I also agree with bpath. See your doc and have a complete workup done, please. And that blood pressure reading is far too high.

FOAS, so sorry to hear this. Do get further checked out and make sure you know what they gave you to lower your bp. This kind of stuff can be very concerning, especially since the symptoms still have not resolved.

This would not be acceptable to me. I would call my doctor and get a read from her about what to do next, or get back to the ER. Do not wait for something new or worse to happen.

High BP does not usually cause a headache so to me it says something else might be going on that needs to be investigated. Please do follow up ASAP. Don't wait. And don't rely on the ER ... I can't tell you the wide variations in skills and staffing I've run into in ERs over the years. They are not the be all and end all...sounds more like they treated the symptoms to get you stable...not do an investigation into the root cause of your issue.

I agree with the above concerns but also offer that you could be having an allergic reaction to the BP med and you should be taken off the medication or have it adjusted. Lisinopril is famous for this type of reaction.

Thanks for all the advice to take it seriously. Now that I’ve been up for an hour my headache it down a little, I’m still not feeling right but seem to be headed in the right direction. Looking at discharge papers it does say to come back if I have severe headache; at this point I’d no longer consider it severe. So I’ll monitor that as well as my BP.

The medical center I go to is closed weekends, so really my only option is back to the ER and I‘m in no rush to go there unless things get worse. I’ll make appt with my PC for Monday if needed.

But Winter might be onto something - I was given hydralazine and a quick google shows headache to be a side effect.

Thanks all!

Concerned to read this and I will add to the choir saying please call your doctor.

Hope to hear a good update from you but please don't just ignore.

The headache could be from whatever they gave you to get your BP down. Call the ER and find out what it was, and if headache is a side effect. Hope you feel better soon!

I echo others who say take it seriously. You don't want to mess with this if you have other concerns such as high blood pressure heart condition etc.

That said I do suffer from lightheadedness in association with my migraines and then get a splitting one-sided migraine headache. Still I get it checked out frequently. ..Just in case.

A headache that lingers is not something to take lightly. That happened to my sister and they found that she had bleeding on the brain. I would make sure they check for something like that. I hope it's nothing serious but it's best to find out for sure. That's what the doctors are there for. Don't think you are inconveniencing them.

Too many wordle puzzles. Seriously, stay well.

Don't mess with this. High blood pressure of rapid changes in blood pressure high or low along with headache are nothing to ignore. You need a full MRI with contrast along with other testing.. CT scans can miss things in the brain, like an aneurysm. They are just the first step because they are quick. What Annie Deighnaugh said about the ER. Not a place to get diagnosed. Here's another dirty little secret. If you have any signs of anything that even looks like a stroke call 911 and have an ambulance take you in. If someone drives you or you drive yourself, triage and treatment protocol are different. If the paramedics bring you in you will not be released until they are certain it is safe. Walk in and it depends on the doctor on duty.

Take care and listen your body! Question.... do you have any ear pain or fullness?

No further advice just adding my best wishes.

Nothing to add to the recommendations given already, FOAS.

Except to send my good wishes for early diagnosis and successful treatment.

Plus to offer some prayers on your behalf.

ole joyful ... and concerned

If anything seems off again before you can see him, do not wait - go to the ER.

Yes, you can get severe headache from elevated B/P, or from some meds (those that work by relaxing/dilating blood vessels - similar to what happens during migraine), but also the high B/P & headache could be due to something more dangerous.

Food, a family member of mine could have written your opening post verbatim. upon second trip to ER, the dr.’s announced it had been a TIA stoke. Please seek care. I wish you well.

Glad you're feeling better. Also glad you went to the ER in the first place. So many people ignore symptoms of stroke and heart attack, even when they have had them in the past.

I won't add any medical advice, but I'm glad to hear that you plan on seeing your PCP.

No additional advice, but glad you are feeling better, and do see your PCP asap.

The goal of emergency departments is to rule out immediate life threats. ED's are not designed to make a definitive diagnosis for all patients.

Do not hesitate to return to the ED if your symptoms persist or get worse before you can see your own provider.

Some factors to consider, do you have hypertension? If so, has it been under control? Medication compliance? There's a condition orthostatic hypERtension, could that be occurring? Was this a TIA?

All should know 5 signs of stroke - sudden onset: (1) problem w/ balance/difficulty walking, (2) vision impairment, (3) difficulty speaking, (4) one sided facial droop, (5) weakness on one side of body.

If any are present, seek help immediately. Call 911 to get to an appropriate ED (certified stroke center) quickly and safety. Treatment for stroke is very time dependent; wait too long and treatment is not effective.

Best wishes for an insignificant diagnosis.

No advice from me but see your PCP as soon as you can. He/she knows you better than any ER doc. Hope you're feeling back to normal.

I have no advice to add, except ditto all of the above. With one difference, I have found that in my case, both too high and too low BP can cause headaches.

Hope you are continuing to improve today, and that you will keep us posted with a report after seeing your PCP tomorrow.

Rusty

Just reading this now. Hope you're feeling better. DO let us know! (Please provide both systolic and diastolic numbers, and your pulse, too.)

While I was already on bp meds, my pressure shot up about two years ago. I noticed my head felt like it was in a vise and I'm pretty sure there was some pain involved. I went to the er because I was scared--new meds brought it back down within a couple of weeks. I hope you figure this out soon, Food.

Food, how are you doing? Better, I hope. Do keep us updated, please.

Thinking of you FOAS and hoping for an update soon with nothing but good news.

Hope all is well.

He commented on some posts yesterday, hopefully he's "commenting" with his doctor today.

Haha thanks for the followup thoughts. Seeing doctor tomorrow, it was the earliest I could get in. In the meantime, feeling fine!

Glad your feeling better. Let us know how the Dr appointment goes....

Thanks for the reassurance! Check in after your appointment!

Best way I can describe it was like being on whippits.

FOAS, I’m still processing this statement.🤠

Wishing you the best at your appointment!

roxsol, I had to look it up!

I’m wondering if FOAS just got too close to the Reddi-Wip in a can and forgot about it. I’m sure his doctor will explore that possibility.

Wrote it off as a possible vertigo episode (which I’ve never had before) but did make an adjustment to my BP meds. Fingers crossed!

Good to hear!!!

Thanks for the update. I'm starting to think of getting older like a reverse adolescence...changes, changes.

There's such a thing called positional vertigo, BPPV, that I had some years ago. The symptoms can include dizziness, loss of balance, room spinning-sensations, and nausea. BPPV is a suggested diagnosis when more serious possibilities are ruled out by a doctor.

A helpful treatment is called the Epley Manuever, which, if your doc didn't provide to you, can be found online. It involves certain head and body movements in a specific sequence.

If what you have is BPPV, is usually passes before too long. The Epley Manuever seemed to help me. Be careful in the meantime and good luck.

I had BPPV too and found the Foster maneuver to be even more helpful. But it doesn't sound to me like that's what you had as it doesn't affect one's BP as yours was.

Isn't it the case that anxiety as a reaction to an unexpected immediate sensation can cause blood pressure and pulse rate increases?

Yes it can, but his bp was elevated to dangerously high levels which I think would be unusual for that situation.

Hi there, foodonastump. I joined the site just so I could respond to your post here and let you know that I had the same thing happen to me last week with the addition of shortness of breath and heart palpitations/fluttering that had been going on for a few months. The fluttering and shortness of breath had begun to increase and then one evening, I became suddenly dizzy/lightheaded w/a sudden severe headache. Those two made me go to the ER just like you. And just like you, they did all the usual blood tests, EKG, chest x-ray, CT brain scan, and an MRI of my head, echocardiogram, and also checked the veins in my neck via ultrasound. Also like you, they found nothing. They admitted me for observation and kept me on a heart monitor for 2.5 days. Even though I continued to feel the fluttering as usual, the monitor didn't pick up on any unusual heart activity.

A few days after I was back at home, I had a tele-visit appointment with my PCP. To prepare for that visit, I logged into the hospital mychart portal to look over all the test results and couldn't believe that I found something that all those hospital doctors (4 of them) had missed, which was that my hemoglobin (iron) was low. I have a history of anemia but what the docs missed was that all of the symptoms that I complained about could easily be attributed to that. That made me feel much more satisfied to have some kind of closure, as opposed to being released from the hospital and told nothing is wrong. You don't have those kinds of events for no reason.

I'm suggesting that you log into your mychart at your hospital's website and check over all your test results. It could be something as simple as low iron, like me. Or something as simple as low potassium, which also causes lightheadedness and headaches. The chart will indicate normal ranges for all the corresponding result figures, so you don't have to be concerned with knowing - or not knowing - how to read the results, and you can just google the meaning of the terms you're not familiar with.

And consider that just the alarm of your sudden lightheadedness could alone be the cause of your blood pressure spiking the way it did. So that just might be the extent of their relationship.

The BP medication HCTZ can cause low potassium.

Don't practice medicine without a license. Unless you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.. ;-)

Quoted from Eileen, "The BP medication HCTZ can cause low potassium."

Ah yes, that is ever so true. And not only true of Hydrochlorothiazide (the diuretic) but also true of several of the hypertension medications that HCTZ accompanies, especially the angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). So if you recently (in the past month or two) began a new medication for your high blood pressure or a water pill, then be sure to mention that to your doctor. You can die from a lack of potassium.

I know two people who had episodes from taking Losartan and I was the second one. The first was a friend who lost consciousness at my house. When EMS got her into the van, I peeped in the side window and saw them paddle her back to life. She had died just that quickly. Blood test results showed very little potassium in her system. She was later okay.

When I began having bouts of lightheadedness 6 years ago, I didn't make the connection that I had just begun taking BP medication and it was the same that she had taken. It was my daughter, who is a nutritionist and herbalist, that recognized the problem, so I began taking potassium supplements upon her recommendation and was fine after that. Now, after last week, I need to also be sure to take iron supplements.

So again, check those two - iron and potassium - on your blood test results and discuss them with your doctor.

And just a note to make sure your BP meds are not on the recall lists as ones that cause cancer. The diuretic Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) is on the list.

I was not referring to the comment about HCTZ.

When they told you to return if you got a severe headache they didn't mean wait and see if it gets better - they meant come in if you get a severe headache!

A few years ago my husband had a minor stroke caused by a brain bleed. His first symptom was a splitting headache.

Not only did he not tell me, he didn't call his doctor or go to the hospital until the next day when he was having trouble focusing to read some emails.

When he finally called his doctor he was told to go to the hospital IMMEDIATELY. That's when they discovered the bleeding in his brain.

Fortunately, he was only kept for observation in the ICU for a few days, and no further intervention was required. He fully recovered from the incident, and while the doctors couldn't determine a definitive cause, high blood pressure was the likeliest suspect.

While he had already been on blood pressure meds, his doctor got more aggressive in his treatment saying that controlling his blood pressure wasn't enough - he needed to aim for perfect blood pressure.

Since then my husband has made changes in his diet and physical activity, along with new medications.

I hate to keep bumping this but I wanted to say thanks again, and a special thanks to @SusanMack for joining just for me. That was very kind and I hope you stick around!

Ok truth be told I have little confidence in my PCP. The medical group is convenient, he’s there. Interesting about the HCTZ, he just added that to my regimen after taking my BP once. I’ll get back with my cardiologist soon and see whar he says about that. He errs on the side of testing to a ridiculous extent; I probably should have gone to him in the first place. I looked at the labs and all numbers were in range aside from glucose a bit high. My diet needs a lot of work so hopefully that’ll resolve itself.

I appreciate all the concern, advice, and well wishes!