Is Fluctuating Blood Pressure A Cause For Concern?

Posted on Thu, 8 Dec 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 8 Dec 2016 Answered on

Wed, 28 Dec 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : My blood pressure this morning was 168/100 according to my md. He put me back on diovan hct 160/25 and coreg 12.5 1 @ am and 1 @ pm. My bp now is 120/83. Will my numbers bottom out or will it keep it at a constant level? Im worried about having low bp.

Thank you

Answered by Dr. Ilir Sharka (33 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
I would explain as follows:

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Welcome back again on HCM!

As, I already explained before, the changes made to your blood pressure therapy may need a period up to a week to achieve a new equilibrium in blood pressure values.

This means that during this period of time, blood pressure values may be fluctuating .

If your blood pressure values will not be as desired (too high or too low) after a week, further changes to your therapy may be needed (increase or lower doses).

From the other hand, I would also like to explain that even on anti-hypertensive therapy, some spikes in blood pressure values may also occur because of physical or emotional stress (anxiety, panic attacks, straining physical exertion), because during such activity our body activates the sympathetic nervous system, causing an increase of circulating chatecholamines (adrenaline and noradrenaline) in circulating blood, leading to tachycardia and high blood pressure values.

Hope you will find this answer helpful!

Wishing all the best,

Dr. Iliri

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar