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Can Birth Control Pills Cause High Blood Pressure?
Question: My blood pressure has been around 140/90 in the mornings and by later afternoon around 163/101. I stopped taking my Loestrin 24 FE (birth control) two weeks ago and it seemed to be lowering 135/90, but now the past few days had been up to 151/99 yesterday afternoon and now this morning 140/112. I can feel when it is up because I start to not feel so well. My husband thinks I should start taking 25mg waterpill. I do seem to get out of breath just going up and down my basement steps to do laundry. Could the birth control still be in my system and causing this high BP?
Hi,
Thanks for your query.
Yes, though 'diuretic drugs' ('waterpill') will reduce blood pressure, it should only be taken only after consultation with your doctor as these drugs are known to produce electrolyte imbalance in the system particularly potassium deficiency. Moreover we have better class of drugs to control blood pressure these days without such side-effects.
As you have not mentioned anything in the medication history, I presume you are not any anti-hypertensive drugs till date. And your blood pressure readings is quite high indicating the possibility of you having Hypertension. So I suggest to get yourself evaluated and start on treatment (if required) for the same.
Since you have stopped birth control pills for two weeks by now it would have been completely washed away from your system.
Breathlessness on exertion needs to be evaluated. The cause for this could range from a simple case of anemia to more serious conditions like angina. So I suggest you get few blood test done like Complete Blood Count and ECG. Based on the findings of these reports we can proceed further.
I hope my answer has been adequate and informative. If you have any follow up queries I will be available to answer them.
Regards,
Thanks for your query.
Yes, though 'diuretic drugs' ('waterpill') will reduce blood pressure, it should only be taken only after consultation with your doctor as these drugs are known to produce electrolyte imbalance in the system particularly potassium deficiency. Moreover we have better class of drugs to control blood pressure these days without such side-effects.
As you have not mentioned anything in the medication history, I presume you are not any anti-hypertensive drugs till date. And your blood pressure readings is quite high indicating the possibility of you having Hypertension. So I suggest to get yourself evaluated and start on treatment (if required) for the same.
Since you have stopped birth control pills for two weeks by now it would have been completely washed away from your system.
Breathlessness on exertion needs to be evaluated. The cause for this could range from a simple case of anemia to more serious conditions like angina. So I suggest you get few blood test done like Complete Blood Count and ECG. Based on the findings of these reports we can proceed further.
I hope my answer has been adequate and informative. If you have any follow up queries I will be available to answer them.
Regards,
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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