Xiao Fan is 22 years old this year and has always felt headache and head swelling for a period of time. She went to the school hospital for an examination and her blood pressure was 150/70 mmHg. Later, the doctor took Xiao Fan’s blood pressure several times repeatedly, but it was still on the high side.
Considering that Xiao Fan still had some symptoms of palpitation, shaking hands, fear of heat and weight loss, the doctor did thyroid function, color Doppler ultrasound and other examinations for her, and finally found that Xiao Fan suffered from hyperthyroidism (hyperthyroidism for short).
What makes Xiao Fan strange is that the doctor did not use antihypertensive drugs, but only let her take drugs to treat hyperthyroidism. As a result, Xiao Fan’s blood pressure is normal after half a month, thyroid function is gradually normal, and the symptoms have all disappeared. The doctor said that the increase in blood pressure is caused by hyperthyroidism.
Why is this happening? What should I do if this happens?
Hyperthyroidism makes blood pressure [fickle]
Before solving the doubts, we must first understand how blood pressure is formed. The blood pressure we usually measure is composed of systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. Take the blood pressure of 150/70 mmHg as an example, [150] is systolic blood pressure and [70] is diastolic blood pressure.
The beating of the heart is actually continuous contraction and relaxation. When the heart contracts, blood is pumped out, and the major arteries closely connected with the heart are pressurized by the blood to form [systolic pressure]; When the heart relaxes, the gate connecting the heart and the aorta automatically closes, and the blood remaining in the aorta still has a certain pressure on the artery, thus forming [diastolic pressure].
In hyperthyroidism, thyroid hormone secretion increases, which enhances the contractility of the heart, increases the amount of blood pumped out, and increases the pressure on major arteries, resulting in an increase in systolic pressure.
At the same time, too much thyroid hormone causes the relaxation of the arterioles, more blood reaches other organs through the drainage of the arterioles, less blood remains in the arteries, and the pressure also decreases, resulting in a decrease in diastolic blood pressure.
Therefore, hyperthyroidism patients will have a significant increase in systolic blood pressure and a slight decrease in diastolic blood pressure. Those with obvious increase in systolic blood pressure can meet the diagnostic criteria for hypertension or aggravate the already suffered hypertension.
Adding [chaos] to changes does great harm.
Normal people’s blood pressure fluctuates in a day, with two peaks (6 ~ 8 a.m. and 4 ~ 6 p.m.) and one trough (0 ~ 2 a.m.). Blood pressure is higher during the day and lower during sleep at night. This regular change of blood pressure plays an important role in protecting cardiovascular system.
Hyperthyroidism patients not only change systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, but also the normal fluctuation of blood pressure is disrupted and gradually disappears. Systolic blood pressure has always been at a high level.
Originally, a long-term increase in systolic blood pressure would cause certain damage to the heart, brain, kidney, eyes and other organs of the human body. Once the fluctuation pattern of blood pressure is also confused, the risk of these damages is even higher.
The key is to reduce blood pressure and control hyperthyroidism.
With the control of hyperthyroidism, the systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and blood pressure fluctuation rules of the vast majority of patients can return to normal, and antihypertensive drugs are not necessary.
Only when systolic blood pressure is extremely high should antihypertensive drugs be used under the guidance of doctors.
If systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg after thyroid function is normal, please seek medical treatment as soon as possible to find other causes of blood pressure increase.
Clever Use of Blood Pressure to Monitor Hyperthyroidism
Monitoring blood pressure 2 ~ 3 times a week for hyperthyroidism patients can not only detect blood pressure abnormalities caused by hyperthyroidism as early as possible, but also skillfully use blood pressure values to judge the control of hyperthyroidism.
In hyperthyroidism, excessive thyroid hormones in the body will accelerate the metabolism of the body. In medicine, the speed of metabolism is often evaluated by [basal metabolic rate difference ratio]. The greater the value of basal metabolic rate difference ratio, the faster the metabolism, the more serious the hyperthyroidism is.
The normal value of basal metabolic rate difference ratio is-10% ~ +10%, hyperthyroidism patients are often higher than the normal value range, 20% ~ 30% are slightly increased, 30% ~ 60% are moderate, and more than 60% are severe.
So, how to calculate the difference ratio of basal metabolic rate? Is it complicated to calculate? Not at all! Just measure your blood pressure and pulse to calculate it. The formula is as follows:
The difference ratio of basal metabolic rate = (systolic-diastolic pressure) + pulse beats per minute-111
Note:
(1) The blood pressure and pulse in the formula are measured in a awake and quiet state;
(2) The calculated value is a percentage.
Still taking blood pressure 150/70 mmHg as an example, if the pulse is 90 beats/minute, then the basal metabolic rate difference ratio = (150-70) + 90-111 = 59%.
If you are interested, you can also calculate your basal metabolic rate difference ratio to see if hyperthyroidism is well controlled.