High Blood Pressure

[[La...]]

It's been 7 weeks since I've jumped and my blood pressure is still through the roof. I went to the doctor today and she just seems baffles that my blood pressure is still high.  Especially since I saw her 1 month ago and she prescribed me Clonidine to treat it. She is now adding a beta blocker to take in conjunction with the Clonidine. My blood pressure was 155/95. Is it still normal for my blood pressure to be so high after jumping 7 weeks ago? Has anyone else taken beta blockers and still had high blood pressure during withdrawal? Does it eventually get better? Sorry for all the questions but I'm just so sick and tired of being sick and tired. My doctor doesn't make it much better by telling me it's not related to withdrawal when I assure her it is. I never had high blood pressure in my life before all of this.

[Guest [ch...]]

Your doctor is wrong. It is very common to have high blood pressure as a withdrawal symptom. I had that, as did many others here. If you never had high blood pressure before, it'll come down as you heal from benzo withdrawal. 155/95 is high but not *that* high. If you're otherwise healthy (not in danger of heart attack or stroke in the short term) then I'd wait for the blood pressure to naturally come down. Also you can try low-sodium diet as a natural way to bring down blood pressure. Clonidine can be used, but it doesn't seem to me that 155/95 warrants it unless you have special risk factors. I'd avoid going on beta-blockers if I were you, since you can become dependent and wind up on them for life. Just my 2 cents. I'm not a doctor but am familiar with high blood pressure since it's a problem I've had.

[[Pi...]]

I am curious if your blood pressure is that high all day or just when you went to see the doctor? I get a little bit of that ‘white coat syndrome’. Last time I went to the doctor it was 143/93 but normally it is 120/70. I’ve read at least 25% of people get higher BP readings at the doctor.

[[Ch...]]

I am curious if your blood pressure is that high all day or just when you went to see the doctor? I get a little bit of that ‘white coat syndrome’. Last time I went to the doctor it was 143/93 but normally it is 120/70. I’ve read at least 25% of people get higher BP readings at the doctor.

 

Absolutely true.  My doctor began taking my BP about 20 minutes after the first reading and it was always significantly lower the second time around. 

 

My BP was higher than yours and my doc also suggested meds, but I asked her if I could wait to see if it came down on its own.  She agreed to wait a little while and it did come down.  I don't know how long it took since I didn't have it checked for months after my taper ended.  I just know that it was normal before w/d and by 5-6 months later it was almost back to normal and with a little more time was all the way normal again.

 

I'm not, however, suggesting you stop taking the medication.  This is an area I'd leave to the medical experts.  Yes, I agree that it is very likely to be related to benzodiazepine w/d and recovery, but treatment for even temporary high blood pressure is in a doctor's domain, in my opinion.

[[La...]]

You guys made a great point, because whenever I leave the house I have a full blown panic attack. Maybe that is raising my blood pressure. I'm going to purchase a blood pressure cuff, and read my blood pressure at home too see if it's still elevated. I don't want to take anything if I don't have too, but my doctor is acting like in going to have a heart attack if I don't. I really hope my blood pressure goes down, because now I'm stuck in 1 huge panic attack at home because I'm stressing over this. If I was just taking Clondine for 1 month, can I just discontinue without tapering. My doctor told me to stay on Clonidine (even though it's not helping), but told me I can't abruptly discontinue it. Sorry for all of the questions, but it's obvious I don't trust doctors anymore. Sad but true.

[[Ch...]]

You guys made a great point, because whenever I leave the house I have a full blown panic attack. Maybe that is raising my blood pressure. I'm going to purchase a blood pressure cuff, and read my blood pressure at home too see if it's still elevated. I don't want to take anything if I don't have too, but my doctor is acting like in going to have a heart attack if I don't. I really hope my blood pressure goes down, because now I'm stuck in 1 huge panic attack at home because I'm stressing over this. If I was just taking Clondine for 1 month, can I just discontinue without tapering. My doctor told me to stay on Clonidine (even though it's not helping), but told me I can't abruptly discontinue it. Sorry for all of the questions, but it's obvious I don't trust doctors anymore. Sad but true.

 

Panic and anxiety will make it higher, no doubt, and these are part and parcel of the recovery process, so it's a double whammy.  Anticipating taking your blood pressure at home can raise it as well, so just be aware of that, too.  I had to get rid of my BP cuff for that reason.  BP fluctuates, sometimes dramatically and quickly, and a temporary high reading can be alarming, which leads to more testing of the BP, etc.

 

I wouldn't take anyone's opinion on this over your doctor's.  BP issues are no one's specialty except trained medical personnel.  If the doc says don't abruptly discontinue, I wouldn't do it, although I'd probably check out what Dr. Google had to say about Clonodine and other BP meds.  They all can be discontinued if BP comes down, and it will if it's simply due to the benzodiazepine use.  Your body's under stress right now...fight or flight mode...and this is the way the body responds to fight or flight, even temporarily.

 

Lots of people take BP meds for life and do okay.  I think a short course will do no harm aside from the distress it's causing you at the thought of taking it.  If my doc had insisted, I'd have taken it too.

[[No...]]

When I started my taper after going c/t last year, I had huge BP spikes due to panic attacks. I had no idea what they were. My blood pressure was elevated before my taper and I took light BP meds. During my panic attacks I went to the hospital thinking I was having a heart attack. For my BP spikes the hospital gave me clonodine. My doc kept prescribing it and kept my BP in the normal and sometimes even low range. It helps a lot in clalming me down when I am cutting and a wave hits me.

 

I plan to off Clonodine at some point and you need to go off of it slow. I've been on beta blockers and went off- didn't like them.

 

I am confident that as your body gets back to normalcy if you didn't need BP meds before you will not need them after.

[[La...]]

Thanks you both for your input. I agree with you regarding the blood pressure cuff, and I think that will ultimately just make me more anxious in the long run. I picked up my beta blocker today, and plan on taking that in conjunction with the Clonidine. Thanks again.

[[tr...]]

Woke up once and took my beta blocker and it just kept rising and rising: so scary... my Doctor was ignorant, too...

[[tr...]]

I am now dependent on beta blocker.

[[Ch...]]

Clonidine needs to be tapered, treesgoodandkind.  Lancers knows that already.  I find your posts to him to be kind of fear-mongering.  No one needs that.

[[La...]]

I appreciate you looking out for me. Normally, a comment like that wouldn't bother me at all, but it's a whole different scenario when you're withdrawing and it's seems like you are literally dieing.

[[ma...]]

Is is bad to be dependent on beta blockers?

[Guest [ch...]]

Beta blockers are more benign that benzos (gosh that's a lot of 'b' words ). But it's better not to become dependent on any drug if you can avoid it. Dependency implies tolerance - the reason you become dependent is your body has modified itself to become tolerant and thus removal of the drug is a problem. And tolerance implies the drug is no longer doing any good. To put it more simply, after a period of time regularly taking beta blockers, your blood pressure will gradually rise to the level it was at before you started taking them. That's why it's better to control blood pressure naturally if you can - diet, exercise, weight loss. Again, I'm not a doctor, but this is my advice based on my experience with high blood pressure.

CP

[[gi...]]

It's been 7 weeks since I've jumped and my blood pressure is still through the roof. I went to the doctor today and she just seems baffles that my blood pressure is still high.  Especially since I saw her 1 month ago and she prescribed me Clonidine to treat it. She is now adding a beta blocker to take in conjunction with the Clonidine. My blood pressure was 155/95. Is it still normal for my blood pressure to be so high after jumping 7 weeks ago? Has anyone else taken beta blockers and still had high blood pressure during withdrawal? Does it eventually get better? Sorry for all the questions but I'm just so sick and tired of being sick and tired. My doctor doesn't make it much better by telling me it's not related to withdrawal when I assure her it is. I never had high blood pressure in my life before all of this.

 

Check your B/P daily after you were sitting or laying down for at least 5 minutes.  That's how it's supposed be checked.  You will see more normal readings.  A few random high B/P readings here and there aren't necessarily a cause for concern, you need to look for consistent patterns.  More meds in your system right now is the last thing you need. 

[[La...]]

Hey guys, I feel like I'm obligated to give y'all an update. So it's looks like I have a classic case of white coat syndrome. I finally bought a blood pressure cuff and my readings are normal. At one point I think I really did have a high blood pressure, but it looks like it's back to normal. I discontinued the beta blocker and tapering off Clonidine as I speak. Thanks for the advice!

[[gi...]]

Great, you have one thing less to worry about.

[[No...]]

Hey guys, I feel like I'm obligated to give y'all an update. So it's looks like I have a classic case of white coat syndrome. I finally bought a blood pressure cuff and my readings are normal. At one point I think I really did have a high blood pressure, but it looks like it's back to normal. I discontinued the beta blocker and tapering off Clonidine as I speak. Thanks for the advice!

 

Out of curiosity, how are you tapering off of Clonodine? I plan to do it a few months after finishing Clonazepam taper

[[tr...]]

I hope my post encouraged you. I call Propranolol a miracle drug. What scared me was I didn’t understand what was going on in my body.

 

Unlike most people, I had the equipment to closely monitor my BP and heart rate and oxygen levels, too.

 

Yes, it needs to be tapered slowly as your doctor or pharmacist recommends. But when you can cut it simply means your recovering: that’s a good thing!

 

I have reduced my intake of beta blocker by 50% recently: with minimal withdrawal. I am getting better: you will, too. Best wishes!

 

I am NOT a fearmonger. I am an encourager. And I encourage you not to worry. You will recover, too.

[[La...]]

NolesAlum,

 

Well I have only been on Clondine for 6 weeks, so I'm doing a fairly rapid taper. Originally my daily dosage consisted of .1 MG in the AM and. 2MG at night. I began my taper last Monday, and cut to .5 MG in the AM and .1MG in the evening. I just cut again today to 0MG in the AM, and .5 in the evening. Next Monday, I plan on jumping all together. Keep in my mind I was only on this medication for a short time, so you may have to do a slower taper. Hope this helps!

 

Treesaregoodandkind,

 

I really appreciate your input and advice. I'm not going to lie, at first I did see those comments as a little fear mongering, but then again I was stuck in a bad wave and everything was frightening too me. I now know you were just trying to give and a helping hand, and that I'm grateful for

[Guest [Lu...]]

I was worried bout my beta blocker, too. ugh, i was a nice 125/70 my entire life, sincerely barely wavered from those numbers regardless of how I felt. then wonderful benzo tolerance and subsequent withdrawal which have been an absolute nightmare of symptoms the last 2 years now all told. im 4+ months off benzos and everything else (still in hell pretty much - i had 3 weeks a month ago where it all felt like it was finally getting better, only to plunge right back into hell)

 

i started bystolic 5mg about a year ago. not toooo bad a drug and a relatively low dose, but man does it feel weird when i would exert and just have no oomph behind it. very strange at first. anyway, when i had my bp taken a few months ago and it was high, my dr wanted to go to 10mg bystolic. i took 10mg that night and was literally sick, felt absolutely awful, like i was thrown into the worst wave. i was like hell no ill ride it out on 5mg.

 

now i took my bp over a month ago when i wasnt feeling too lousy, and it was actually fairly low (for me), 120s over 68 (prob higher now as ive had an awful month), so i was starting to think of getting off the bystolic completely. but now im seeing that getting off a bp med is really hard too? i figured it would make you feel a bit weird adjusting back, but seems like some people who get on a beta blocker are stuck on one?

 

this has all just been a trainwreck, i swear to god unless im in mortal danger im never taking a frigging prescription pill again for anything. they all seem to just whack me the hell out without really "fixing" a damn thing. wish i had never gotten on the bystolic now, but i was hurting terribly when i went on.