Sunday, March 24, 2024

Can Panic Attacks Raise Blood Pressure

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Blood Pressure Changes And Anxiety

Can Anxiety Cause High Blood Pressure?

Anxiety is the activation of your fight or flight system a system designed to keep you safe from harm when no danger is present. The fight or flight system causes a number of physical changes that would help you respond to a predator or threat if one was present, but can be distressing when they occur without that danger.

Different types of anxiety can affect your blood pressure in different ways. To understand how anxiety can impact blood pressure, first you must gain a basic understanding of blood pressure and how it fluctuates.

Finally, it is always important to remember that blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day due to exertion, diet, hydration, and more. Blood pressure is not constant even if you do not have any anxiety. So “high blood pressure” may not be high blood pressure at all, and may instead be a reading during one of these fluctuations.

Panic Disorder In Children

Panic disorder is more common in teenagers than in younger children.

Panic attacks can be particularly hard for children and young people to deal with. Severe panic disorder may affect their development and learning.

If your child has the signs and symptoms of panic disorder, they should see a GP.

After taking a detailed medical history the GP will carry out a thorough physical examination to rule out any physical causes for the symptoms.

They may refer your child to a specialist for further assessment and treatment. The specialist may recommend a course of CBT for your child.

Screening for other anxiety disorders may also be needed to help find the cause of your child’s panic attacks.

Anxiety And The Development Of Heart Disease

Its my view and my personal clinical experience that anxiety disorders can play a major role in heart disease, says McCann. I believe that a really careful look at anxiety would reveal the ways it can severely impact heart disease, both as a contributing factor and as an obstacle in recovery.

A natural reaction to a sudden heart attack can be similar to post-traumatic stress disorder:

  • Youre likely to be shocked by your near-death experience and extremely hesitant to do the things you used to do.
  • You might constantly relive the life-threatening event, and avoid the activity or place associated with the heart attack.
  • Recurring anxious thoughts may impede your ability to get regular sleep.
  • Your thoughts about what lies ahead may be extremely negative and cause a drastically foreshortened outlook of the future.

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Heart Rate Variability Monitoring For Chronic Health Conditions And Cervical Instability Cases

Ross Hauser, MD explains how monitoring HRV can be a helpful way to see how a persons vagal tone and overall health are improving or declining. This is an objective test we have some patients monitor at home and we have a more comprehensive version that we can do in-office.

The summary transcript is below video:

Video summary:

Heart rate variability or HRV measures the functioning of the autonomic nervous system. It measures if the balance between the sympathetic nervous system and the Parasympathetic system is good or if this balance is off. When it is good the body is in a good position to heal and regenerate.

We do heart rate variability testing in the office and this testing gives us a sense of how balanced someones autonomic nervous system is. When somebody has a high vagal tone meaning their vagus nerves, which are the nerves in the body that give the body health, when the HRV is high, the person has better athletic ability they also have a greater resistance to stress.

When people have a low vagal tone they cant handle stress, theyre much more prone to getting illnesses, they tend to have depression or they might have other signs like brain fog or melancholy and other psychological conditions. They are easily fatigued.

Diseases associated with low heart rate variability

Brain:

  • multiple chemical sensitivity
  • Chronic Lyme Disease symptoms

Can Anxiety Treatment Cause High Blood Pressure

Can Anxiety Affect Your Blood Pressure?

Yes. Some medications used for treatment of anxiety can lead to increased blood pressure when taken alone or in combination with other medications. These include:

After prescribing medication for anxiety, your physician will monitor you closely to determine if there are significant changes in your blood pressure.

Physicians take special care to avoid prescribing medications that can cause high blood pressure to those who already have a diagnosis of hypertension. This is why it is important to remind your doctor about any personal or family history of high blood pressure, so that they can select the safest medication for you.

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Different Types Of Anxiety Disorder

Anxiety disorders fall into several categories. Here are a few of them:

  • Panic disorder can be associated with cardiac disease or mistaken for heart attack. Feelings of extreme agitation and terror are often accompanied by dizziness, chest pains, stomach discomfort, shortness of breath, and rapid heart rate.
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder a condition that can follow a shocking or frightening incident or sudden, life-threatening event such as a violent crime, major accident, or heart attack. A person suffering from PTSD often has trouble dealing with anything associated with the incident that caused their condition, and experiences feelings of jitteriness and detachment.
  • Obsessive-Compulsive disorder People with OCD will manage unreasonable thoughts and worries by performing the same actions over and over. For example, an individual obsessed with perceived cardiovascular symptoms that have been checked and cleared by a physician may compulsively research them or find new ones for hours on end.

Measurements In Heart Rate Variability As A Means To Show A Treatment Is Working

Chiropractors in Sweden and Denmark are collaborating on a study in which they can use Heart Rate Variability as a measure to detect if spinal manipulation, by reducing a patients pain, is impacting itself on the Autonomic nervous system.

The posterior cervical sympathetic nervous system signals the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system that controls the head, neck, and face area. In cervical spine neck instability or cervicocranial syndrome, the posterior cervical sympathetic system is underactive because the vertebrae in the neck are pinching the sympathetic nerves.

Lets let the researchers explain:

The pain-reducing effects of on certain spinal pain conditions are well established, as are the normal reactions to such treatment. However, the mechanisms behind these effects are not well understood, although it is hypothesized that the pain-reducing effects could be mediated through the Autonomic nervous system

In other words, spinal manipulation helps people by alleviating pain. But how does the manipulation do it? That is not well understood. So what the researchers hypothesized is that it must have something to do with the function of the Autonomic nervous system and that they may be able to show this by measuring Heart Rate Variability.

So here there is speculation that short-term pain relief achieved with chiropractic care can be shown by restoring normal heart rate variability.

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Overcrowding In The Carotid Sheath Compression In The Carotid Triangle The Cranial Nerves

The carotid sheath is a wrapping of connective tissue or fascia that surrounds the vascular vessels of the neck. It also surrounds the cranial nerves. This is all one neat roll-up of arteries, veins, and nerves. It is also a very tight and compact roll-up packed into this protective tube. But the protective tube can only protect so far. Cervical instability can lead to compression of this tube and all the components within it. This can lead to an impact on the cervical nerves and conditions and symptoms thought to be neurologic in nature.

  • The glossopharyngeal nerve passes through the carotid sheath.
  • The vagus nerve passes through the carotid sheath.
  • Parts of the internal and external carotid artery pass through the carotid sheath.
  • The internal jugular vein passes through the carotid sheath.

What Are We Seeing In This Image A Visual Description Of How Compression In The Cervical Spine Can Lead To Problems With Blood Pressure

Can Anxiety Attack Cause High Blood Pressure? [& 1 FREE Download to CALM You Down NOW!]

Here we see that the carotid sheath and all its vital structures lay on top of the C1 Atlas. When the Atlas or C1 starts wandering out of place it takes the carotid sheath with it, stretching the arteries, veins, and the glossopharyngeal nerve and vagus nerve or compressing the arteries, veins, and glossopharyngeal nerve, and vagus nerve. When there is compression there can be high blood pressure signaling. When there is stretching, there can be high blood pressure signaling. The person is now suffering from cardiovascular-like symptoms.

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Should I Be Worried If My Blood Pressure Is 150 100

As you can see from the paragraph above, if your blood pressure is significantly elevated it is very unlikely that diet and lifestyle changes alone will be enough to bring your blood pressure in a range that will reduce your risk or heart attacks, strokes, or early death. You need medications.

What Happens To Your Heart Rate During A Panic Attack

In many cases, a panic attack triggers a fast heart rate, also known as tachycardia. The heart rate may speed up to 200 beats per minute or even faster.

A fast heart rate can make you feel lightheaded and short of breath. Or you might feel fluttering or pounding in the chest. Usually, tachycardia that happens in response to emotional stress and only lasts a few minutes is not harmful. But if it happens regularly, or you have possible symptoms of a heart attack, seek medical care.

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Have You Gone To The Hospital For Panic Attacks Before

If so, you probably had a series of tests, such as an electrocardiogram and bloodwork. The results are a sure way to find out if your symptoms came from a heart problem or a panic attack.

If doctors didnât find a health issue then and you have the same symptoms now, itâs likely that youâre having another panic attack. But if youâre not sure, you should go to the hospital.

Most panic attacks pass within 30 minutes, but you can take a few steps to calm them on your own. If youâre short of breath, you can try breathing exercises. Sit or lie down somewhere comfortable. Take slow, deep breaths gently, in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Even if you know panic attacks can cause your symptoms, itâs a good idea to ask your doctor if thereâs a chance you have heart disease.

What Are We Seeing In This Image This Is A Good Summary Of The Vagus Nerve And The Glossopharyngeal Nerve Monitor The Blood Pressure And Pulse In The Body

Panic Attack and High Blood Pressure

For help with explaining what is happening in this above image, we are going to refer to a 2019 paper in the Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology written by Lucy Norcliffe-Kaufmann of the Dysautonomia Center, New York University School of Medicine. I am adding some explanatory notes to help the general reader.

The glossopharyngeal and vagus cranial nerves provide the brainstem with sensory inputs from different receptors in the heart, lung, and vasculature. This afferent information is critical for the short-term regulation of arterial blood pressure and the buffering of emotional and physical stressors.

Glossopharyngeal afferents supply the medulla with continuous mechanoreceptive signals from baroreceptors at the carotid sinus.

Vagal afferents ascending from the heart supply mechanoreceptive signals from baroreceptors in different reflexogenic areas including the aortic arch, atria, ventricles, and pulmonary arteries. , the atria

Ultimately, afferent information from each of these distinct pressure/volume baroreceptors is all relayed to the nucleus tractus solitarius, integrated within the medulla, and used to rapidly adjust sympathetic and parasympathetic activity back to the periphery.

Lesions that selectively destroy the afferent fibers of the vagus and/or glossopharyngeal nerves can interrupt the transmission of baroreceptor signaling leading to extreme blood pressure fluctuations.

Now lets look at this next segment:

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Keep A Close Eye On Your Blood Sugar Levels

Its always important to keep tabs on your stress and blood sugar. Thats why we recommend a fasting blood sugar test at every yearly physical.If your blood sugar starts to creep upwards, we can be proactive and start measures to help you.

This is particularly important if you have diabetes or prediabetes. In fact, if you have these conditions, we may suggest that you have blood sugar screenings more often. We can guide you through when you should check your blood sugar, and our dietitian can help you select healthy meals.

Summary And Contact Us Can We Help You How Do I Know If Im A Good Candidate

We hope you found this article informative and it helped answer many of the questions you may have surrounding cervical spine instability causing heart palpitations and blood pressure problems. Just like you, we want to make sure you are a good fit for our clinic prior to accepting your case. While our mission is to help as many people with chronic pain as we can, sadly, we cannot accept all cases. We have a multi-step process so our team can really get to know you and your case to ensure that it sounds like you are a good fit for the unique testing and treatments that we offer here.

If you would like to get more information specific to your challenges please email us: Get help and information from our Caring Medical staff

References

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What Are The Symptoms Of A Heart Attack

A heart attack is when part of your heart doesnt get enough blood. This usually happens because an artery that supplies blood to the heart is blocked. Common heart attack symptoms include:

  • Chest pain or pressure.
  • Nausea or vomiting.
  • Feeling of impending doom.

A heart attack can be life-threatening, so dont wait to see if the symptoms go away. Seek immediate medical care if you have signs of a heart attack.

Nine Strategies To Manage Anxiety

Can a Panic Attack Cause High Blood Pressure? [AND 1 Super Simple Way to STOP the PANIC!]
  • Controlled breathing. A long breath in through your nose, held for a count of two seconds, and then slowly released from your mouth is an effective exercise. Not only is it easy to do without others taking notice, but it will also help you feel in control again, thereby reducing anxiety.
  • Progressive muscle relaxation. This can be done sitting or standing but is most comfortable in a seated position. Focus on the furthest part away from your brain, starting with your toes. Give them a short wiggle and then mindfully relax them. Progressively move up through each body part, making sure to reach all external furthest points from toes to fingers, legs, abdomen, backside, shoulders, and scalp. You will notice the places that hold tensionsuch as shoulders and neckand feel the anxiety relief that comes from relaxing these areas.
  • Focus on now. Things in the past are exactly that: past. The same goes for things in the future. You can only focus on now, so release anxiety from places in time over which you have no control .
  • Healthy social life/activities. Keeping active, eating well, going out into nature, spending time with family and friends, and doing the activities you enjoy are all effective in reducing anxiety and improving your well-being.
  • Learn from others. Sharing with others who also experience anxiety can help you feel less alone and more empowered by utilizing some of their coping tips.
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    What Are The Symptoms

    Symptoms of a panic attack may include:

    • A feeling of intense fear, terror, or anxiety.
    • Trouble breathing or very fast breathing.
    • Chest pain or tightness.

    Symptoms of panic disorder may include:

    • Repeated panic attacks when there is no reason for the fight-or-flight response.
    • Changing your daily activities because you worry that you will have another attack.

    Some people have a fear of being in crowds, standing in line, or going into shopping malls. They are afraid of having another panic attack or of not being able to escape. This problem is called agoraphobia. It can be so bad for some people that they never leave their homes.

    People who have panic disorder often have depression at the same time.

    Living With Panic Attack Health Fears

    Panic attacks involve so many physical symptoms that health fears are incredibly common. It can even create health anxiety. That’s why it’s so important to get your panic attacks under control.

    Your blood pressure does increase when you have anxiety. Two different issues lead to the development of high blood pressure during an attack:

    • Adrenaline, which causes your heart to speed blood around your body.
    • Hyperventilation, which causes your blood vessels to constrict.

    Both of these lead to tremendous pressure, and in some cases the appearance of severe hypertension. Those that go through panic attacks, they tend to experience fear over whether or not these attacks indicate that they are putting strain on their heart that could be deadly.

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    What Are We Seeing In This Image

    This is a chart that reveals autonomic testing results in a patient we saw in our office.

    When hooked up and being monitored we can see that:

    • When the person had a stressful memory, just one stressful memory, the sympathetic system went way up . This person with one stressful memory became super sympathetic dominant and then eventually when we got the person to laugh the sympathetic system and the parasympathetic system became balanced again.

    A heart rate variability test can give us a picture to show us how the person is doing as a relates to thoughts, memory, relationships. We can also test based on neck motions.

    The motion of the neck and heart rate variability

    In the above image, we can see that the second most stressful event for this person, besides the stressful memory, was a certain neck motion. In certain people, when they move their neck to a certain position, they can feel their overall body becoming more stressful and this is a real physiologic event that happens to them and the way that we document is with HRV testing.

    The testing put patients in different stressor situations. This could include the stress of having to perform mathematical equations and the response to loud noise.

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