Celiac Disease And High Blood Pressure...

[Sheryl in NJ]

Hi all,

Have any of you seen a correlation with High Blood Pressure. I started a gluten-free diet last Monday (10 days ago). I am seeing a huge improvement in my blood pressure since I cut gluten out of my diet. Has anyone else seen this correlation?

Thanks,

Sheryl

[Guest Educator]

I have had blood pressure problems for years and mine has steadily gone up. I am now taking 3 blood pressure pills twice a day. I have lost a lot of weight and one would think that would help make one's blood pressure to get better, but I have had two heart attacks, have coranary arterie disease and congestive heart failure. I cannot say for certain, but in my particular case I would say no there is no correlation.

[jerseyangel]

I haven't noticed a difference, either.

I've been gluten-free for just over a year. I've been on blood pressure medication for about 8 years. The diet has not changed my bp at all. I still take 2 different medicines for it. I keep hoping, but as of yet, it's not changed. It does stay well controlled with the meds, though.

[susiek]

My BP isn't being controlled right now. And I am taking 2 meds--one doubled from the sole medicine I was previously taking. When I went on Friday it was still 160/100. It was at this appointment that my doctor and I discussed celiac disease and I had blood drawn for the screening. We also discussed the chance that my meds aren't being absorbed and aren't working properly. Maybe that is affecting you also. She predicted that as I go gluten free and start healing that the meds will start working and I'll be able to reduce them.

I was also taking Allegra-D for allergies and stopped when I realized I was passing the pills undigested. Which made me wonder about the BP meds. Which led to this discussion!

[Nancym]

When I started a low carb diet my blood pressure dropped to normal (was edging up all the time) and has stayed that way ever since. In my case, eating more meat, fruits and veggies and less starches and sugars made an enormous difference.

[jcc]

Hi all,

Have any of you seen a correlation with High Blood Pressure. I started a gluten-free diet last Monday (10 days ago). I am seeing a huge improvement in my blood pressure since I cut gluten out of my diet. Has anyone else seen this correlation?

Thanks,

Sheryl

Hi,

I am a regular at Braintalk gluten sensitivity/celiac forum where we had several members there say they enjoyed an improvement of their high blood pressure....some able to reduce or come off medication. I'd point you to the thread...but its gone! The forum crashed big time.

jcc

[aklap]

Hi all,

Have any of you seen a correlation with High Blood Pressure. I started a gluten-free diet last Monday (10 days ago). I am seeing a huge improvement in my blood pressure since I cut gluten out of my diet. Has anyone else seen this correlation?

Thanks,

Sheryl

Hi Sheryl,

I'm one of those from Braintalk that JCC was talking about. I have been gluten-free for 3.5 years, I was able to slowly cut back my BP meds during that time. On 01/20/05 my GP OK'ed me to suspend my BP meds. I am still off of them. I take BP readings a couple times a month. My avg. BP is probably 130/80 (I haven't averaged them lately). Previously, I had been on BP meds for about 23 years. I was on neuropathy pain meds too for a short time. Currently I am med free!!!

I attribute: GFD, magnessium supps, Fish Oil for this.

I wish you well.

[Guest nini]

I had high blood pressure before my dx, I was also dx'ed morbidly obese... in the 3 1/2 years since my dx I've lost 110 pounds and just recently was told to go off the blood pressure meds because my blood pressure was now too low on them. My follow ups after weaning off the blood pressure meds have been great. No sign of high blood pressure. So in my case, yes there is a connection.

[yogi]

Have taken bp meds for ten years. past two weeks have been gluten free and my bp is normal. cautiously watching to see that it remains that way before I stop taking medication for good. Haven't taken meds for two days and still bp okay. 120/80 from 150 or 160/100 prior to medication to 130/85 on meds

[paulanddiw]

Hi all,

Have any of you seen a correlation with High Blood Pressure. I started a gluten-free diet last Monday (10 days ago). I am seeing a huge improvement in my blood pressure since I cut gluten out of my diet. Has anyone else seen this correlation?

Thanks,

Sheryl

I have. I don't have stomach or GI symptoms. I don't know if I have celiac disease, but my blood pressure was over 200 and going up. None of the medicines they gave me helped.

As soon as I stopped eating bread, the medicines worked. The more gluten sources I found on the lables (and stopped eating them) the lower my blood pressure got. Now, I take a pill about once a week. My pressue averages in the 130's

[hbomb1012]

As I've been going through this diagnosis process and paying much more attention to what I eat, my blood pressure has been going down. I'm 32 and was put on HBP meds last Oct when I went to the doctor for chronic headaches and light-headedness. My BP was 165/110 that visit.

On my visit to the GI last Weds, my BP was 118/84. I am still on the meds and will stay on them until I am well into a gluten-free diet, which I will be officially starting tomorrow, with my kitchen clean out. I have been eating mostly gluten free for the last month, though.

[Lisa16]

Make that a "yes" for me too!

I was having blood pressure spikes, which are gone now. In addition, the low carb diet was a great help.

I do not take bp meds anymore, which is a good thing because I had a lot of trouble with them.

I had worked through all of the classes of meds, except nitroglycerin (which I refused.) They either did not work or I had an allergic/adverse reaction to them. My reaction to alpha blockers was so bad I got hauled into the ER by ambulance.

If there is a silver lining to celiac (and I think there are several,) this is one of them for me.

[jerseyangel]

I noticed that I responded to this thread quite a while ago, so I wanted to update.

I was on BP meds for years--I had to switch at one point due to side effects and then an allergy. My readings were ok at home--130's/80's for the most part but were much higher in the doctor's office--160/100 was not unusual.

I recently cut out sugar and starchy carbs and within 2 weeks my BP dropped considerably. Yesterday afternoon it was 108/68. I'm still on one med (my doctor took me off the other) but am keeping track of my readings. I'm quite happy eating this way--my stomach is liking it and I'm slowly dropping some weight that I can stand to lose.

I'm hoping to be able to get off of the remaining med--I have read that insulin is at the root of much hypertension and preventing the insulin rise by avoiding too many carbs can be effective. To my amazement, it seem to be working like a charm

[digmom1014]

My BP has definately gone down. My med's are much lighter versions of the one's I have been taking since I was 21 yrs. I have been gluten-free for almost 2 yrs. and I am 45 yrs. HBP run's in the family.

[Lisa16]

Patty, do you happen to remember where you read about the insulin connection? I ask because my dad is now having trouble and I am hoping the article will help him. His blood sugar and bp are both too high.

Thanks!

[jerseyangel]

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art...rticlekey=20242

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jht...ntifier=3025171

http://diabetes.webmd.com/guide/insulin-resistance-syndrome

Lisa--here are a few. I basically read everything I could find on this--both published articles and anecdotal. The thing is that 10 years ago when my BP was first elevated, I was told to "lose some weight and go easy on the salt".

I did just that--I took to the treadmill and went on a low fat (high carb) diet of whole grains, baked corn chips, little meat, etc. I lost 26 pounds in a few months, but when I returned to the doctor my BP was unchanged. I was crushed, and the doctor didn't know what to tell me. I went on meds that day.

Fast forward to now and I have a much better understanding of how different foods affect me---I guess I thank Celiac for that. I would stress that your dad (and/or you for him) read up on all of this and work with his doctor. I'm lucky to have an Internal Medicine doctor who is open to what I'm doing and can't argue with the results so far. She was very impressed that even after she took me off the diuretic, my reading was good and I had still lost a couple pounds.

If I had to describe my way of eating, it would be a combination of The DASH Diet without the grains and the No Flour/No Sugar Diet. I took what suited me out of both and now I seem to be normalizing without doing anything kooky or crazy. The weight is coming off slowly--the BP responded after about 2-3 weeks.

http://www.dashdiet.org/

http://books.google.com/books?id=-6hqH0uMT...;q=&f=false

[Lisa16]

Thank you so much, Patti! I think this will help him a great deal.

I can really identify with your story too. The disappointment and desperation!

I took diuretics for about 10 years and developed a sulfite allergy (they all have sulphur in them).

I lost weight, did exercise, acupuncture and even biofeedback. I took beta blockers, alpha blockers, loop diuretics, calcium channel blockers, ace inhibitors, centrally acting meds (those are bad news) and so on.

Lord! I thought it was going to kill me. They couldn't control it at all. It was as if they were all placebos (well, except for that darn alpha blocker that nearly did me in). I saw cardiologists and nephrologists and expensive specialists in distant cities. They all kind of gave up.

I became a guinea pig (maybe this one will work if you take it while hopping on one leg. Oh. Well, maybe his cousin will do the trick!) I counted once. By 2006 I had been given over 50 different kinds of pills (not all at once!)

Now I know diet is the key to pretty much everything and, like you, I am on th straight and narrow.

Celiac has had some positive outcomes for me.

I learned to cook!

I figured out some more food allergies.

I learned to eat healthy!

I am slowly getting my life back.

So here's to looking for the positives.

[jerseyangel]

Glad to be of help, Lisa. I finally got to the point where I kind of knew that there was something else at play concerning the BP. No matter how well I adhered to what I was told to do (take the meds, lose weight, etc) it never seemed to make a difference. You're right, it's disappointing and discouraging.

I could never tolerate the Hydrochlorothizide--made me so dizzy I couldn't function. I was given Lasix instead, only to find out after 2 years that it really has no effect on BP according to my new doctor. Norvasc caused edema, and the generic equivalent caused a horrible allergic reaction--hives for 10 days. I'm still taking Lisinopril--the only one that doesn't cause side effects for me and as I said, I hope to be able to come off of that.

Anyhoo, keep in touch and let me know how you and your dad do with everything

[GFinDC]

Sounds like some real success stories here on the BP front. My BP was described as borderline high for years, but not terribly high. It seemed to stay around 130 over 89 or so. Going gluten-free didn't seem to change it at all after 2 years. I tried going salt free for 5 years prior to gluten-free and that didn't help either. I do use a little salt now but use the Morton Lite salt which is part potassium so less sodium. I ended up trying the hypochlorathiazide for a few months this year but couldn't deal with the almost falling over and passing out. So I went off that. What did help me was getting on thyroid hormones. It took a few weeks but my BP has droppped to pretty normal levels. Just checked it and it is 114 over 84, pulse 79.

So, could be there is a link to hypothyroid conditions also.

This Mayo Clinic site has a story about secondary hypertension, where the HBP is caused by another condition. There is a long list of secondary conditions on it. One thing interesting they said is when the medications don't work that sometimes indicates secondary hypertension. The medication is treating the symptom but not the cause in other words.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/secondary...DSECTION=causes

Hypothyroidism. This condition occurs when the thyroid gland doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone, which can cause high blood pressure. Hypothyroidism may have various causes, including inflammation, surgery, radiation treatment, certain medications or pituitary problems. Treatment with synthetic thyroid hormones usually returns blood pressure to normal.

Hyperthyroidism. This condition occurs when the thyroid gland produces too much thyroid hormone. This can increase the activity of epinephrine and norepinephrine, which can increase blood pressure. Treatment may include medication, radioactive iodine therapy or surgery, all of which can restore normal blood pressure.

[RGh69]

My blood pressure is high in the morning (150/90) and lower in the evening (135/80). I was taking Toprol XL for awhile but it really made no difference. When I quit taking Toprol some of my GI symptoms went away (I wonder if it contained gluten). I have been gluten-free for about a month and there is no real difference in BP but it may be due to eating everything I can that is gluten-free (Snickers, Blue Bell Ice Cream, salt on everything).

[ranger]

My BP usually runs aroun 140/80 on loppessor. I'm supposed to take lisinipril and a diuetic, but don't. 8 monthe on the glutrn free diet has lowered my BG, but has not affected my BP. Stopped exersizng for my 2 years of having to be near a bathroom. Maybe if I start again, it will help, but gluten-free diet hasn't. Congrats to all of you that have seen improvement.

[alishell]

In response to your posting re. high blood pressure~ I have noticed that when I accidently ingest gluten(especially large amounts)my blood pressure spikes. I usually run about 111/74 and today-after being "glutened" Saturday night it was 145/90 and I feel awful? I am starting to feel better tonight and my BP is slowly coming down. BP spikes and chest pain were some of the symptoms that led to my diagnosis(via biopsy11/08). I don't usually suffer from the common symptoms loose stools etc. just stomach pain, reflux and "not feeling well".

[jamzilla]

I have had High bp for around 10 years,Which I have been takeing medication for . After 6 mnths of being gluten free I have stopped takeing the drug.My BP has dropped to 130s 80s.I do moniter my BP so please don't just stop takeing yours.Without being vigilent. Thanks Jim

[SueRoberts]

I have high blood pressure and I now think I might have Celiac, so I was wondering if there was a link between the two.

I am on 5mg Enalapril and 5mg Thiazide Diuretic. I found when I didn't each much my blood pressure was lower but also my heart rate went down. So when I was first diagnosed I was around 150/100 with pulse 80. Meds took me down to about 130/85 with pulse 70 stable at this two years later. Cycling and rowing machine, 1 hour every two days and down to 120/80 with pulse 65-70 a further 6 months later. But when I don't eat much I drop to 105/75 with pulse low 60's. I think my pulse rate has dropped to ensure my BP does not go too low.

Sleeping without eating much I can now drop to 42-45 pulse rate, but when I eat normally, and my food always includes gluten, I only drop to low 60's pulse rate.

Now I think it might be linked to Celiac so I am off to get a home test kit from the chemist next week.

Here is what I found today when searching, proof it 'can' be connected for some people, but not all, which goes along with posts on this forum.

Reversible hypertension following coeliac disease treatment: the role of moderate hyperhomocysteinaemia and vascular endothelial dysfunction

http://www.nature.com/jhh/journal/v16/n6/abs/1001404a.html

[GFinDC]

The doctors are slowly catching on... Thanks for the link!