Does anyone know what causes high blood pressure?

Question

I am 20 week pregnant and this morning the nurse told me that I have high blood pressure and she asked me why and I could not give her an answere cause I have no Idea what causes high blood pressure. I also have never actually had a blood pressure problem? So is it bad to have high BP? Please Im desprate to know?

Answer 1

That is really a stupid question for a nurse to ask, she should know she was the one that studied to become a nurse..

In 90–95 percent of cases, scientists don't know what causes high blood pressure. This is essential hypertension. Fortunately, although scientists don't fully understand the causes of this disease, they've developed both non-drug and drug treatments that treat it effectively. They've also identified some factors that contribute to higher blood pressure. These are arteriosclerosis (or hardening of the arteries), thickening or hypertrophy of the artery wall, and excess contraction of the arterioles (small arteries).

In the remaining cases, high blood pressure results from a recognizable underlying problem. This is called secondary hypertension. Some possible causes are a kidney abnormality, tumor of the adrenal gland or congenital defect of the aorta. When the root cause is corrected, blood pressure usually returns to normal.

Answer 2

High BP in pregnancy isn't a good thing that's why ur bp is checked at each antenatal visit. It may lead to several things which ur doxc will tell U and if not checked on time, may result in you having a CS bcos it's highly dangerous for mother and baby when the mum has high bp to try pushing the baby out.
causes? Well, it varies. Worry, anxiety, intake of too much salt etc can cause it and u'll be advised to reduce ur salt intake and also engage in less stressful activities.
But at this stage u are, it's still ok to control. I had high BP when I was about 5-6 months gone and all I was asked to do is take a long rest. Infact I was admitted in the hospital for 24hours for "close watching" and after then, everything was fine. It never returned till I had my baby.

Answer 3

3 years ago, I was diagnosed - hypertension with a reading of 160/100. I used to feel dizzy a lot, my legs had awful cramps, and levels were very low in my potassium, causing my fingers and toes to always cramp together. One day I started to feel really faint while I was driving with my daughter in the back seat and I passed out, hitting 3 cars and ending up in a ditch. That moment,I knew I had to do something because my meds weren't working. I heard about this diet from a friend and thought I'd give it a shot. The results have been remarkable. In just 21 days, I honestly can't remember feeling this good, my blood pressure went from 175/110 to 125/70.

Answer 4

The 'cause' of hypertension has been the subject of considerable study over the past 2 decades. The answers so far have listed 'things' which might contribute to your blood pressure reading but they are not causal. The arteries are lined by endothelial cells. They are a continual 'tube' and the blood circulating through such vessels is often referred to as the blood envelope. It is thought that the primary cause of hypertension is endothelial dysfunction. The endothelial cell is truly remarkable and the ability to generate a wide variety of vaso-active substances. Endothelial dysfunction is thought initially to be a reversal of the normal response to vaso-active peptides. This means that something that would normally dilate the blood vessel actually constricts it. The next step in hypertension is thought to be an alteration in rheology (blood flow). Laminar blood flow is good but hypertensive individuals begin to display non-laminar blood flow. This is important because with laminar blood flow potentially harmful substances in the blood stream do not come in contact with the wall of the artery. With non-laminar blood flow not only due such substances 'strike' the wall of the artery they cause the wall of the artery to express adhesion factors so that these harmful substances stick to the wall of the blood vessel. Penetration of these substances into the intima or media of the arterial wall is thought to the be next step. The problem is that there is about a 10 year period involving what I have referenced above prior to the blood pressure being elevated. Thus considerable damage has been done prior to diagnosis. This suggests that routine blood pressure measurement is essential in making an early diagnosis and once the diagnosis is made decisive and definitive intervention is very important. We have several families of drugs today which seem to restore endothelial function as well as lower blood pressure. Of course no medication will be able to undo all of the damage meaning that a hypertensive patient with a 'normal' blood pressure will have a higher risk of cardiovascular events than someone with the same blood pressure reading but without a history of hypertension. If I may be of further assistance please let me know. I wish you the very best of health and may God bless.

Answer 5

The ONLY way to bring it down in pregnancy is to eat at least 80 grams of protein A DAY. I just learned about this in my childbirth classes. I had Toxemia in my first pregnancy and was not watching what I was eating. So, this pregnancy, I am very careful to hit that and average around 115-120 grams a day and have had no problems. If you drink 4 glasses of milk, eat 2 eggs, and have to different portions of meat a day, more than likely you are close to 80 grams. But if you are already in high blood pressure, you will probably have to take more to start bringing it down.

Answer 6

It's not good, stress can cause high blood pressure, diet can too. Try not to over do it and go easy on the salt.

Answer 7

this is what my mom was told in 1993.
salt intake
greasy fried foods
fast food
chips
sour cream
anything with alot of salt in it
watch what you eat. start eating more veggies and fruit. the fresh kind

high blood pressure is bad, it can cause poor blood circulation to the baby and it can make the baby bigger much like diabetes so watch the sugars too

Answer 8

A major cause is greasy food! Vegetable oils, including canola oil, block the production of prostacyclin, which is the body's vasodilator. Prostacyclin also breaks down triglycerides, and it prevents "leaky gut". You need arachidonic acid to make prostacyclin, and chicken is the richest source of arachidonic acid. Arachidonic acid is an unsaturated fat, so it's actually very important to eat the skin, a traditional fat that people have eaten for thousands of years (think about the healing powers of chicken soup!).

Answer 9

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Answer 10

Many reasons can cause hP. Weight, stress. I think she is looking to see if it's stress related and that's why she asked why? If you have a lot of stress it will cause Bp to rise. Try to relax,put your feet up and dream of that wonderful bay you're soon going to have.