If anxious episodes or anxiety attacks take place daily, they can result in heart, kidney and blood vessel damage, in much the same way as chronic hypertension. Blood pressure fluctuates constantly, and is never exactly the same at all times, so it can be difficult to gauge whether your anxiety is related to your blood pressure levels, or if contributing factors like age, weight, gender, genetics have a role to play.
Anxiety constricts blood vessels and elevates the heart rate, which can cause blood pressure to spike but the effects are not likely to be permanent. Anxiety can also cause low blood pressure in some people. If a person has an anxiety attack they may start to hyperventilate. Hyperventilation is caused when the body gets too much oxygen by either breathing too rapidly or too deeply. While high blood pressure is the more common of the two conditions in people with anxiety, hypotension is also possible.
People who suffer from anxiety are considered higher risk for hypertension, because their anxiety may lead them into unhealthy behaviors that can have an adverse effect on blood pressure. Anxious people are more likely to smoke, turn to alcohol or over-eat in order to cope with their condition, all of which can elevate the risk of high blood pressure.
Another important consideration is that some medication for anxiety can also lead to high blood pressure, with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) specifically known to increase the likelihood of hypertension.
If your anxiety is leading to high blood pressure, it needs to be treated as the cause before any medication for hypertension is considered. And, if your anxiety is severe enough to be influencing your blood pressure, it is likely to be making your life more challenging in other areas as well. It is important that your doctor has a holistic idea of your state of health and the factors that it is affected by. Speak to doctors at low cost clinics in Las Vegas for an integrated approach to managing both conditions.