could high blood pressure be caused by hormones

[Clure]

I have high bp and was wondering if hormone inbalance could be linked to it in anyway. Whilst I was pregnant it really came down to normal and for the first 6 months or so of breast feeding.

are you on the contraceptive pill?

No, can't take it because of the high bp. I had to take clomid due to low progesterone levels in order to get pregnant. I just wondered if the two were linked in some way

The causes of high blood pressure are not actually known.

www.netdoctor.co.uk is a good website and if you type in high blood pressure, it will give all sorts of information pertaining to it.

I cannot take combined pill b/c my blood pressure runs high naturally. I inherited this tendancy from my father's side of the family, he and all of his brothers and sister are on meds for hypertension and/or have had heart attacks or strokes. His brother and niece both died of heart attacks, his sister had a stroke, and he and his brother have each survived two heart attacks.

It is possible you have a genetic predisposition for hypertension.

in the majority of cases its not known what causes high bp,
do you have a family history?
are you under a severe amount of stress?
are you overweight?
do you eat a high sodium diet?

Some ethnic groups also tend to see more cases of hypertension, too.

Smoking can contribute to hypertension, as can being overweight or obese and/or lack of exercise.

I have just come back from Gp, all blood tests show normal. I definitely think hypertension is hereditary. I'm not overweight, take regular exercise, no salt healthy vegan diet do all the correct things basically! I'm at a loss now because I've done loads of research into meds that are safe to take whilst breastfeeding. Lots of mums netters suggested labetalol which I mentioned to the locum on at my surgery. Despite my research (spoke to nhs drugs advisory service and in contact with Breastfeeding National drugsline) the locum would not prescribe it as he checked in his guidebook thingy and it gave a warning about use during bf (I was told this is the case as the medical companies have to do this to cover themselves) He presribed a diuretic. I've now researched this meds (and read the accompanying leaflet) and its also used to suppress breastmilk. I CAN'T BELIEVE the locum prescribed this to use to treat hypertension whilst still bf.
I've lost all faith. Any advice what to do next? I don't want to be forced to give up bf if I can take meds that could lower bp and I can still continue to bf. Sorry to rant!

Try going to the Blood Pressure Association web site \link{http://www.bpassoc.org.uk\Blood Pressure Association}

Very Informative.

I have high blood pressure - my GP wanted to put me on meds recently, but I brought it down by doing all the things recommended by an alternative medicine book I've got. Basically, they are, IIRC: eat lots of garlic, onions and celery (thin the blood); eat lots of bananas, salad leaves, etc, which contain potassium (balances out sodium in salt); cut out salt and caffeine absolutely, altogether, until the BP comes down; try to have more calcium and magnesium; "yoga is mandatory" (sic) - I didn't do that, but I did do relaxation techniques; have a massage (mmmm). My BP did come down pretty rapidly when I did all of those. It goes up again if I go off the straight and narrow.

The only way to know your blood pressure is to have it measured. Beware of cheap inaccurate machines. A list from the British Hypertension Society of validated blood pressure monitors is available at the \link{http://www.blood-pressure-monitoring.org\Blood Pressure Monitoring.org} Website.