Blood Pressure

[[bu...]]

Anyone else have increased blood pressure going through this? My blood pressure started creeping up while tapering Klonopin and has gone up even more since I jumped 65 days ago. This is really increasing my anxiety to the point that I've been taking my blood pressure constantly while tapering and up until a few hours ago when my sister confiscated my cuffs. I don't know what to do w/o them. I don't feel safe.

[[...]]

Yes, at 11 months off of 30yrs of klon, I started a calcium channel blocker.

I plan to taper off of the BP meds at 18 months and see how I do.

[[...]]

@[bu...]Yes. It often happens. When i first started messing with dosages of my benzo my blood pressure kept going up and down l just couldn't imagine life without  cuffs) I think it was a good thing for your sister to do - to confiscate your cuffs) Now i try not to measure blood pressure 'cause sure enough if i do it, it'll jump up.

65 days is too little to feel well. It is normal for blood pressure to increase and for many other symptoms to pop up. Be patient, and don't worry more than necessary)

[[An...]]

4 hours ago, [[b...] said:

Anyone else have increased blood pressure going through this? My blood pressure started creeping up while tapering Klonopin and has gone up even more since I jumped 65 days ago. This is really increasing my anxiety to the point that I've been taking my blood pressure constantly while tapering and up until a few hours ago when my sister confiscated my cuffs. I don't know what to do w/o them. I don't feel safe.

How high is it going? I have also experienced this.

[[bu...]]

Edited October 25, 2023 by [bu...]

[[bu...]]

@[...] Thank you, that's good you're able to control the urge to take your blood pressure. I wasn't able to do that particularly while in acute. It probably is good she took my cuffs. Of course I'm an adult and I did agree to her doing so.

[[...]]

My BP varied alot after I quit the benzos. I feel best at 140ish over 85ish. It went much higher I started getting bad headache around the 10th month, so I started some meds to see if they would help. It's been hit or miss. I decided to stay on them until the 18th month.

[[Br...]]

@[bu...]  Blood pressure fluctuation seems to be a fairly common symptom in withdrawal from what I've seen.  I experienced this myself when I was in withdrawal. I was already on BP medication but my BP spiked during withdrawal and it really scared me and fed into my anxiety.  I measured my BP multiple times a day and got scary readings.  A kind nurse told me it's normal to have fluctuations over the course of a day and that it's best to take the readings at the same time each day.  I did that and my readings still weren't optimal so I ended up increasing my BP meds slightly - it helped with my numbers and my peace of mind.  I'm sorry you're dealing with this.

[[Ji...]]

After I lost a significant amount of weight I was able to stop most of of my medications. Now 46 days since my last dose of Vallium I'm having BP problems. I've been monitoring my BP since since the beginning of this year and had an average reading of 130/80, just last week it went up to 207/103, yes it was quite alarming especially when I had just started a new medication ( 10mg gabapentin prescribed by a addiction doctor for chronic pain on my first visit!!) of course no one forced me to take it, I did,  and yes the same day my BP went hay wire. My GP prescribed 5mg amlodipine which I took on Sunday past, it seemed to work and BP went down to 130/80, now today for unknown reason its back up to 150/93 so I took another 5mg amlodipine and I'll check it tomorrow, fingers crossed. Good luck B19.

[[bu...]]

@[Br...]Thank you, I appreciate your message. This is the hardest thing for me to overcome in regards to health anxiety. It really is tricky and I feel like if I can get through this, I can do anything. I mean it got to the point where I was barely taking the cuff off so I guess kind of like OCD. 

[[bu...]]

@[Ji...] Thank you for sharing. I'm so sorry, sounds like you're in acute withdrawal. I'm 65 or so days off a slow taper of Klonopin myself and it really is hard. I'm sure your blood pressure will go back down but I know how scary it is and I'm sorry that doctor prescribed a gaba drug for you, geez. Don't blame yourself for taking it, though. It's hard when you're freaked out to make sound decisions and besides, it's the doctor's responsibility to know what to prescribe, or not. However, I think after going through this, we learn to look out for ourselves more and not trust someone just because they're a medical professional. I mean even the best medical professionals make mistakes. Just curious, what does your pulse do when your blood pressure goes up? Mine can go either way so now I'm checking my pulse too much to try to determine my blood pressure since I don't have cuffs, lol. Don't do this!

[[...]]

I noticed my pulse goes higher as my BP goes lower on the meds. I'm not to sure BP meds are doing any good. 

Before the meds my pressure was higher but the pulse was much lower. 

Edited October 26, 2023 by [...]

[[bu...]]

Maybe you're not on the right meds? Or it could just be that you haven't completely healed from the benzos. I found this regarding pulse, blood pressure, and the baroreceptor reflex:
"Your body is a complex machine that tries to stay in balance. Because a normal blood pressure is so important for your health, your body constantly strives to maintain your pressure within the normal range. When your blood pressure rises, a reflex called the baroreceptor reflex is triggered in an attempt to lower your pressure. As a result of this reflex, the heart rate becomes slower. So the natural response to any increase in blood pressure is a lower pulse. But this response is not always seen, as various factors may overcome it."

[[...]]

23 hours ago, [[b...] said:

@[...] Thank you, that's good you're able to control the urge to take your blood pressure. I wasn't able to do that particularly while in acute. It probably is good she took my cuffs. Of course I'm an adult and I did agree to her doing so.

@[bu...] i couldn't control the urge for a year) but then i realized the more i took my blood pressure, the more chances for it to pop up. And a doctor also told me that it was my nervous state that made my pressure increase and it had nothing to do with my real physical health. I was so tired of worrying that believed the doc and somehow it helped)

The first thing while being in acute is not to worry as much as we could. The terrible things happening to us are normal in the state and somehow must pass!

 

[[...]]

 I

14 hours ago, [[b...] said:

Maybe you're not on the right meds? Or it could just be that you haven't completely healed from the benzos. I found this regarding pulse, blood pressure, and the baroreceptor reflex:
"Your body is a complex machine that tries to stay in balance. Because a normal blood pressure is so important for your health, your body constantly strives to maintain your pressure within the normal range. When your blood pressure rises, a reflex called the baroreceptor reflex is triggered in an attempt to lower your pressure. As a result of this reflex, the heart rate becomes slower. So the natural response to any increase in blood pressure is a lower pulse. But this response is not always seen, as various factors may overcome it."

This confirms my point. Maybe my normal BP is a little higher than the average.

[[bu...]]

@[...] Thanks Kate for sharing this. Had I seen a doctor like you did in the beginning I'd probably be okay now but I became my own doctor and well, not a good move. Now that I've gotten rid of my cuffs, I still have the thoughts I can't get rid of. I'm going to post a question about OCD going through this. I wonder how common it is?

[[...]]

8 hours ago, [[b...] said:

@[...] Thanks Kate for sharing this. Had I seen a doctor like you did in the beginning I'd probably be okay now but I became my own doctor and well, not a good move. Now that I've gotten rid of my cuffs, I still have the thoughts I can't get rid of. I'm going to post a question about OCD going through this. I wonder how common it is?

@[bu...] do you mean obsessive compulsive disorder? If so, yes) I do have it begining from the second month of my taper. Now it has slowed down but i used to be overwhelmed with it. It's not just about thoughts. I had some "lucky" points as well, which i obsessively repeated 'cos last time i'd done them i managed to survive) I 'd read it was common in our state but i couldn't imagin the level...Every time the wave of severe ocd got on me i told myself, " Ah... It's hard to be crazy".

Sorry, it's not to the point of the topic but still it is actual.