According to medical research, blood pressure can increase significantly during panic attacks. Hypertension due to psychosomatic causes causes tachycardia, dizziness and difficulty breathing. To identify the preconditions for blood pressure surges, it is necessary to undergo a comprehensive examination by doctors. It is extremely important to know first aid techniques for an anxiety attack, as high blood pressure negatively affects the cardiovascular system.
What is a panic attack?
Statistics on psychosomatic diseases state that in people whose relatives are susceptible to increased anxiety, the risk of attacks increases by 15-20%.
The appearance of an unreasonable feeling of fear, anxiety and panic is often accompanied by a rapid heartbeat, increased sweating and difficulty breathing. Blood pressure is usually elevated. There are no physiological reasons for negative symptoms, so to stabilize the condition it is necessary to achieve psycho-emotional balance. However, disorders of the endocrine and cardiovascular systems can aggravate attacks. Those at increased risk include teenagers, pregnant women and people with diabetes, for whom increased blood pressure is dangerous to their health. Mental instability can be caused by factors such as:
- physical fatigue;
- depression;
- being in a constant state of stress;
- strong fear;
- prolonged exposure to flashing lights;
- loud sounds that cause irritation;
- excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages;
- smoking or taking drugs.
The connection between anxiety and pressure
High pressure
The manifestation of human emotion, even unconsciously, makes the heart beat faster. During periods of emotional arousal or anxiety, blood circulation in the human body changes. Such activities are natural and color the lives of healthy people in bright colors. But any emotional shock (negative or positive) for the human body looks like stress, which is resolved in the following ways:
- complete restoration of the body without undesirable and dangerous consequences;
- prolonged prolongation of a stressful situation, which is fraught with its development into chronic neurosis.
With neurosis, a person experiences unstable emotional manifestations. Such patients are characterized by:
- a sharp narrowing of interests;
- constant feeling of anxiety;
- pathological fixation on one’s health and discomfort in the body;
- anxious reactions to minimal changes in one’s well-being;
- search for new symptoms;
- expectation of imminent death;
- creating a gentle lifestyle with groundless refusals to work;
- studying special medical reference books and frequent visits to doctors.
An anxious state leads to increased heart rate, resulting in increased blood pressure.
The body of such a patient is not able to cope with stressful situations and this provokes persistent tachycardia, as a result of which blood pressure increases. Some neurotics eliminate high blood pressure with the help of psychotherapeutic sessions. But it is worth noting that they often resort to a psychotherapist at an advanced stage of the disease. In this case, the disorders acquire stable features (hypertension), and this means that psychotherapeutic methods can help a person live with an existing disease, but not cure it.
Low pressure
Reduced blood pressure in combination with neurasthenia are characteristic of people who have an asthenic condition (chronic fatigue). It follows from this that the body of such a person is characterized by constant slow and weakened functioning. This deviation negatively affects blood pressure, the levels of which fall for a long period, which provokes the development of hypotension. Symptoms of this condition include:
- low performance;
- weak condition;
- problems with concentration;
- decreased memory and attention.
Return to contents
How to recognize?
A characteristic feature of a pathological attack is the appearance of goosebumps on the skin.
The most characteristic signs of a panic attack include the following symptoms, which appear and disappear within 10-30 minutes:
- the appearance of goosebumps due to accelerated blood flow;
- increased sweating in the forehead, face and palms;
- chills;
- accelerated heartbeat, provoked by the release of the hormone adrenaline into the blood due to severe fright;
- weakness in the legs;
- rapid breathing due to a feeling of lack of oxygen;
- pressure surges;
- slow and confused thinking;
- fixation on certain experiences.
Changes in blood pressure during VSD
Vegetative-vascular dystonia is the most common cause of pressure drops (from high to low levels) in people with neurotic disorders. A factor in a sharp change in pressure is any change in the emotional background (laughter, tears, anxiety, etc.). Almost all patients diagnosed with VSD are weather-dependent people, as a result of which changes in weather conditions directly affect blood pressure readings.
With neurasthenia in a patient with vegetative-vascular dystonia, the pressure jumps due to psycho-emotional, not organic reasons. Such patients are under the supervision of doctors for long periods due to a pronounced tendency to changes in blood pressure. Often, this pathological condition is not eliminated by standard therapeutic measures; as a result, it is prevented by long-term use of sedative medications and psychotherapeutic sessions. However, before applying such measures, cardiac pathology is excluded.
What to do?
Psychologists advise always having a small object like a pendant with you that will help you come to your senses during an attack.
If one of the characteristic symptoms of a panic attack appears, you need to try to calm down. Breathing practices will help with this. It is recommended to take calm breaths and exhales, which will help restore emotional balance. Psychologists recommend always carrying a small object (keychain, figurine, pendant) with you and squeezing it in your palm during an attack. It is necessary to fully concentrate on the sensations, mentally identifying a cold object or a hot, sharp, smooth, etc.
What frightens people most during panic attacks is the feeling of suffocation. It is important to realize and mentally remind yourself that there is enough oxygen in the lungs and it is impossible to suffocate. The feeling of lack of air is caused by psychosomatics.
It is also recommended to concentrate attention on a visually pleasing object. A positive picture will help stop an attack and improve your mood. Special applications for phones have also been created that help cope with an attack through breathing exercises and specially selected questions. During a panic attack, calling a loved one is effective.
To reduce blood pressure, the following actions are recommended:
- ventilation of the room or access to fresh air;
- unfastening buttons and straps;
- self-massage of the eyelids using circular movements;
- taking Corvalol if there is no hypotension, in which blood pressure is low.
Cardiac arrhythmia: why it is dangerous, the main types of arrhythmias
An arrhythmia is a heart rhythm disorder that involves abnormal electrical impulses that cause the heart to beat too fast, too slow, irregularly, or irregularly. Typically, arrhythmias are not dangerous and are caused by harmless reasons (uncomfortable clothing, overeating, etc.). The patient describes them as a feeling of loss of one or more contractions, rapid heartbeat or interruptions in the functioning of the heart. In some cases, their appearance can significantly worsen the patient’s quality of life and be associated with serious pathologies of the cardiovascular, nervous, endocrine and other body systems.
Mechanism of development of arrhythmias
Normally, the human heart contracts in a certain rhythm with a frequency of 60-80 beats per minute. The rhythm frequency is regulated and generated by a cluster of nerve cells (sinus node), which is located in the upper part of the myocardium of the right atrium. After their appearance, impulses from the sinus node spread to all parts of the heart. Some of them cause the atria to contract, while others are sent to the AV node (atrioventricular node). It slows down the impulses, which provides the atria with time sufficient for their full contraction and pumping blood into the ventricle. After this, the impulse spreads to the His bundle, which divides into two legs. The right bundle branch contributes to the conduction of impulses to the right ventricle, and the left one to the left.
The causes of disturbances in the functioning of the conduction system of the heart can be:
- disruption of impulse formation in one of the nodes of the conduction system;
- disruption of conduction through one of the nodes of the conduction system.
If there is a malfunction in one of the “power plants,” an arrhythmia develops, which can manifest itself as bradycardia (decrease) or tachycardia (increase) of heart contractions or a violation of their standard rhythm.
OUR READERS RECOMMEND!
Our readers successfully use ReCardio to treat hypertension. Seeing how popular this product is, we decided to bring it to your attention.
Types of arrhythmias
According to the source of its origin, arrhythmia can be:
- atrioventricular;
- atrial;
- supraventricular;
- ventricular
By the number of sources there are:
- monotopic arrhythmias;
- polytopic arrhythmias.
Due to its development, arrhythmia may be associated with:
- with changes in rhythm in the sinus node;
- with conduction disorders.
Depending on the nature of the disturbance, impulse conduction can be:
- with decreased conductivity;
- with increasing conductivity.
When the rhythm changes in the sinus node, the following types of arrhythmias can develop:
- sinus tachycardia: heart rate exceeds 90 beats per minute, palpitations are felt, caused by strong emotional and physical stress, fever and, in rare cases, heart disease;
- sinus bradycardia: the number of heart contractions decreases to 55 beats per minute or less, is felt as discomfort, general weakness, may be accompanied by dizziness, caused by hypotension, decreased thyroid function or heart disease;
- sinus arrhythmia: manifested by an irregular alternation of heart beats, often observed among children and adolescents, can be functionally related to breathing (the number of heartbeats increases during inhalation, and decreases during exhalation), this type of arrhythmia in most cases does not require treatment;
- sick sinus syndrome: manifests itself in the form of bradycardia, or bradyarrhythmia with paroxysms of atrial fibrillation, extrasystole, may be asymptomatic or accompanied by weakness, palpitations and fainting, caused by disturbances in the autonomic nervous system, heart disease, traumatic damage to the heart, toxic substances and intake some medications.
When excitability (the ability of myocardial cells to generate an impulse into an action potential) is impaired, the following types of arrhythmias can develop:
- paroxysmal tachycardia: regular heart rate reaches 140-240 beats per minute, episodes of tachycardia come and disappear suddenly, can last from several seconds to several hours, are accompanied by feelings of weakness, a coma in the throat and palpitations, dizziness, nausea, increased sweating, frequent urination , caused by heart disease, hypertension, pneumonia, diphtheria, sepsis, uncontrolled intake of ephedrine, cardiac glycosides, diuretics and quinidine;
- extrasystole: manifested by premature (extraordinary) contraction of the myocardium, felt as a strong push or fading in the heart area, may be accompanied by pulsation in the epigastric region, anxiety, sweating, pallor, a feeling of lack of air or fainting, caused by functional reasons (emotional stress, vegetative disorders, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine abuse) or organic heart disease.
The danger of arrhythmias
The type of arrhythmia determines the degree of its danger. For example, sinus arrhythmia does not require special therapy and in most cases goes away on its own. It is more often observed in adolescents and children. In some cases, sinus arrhythmia is a sign of serious diseases: circulatory failure, brain tumors, anemia, neurosis or infection. This type of arrhythmia can pose a serious threat during pregnancy, because during gestation the frequency of sinus arrhythmia may increase and its consequences can have a negative impact on the life and health of the fetus and the expectant mother.
One of the most dangerous forms of heart rhythm disturbance is atrial fibrillation, which can lead to heart failure, thromboembolism and cardiac arrest. Its attacks can be caused by various heart diseases, electrical shock, heavy drinking, stroke, severe stress, surgery, or an overdose of certain medications. This type of arrhythmia is accompanied by tachycardia, chest pain, myocardial ischemia (up to myocardial infarction), ECG changes (atrial fibrillation) and heart failure. In case of severe diseases that have led to the development of atrial fibrillation, the patient may be recommended to constantly take antiarrhythmic drugs, and in case of rare occurrences of such a heart rhythm disorder, specific therapy is not prescribed.
Angina pectoris, cerebral ischemia, heart failure and sudden death can be caused by severe attacks of complete or incomplete heart block, during which the conduction of impulses in the entire myocardial structure slows down or stops. With incomplete transverse blockades, the patient experiences a loss of heart sounds and pulse, and during complete blockades, the pulse slows down (less than 40 beats per minute) and a Morgagni-Adams-Stokes attack develops (fainting, convulsions).
Treatment methods
If your blood pressure increases significantly during an attack, your doctor will prescribe antidepressants.
For panic attacks, an integrated approach is indicated, including regular exercise, work with a psychologist and pre-medication. If the patient’s blood pressure increases significantly during attacks, then a course of antidepressants and tranquilizers is prescribed. The drugs are produced strictly according to a prescription, so to complete the treatment course you must consult a psychotherapist. The duration of treatment varies from 6 months to 1 year. To calm down during a panic attack, it is recommended to take Corvalol and Validol. In severe cases, Gidazepam may be prescribed. The dosage of the drug should be checked with a psychotherapist. To relieve tachycardia, you can take the Anaprilina tablet.
