I'm so disappointed. My BP was 160/100 at the Chiropractor's office today. I'm on a low dose of BP med and I dread having to visit my doctor to discuss this subject, yet again! I can't understand why my BP isn't controlled. I exercise and eat healthy food. I've had a number of heart tests and they came back fine. I take my BP meds. I feel stressed now, that's for sure. It's really scary and disheartening to be trying my best to be looking after myself and for the result not to show. How are you managing your BP? What does your doctor tell you about hormones and increased BP? Love to hear your experiences.
Gabby
PS Happy New Year.

I'm five years post and I was getting the same readings out of the blue this spring - I never had high blood pressure before. I started on Norvasc but at the same time I worked myself into a complete and total frenzy. I was taking my pressure at home, still getting high readings, crying, etc.

Well, to make a long story short, I had lots of side effects from the Norvasc including a big problem with my hiatal hernia. I just about stopped eating, lost 30 pounds and never had another high blood pressure reading - doctor stopped the Norvasc. My hormones are now all fouled up and I'm dealing with symptoms I've never had before. So, what came first - hormones and then blood pressure spike or vice versa? I think the hormones precipitate the blood pressure spike. Maybe if we just ride it out, the pressure returns to normal? Doctors, of course, are quick to go to the meds.

I have a friend who is now going through the exact same thing. She's also several years post and all of a sudden, a high blood pressure reading. She's on two meds and STILL getting readings like yours at the doctor's office. She's petrified and now totally stressed.
It's a vicious cycle.

I never take my blood pressure anymore. As soon as I lost weight, every reading was normal - I'm going to live with that for a while. My cousin had high readings and swears that she lowered hers and came off meds by working out at the gym three days a week.

Ginny, I would say relax and give it some time. Regardless of what's happening now I'll bet that you'll eventually come off meds and be fine.

Good luck!
Helen

Hi Helen,
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I just find the stress of everything too much sometimes. When I hear the words high blood pressure, I start to worry. I can't believe the fear I have attached to this. 160/100 isnt astronomical and it's usually okay but the spikes are of a concern to me. I'll try to take your advice and relax.
Gabby

Ladies, a few years ago my doctor down in mexico told me that many women experience a rise in their BP during perimenopause because of anxiety. Whether we feel anxious or not, our bodies are still bombarded by hormonal fluxes that create havoc on us. In fact, he said when most women come into to clinic complaining of menopause symptoms they are always anxious about it (whether they're aware of it or not), and if he gets a higher BP reading, instead of prescribing BP meds, he'll give them something else...an anti anxiety drug etc. He said general, once the anxiety is reduced the BP goes back to normal or drops dramatically. So, you may be right in the fact that it will lower once your body doesn't feel the stress or anxiety. And let's face it, we all know when ever we're angry or stressed, our BP elevates, it's a natural reaction. So, I put a lot of stock in what he said because it made sense to me. I had a reading of 129 and was surprised (I thought that was high), he chuckled and replied, most would be happy with that reading, and no, I've never had HBP, so I instantly worried 129 was high. Has it come down? Yes because I'm accepting that all the crazy 'icky' things I'm feeling are meno related, which doesn't cause the anxiety it once did...so...try not to worry, ok??

I am new to the site and extremely under knowledged to the whole perimenopause and menopause concept. In the past my doctor wouldn’t even go there because of my age however because of my cycle, mood swings and night sweats (to name a few) I have felt I was going through peri for the last 5 or 6 years now. I have always had low BP however recently while at the doctor for migraines (that seemed to come out of no where) for the first time in my life my BP was now high. I knew I had been feeling funny. I had been having panic attacks again for the first time in 10 years. The doctor wasn’t concerned but it stuck with me.

It hit me I hadn’t had a period in a couple of months so I did the ever famous “google” of HBP and peri which lead me here ... long story short. I haven’t had a bad panic attack in a couple of days and my BP is somewhat back to normal. Will it stay that way? Probably not. But at least now I do know the cause for the rise in my BP and I do think they are in some way related.

Of course, right now I am still riding the pink cloud of finding out I’m not actually going crazy and that one day all this madness will come to an end. For me, knowing is half the battle. Even though I've "known" before, now I feel like I really know and with knowledge I can some how regain control of my life. Does that make any sense?

I just wanted to add my two sense about this BP spike thing. I have a long story but to cut it short I saw so many docs and they all wanted to give me meds. I started to journal when my BP would spike and I found after a long time it had to do with my period. It seemed to spike for at least 3-4 days in the beg. along with dizzyness and headaches and I was scared stiff.
I ended up in the ER in the beg. and the meds the first doc nearly killed me I felt.

Ok so I kept searching for diff. docs til I went to my family doc after seening gyno's, cardio, Internal med. docs you name it. The day I went in I was having the spike it was 170/110 and he was very alarmed and he even said take the meds and lets do some test. I said, No meds doc because the last time I had a near death reaction to it.
He said, ok then at least let me rule out White coat syndrowm so he did an Echo on the heart and an Cardoid Artery (spelling?) Test and ruled out any problems with those areas.
He LISTENED TO ME, the first to LISTEN. He said, lets try water pills and potassium because it seems to be more of a PMS problem than a heart problem. Now remember I already had ruled out heart trouble.
So I started this about a year ago and the spikes started to get better and better and here a year later I still get those yukky head in a cloud feeling, and some times a bit dizzy but the spikes are down way down to almost nil.

So another thing that really helped that I should have started with was Walking, we have to exercise even if its a brisk walk , baby steps if you dont do it daily.
The cardio doc had told me to lose some weight to and I hadnt done it til recently and you know all of this has made the biggest difference in my life to where now I even have a part time job.

So sorry to make the story so long but if this helps just one person it was worth it.

God bless you all,

Tinks

I wanted to share my mother's experience with BP. She's 78 yo, so her story is not related to peri/meno, but it does show that BP spikes can be "normal."

She had an appt. with an oral surgeon this past Monday to have a tooth extracted. Now, she HATES going to the dentist. (WHich is probably why the tooth couldn't be saved.) Anyway, when she arrived for her appt., her BP was 220/? (I can't remember the diastolic number but it was really high too). The dentist called me in and told me that she needed to see her primary care doctor before he could remove her tooth. He said it was too risky to remove it on someone who had BP so high....

I took her right over to her regular doctor - about 30 minutes away. Her BP was 147/82. The dentist had said that fluctuating BP was not a concern - only sustained high numbers.

She basically had a panic attack.

What I found interesting was that the dentist said if her numbers were 160/ or so, that was not a problem. I've seen posts on here where ppl have stated that their doctors are "alarmed" if their BP goes that high.

I personally believe docs are too quick to put their patients on BP meds. They look at the numbers and want to prescribe drugs. Then the drugs bring the BP down, but don't change what caused the BP to go high in the first place.

Is it possible that higher BPs are "normal" during peri and as we age? Is it our bodies way of compensating for arteries that aren't as elastic as they used to be?

Hi everyone:

This is an interesting thread. I too have never had high BP until I hit peri a few years back. I have kept track and my BP always spikes before my period. So, if I do take it at home, I try and take it after I have had my period and it is always lower. I do have a good doctor who doesn't want to just throw meds at me and I won't take them anyway unless my BP stayed up high all the time and it doesn't. My doctor told me we all have BP spikes through out the day. I too think exercise is so important. I do something for 30 minutes every single day. since I have been starting to walk (really fast not a slow walk) my BP can be down to 90/60 if I am really relaxed. BUT, if I am stressed and have anxiety that day, my BP can be 136/83 which is still good but better than the spikes I would have before I started exercising. So try and walk, do yogo even if you walk up the stairs to work or when you go to the clinic. I always park far away if I go somewhere and walk. Exercise has helped my BP but it has also helped my anxiety which was a monster for awhile.

Take care
Mopsy