Headache and High Blood Pressure

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High Blood Pressure and Headache

Distension of blood vessels with extremely high blood pressure causes a headache, most typically on rising in the morning. It is commonly felt in the back of the head.

Is Headache Related to Increases of Blood Pressure?

Headache is generally regarded as being a symptom of high blood pressure, although it is also stated that hypertension is the “silent killer”. Many people who have high blood pressure think that when they get a headache it means that their pressure has gone up. The problem here is that both headache and high blood pressure are very common, which means that it is certainly true that the two occur together, but what exactly is the connection?

There is some evidence from other studies that people with hypertension are more likely to have migraine headaches, and also some reports that some of the blood pressure lowering drugs such as calcium channel blockers and beta-blockers are effective for treating these. Again, this may not necessarily a result of a lower blood pressure. The message here is that if you have hypertension and are getting headaches, it does not mean that your blood pressure out of control, and that the best treatment for the headache may be the traditional pain killers such as aspirin.

Blood Pressure Drugs Prevent Headaches

A provocative new study shows four completely different classes of these drugs prevent headaches. That suggests an obvious conclusion to researcher Malcolm Law, FRCP, professor of epidemiology at the University of London.

"My best guess is that higher blood pressure does cause headache -- but that is a guess," Law tells WebMD. "We can't exactly shout from the rooftops that high blood pressure causes headache, although we think it probably does."