# Blood pressure instability



## journ3 (Feb 16, 2009)

Is there any documented or widely anecdotal relationship between IBS and blood pressure issues, since they both involve autonomic dysfunctions? My MD says no, it's just genetics, and of course, both are very common, but in any case, I doubt they are helping each other.I am in my early 40s, female, sudden onset of IBS in late 2007, exceptionally physically and emotionally healthy for years until then. This blood pressure issue was noticed a few weeks ago at a routine annual exam, wasn't, as far as I know, there even last year. There is a family history, but for the relative in question, it was long understood to have been secondary to another condition, not the other way around-- no way to prove which. I was asked to home monitor and have verified that I am now doing things correctly. On a good day, my BP fluctuates between near normal to prehypertension. On a bad day, it goes between prehypertension and hypertension, with diastolic (the lower number) being more stable and more likely to be higher than it should be. I try to maintain the same conditions as much as possible, but as with the IBS, I can never seem to predict or control, and it seems to me that it's a pretty big spread, even allowing for the fact that everybody's BP fluctuates. MD says for now, as long as it is averaging in the prehypertension range, that is not good, but not bad enough for meds yet and should be managed with lifestyle. I already do not smoke, do not drink alcohol, do not do illegal drugs, have a healthful, balanced diet with little sodium, fat, processed junk or other things one is not supposed to eat. I am not overweight, none of which prevented either condition. I have truly done almost everything currently known and humanly possible that is not a quack cure to control the IBS and have been partially successful, but still have many symptoms fluctuating every day without remission, which is a ton of stress on my body and mindset. MD knows all this in detail. It's true that at my age, I would prefer not to be on tons of lifelong meds that may or may not help for the next 40 years. On the other hand, hypertension is not something to play around with, and I don't want to spend my days being stressed out about blood pressure *and* IBS. Has anyone else with both IBS and not so great blood pressure noticed these wide variations, and if you have gotten one under control, has it helped the other?Thank you.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

My family has a lot of blood pressure problems even at ideal body weight (you don't HAVE to be obese to have blood pressure issues, but it is more common).Unfortunately any stress (mental or physical) can up the blood pressure and isn't something that should be the exact same at all times. It does vary with activity level, how close that car accident you just barely avoided (I had really high readings at the doctor right after that almost killed me but didn't hit me thing).With as common as blood pressure issues and IBS are you expect a lot of people to have both, so I don't think there is any solid evidence they run together more than you would expect by chance.Have you tried doing meditation to lower the blood pressure, that works for some people. Arginine (an amino acid) sometimes helps some people with mild blood pressure issues. I used that before mine got so bad I needed medication and the meds also keep me from getting tachydardia and migraines so since it is doing a lot more than one thing I don't mind so much. And it wouldn't be a bad thing to check your diet against the DASH diet to see if really is a blood pressure lowering diet. http://www.dashdiet.org/Now I can make mine go down with some biofeedback techniques I learned (how I kept from getting in big trouble when my adrenaline was so high from the nearly got killed accident) but that works in the while I'm doing them not my overall average, but they can help.


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## A Ryan Darkly (Aug 22, 2009)

hi 27 male , i have been dealing with ibs since i was seven years of age and it has not been a fun ride.my blood pressure is high due to a few factors including family history and smoking , however i have oher abnormalities that are in my mind a great potential for being related to the ibs since it cause several different types of reactions in my CNS ,mostly traveling pain and stabbing pain in my feet at times.. with the blood pressure , right now im going through a period of my ibs being really bad , it tends to effect the whole digestive system vs the lowwer bowel . i have been experiencing blood pressure spikes in relation ,and im talking one minute it was 138/86 and the next i felt like i was having a anxiety attack and it spiked to 160/110 within moments ..its pretty scary for me because of the way it makes me feel and i know it isnt god for my cardio vascular system at all. but i know from experience that the two go hand in hand , at least in my case because everything tends to constrict or tighten up which in turn will reduce blood flow and your body sensing that will try to compensate the best it can ,even if it is not in a good way.. just thought i would share my experience with you and i hope the best .


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

I have certainly had both, and my bp still is often in in low 130s; but the spikes to the 160s and 170s don't seem to happen any more. I know from my experiences of the past few years that keeping the 10 extra pounds of beer and fat off of me goes a long way towards keeping those numbers down and getting in a couple of hours of medium exertion exercise every day helps greatly with both of those numbers. As far as the IBS, there didn't seem to be any correlation. My bp stayed up until I addressed my weight and exercise; and they were a problem until I stopped having D every day.Mark


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## RGH69 (Jul 28, 2009)

Well, I can definately tell you that while I am having an attack my BP is higher. But I have been staying gluten-free and my BP is much better. Before going gluten-free my bp would be around 150/100 resting pulse 70 for most of the day but afternoons it would fall to about 135/85. When the Dr. gave me blood pressure medicine I was fine until the evening which is when I would get dizzy and tired because my bp would drop to 120/70 and my pulse would drop to around 50. Also, when I quit taking BP meds I lost weight and had less IBS related symptoms.


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