Blood pressure and headches

[Gurumanickam]

Generally headaches and high blood pressure are thought of synonymously. But I am unable to search for the pathophysiological connection between them from the websites like Pubmed, WebMD etc.

 

Is there any scientific proof that high blood pressure per se causes the headaches. I would like to go through the physiological process of such headaches that are caused by the blood pressure.

[StringJunky]

Will this help? I Googled 'malignant hypertension' and severe headaches are a symptom.

 

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/241640-overview

Edited May 10, 2017 by StringJunky

[Itoero]

You might find this very interesting: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3829292/

 

"headaches are associated to various disorders that lead to abrupt, severe, and paroxysmal elevations in blood pressure"

 

It might be that correlation does not imply causation.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Itoero

[Gurumanickam]

Thanks for your efforts. But these articles assume the link already being existing, between high blood pressure and headaches. But I am searching for the very exact molecular processes and the physiology of high BP causing headache.

[StringJunky]

The association between hypertension and headaches is not borne out by research, it seems, according to this article:

 

 

Conclusion

 

Currently, there is no concrete evidence to establish a firm causal link between hypertension and headache. There is, however, ample evidence that hypertension does not cause headaches and in fact may be protective against the development of headache. Despite conflicting data in the medical literature, many of the large trials that have examined this relationship have found no association between hypertension and the development of headache.[7,8] http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/588273

[Itoero]

Thanks for your efforts. But these articles assume the link already being existing, between high blood pressure and headaches. But I am searching for the very exact molecular processes and the physiology of high BP causing headache.

There is no evidence for a causal link between High Blood Pressure and Headache.

Many people think it's causal related ...that's a misnomer.

[Gurumanickam]

The association between hypertension and headaches is not borne out by research, it seems, according to this article:

 

Thank you Sir. That was an eye opening for me. More such studies are necessary to bust the myth of high BP, such as the role of antihypertensive drugs in headache reduction.

 

And can this premise (of high BP protecting against headaches) be applied to migraine as well? Is migraine also protecting us from something?

[DrP]

It would make sense I suppose... but I guess we need solid studies on it. One think is for sure though... the use of anti inflammatory analgesics works to reduce the pain from head aches. I thought these worked by reducing inflammation and thus pressure in an area rather than targeting pain receptors. If that is the case, would it not suggest that pressure can play some part in the cause? Or maybe that the whatever the cause was has resulted in some inflammation or increased pressure in an area in the brain?

 

(I am sure there are many different causes and types of head ache though - bought on for a variety of reasons).

[Jay Cannobas]

It has a variety of reasons. sleepless, hypertension, or if you have a lot of problem, so it's better to consult a doctor to find out.