High Blood Pressure?

[LilyR]

Has anyone had any problems with having really bad high blood pressure due to gluten issues or any other food allergies?  Lately my blood pressure is totally out of control and I am on three different meds (amlodipine, losartan, and now a new one I forget the name of).  Yet I keep getting episodes of racing heart beat and very high blood pressure and I feel so weak and ill and awful when it happens, all I can do is rest and wait for it to go away, which can take hours or more.  It's getting scary.  I see my PCP again next week to check it, and she referred me to immunology, but they can't get me in until April.   I am wondering if gluten or any other food sensitivities have ever caused high blood pressure issues with anyone here.  I am getting really scared about it. On three meds and it's still out of control.  This past year I am just getting one symptom after another, but this heart/blood pressure one is the scariest by far. 

[kareng]

24 minutes ago, LilyR said:

Has anyone had any problems with having really bad high blood pressure due to gluten issues or any other food allergies?  Lately my blood pressure is totally out of control and I am on three different meds (amlodipine, losartan, and now a new one I forget the name of).  Yet I keep getting episodes of racing heart beat and very high blood pressure and I feel so weak and ill and awful when it happens, all I can do is rest and wait for it to go away, which can take hours or more.  It's getting scary.  I see my PCP again next week to check it, and she referred me to immunology, but they can't get me in until April.   I am wondering if gluten or any other food sensitivities have ever caused high blood pressure issues with anyone here.  I am getting really scared about it. On three meds and it's still out of control.  This past year I am just getting one symptom after another, but this heart/blood pressure one is the scariest by far. 

I see your other posts trying to locate one ingredient that might be causing your issues.  Try to just eat more simple foods.  It's hard to figure out what is bothering you when you eat things like  choc chip cookies with at least 12 ingredients .

 Try just eating a really simple diet for a couple of weeks and see if you feel better - use one ingredient things like meat and veggies with salt me pepper and a simple spice.  See if you feel better.  Then you can expand your diet slowly to help pin point what is bothering you.  

[LilyR]

28 minutes ago, kareng said:

I see your other posts trying to locate one ingredient that might be causing your issues.  Try to just eat more simple foods.  It's hard to figure out what is bothering you when you eat things like  choc chip cookies with at least 12 ingredients .

 Try just eating a really simple diet for a couple of weeks and see if you feel better - use one ingredient things like meat and veggies with salt me pepper and a simple spice.  See if you feel better.  Then you can expand your diet slowly to help pin point what is bothering you.  

Thank you for the advice.  I was thinking I might have to do something like that.  I am even wondering about spices. I've been using Mc Cormick, but am not sure if they could be causing problems or not.  So I think I might have to do bland foods a while just to see.  I have heard something about an elimination diet and then you slowly start adding things back in, one at a time, to see how it goes.  I haven't been having anything packaged, but yet now I realize an ingredient like chocolate chips is indeed packaged. I'd say that is the only packaged thing I've eaten recently. Well that and canned pumpkin, but that ingredient list is only pumpkin and nothing else.  I probably am going to have to find supplements with no soy.  I am still taking some supplements that have no gluten, but they do have soy.  It's hard trying to find things that are affordable like that though.  I lost five pounds this past week and that usually only happens when I have accidentally eaten gluten (and even then it's usually more like 2-3 pounds), but I can't think of any accidental gluten in food that could have happened recently.  I've been really careful with the gluten in food.  But things like licking envelopes, hair spray (how you can breathe in some of it when you spray it), etc.  - I am wondering if there are non-food gluten things I am missing.   Or it could be some other food allergy or sensitivity.  I have been so sick the past two weeks though. It's exhausted me. I don't even feel like cooking or eating. 

[ktyler44]

How high is high? I used to get heart palpitations before going gluten free. They only happen occasionally now and not bad like they used to be. I found that MSG will raise my bp and so will the antibiotic Zithromax (z-pack). Neither of those have anything to do with gluten. 

[knitty kitty]

Lily,

I understand your worries about mysterious reactions to something eaten or used, but it could be malnutrition.  Doctors often overlook malnutrition because they are trained to write prescriptions.

Many Celiacs suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies.  Minerals like Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium are essential for the body to maintain proper blood pressure, muscle contraction and more.  

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1930921

https://www.livestrong.com/article/18749-mineral-deficiency-causes-high-blood/

https://www.livestrong.com/article/519936-starvation-high-blood-pressure/

Deficiencies of some of the eight B vitamins can also affect blood pressure.  B12, folate and niacin deficiencies can affect blood pressure, as can vitamin C.  

Which supplements are you taking? 

Have you tried keeping a food journal?  It's very helpful in pinpointing what you may be reacting to in your diet.  

A much simpler whole foods diet is a great suggestion.  I recommend the AutoImmune Paleo diet and the low histamine diet.  

And try cutting out dairy!  Damaged intestinal villi lose the ability to make the enzyme that digests milk. 

Have you been checked for Diabetes?   If your blood glucose levels are high, your body isn't able to utilize energy efficiently and makes one feel weak.  Make sure you drink plenty of water.  Dehydration can make one feel weak, too.

Do get checked for deficiencies! 

Hope this helps!

[plumbago]

9 hours ago, LilyR said:

Has anyone had any problems with having really bad high blood pressure due to gluten issues or any other food allergies?  Lately my blood pressure is totally out of control and I am on three different meds (amlodipine, losartan, and now a new one I forget the name of).  Yet I keep getting episodes of racing heart beat and very high blood pressure and I feel so weak and ill and awful when it happens, all I can do is rest and wait for it to go away, which can take hours or more.  It's getting scary.  I see my PCP again next week to check it, and she referred me to immunology, but they can't get me in until April.   I am wondering if gluten or any other food sensitivities have ever caused high blood pressure issues with anyone here.  I am getting really scared about it. On three meds and it's still out of control.  This past year I am just getting one symptom after another, but this heart/blood pressure one is the scariest by far. 

It would be important to know 1) how high is your BP (as someone mentioned above); 2) while it is high, are you having symptoms at the same time, and if so which ones? and 3) how fast is your heart rate? I recommend committing your BP meds (and dosages) to memory so you can tell anyone who needs to know just what you are taking, and to avoid “polypharmacy.”

While I can’t answer your question definitively about gluten and the racing heart you describe in your initial post, it may be a good idea to break things down (for now) into bite-sized pieces so to speak - at least to get a bit of a handle on what you are experiencing.

Plumbago

[LilyR]

17 hours ago, knitty kitty said:

Lily,

I understand your worries about mysterious reactions to something eaten or used, but it could be malnutrition.  Doctors often overlook malnutrition because they are trained to write prescriptions.

Many Celiacs suffer from vitamin and mineral deficiencies.  Minerals like Calcium, Magnesium and Potassium are essential for the body to maintain proper blood pressure, muscle contraction and more.  

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1930921

https://www.livestrong.com/article/18749-mineral-deficiency-causes-high-blood/

https://www.livestrong.com/article/519936-starvation-high-blood-pressure/

Deficiencies of some of the eight B vitamins can also affect blood pressure.  B12, folate and niacin deficiencies can affect blood pressure, as can vitamin C.  

Which supplements are you taking? 

Have you tried keeping a food journal?  It's very helpful in pinpointing what you may be reacting to in your diet.  

A much simpler whole foods diet is a great suggestion.  I recommend the AutoImmune Paleo diet and the low histamine diet.  

And try cutting out dairy!  Damaged intestinal villi lose the ability to make the enzyme that digests milk. 

Have you been checked for Diabetes?   If your blood glucose levels are high, your body isn't able to utilize energy efficiently and makes one feel weak.  Make sure you drink plenty of water.  Dehydration can make one feel weak, too.

Do get checked for deficiencies! 

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the info.  I think they checked most of those areas in my bloodwork like potassium, etc.  I've been eating bananas and I take a magnesium supplement and vit D.  I don't have diabetes.  They have done a ton of blood work.  I have had the bloated stomach with the high blood pressure. I can't remember what my blood pressure reading was last appt and I am getting a monitor at home to use - it's coming in the mail tomorrow.  I was in the ER one night with it very high and my pulse was like 135 that night too.  They did an EKG, a chest xray, and chest CT scan, and all was fine.  Two dr's there in the ER said they would continue to pursue rheumatology and possibly even immunology.  I have been seeing rheumatology with no help or answers yet. I have an appt now for immunology, but they have such a wait list, I can't get in until April.  

My pulse has been a little better the past few days,  although still not what I'd call good, normal. My dr said she might have to up a dose of one of the blood pressure meds.  I see her next week.  I am still having fevers, which I have been having non-stop since last February.  I sure hope to get some answers soon and figure things out.

I was thinking of trying an elimination diet, but I'll go look up that autoimmune paleo diet too.  Thanks for the info.   

[LilyR]

19 hours ago, ktyler44 said:

How high is high? I used to get heart palpitations before going gluten free. They only happen occasionally now and not bad like they used to be. I found that MSG will raise my bp and so will the antibiotic Zithromax (z-pack). Neither of those have anything to do with gluten. 

My pulse went up to 135 one night when I ended up in the ER.  Now it is sometimes in the 90's and low 100's but I am having some better days when it's low 80's.  I lost five pounds this week and usually I lose a few pounds when I have accidentally had gluten, but I cannot think of any source from food I have accidentally had in the past two weeks. I've been really careful.  So I am also trying to think if it could be some other source....like even hair spray?  I have had a new hair spray the past few months and don't use it ever day.  But I have not connected when I use it to not feeling well or rapid heart beat.  I was thinking how when you spray it, it is such a fine mist, you breathe some in. Not to mention when I am doing my hair and my husband or daughter are standing there talking to me and I talk and open my mouth while spraying.  But that could be far reaching....I am just grasping at straws at this point.  Wondering if I somehow had a hidden source of gluten the past few  weeks that I am just not realizing yet. 

[LilyR]

15 hours ago, plumbago said:

It would be important to know 1) how high is your BP (as someone mentioned above); 2) while it is high, are you having symptoms at the same time, and if so which ones? and 3) how fast is your heart rate? I recommend committing your BP meds (and dosages) to memory so you can tell anyone who needs to know just what you are taking, and to avoid “polypharmacy.”

While I can’t answer your question definitively about gluten and the racing heart you describe in your initial post, it may be a good idea to break things down (for now) into bite-sized pieces so to speak - at least to get a bit of a handle on what you are experiencing.

Plumbago

That is a good idea....I already remember the two blood pressure pills and dosages I have been on, and need to now just memorize the newer med now.   I keep a food journal, and now I am thinking of adding even non-food items, like if I try a new shampoo, body product, etc.  Maybe there are other allergies going on.  I already had to start using an allergy-free laundry detergent  because in this past year since my health issues have just exploded, I started having a reaction to the same laundry soap I had been using for years, but now suddenly I can't use it any longer.  

 

[jordan shulak]

Did you ever find out if there was a connection back to celiac? I’ve had celiac since 2011, hospitalized for blood pressure in 2014 did all kinds of testing and couldn’t figure out why, put me on meds that controlled it, had my son in 2018 and had preeclampsia and then a really hard time getting it to come down and switched all my meds but got it back under control, then I was fine until summer of 2021 blood pressure went crazy again (180s/110), more testing couldn’t figure out why, different medicine to control, fine again but now only for last 4-5 months and now it’s high again and needing to adjust my meds. I am strictly gluten free and do a lot of at home cooking and eat fairly healthy but wondering if there could be any connection back to celiac so was really interested when I found this post. I am thin, workout, young (30s) healthy other than celiac so no clue why my blood pressure is such an issue! Please let me know what you’ve found since this thread, I hope you’ve found answers that can help me!