fibromyalgia and blood pressure

Why Could Fibromyalgia Raise your Blood Pressure?

For anyone who has ever researched or who are dealing with fibromyalgia, they find that there are several smaller symptoms that go along with having this illness.

Many people think that fibromyalgia is nothing more than pain and fatigue.

However, this pain and fatigue almost always lead to other issues throughout the body.

Take into consideration the medications that many people take to help with their fibromyalgia symptoms, people find that these small issues that arise become larger issues of their own.

One of these issues deals with blood pressure.

How Blood Pressure is Affected

Those who have fibromyalgia often find that they have large fluctuations in the blood pressure. Why is this?

Many doctors find that this could be due to the pain that the person is feeling. When a person is in pain for long periods of time, it can greatly affect their blood pressure levels.

Other doctors believe that the blood pressure issues are caused by the medications in which they are taking for the pain and other related symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Low or High?

Do those who have familiar suffer from low or high blood pressure? This truly depends on the person. There are a few people who suffer from low blood pressure.

This may due to their bodies being in so much pain that the blood pressure drops, which can actually cause more pain and fatigue in a person. However, for the most part, people report high blood pressure.

The reason for the high blood pressure in fibromyalgia patients include:

  • The pain they feel simply makes their blood pressure increase.
  • They may be prescribed various medications that have the side effect of increasing blood pressure.
  • They may be overweight due to the soreness and fatigue they feel, they are not getting as much physical exercise as they really need, or their thyroids may be functioning poorly.

Why Blood Pressure is a Concern?

Before understanding why blood pressure is a concern for those with fibromyalgia, you must understand what the blood pressure does.

The blood pressure is the measurement of the pressure in which the blood is pumping through the heart and arteries.

This is measured via two numbers:

  1. The systolic number is the top higher number of readings. This is the pressure when the heart contracts or pumps.
  2. The diastolic number is the lower number of the reading, this is what the pressure is at when the heart is at rest between beats.

What are the normal levels of blood pressure? The normal levels are considered to be 120/80. When the number is higher than these, then it puts you in the high blood pressure range for most people.

Of course, your diet and other elements are taken into consideration to determine if you do have high blood pressure or not.

When you do have blood pressure that is high. You are going to find that this can destroy the strength of the arteries over time.

This can cause the narrowing, constriction, damage or even an aneurysm in the arteries.

This can lead to several issues, including:

  • Chest pain
  • Heart failure
  • Heart attack
  • Stroke
  • Damage to the eyes
  • An aneurysm
  • Even death

In addition, when the blood pressure is high, all over your organs can become damaged due to the blood supplies that are going throughout the body.

This is why it is important to keep a check on this and to keep this in the normal range.

Why Could Fibromyalgia Raise your Blood Pressure?

Now that you understand the concerns associated with high blood pressure, and how high blood pressure can affect the body, the question that most people ask is just why fibromyalgia is causing high blood pressure?

In the majority of people, it is not actually the fibromyalgia itself. It is the pain that this illness is causing which makes the person have an increase in their blood pressure levels.

Naturally, when the body is in pain, the body has more stress. When the body is stressed, this can cause blood pressure to increase.

This is why many of those who have high blood pressure are told to eliminate or decrease the stress in their lives.

This same line of thought can work for those who have fibromyalgia. While they may not be able to eliminate all the stress they are dealing with, they can work on decreasing the pain that they are feeling.

Some of the methods that are not medications include:

  • Working with a massage therapist to help decrease muscle fatigue and pain
  • Get exercise and work with flexibility and muscle strength to get back into shape
  • Consider physical therapy as this has been proven to be hugely helpful
  • A lukewarm shower or bath has been shown to help greatly with the pain

Another way in which fibromyalgia could increase blood pressure is through the medications that are being taken for this illness.

Many people are prescribed pain killers which can have drastic effects on the body and must be taken with caution. Other people are given depression medications that have been shown to have blood pressure issues with.

The truth is that most medications on the market could increase the blood pressure, even those over the counter medications that a person may be taking.

fibromyalgia and blood pressure

How to Lower Blood Pressure

Lowering blood pressure often requires that the person looks at the reasons why this is high, to begin with.

For those who are suffering from fibromyalgia, they may find that reducing their stress and pain levels is all that they need to conquer this.

Others may find that eating more healthier and avoiding certain medications if they can lower their pressure levels.

The key is to talk with your doctor about what could be increasing your blood pressure levels.

Remember, if this is due to a medication, this has been prescribed because the pros outweigh the cons. So, talk with your doctor about what else you could do to get back to a normal pressure level.

One Comment

  1. I need to pass on to fibromyalgia sufferers what I now know but was never told. The need to really be diligent and insist the doctor keeps a close check on your B.P and informs you what the reading is and doesn’t just say “it’s high”. It is so important because even though you may be doing all the right things your kidneys will eventually be affected. Keep a close look at every test yourself, keep a copy of every test so you can monitor changes.because the kidneys once damaged, unlike the liver, cannot regrow. Doctors do not relay to you the decline in the kidney function until the damage is done. I have never taken drugs, alcohol,or smoked. Panadol was my pain management and natural therapies and it has still left me with progressive kidney failure.

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