Seizures Caused By High Blood Pressure - Understanding Symptoms, Causes, And Treatment

Understanding Seizures Caused By High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is a serious medical condition that can lead to major health complications if left untreated. One potential complication that may occur is seizures. While alarming, seizures caused by high blood pressure are generally rare events that can often be managed with proper medical treatment.

The Link Between High Blood Pressure and Seizures

To understand how high blood pressure can trigger seizures, it helps to first understand what blood pressure is. Blood pressure measures the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries as the heart pumps blood through the circulatory system.

Blood pressure rises and falls throughout the day, but when it stays elevated over time, this is called high blood pressure. High blood pressure causes the heart to work harder to pump blood, which can damage blood vessels over time.

Extremely high blood pressure can cause blood vessels in the brain to constrict or rupture. This disruption in blood flow deprives areas of the brain of oxygen, which can then trigger a seizure.

Who Is At Risk For Seizures From High Blood Pressure?

Most people with high blood pressure will never experience a seizure. Only those with severe uncontrolled high blood pressure are at risk. Additional risk factors include:

• Not taking blood pressure medications as prescribed
• Having extremely elevated blood pressure, such as a top number (systolic) over 180 mm Hg
• Having an underlying condition that damages blood vessels, like diabetes or high cholesterol
• Being elderly, as blood vessels become less elastic with age
• Having a history of strokes or mini-strokes
• Having chronic kidney disease

Types of Seizures Caused By High Blood Pressure

There are a few types of seizures that can result from high blood pressure:

Focal Seizures

Also called partial seizures, these originate in just one area of the brain. Focal seizures may or may not cause loss of consciousness, depending on whether they remain localized or spread to other areas.

Common symptoms include muscle twitching, numbness, confusion, and unresponsiveness. These indicate a part of the brain is not functioning properly due to interrupted blood flow.

Generalized Seizures

Generalized seizures rapidly affect both sides of the brain and cause loss of consciousness. The most well-known type is a tonic-clonic or grand mal seizure. These cause muscle stiffening and jerking due to abnormal electrical activity across the brain.

Other types of generalized seizures include absence seizures, which cause brief loss of consciousness, and myoclonic seizures, which cause sudden jerks of the arms or legs.

Status Epilepticus

This life-threatening condition occurs when a seizure lasts more than 5 minutes or when seizures occur close together without recovery between episodes. Permanent brain injury or death can occur within 30 minutes without emergency treatment.

High blood pressure is one potential cause of status epilepticus when extremely elevated blood pressure cuts off blood flow to parts of the brain.

Diagnosing High Blood Pressure Induced Seizures

To determine if high blood pressure is causing seizures, doctors take a full medical history looking for risk factors like untreated hypertension. They will measure current blood pressure and may monitor blood pressure over time looking for trends.

Doctors also rule out other potential seizure triggers like drug and alcohol use, infections, head injuries, and pre-existing epilepsy. Brain imaging tests like CT scans and MRIs allow doctors to look for signs of bleeding or blockages in blood vessels in the brain.

A neurologist will typically perform or order an EEG test to measure electrical activity in the brain and help diagnose seizure activity.

Emergency Treatment For Hypertensive Seizures

Seeking prompt emergency care is vital for anyone experiencing new onset seizures, particularly if high blood pressure is suspected as the cause. Without treatment, prolonged seizures can lead to permanent neurological damage and even death.

Emergency responders will address the immediate life-threatening symptoms first. This includes measures to protect the persons airway, breathing, and circulation. Intravenous medications may be used to stop an ongoing seizure.

Bringing high blood pressure back to a safe range is also a priority. IV anti-hypertensive medications are often administered to quickly lower severely high blood pressure. This helps restore normal blood flow to the brain and control seizures.

Preventing Future Seizures From High Blood Pressure

After surviving a hypertensive seizure, preventing future episodes becomes imperative. This requires getting hypertension under control through lifestyle changes and blood pressure medications under a doctors direction.

Lifestyle changes to improve high blood pressure include:

• Following a heart-healthy diet low in sodium
• Exercising regularly
• Losing excess weight
• Limiting alcohol
• Quitting smoking
• Reducing stress through relaxation techniques

Medications for high blood pressure, such as diuretics, ACE inhibitors, ARBs, beta blockers, and calcium channel blockers can all help lower blood pressure to safer levels. But medication must be taken consistently as prescribed to be effective.

Following up regularly with the healthcare team is keyhaving blood pressure monitored and medications adjusted in response to changing needs. This helps keep blood pressure optimized and reduces risk of end organ damage to the heart, brain, and kidneys.

Living With High Blood Pressure Induced Seizures

Those who have experienced seizures caused by high blood pressure will likely need to make some lifestyle adjustments for optimizing long-term health.

A primary focus should be doing all possible to control blood pressure with the help of your healthcare team. This includes medication compliance, frequent blood pressure monitoring, and adopting lifestyle changes to support heart health.

Its also wise to avoid activities that could be dangerous if a seizure occurred, like swimming alone or working at heights, until seizures are under better control.

Some people may need to temporarily restrict driving until seizures have been prevented for a sufficient period of time with medical treatment. Discuss any driving restrictions with your doctor.

Adequate sleep, stress management, limiting alcohol, and avoiding triggering medications and recreational drugs can also help reduce seizure risk.

Despite best efforts, seizures may still recur in those with known high blood pressure induced seizures. Having an emergency action plan and access to emergency care is important for all individuals prone to seizures.

The Outlook For High Blood Pressure Seizures

The prognosis for someone who has experienced seizures due to high blood pressure depends greatly on their ability to control their blood pressure long-term.

With diligent treatment of hypertension and healthy lifestyle changes, many people successfully prevent repeat episodes of hypertensive seizures and associated complications.

If blood pressure cannot be controlled, however, repeat seizures become more likely. Worsening high blood pressure also raises risk for other serious conditions like stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure and recurrent seizures both can lead to permanent brain damage over time. Thats why actively working with your medical team to manage high blood pressure is imperative after a hypertensive seizure.

Key Takeaways

Though alarming, seizures caused by high blood pressure are generally rare events that often can be well managed with proper medical treatment and lifestyle changes. Controlling blood pressure is key to preventing repeat seizures and associated health complications.

Seeking prompt emergency care for suspected hypertensive seizures, following doctors orders for blood pressure management, maintaining healthy lifestyles, and avoiding seizure triggers can help restore quality of life after seizure events.

While living with high blood pressure induced seizures poses some challenges, with proper long-term treatment the outlook can be very hopeful. Working closely with your healthcare providers gives you the best chance for gaining optimal control of your health.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional before starting any new treatment regimen.