Recently, many patients with hypertension have reported that with the help of antihypertensive drugs, their blood pressure has always been relatively stable, but after being infected with the new coronavirus, their blood pressure fluctuated significantly. Many people experience elevated blood pressure, while others experience low blood pressure.
In response to this phenomenon, everyone must want to know what causes the increase or decrease in blood pressure? Will the coronavirus itself affect our blood pressure? And, in this case, do we need to adjust the use of antihypertensive drugs?
In this article, we will specifically answer these questions for you and see how patients with hypertension can correctly respond to blood pressure fluctuations during the COVID-19 infection stage.
Five major reasons for increased blood pressure
After being infected with the new coronavirus, it is more common for patients with hypertension to experience increased blood pressure. The more common reasons involve at least five aspects:
First, the body's stress response caused by acute infection.
This stress response can increase the heart rate and heart beat, thereby increasing blood pressure.
However, this reaction is not limited to new coronavirus infection. Infections such as , influenza virus, and many bacterial infections can also cause this reaction.
Moreover, currently, there is no research suggesting that COVID-19 infection will have a long-term impact on human blood pressure.
In other words, after everyone has safely passed the acute phase of the new coronavirus infection, this stress-induced increase in blood pressure will gradually ease.
Second, antipyretics can increase blood pressure.
After being infected with the new coronavirus, many friends will inevitably develop fever symptoms. After fever, most people will choose to use antipyretics to relieve symptoms. However, what you may not know is that antipyretics may also cause blood pressure to rise.
For example, two mainstream antipyretics that everyone is familiar with: ibuprofen and acetaminophen . Studies have found that they may cause blood pressure to rise.
However, this does not mean that patients with high blood pressure cannot take antipyretics at all! When the body temperature exceeds 38.5°C, most patients with hypertension can still use antipyretics at appropriate doses. However, during use, it is best for everyone to monitor their blood pressure to see if it is affected by the drug. At the same time, special attention should be paid not to use antipyretic drugs in excessive dosages or beyond the course of treatment, and the possible impact of these drugs on blood pressure should be minimized.
Third, pain can also cause blood pressure to rise.
After being infected with the new coronavirus, some people may experience very obvious sore throat, headache, and soreness in joints and muscles throughout the body. This type of pain can last for 1-2 days for short periods and 4-5 days for longer periods.
Medical research has long discovered that pain in the body can directly stimulate an increase in blood pressure. So if your blood pressure levels are elevated at the same time as pain symptoms, it's worth suspecting that it may be related to the pain.
Fourth, lack of sleep and poor rest can cause blood pressure to rise.
Throughout the entire COVID-19 infection cycle, especially in the first half, it is indeed difficult for us to ensure high-quality sleep. At this time, it is very important to rest as much as possible and reduce unnecessary consumption.
When you are not sleeping well, you must not force yourself to work or do a lot of housework. This will easily cause your blood pressure to rise even higher!
Fifth, worry, anxiety and fear can also increase blood pressure.
This situation sometimes occurs in hypertensive patients who have not yet been infected with new crown . After hearing that many people around them are infected, the fear of being infected and the fear of various symptoms after infection. These anxious emotions can cause hypertensive patients to start to have elevated blood pressure before they are infected.
Therefore, it is recommended that everyone try to face this problem with a calm mind. The calmer the mind, the less likely the impact on blood pressure will be.
I believe everyone can realize that most of the conditions mentioned above will not have long-term effects on blood pressure. Therefore, under normal circumstances, there is no need to adjust the use of antihypertensive drugs specifically for this purpose. Everyone just needs to take the medicine regularly according to the conventional dosage currently required.
However, if it is found that the blood pressure level rises very high, for example, the "high pressure" rises by more than 20mmHg than usual or the "low pressure" rises by more than 10mmHg than usual; or, the blood pressure still does not drop after a period of time after the new coronavirus infection has ended. Then, it is recommended to contact the online cardiologist through the Internet hospital in time, and adjust the medicine under the guidance of the doctor.
has low blood pressure. What should I be wary of?
During the COVID-19 infection, in addition to increased blood pressure, there may also be low blood pressure.
When low blood pressure occurs, everyone must be alert to whether they are "dehydrated"! This is a warning sign.
After being infected by the new coronavirus, I believe many friends will experience loss of appetite, no desire to eat, and no desire to drink. This can easily lead to insufficient water and electrolytes in our daily intake.
But at the same time, repeated fever and fever will cause us to sweat profusely all over the body. Some patients may even develop diarrhea, vomiting and other digestive tract symptoms, which will cause our body to lose a large amount of water and electrolytes.
After an imbalance between water and electrolytes occurs, the human body can easily enter a "dehydration state", and the essence of "dehydration" is actually "insufficient blood volume", which will directly cause low blood pressure.
This is why various experts have repeatedly emphasized that everyone must drink more water during the COVID-19 infection period, and should also try to ensure normal eating.
Generally speaking, as long as the blood pressure level is not lower than the " hypotension " standard of 90/60mmHg, and there are no obvious symptoms related to hypotension in the body. Then, there is no need to make major adjustments to the use of antihypertensive drugs for the time being. It is mainly improved by drinking more water, drinking more soup, and returning to normal eating.
Of course, if the blood pressure level has been lower than 90/60mmHg, or obvious symptoms related to hypotension have appeared, then it is recommended that everyone contact the doctor in time and receive treatment as soon as possible.
Some suggestions for patients with high blood pressure
Combining the above mentioned content, I will finally give some suggestions to patients with high blood pressure. I hope everyone can get through the new coronavirus infection safely:
First, try to maintain a normal attitude and avoid being too anxious and nervous;
Second, during the infection, it is best to monitor blood pressure changes regularly every day and do not relax the management of blood pressure;
Third, Use antihypertensive drugs according to regular conditions. In most cases, there is no need to make major adjustments to the drugs. When there is indeed a situation that requires medication adjustment, please contact the doctor and proceed under the guidance of the doctor;
Fourth, patients with high blood pressure are not completely unable to take antipyretic drugs, but they need to be careful, antipyretic drugs may increase high blood pressure to a certain extent;
Fifth, drink more water and try to maintain a normal diet to reduce the risk of "dehydration".
