[Member Discussions and Questions] Change in Blood Pressure When in Pain?

January 8, 2013

Pain and blood pressure? One Chick wants to know:

Does anyone else experience a drop in blood pressure when in pain? When my pain gets to a certain point I get clammy, hot and my blood pressure drops! Can anyone else tell me if they experience this?

Thank you in advance for your input and experiences. (((pain-free internet hugs)))

What our members have said so far:

Niki Wyre – For me, my blood pressure always goes up in relation to my pain levels. The worse the pain, the higher the blood pressure but I’m interested to see what everyone has to say on the topic

Cheryl – I’ve never thought of taking my BP when I’m in excruciating pain…….

Courtney – Mine is normally low and when I’m in pain it gets higher

Andrea – My BP gets higher when I am in pain

Nancy – Mine rises when I am in pain

Kelsee – I never really thought about the connections of having RA and high BP… Makes complete since!

Crystal – Wow I wish. When I’m in a ton of pain my blood pressure goes up. My dr says blood pressure goes up when In pain that’s y she isn’t worried when I get higher blood pressure

Becky – Mine is on the low end when I’m in pain too…so maybe we are rare ones? Lol. I stay in pain, so my BP stays low

Marcy – Yes! During my hospital stay this past summer – unrelated to RA – a number of doctors and nurses remarked that they had never seen anything like it before. Plus my pressure would drop when going from standing to sitting rather than the other way around. Another anomaly I was informed. I how much it can help to know that you are not alone in a sea of other experiences. I do not have any great advise for you, but you are not alone!

Michele – mine goes up

Brooke – Yes, Mine drops. The worse is when I get an extremely painful flare-up in my shoulder to where it feels as though it is broken or dislocated. when it is that bad I usually can’t stand for long as I will start to lose my vision and pass out.

Jennifer – Mine is low

Becky – Hot & clammy sweats too.

Pam – Mine goes up when i’m in pain

Becky – 90/60 can be my reg BP

Donita – mine goes up higher when in pain..usually run low

Debi – I don’t know about the blood pressure drop, but I get sweaty and hot on my forehead when I am in pain. I think mine might be from post menopause and I don’t think you are old enough for that.

Josi – I am on blood pressure medication and after many tests and an angiogram the consultants have told me my blood pressure is caused by RA my arteries get inflamed and go into spasm during flares so as I say I am now on medication to help with this and as far as I am aware RA can be a big problem when it comes to blood pressure but not in everyone xx

Jill – My BP is always elevated when my pain level is high. My primary always tells me this is a normal reaction to pain…

Josi – My BP goes up to around 160/100 during flares but am working on getting this under control now x

Kathy – Pain causes a rise in BP.Don’t know why it would drop.

Becky – Mine is normally low and goes up when I’m hurting.

Kathy – my blood pressure goes up when i am in pain

Denise – I take multiple BP meds from my RA raising it and when I am a lot of pain the meds do not work at all. I go very quickly from being semi-controlled to levels that would admit me if I’m in an emergency room from being so high.

Vivian – My blood pressure is normally low and goes lower when I am stressed or in pain.

Jojo – i have a drop in blood sugar when i am having a hard time…i have to keep glucose tabs with me all the time….horrible

Renee – Goes up from pain

Rhonda – My blood pressure always goes up with the cold sweat I break out in when the pain is really bad.

MA – It is the only time my BP is normal or lower… It tends to run high. But when I am in pain it goes down instead of up…

Amanda – My BP goes through the roof when I’m in pain. I’m normally 110/60 but with my last flare up it was 160/90, it scared me.

Linda – My gets very high.

Pennie – I’m with most if my fellow warriors, my REALLY gets HIGH! 🙁

Elaine – I have high blood pressure anyway, rns in the family but when i have a ra flare my blood glucose drops and i become very light headed and nauseous.

Julie – yep xo

Faye – Bad pain makes mine drop drastically.

Mary – Yup.

Beth – When I am having pain/flare up, my blood pressure goes up.

Linda – Typically have low range blood pressure, but it gets significantly higher as my pain levels increase. It kept being high whenever I would see my Doctor (which was when I was in significant pain), so he decided that I needed to be on blood pressure meds. Well, when my pain levels would subside, my blood pressure would bottom out while I was on the BP meds. Took some scary incidences for them to figure out what was happening.

Mindy – My normal is 61/109, last med check appt was 103/139. Always gets high for ME when the pain is bad.

Cat – Be careful tell your doc this is not normal. Pain increasing makes pressure increase not decrease the ra could be effecting your system in a new way very very important to report

Jenny – Mine elevates when in pain.

Kelly – Mine is normally low and I have to take care when getting up quickly but when I have a flare it gets elevated.

Lourika – I get clammy and shaky and my blood pressure rise when pain is bad

Martha – Mine goes up when in pain but all of us are different

Dana – Mine is the opposite, when I get a flair up or in pain, my blood pressure spikes up a lot!

Lindi – I have a problem with my blood pressure from Christmas last year. On that day it was 149/106 and my pulse was 149 and I felt very warm and was struggling to not fall asleep. Last night the same my pressure was 146/106 and it looked like somebody poured a bugged of water over my head. I am going to call my Dr today. It can not be normal. Maybe it is the prednisone that also can cause high blood pressure with the pain. Pain free hugs! xxx

Vicki – Wow thanks so much I feel a little better knowing I am not the only one this happens too! I have made my RA doc informed and keep logs when it drops. Thanks so much.

Siska – Mine goes up when I’am in a flare or pain is horrible……….

Shandy – Mine is usually 95/70 but when in pain drops to 86-90/60 dr says its the way my body reacts she also keeps a log has for the past year’ she said its because I have RA & Fibro so my body s very confused! Hugs

Danielle – Mine goes up I’ve been admitted a few times due to high blood Pressure with pain x

Pauline – Funny you should mention that i was only just thinking the same, my temperature seems involved too, my temperate goes up my skin goes clammy and i hurt, not sure with blood pressure, but on cimzia my heart does fifty five beats a minute usually much higher without cimzia.

Michelle – I have ra, and a lot of pain, and low blood pressure! You could be on to something here! And yes my temperature goes up and my body feels clammy and damp!

Connie – Mine is up because of pain–but I do get the flushed hot feeling but taking my temp it is not up but then feel chilled to the bone with chills for sometime later

Diane – me too Connie

Tender – A few years ago when I was taking a NSAID called Cataflam, I started swelling. Didn’t realize it was from the drug & took for another week, legs got really swollen. BP went down to 74/46 & scared me to death! Now I’m on narcotics, which are becoming ineffective, and BP meds because my BP is too high most of the time. Even on BP meds it stays around 140/96. Never had a problem with BP until RA took over my body about 10 years ago. I’m 61 now. Ibuprofen helps more than anything, but anti-inflammatories make me swell up. So I may go on Prednisone again for a while. So far I’ve only seen family doctor & a pan management doctor. Probably should go to a rheumy, but my aunt has cirrhosis now from methotrexate & I’m reluctant. Is there anything more they might have to offer? I’m new to this group, so hi y’all.

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