High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can lead to a multitude of symptoms that manifest as many aches and pains but it rarely leads to vertigo. Also, did you know that one-third of people who have high blood pressure, don’t even know they have it? Regular checkups are the best method for discovering whether or not you have chronic high blood pressure.

High blood pressure is dangerous because of the stress it causes on your organs and arteries due to the blood pumping too rapidly, but can it ever cause vertigo? It’s important to note that, when left untreated, hypertension can lead to serious ailments including heart disease, stroke, eye problems, and even kidney failure. There is not ample evidence though that high blood pressure can lead to vertigo.

It could be, however, that whatever is causing your high blood pressure, in the case of poor diet and exercise, that lifestyle choices are producing vertigo like symptoms. People often mistake dizziness for vertigo, and while they’re similar in the effects that they produce, the symptoms of vertigo are much more severe or dramatic.

Combined with a NUCCA care realignment, NUCCA doctors can work with those suffering from high blood pressure in order to alleviate some of their symptoms. Whatever is actually causing your vertigo, NUCCA can help you alleviate these symptoms by realigning the atlas bone located at the top of the spine. Once proper communication has been restored between the brain and body, it’s crucial to maintain this connection, since this lack of proper alignment is what creates undue stress on the spine. This extra stress leads to a multitude of symptoms including vertigo, migraines, TMJ, and SI joint pain.

High Blood Pressure Symptoms

High blood pressure is oftentimes referred to as the silent killer because there can be little to no symptoms present. However, once your blood pressure becomes very high, symptoms can begin to manifest. These high blood pressure symptoms can include:

• Fatigue
• Confusion
• Migraines
• Chest pain
• Vision Problems
• Irregular heartbeats
• Shortness of breath

Blood spots in the eyes and facial flushing are also commonly reported symptoms of patient’s with high blood pressure, though it’s considered inconclusive whether these two symptoms are directly related to high blood pressure. The force and friction of high blood pressure damage delicate tissues within the arteries and organs. This then also leads to bad cholesterol which eventually leads to a plaque on the walls of your arteries.

Blood pressure is measured by comparing the systolic blood pressure, the pressure of the blood vessels during a heartbeat, and the diastolic blood pressure, or the pressure in your blood vessels during rest in-between.

High Blood Pressure Medications

It’s important to remember that what most people mistake as vertigo, is simply the side effects of high blood pressure medications. There are a ton of different classes of high blood pressure medications for different types of patients, however, a majority of the medications include dizziness as a prominent side effect. These different classes include beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, alpha blockers, methyldopa, central agonists, and vasodilators.

Causes of Vertigo

Most commonly, vertigo occurs because of an inner ear problem. These frequent ear problems can range from BPPV to Meniere’s disease and Vestibular neuritis. Essentially these are all malfunctions of the inner ear. It occurs less frequently but vertigo can also be associated with migraines, strokes, and head or neck injuries.

• BPPV – this is one of the most common inner ear problems, known as vestibular disorders. It causes the patient to feel like they’re spinning, and even though it’s not potentially fatal, it can become a regular nuisance to sufferers. BPPV is the primary cause of vertigo for many patients, because of the false feelings of dizziness it provides to the rest of the body. It’s known to be triggered when a patient enters a specific positioning with their neck and head. NUCCA care works to reposition the neck and head into proper alignment in order to reduce the number of reported symptoms.
• Meniere’s disease – another fairly common disease of the inner ear. It often feels like a pressure or slight pain coming from within the ear, and in bad cases, it can cause vertigo symptoms and dizziness. Patients often experience tinnitus and ringing noises along with these symptoms of vertigo.
• Vestibular neuritis – possibly the worst of the most common inner ear problems that lead to vertigo is vestibular neuritis. Typically those who are suffering from vestibular neuritis will suffer from sudden and severe symptoms of vertigo, nausea, and even vomiting.

Vertigo Symptoms

Vertigo does not only manifest as general spinning, but it can also feel like being pulled in one direction, feeling generally unbalances, swaying around, or even unplanned tilting while walking. In addition to the main symptoms of vertigo, there are secondary vertigo symptoms like:
• Nausea and vomiting
• Abnormal eye movements
• Headaches and sweating
• Ringing in the ears

Dizziness vs. Vertigo

Dizziness is a commonly reported side effect of several high blood pressure medications, but it’s not vertigo or even dizziness brought on by high blood pressure, rather the medication itself.

It’s important to note that dizziness and vertigo are not brought on by high blood pressure, but can actually be triggered by the opposite, low blood pressure. This is especially accurate if patients feel this sense of unsteadiness when standing up suddenly, or simply walking. In these cases, these people are likely experiencing vertigo and dizziness due to low blood pressure and should seek NUCCA care along with medical treatments if necessary.

High Blood Pressure Leading to Vertigo Symptoms

High blood pressure does not lead directly to vertigo, rather its medications lead to dizziness, but it’s still best to keep your atlas in proper and optimal alignment so that you may get rid of dizziness and vertigo altogether. Receiving NUCCA chiropractic corrections can lead to a complete alleviation of all vertigo or dizziness symptoms, this is due to the relief of pressure that occurs right on the atlas bone, the point where the spine connects with the weight of the head. When the atlas is placed back into proper alignment, patients can experience a brand new sense of well-being due to the amount of stress that is removed, that they were mostly unaware of.

Dr. Flory

Dr. Tymothy L. Flory graduated from Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, Missouri. Before opening Atlas Brain Spine, Dr. Flory practiced Upper Cervical Chiropractic in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Flory completed Board Certification of the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association in 2012 and is currently a Credentialed Instructor for the organization.