When someone is suffering from high blood pressure they do not usually know that there is a problem because high blood pressure does not normally display any symptoms - Hence the name given to it - "The Silent Killer". But just occasionally a person may find himself or herself suffering with what can only be referred to as a high blood pressure headache.



The medical community has had some problems identifying if there is indeed a link between high blood pressure and headaches. Mainly because many people suffer from headaches, and those that do are more likely to go to the doctors and subsequently have their blood pressure taken.

This can skew the statistics and show that more people with high blood pressure tend to have headaches.

Also, even if someone does have high blood pressure, and suffer a headache, the hypertension cannot be automatically considered as the causal link, as people get headaches for many reasons including dehydration, compression, eye strain and being out in cold weather.

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Certainly in research carried out by the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry they stated that headaches are not being caused by high blood pressure. They based their findings on the readings they took of 22,000 adults who responded to a survey about the frequency of their headaches.

On looking at the questionnaire they found that 28% of the participants were suffering from repeated headaches and of these 1 in 4 were reporting suffering from migraines. Also they found that those who had high blood pressure readings were less likely to suffer from headaches than those with a much lower reading were. From this study, it suggests that the higher the blood pressure is, the less likely people are to suffer from headaches.

Also during the survey they examined the types of headaches people were suffering from. Generally the higher the reading then the less severe the headache, if they suffered from headaches at all. They also examined the systolic readings (the first number) and found those with a high reading were less likely to suffer from migraines and this was especially true for women. When they looked at the diastolic pressure reading (the second number) they were unable to discover any clear cut association between this and a person suffering from migraines if the number was higher than normal.

These results seemed to suggest that there is no link between high blood pressure and headaches. In fact they are showing that pain sensitivity in both a person's brain and spinal cord are reduced when they are suffering from high blood pressure.

Some of the historic accusations between high blood pressure may have been made due to the well-known "white coat" effect, which can raise blood pressure levels in many individuals when they visit the doctor or a surgery with headache symptoms.

Also, there is some suggestion that a person who is suffering high blood pressure bought about through lifestyle choices, including a potentially poor diet, inactivity and high levels of stress and anxiety, are also people who are likely to have headaches due to lifestyle choices rather than high blood pressure.

Finally, there is a suggestion that the high blood pressure headache may be worsened after a patient has been told that they have high blood pressure. This can add worry and concern and potentially increase the risk of headaches and migraines.