Headache World

The question of whether high blood pressure causes headaches is one of an uncertain result in the medical community, though it is true that for years headaches have been associated with high blood pressure and are used as one of the few symptoms used in determining whether a person has high blood pressure or not. Most medical personnel are trained to look for this a flag to take a blood pressure reading (though most good physicians will take a reading whether you have a headache or not), especially if the headaches are continuous or of a migraine type. But at the same time it is also an accepted fact that many people with even dangerously high blood pressure exhibit no symptoms at all.

A recent study conducted in Poland has turned up some interesting information on the topic, though it by no means proves conclusive.
A survey was taken of 150 people, many of whom were currently taking high blood pressure medication. Their blood pressure was taken over 24 hours at 20 minute intervals in the day and 30 minute intervals at night via an automatic reading device. The results showed that 43 of the patients reported headaches, however upon perusal of the data it was found that no abnormal fluctuations of their blood pressure occurred during the times they stated their headaches occurred, leading to the conclusion that high blood pressure is most likely not a causative factor in headaches.
Therefore we can draw from this information that while headaches can be associated with blood pressure they are most likely not directly caused by it. Instead they may indeed be exclusive events that are somehow connected through other causative factors.

We do know that headaches are caused by stress and anxiety, and it may be true that the knowledge that you have high blood pressure may cause the headache, however this is indirect rather than direct. The headaches in the study were mostly mild to middle strength tension headaches. There does appear to be a stronger link with that of migraine sufferers, and the medicine used to treat high blood pressure is also used to treat migraines, however more research is needed in this area as migraines are of a different nature.

It does seem logical, though, that there would be a link between headaches and high blood pressure if the descriptions and causes of both are compared and contrasted.
Blood pressure is related to the hardening of major arteries, increasing the pressure in the cardio-vascular system. Headaches, especially migraines, which are thought to be connected to vascular distortion are also connected to blood flow, where either too much or too little can trigger the onset. The main problems for many medical professionals is that there are too many variables (of which not enough is known) in the complex machine of the human body to currently keep track of in order to pinpoint a direct cause, though hopefully in the future advances in monitoring technology will allow a bigger picture of the relationship to unfold.

•