blood pressure?

[whitebrad]

i have always had low blood pressure... 104/68 to 106/72 resting, and have been pretty active and etc...

i am recently quit smoking, and have been on the patch, started on the last stage one since i really didn't smoke a whole lot, but did smoke habitually, while on the patch i am tired and lethargic, but when i take the patch off, after a couple hours sans patch, i get a whooshing high bp sound, with a little ringing in the ears... and a migraine-type (hemi-cranial) headache... sort of like my body is responding backwards, like i have low bp when i am on the patch and am getting high bp when i take it off...

anyone know anything about this at all?

[chanke4252]

well, migraines have a lot to do with blood pressure. there are people who learn to deal with migraines by learning to increase blood flow to other parts of their body like their hands and stuff. smoking also has a lot to do with blood pressure and oxygen obviously as well. I personally wouldn't be surprised to see some blood pressure related anomaly given that all of the things you are dealing with affect blood pressure and your body will obviously be in flux as you try to remove one previously constant factor from the equation like smoking. Headaches are obviously also something that people who quit smoking complain of when they just quit.

I don't know, I guess what I'm saying is that I probably wouldn't worry about it personally unless it persists, but I would feel bad saying "it's fine" and you not going to the doctor and having something go wrong as a result.

Why not take some blood pressure readings over a few days if you know how or know someone else who does? You could always just go to the doctor if you are set up for that sort of thing.

[Squisha]

Sounds like a pretty uncomfortable withdrawal to me.

[Nick_Ninja]

Switch to a different patch or lower your dose.

[Pharmgirl]

I would say that these sound like typical side effects of using the patch. Generally people's blood pressure decreases after the nicotine clears the system since nicotine (in most cases) acts as a stimulant and not a relaxant, though it can at certain doses. Plus, you getting a much more effective dose of nicotine absorbing through your skin, rather than inhaling it.

I would check it to find out if it is higher or not. Most people cannot detect any symptoms of high blood pressure without having it measured.

I would say that these sound like typical side effects of using the patch.

Are you taking the patch off at night before you sleep? Most people wear it during the day and take it off at night, so they don't notice the lack of nicotine as much. Or the side effects. Headache is a very common one.

[rforsythe]

Read side effects section: http://www.medicinenet.com/nicotine-patch/article.htm

The stuff in the "call your Dr if..." section seems to correlate to hypertension/tachycardia, so I would think the patch will elevate BR and HR. Nicotine is a stimulant so those are expected results. Making that happen in your body can also cause headaches from increased fluid/pressure in the skull, as your blood vessels are trying to constrict but your heart is pushing more through them.