

Also has anyone found a good med for the treatment of both high blood pressure and migraine or at least a med that does not make matters worse re the migraines.

Thank you,

Peter

A very large percentage of migraine preventative drugs are drugs designed to lower blood pressure in some form or fashion, so I would expect this might be a very good treatment option to pursue.

If it was me personally, I would just take the blood pressure reading at the exact same time each day, migraine or not. If I had a migraine when I took it I'd just note it next to the reading. I'd be curious to see if my blood pressure was higher during a migraine. If so, I would aggressively pursue blood pressure lowering agents.

My bad pain days tend to make my blood pressure rise, but thankfully mine isn't high to begin with so it is still ok. But yes, pain can definitely cause increases. What about trying a blood pressure med (beta blocker) to help with that and as a preventative? These tend to be low side effects except those that take them with normal blood pressure and thus get lightheaded (me). If you have the headache all the time (I do as well), then it may be high all the time and require treatment. I would make sure to keep your doctor well in the look with your head pain so they can treat accordingly, as if it is not realistic for you to test and get lower readings at times, then another solution is needed. Even with the same pain level your blood pressure might be lower elsewhere besides the doctor's office. If you don't have a blood pressure machine at a supermarket or something, I would go into the doctor just to get it checked, when you are not discussing other issues at the appointment. I know the combo of the pain and the doctor visit (stress about discussing my pain) will cause mine to rise more than the pain alone. Another option is to get your own cuff. Insurance might even cover it. The taking it daily at the same time thing sounds good, noting your pain level at the time. Best wishes.

re: blood pressure. since pen and i and probably some others have the dreaded fibromyalgia, we often are baffling patients, both to ourselves and the doctors.

my b.p. is always low low low, even at my advanced age. as low as 90/50 when i've been in the e.r. the worse my pain, the lower my p.b. go figure. dianne

I have border-line hypertension and take a diuretic for it. When I have a bad migraine my BP can go sky high. In the ER it has been 190/120

My blood pressure is high when I have a bad migraine. I have been told many times by the ER that it was very high. I told them to treat the pain and the BP would be OK. Now, I have high BP unless I am on my BP drugs. I would just take the readings in the morning when you get up and at night after the evening meal.

Hal

i have a bp problem.

2 meds in the ARB category work for both migraine and hypertension:

Atacand

Cozaar

pain anywhere in the body will cause the b.p to increase except in certain cases where there are other issues like the person who has vv low b.p. meds for b.p are not always effective against migraine but if a g.p does diagnose headaches from high bp, main sign is a headache at the back of the head on waking and will be on most days then meds will clear that up so they can see how often a pt is having migraine. meds for migraine are a trial and error and you just keep trying till you suceed!

My blood pressure is definately on the high side when I am suffering with a migraine. Normally it's 117/74...when I have a migraine it's been as high as 199/102. When they give me my Dem. shot my blood pressure returns to normal....Well DUH!

I am slightly amused by the fact that they're always concerned with my blood pressure being too high, but no one seems to be concerned about the pain that is CAUSING my blood pressure to rise!

Dawn

Right on Dawn! What does one have to do to get them to concentrate on the problem and not the side effects.

Hal

dawn

I'm in the same boat. BP usually very low except when Im hurting, then it's sky high. Luckily my GP "gets" this. My ER doesn't. AAARRGGHHH.

Same boat, too.
My normal BP tends to be low (100/70) but during migraine it can rais up to 85/150.
It collapses down to 90/60 after the attack has gone.

I like Dawn's comment about pain. My BP reading is the last of my worries while under so much pain I'm in the emergency room. Just take care of the pain and watch the BP drop!!! In the ER, pain should be there first emergency and then go from there.

Dawn wrote:My blood pressure is definately on the high side when I am suffering with a migraine. Normally it's 117/74...when I have a migraine it's been as high as 199/102. When they give me my Dem. shot my blood pressure returns to normal....Well DUH!

I am slightly amused by the fact that they're always concerned with my blood pressure being too high, but no one seems to be concerned about the pain that is CAUSING my blood pressure to rise!

Dawn

well done dawn you manage to have the bp millions of people would long to have, in er they obivously do have to deal with the most acute problem which if a pt is admitted with a mig and presenting seriously high bp youve got to get that down first then deal with the mig but on a long term treatment plan then they may look at treating the mig with betablockers if the the pt has consistently high bp. mercifully in your case dawn you are blessed with normally good bp so acute care would be, number one get that high bp back to where it should be.

dawn.binks wrote:

Dawn wrote:My blood pressure is definately on the high side when I am suffering with a migraine. Normally it's 117/74...when I have a migraine it's been as high as 199/102. When they give me my Dem. shot my blood pressure returns to normal....Well DUH!

I am slightly amused by the fact that they're always concerned with my blood pressure being too high, but no one seems to be concerned about the pain that is CAUSING my blood pressure to rise!

Dawn

well done dawn you manage to have the bp millions of people would long to have, in er they obivously do have to deal with the most acute problem which if a pt is admitted with a mig and presenting seriously high bp youve got to get that down first then deal with the mig but on a long term treatment plan then they may look at treating the mig with betablockers if the the pt has consistently high bp. mercifully in your case dawn you are blessed with normally good bp so acute care would be, number one get that high bp back to where it should be.

I too have extreme blood pressure readings when I have a migraine, apparently it's an early sign as once I had a routing doctor appointment and my blood pressure was NOT it's usual (120/80) but rather something like 185/110! needless to say I went back for some follow ups, but point here is that I had a full blown migraine only an hour after the appointment. All my follow up blood pressure checks were my normal 120/80 and no one ever seemed to interested in why it had been elevated.

It is probably worth noting that I was on betablockers at the time. I started taking them at 14 specifically for migraine prevention, but they just help, they don't actually 'prevent' them.