High BP - handhold please

[smurfy2015]

Ive had stabbyness in my head but not what I would actually call a headache as my normal head on a day to day basis is around 7-8 on the pain scale so thumping headache is my normal state.

Ive been feeling extra fatigued for the past few days as Sunday had a couple of events which brought adrenaline rushs and the crashes that happen afterwards (no event was a good one),

During the night ive been having sweats, shakes, shivers and claminess, a lot of fuzzy eyes but that has been going on since i started a particulat medication mid may and also feeling of heart thumping loudly in my chest and ears. yesterday marked 10 weeks being off my feet and a physio is coming later today to try and help me mobillise

I dont want to end up in hospital as I havent recovered from my last stay yet when i came home 9 weeks again, I do have chronically high BP so I took out the cuff and did a reading at 7.30am which was shocking. I am also in high levles of pain all over body from conditions which by the 2nd reading the opiate pain killer would be doing its thiing

Im also seeing shapes but when i look secondly there is nothing there

and ive done a reading just now, i was wondering does anyone had an idea how long it takes after nifedipine is taken for it to lower as i have taken it just now again while trying to relax but wondering is should wait it out and give it more tim to settle down.

For info purposes

1st reading - before nififipine - BP 267/204 Pulse 99
2nd reading - 90 mins after nifidipine - BP 156/88 Pulse 82

The first reading I have had similar in hospital admissions before. Im very calm but totally exhausted. This is 90% typed with my eyes closed.

I'm going to lay down and sleep 11 am then take it again around 11 am, does that sound reasonable to give the medication time to work before I seek other help, (if needed) i am hoping that today's visit from physio will help let towards getting me mobilised a bit inside the house

Anyone any thoughts might help, handhold much appreciated TIA

Il come back after 11am, not ignoring those who answer I am putting head down for a bit

I don't have any advice so handholding instead, that must be very scary. It may be that hospital is the best place for you to get you well and truly sorted, as much as you're reluctant to go. X

No advice, but a virtual handhold from another chronic high BP sufferer (on about 6 different BP meds per day ). It sounds as though you are doing the right things and have brought your BP down a bit which is great.

Hope you can get some sleep and keep calm until morning. Can you ring your GP or A&E for advice? They may have to review your meds.

It's scary isn't it when you get those really high readings. Good luck & keep calm.

I know you don't want to hear this, but I think you need monitoring. Could you ring your gp or 111. How has your bp been in the last fortnight? That's good you check it yourself. Have you got an appointment to see your GP? With the Nifedipine are you taking it regularly, same time each day, if you are it is strange your bp suddenly dropped after taking today's dose. It might have been you calmed down or something else. Please get it checked.

We don't know what other conditions you have or what other medication (apart from nifedipine and an opioid) you're taking, so it would be dangerous for anyone to give advice. An opioid might bring your pulse down, although I'm not sure it would have such a big effect on your blood pressure.

Have you had hyperthyroidism, phaeochromocytoma, scleroderma and any kind of kidney disease excluded as possible causes of the malignant hypertension? Do you take a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) for something like social phobia, agoraphobia, panic/anxiety disorder or borderline personality disorder?

Thanks all, hands to hold are much appreciated

@Skiiltan to explain I didn't mean specific advice as anybody without my medical records couldn't attempt that so was more the handhold

just as a general guideline if anyone knew as was explaining that I had taken bp medication and had given it a bit of a chance to work a bit but was wondering how long it might take and because I'm normally in pain anyhow before anyone suggested to take a painkiller to bring it down that's why I added about the opiate as only have it and paracetamol for actual pain.

I slept again that time and woke up at 2.45pm where I took BP again as expected it to be settled, its not where I would like it to be so I have made an (could only get phone triage for morning) appointment for GP and have had a physio session at 3pm today so its even higher now due to pain after that but I hope will settle again.

at 2.45pm its 162/132 p90, i took it after I woke up but have to phone GP surgery between 9/10 in the morning and speak to a GP who will decide if I should be seen or not,

I now have shooting pains up the back of my head on the right side, that's the side where I know I have narrowing of the artery that runs up the back of the head that is narrowed (discovered when admitted for high BP in the past), I have taken my rescue for a headache which is high-pressure oxygen for 15 mins and if gets worse or bp reads higher i will get myself off to a&e tonight,

I can hardly keep my eyes open with fatigue, my feet are absolutely freezing despite 3 pairs of socks and putting them on a wheat bag kinda like the cold freezing numb feeling from winter. I highly suspect there is a migraine somewhere in this picture too

Is it common for your BP to be so high. I have chronic high blood pressure which is really stubborn and I've changed meds a few times to ones that actually work for me. I know if mines too high because my pulse races and I feel odd.

Sorry you're feeling so awful and I hope you get it under control soon

Saw the GP on Wednesday afternoon it's the one I usually avoid for good reasons

been literally asleep since hence not coming back to the thread, when it was tested in the surgery it was in a higher part of a normal range but even before taking it she told me she wasn't going to do anything with BP meds (she wasn't interested in that its always worse when I wake up and before moving bar turning over in bed so should, in my opinion, be reasonable as body is at rest) and worst first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

She said it was probably up due to "anxiety and obsessing over it" and my BP machine wasn't calibrated.

My CPN did her monthly visit on Wednesday morning and according to her when I asked her before she left did I seem anxious? She was here for 30 mins. The answer was not at all. I took it while she was here and it was over 200 on top and over 180 on bottom despite me being calm and relaxed and resting as we chatted.

I tested the BP monitor on 2 of the carers and I'm not convinced that its so wrong, as one of them said they had low BP and the other said had normal range BP. Upon testing both of them the one with low BP, her reading came up low as she predicted and the other with an almost perfect reading of 121/79 as she predicted as she no BP problems, which we then took my reading and it was over 200 on top and over 190 on the bottom. So the machine obviously has something against me.

She has blamed the fatigue on the meds I'm on and had already said she was going to start eliminating them in a phone conversation in May as my CNS is overloaded. Wasnt interested in the fact fatigue is worse the past month than has been in years, despite me being on the medication she has starting reducing since Wednesday afternoon for the past 15 years (so why is it suddenly causing fatigue now?) and correlates with the fact she wants to reduce / to come off everything to see how I deal with it. (would say heading for a complete shambles)So she has stopped a migraine preventative and is now reducing mood stabiliser.

She is known for stopping meds constantly on people and put me off opiate painkiller cold turkey in the past (cos I was obviously "addicted", no but was physically dependant on it totally), having been on it for previous 3.5 years 3 times a day. That didn't end well.

I've apparently mentioned the fuzzy eyes to her during the phone conversation in May which was less than 2 weeks after starting a new medication while in hospital so she wants to stop that too as believes that's what is causing it.

I was supposed to get an ECG done at 3 weeks on medication but couldn't as been bedbound for 10 weeks and am only able to mobilise slightly since last Tuesday, my limits are 15-20 metres max up to twice a day, 3 times if feeling good.

Pushing thru pain levels as best I can but she intends to stop it as it can mess up CNS and blamed it for leaving me bedbound for so long, despite the fact consultant neurologist started it and could see how it had started to help within 5 days,

The nifedipine isn't making a difference as far as I can see. @Amber0685 nifedipine is taken the same time as my other meds at 7am each morning when the carers are in at their first call of the day. However, I have been discharged from the BP clinic as my average BP was settled due to nifedipine.

In A&E in the past, I have been given amlodipine every 10/15 mins to try and get under control as BP was very high, (I was actually there about something else) and behind both eyes couldn't be seen as both were full of fluid and high pressure. It was then after that the ward consultant started me on nifedipine daily.

Because of the stabbyness in my head, she attributed it to my normal migraine / chronic daily headache just manifesting itself in a slightly different pain. The feeling of heart thumping loudly in my chest and ears, my chest is clear and its just another manifestation of normal migraine/head pain.

GP checked temperature even though I explained I was only a couple of hours after having paracetamol which is regular x 4 times a day and that my normal temperature is consistently low with a spiking temp for me being high 36s as my normal temp sits in the low 35s.

I got a urine sample dipped as have pain on passing like I'm passing shards of glass. I am well hydrated according to the colour of the sample and nothing showed up in the dip test. I also have pain in both flanks on my back.

So this morning I still have the thumping whoosh in my chest and head, blurry eyes, stabby pain in my head, severe fatigue despite sleeping most of yesterday and since 8.30pm to 6.45am this morning. High levels of pain are all over with parts of body feeling especially cold and aching badly. (esp area around my kidneys in my back). my neck and back of the head (back of head feels cold like it has an ice pack on but I haven't),

The migraine I suspected was in the picture hasn't turned up (thankfully), my feet are still freezing with treble socks, my nose and tips of ears, I know there is no point going back to the GP as she is holding the fort so is the only GP in the surgery at the minute so its pointless.

When BP was taken in GP surgery it was 175/141 but she explained I probably had "white coat syndrome" even though was generally lower than other readings taken across Tuesday and Wednesday. (roughly a 36 hour period) where I took 7 readings which she deemed excessive.

So roughly one reading every 5 hours, so not feeling any better and know the GP isn't really an option as had stated wasn't going to do anything with meds before she even took it in the first place.

Il wait this out myself and if gets worse, I will go off to hospital and let them sort me out as I know she won't help as doesn't want to see people until they are literally dying.

Don't ride it out alone OP - go straight to A&E. Your symptoms are in no way normal, and to fob you off with White Coat Syndrome is shortsighted at best.

Please, please go and checked out. If it is something to be treated then you'll be in the right place and if it isn't then you'll have peace of mind

Also, be sure to mention the attitude of your GP, ie. you haven't had the appropriate tests that she should have done.

Let us know how you get on

I slept most of the day on Friday and it was coming down a bit to more reasonable figures for me, still feeling generally unwell but the same GP is decreasing my meds so that can knock me about a bit too, as its slightly more reasonable figures

I know she wont change it from nifedipine even if the hospital do as she told me it was just a matter of exercise, losing weight (which I agree with) except I can't walk or get out of bed a lot of the time and it would be fine (she also recommends a particular book on mindfulness for everything, I think she is getting a cut from it as it helps literally everything),

She has refused to prescribe different meds that what I was on before hospital admissions even the ward consultant has changed them.

I'm going to phone tomorrow and see if other GPs are on this week as she was running the practice single handed last week and try to get an appointment with them. It's a v small practice.

She is the principal partner and will always prescribe the cheapest medication or if available otc will tell you to get it yourself. I know there are budgetary constraints, she is avoided as much as possible and people generally only take appointments with her when no one else.

I did make it out with my family yesterday to a local festival so that was the 2nd time (the other being the GP appointment) outside since beginning of May and that helped me a lot as the festival was less than 30 metres away from me.

BP is around the same figures but I know local a&e unless its totally off the scale and due to the list of medical conditions (physical and mental health related) doesn't matter what it is, they always opt for the MH related.

So i try and go to bigger hospital a&e further away where most of my consultants are at, even when the newest GP partner sent me to a&e last year when the back of my head went numb for 5 days and she saw me as an emergency appointment, the dr in a&e told me I lay badly on it and started writing my discharge note, wasn't interested in the fact that my bp had given the GP high blood pressure and the dr gave out to me for wasting an ambulance for that.

I spoke to a nurse and asked them to check the GP referral letter for a&e that I brought with me, it was the dr who had called the ambulance not me,

another dr (more senior) came over and looked thru the letter and asked me what happened with symptoms, previous 5 days, took my bp there and then although I was relaxed but a bit upset "that I had been accused of wasting an ambulance even tho it wasn't me called it" and was horrified at bp as was off the scale, she got me admitted within an hour onto a ward after having 3 tablets to try and lower it,

The first a&e dr was taken over (reluctantly) to apologise to me as she hadn't read the GP referral and I didn't call the ambulance the GP did and she would know that it, had she read the letter so I didn't waste it as it wasn't my decision.

I hadn't lay badly on my neck I had narrowing of an artery in the back of my head caused by a migraine which had no other symptoms inc head pain. After a lot of scans, it was deemed constitutional and not acute or at danger of rupturing.

I'm going to hold on till tomorrow and see if other GPs are on as I can't face sitting under lights in the waiting room of a&e as can guarantee a migraine, the type I have produces a stroke or meningitis like symptoms and would push my BP up anyhow so for today, I am sleeping lots and haven't checked it but will do later, I take a photo with my phone of each reading so can track later according to time etc.

Overall not feeling as bad generally as the other day so fingers crossed I can avoid ending up in hospital although I also want to avoid the GP as she seriously wasn't listening and scarily she is the GP trainer in the area so she is the one who arranges to have medical students in the practice and supervises their placements.

Thanks for the handholds and going to head back to sleep

As a follow up to this, BP was a bit of a red herring in some ways as it turns out but I'm guessing my BP all over the place the week before was my bodies way of saying something is going on.

Last Thursday I was first treated for a suspected DVT clot, which it wasn't thankfully. However, I do have cellulitis in both legs.

I had leg pain "as normal" and because I am also still trying to mobilise after 10 weeks being bedbound, I put it down to muscle weakness and atrophy.

Guessing my body was reacting to something going on and making me feel unwell but because high pain is my "normal" state, it took its time to show itself properly.

I'm now on an intensive course of antibiotics for cellulitis and will be going to my long awaited appointment with orthopaedics team tomorrow.

I have osteopenia anyhow, I have had many falls while my legs have been numb (due to another condition) so don't feel them until I am back on my feet which has led to hairline fractures which are then healing slightly out of place.

I have Raynaud's in my hands and feet. I have lymphodema in both lower legs.

As this has been identified and treated, my BP has relaxed to a lot lower readings which are more in line inside reasonable ranges. Its still swinging high before nifedipine but lowers about 3 hours after.

Thought it might be nice to follow up as I'm guessing other posters are like me and wonder what has happened to people who post and how they get on in RL and what happens to them.

Thank you for your handholds.