Quit drinking and smoking cold turkey 9 days ago and my BP is about 140s over 80s (was observed to be even higher about 72 hours in).
For reference, I’ve always had a low sodium, plant-based diet and never really had elevated blood pressure before I quit.
Just curious if this will ever go down on its own, my plan is to wait a couple weeks and see, but curious.
UPDATE: yes, well aware of stopping abruptly. I was more like a 2-5 beer/day person and had frequently stopped for a day or two without issue so wasn’t terribly worried, but I did check BP to be sure nothing wrong undetected was going on.
I didn’t have any symptoms outside of elevated BP and after checking frequently the last couple days I’m about mid 120s to 130 over 70s consistently.
So, in my own personal experience (and we are all different) it does seem that quitting both abruptly caused a temporary elevation in BP for several days.
I have been hydrating regularly (2 liters minimum of water daily, plus I eat a lot of plants with high water content anyway), yoga, cardio, Peleton. Sleeping better.
I will continue to monitor and contact my Dr if needed. I believe my annual checkup is soon anyway.
Thanks for all the responses.
Quitting drinking is a peculiar beast. If you were a “normal” drinker, you might only experience some mild mood irritation or have an issue getting to sleep if nightcaps were your thing. You might experience nothing.
If you were a heavy drinker and immediately quit, that can actually kill you. I am going to be realistic here: Ex-drinkers in my class of alcoholic could drink a few bottles of wine, or a case of beer or 5th of liquor throughout the day and then drink more after that, pass out drunk and then start the next morning with a couple of shots.
Alcohol withdrawal in those extreme cases can be deadly. When I quit, I was in bed for a week, with supervision, and had a detox center on speed dial, just in case. It’s no joke. (I should add that my approach was still risky and stupid.)
But yeah, quitting anything that is addictive is going to piss your body off a little. Eventually, if you lay off the “bad things” long enough, your body will recover. You can see the full gambit with nicotine though: Agitation, higher BP, sweats, etc. It depends on your body.
Above all else, talk to a doctor. Everyone’s situation is always unique and is rarely diagnosed properly over social media.
I second this, I was an extreme drinker and ended up in the hospital several times… Last couple relapses I drank myself down, which is extremely risky and stupid.