It's a long time since I have been to this forum and people who may remember me , I hope you are all getting on ok .
My question is , has anyone had a rise in their blood pressure since taking prednisalone .
November 14 was diagnosed with PMR .hospitalised with bad head pain one weekend August 15 my blood pressure was up then nearly 170/ 90 they put this down to being in pain . I was diagnosed with multi migraines .
Still have head pain on a daily basis . Have reduced prednisalone down to 5.5 and have lost 2 stone ,saw nurse for an ear Chk and asked her to do my blood pressure again , it was 160 /93 . So have been advised to buy a blood pressure monitor and take pressure twice a day for 2 weeks .
I am having mild flare ups and reduc 1/2 pred every 4 to 6 week which seems to work for me . Wondering when I see my doctor if I should ask to wait until I am of prednisalone before treatment is given ? Incase that is the cause . My reading were always around 130/ 80 before PMR
Under lot of stress at moment .Waiting for Chk on husbands myaloma as he is in a lot of pain and have house on market trying to move because he had always wanted to . But my feeling still wonder if the steroid is putting up my blood pressure as I have suffered other side effects ie pressures up in eyes and hair thining etc .
Absolute scared with the thought of my blood pressure being up as my mother died at 49 from hypertension , I am now 67 and she had a stroke while carrying me .
Give me some cheer please kind people
It is hard to guess why you have high BP. I only had higher BP initially, while on 15mg prednisone, and it went away as soon as I was below 10mg. But we are all different. My guess in your case is that you have high BP from the stress you are going thru. Your husband health and selling home is plenty of stress to impact your BP. If you can, try not to worry too much and take one thing at the time.
Thank you for your reply . I know in my heart you are probably right . But looked into the patient forum leaflets and they suggest pred can give you high blood pressure . In fact reading about PMR on their own forum says pred taken over long periods can raise blood pressure . However the one place you won't see any mention is on the pred leaflet . Which I have just read .
Will be glad to stop taking the pred to find the real me again however that will take me some months yet as I do get flare ups and find slow but sure is best for me
Hi Carol - In my case I have been on BP meds for 16 years when approx. 4/5 months into being on pred I started being very faint and went to see my GP who said my BP had gone down and reduced my meds to half (5 mg Amlodipine) I'm still on pred over 2 years later and only taking 1.5 mg and my BP has not gone up - as Nick said we are all different. Could stress be a reason?
Hi Carol, I do believe the Prednisone caused my blood pressure to rise. I have a lifetime of BP readings of slightly lower than normal ( the old normal of 120/80). After 6 months of PMR and Prednisone, it started hovering around 160/ 88. My PCP put me on a low dose of Chlorithalidone which is keeping it around the normal readings. I am now down to 4 mg Pred, but believe I still need the BP med., at least for now. My parents' deaths were also related to elevated BP, so I think it wise that I follow my GP's advice and keep my BP in control ! Good luck.
Thank you ,it will be good to feel in control again . Got down to 6 mg pred and felt good . Since dropping to 5.5 mg I feel out of control but do realise there is a lot going on around me at the moment .I think seeing my blood pressure still so high which has been added to the mix was the last straw . Anyhow , as they say onwards upwards 🤔
My rheumy said a side effect of pred can be raised BP and I should cut down my salt intake.
I don't add salt to anything except a little to meat and fish dishes when cooking. My BP is also high and I never had a problem before PMR. I guess the weight I have piled on with the steroids and lack of proper exercise is not helping.
I did give up gluten and simple carbs and try and swim twice a week. I am not sure how much it helps.
I have been dieting for a year and lost two stone .So expected to see that had done the trick , but no such luck . I only have half a stone to go when I am at my target weight so am disappointed that it didn't work for me .
What dose of steroids are you on?
I have got down to 5.5 mg over nearly two years . Starting at 15 mg November 14 . Have been doing it really slowly as I appear to be quite sensitive and have recently had a flare . It appears the lengthy time on steroid doesn't help from articals I have been reading
My iPad is playing up when it comes to replying so I'm sorry for the slow response. Thank you for the reply.
I don't know if it would help you, but I've been finding an evening cup of ginger tea (about one teaspoon of grated fresh ginger steeped in boiling water until cool enough to drink, about 15 minutes) seems to help me. Also, I'd been avoiding fish because of the sad state of our seafood industry, but had salmon the other evening and felt extraordinarily well the following day. So I'm going to eat a bit more salmon if I can get sustainably caught fish. Any little thing, besides the pred, to help reduce imflammation... .
I don't know if you like, but almonds, walnuts, red wine and dark chocolate are natural "medication" that lowers blood preasure. I love them all! Try to eat/drink every day.
Beetroot juice is supposed to be good.
Bought a blood pressure monitore yesterday and the reading at home was under 130/80 so can now relax and hopefully get on with life . Thanks to all who wrote to give me back my confidence .
💐🌷🌷🌻
oCarol - it might be worth getting your BP monitor checked against the GP practice one - these are regularly calibrated and see if yours is accurate?
Another way is to check your reading, the old fashion way, with two fingers on your wrist and see if it's the same as your monitor.
I have a blood pressure monitor in fact I have four! I sit with my friends having blood pressure parties!
Surely your pulse rate cannot tell you what your blood pressure is.