Will Allergies Raise BP? Anyone Know?

Anyone know if allergies have any effect on your BP?

Specifically, I am wondering if something like an allergy to dust would have any impact on Blood Pressure?

Anyone know?

According to my allergy specialist allergies generally will not cause your blood pressure to be high but many of the medications for allergies will.

GumbyCT wrote:Anyone know if allergies have any effect on your BP?

I have documented reactions that raise my blood pressure. The interesting thing is that twice when taking a blood pressure med for an off label use my reaction included increased blood pressure. The first time I was monitoring blood pressure to make sure it didn't go too low and noticed it go up when I started itching. The other times (once with a 2nd blood pressure med and once with a totally different med) when I started itching I checked and blood pressure was high. All 3 times as the benadryl I took helped the itching and the med wore out of my system my blood pressure dropped.

Effect of dust allergy on b.p.?

I suspect that there would be either no measurable effect or a slight lowering of b.p. Consider that allergic responses generally result in histamine responses, and these can include vascular dilation.

In my case, I see a slight b.p. drop during pollen season (but it's only an "n" number of one, and since I might be expecting the drop, I might see what I anticipate.)


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I think that dealing with the symptoms of a seasonal allergy (sneezing, itching, etc.) could raise your BP in terms on a scale of how much they irritate you (similarly to how an angry person's BP is thought to go up when the person's provoked) but as a specific accompanying factor in allergies otherwise, e.g. if you were unconscious and therefore unaware of allergic symptoms, I'm not sure BP would go up... BP not being an intrinsic component of the allergy, just a reaction to the symptoms. Except maybe in the case of something like an anaphylactic reaction (the deadly closing of your airway by swelling - which affects the rest of your body too) which may well always have a high BP as a natural component (I don't know, just speculating).

Many allergy medications have a negative effect on BP. My husband has high blood pressure and there are very few allergy meds he can take that do not cause his BP to rise. He does not hae sleep apnea.

I have seasonal allergies and take OTC non drowsy antihistimines for it. MY BP is always normal - well, most of the time. Anyone's BP can go up when they are agitated.

I've found that just about anything that makes me feel bad will raise my BP. YMMV.

Gumby.....

My best guess...anything that will raise your Cortisol or Adrenaline levels will affect your blood pressure. So, if a particular allergy affects your "panic-fight-or-flight" hormonal chemical production, it ought to affect your BP.

I have an appt w/my Primary coming up and hope to remember to ask him. I know he doesn't believe in OSA and wanted to get an idea what others think and feel about allergies impact on BP.

Certainly I agree about agitation and fight or flight, etc. And allergies can certainly affect those. There is also a point where the body reacts before we even know we have an allergy.

I thank you all for your point of view.