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High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, can affect the blood vessels in your brain. In fact, it’s the leading cause of strokes and can contribute to memory problems like vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. But can high blood pressure trigger seizures?
The short answer is yes, but it’s a little complicated. Often, high blood pressure causes seizures indirectly.
In this article, we’ll discuss how high blood pressure can cause seizures, how seizures can affect blood pressure, and when to get emergency care for hypertension-related seizures.
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Generally, seizures linked to high blood pressure happen because of extreme spikes in blood pressure. These spikes can lead to hypertensive encephalopathy, which is a problem with brain function caused by very high blood pressure.
If you have well-controlled chronic (long-term) hypertension, you’re unlikely to have a severe blood pressure spike leading to hypertensive encephalopathy.
However, people with chronic hypertension have 2.44 times the risk of having epilepsy compared with people without hypertension and people whose hypertension is controlled with medication.
How Seizures Can Raise Blood PressureHigh blood pressure can trigger seizures, and seizures can trigger a blood pressure spike. Seizure activity can either raise or lower your blood pressure, but most epileptic seizures, including focal seizures and occasionally other types of seizures, increase blood pressure.
When you have a seizure, the sympathetic nervous system is activated. The sympathetic nervous system, which is part of the autonomic nervous system, isn’t something you consciously control. Instead, it automatically activates when your body is under stress, as it is during a seizure.
Because the autonomic nervous system regulates your blood pressure and other automatic processes inside your body, your blood pressure can increase when the sympathetic nervous system is activated.
Under stress, the sympathetic nervous system’s job is to increase your heart rate and deliver oxygenated blood to the body so you can escape the perceived danger.
After some seizures, blood pressure can drop dramatically. Researchers think these changes may contribute to sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) in some cases.
A couple of conditions related to high blood pressure affect the brain and may cause seizures as a result. Quick treatment to reduce high blood pressure can help reverse symptoms and prevent dangerous or even life-threatening complications like swelling in the brain or permanent brain damage.
Hypertensive encephalopathy is an emergency that can happen when your blood pressure spikes high enough to affect how your brain works.
When your blood pressure spikes very high, the blood vessels in your brain may not be able to properly regulate blood flow. This can disrupt the blood-brain barrier and cause swelling in the brain. As a result, you can develop a variety of symptoms and complications, including seizures and severe headaches.
High blood pressure is considered 130/80 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or higher. In most cases of hypertensive encephalopathy, the blood pressure reading is over 220/130 mm Hg.
However, it’s possible to experience hypertensive encephalopathy with a blood pressure reading as low as 160/100 mm Hg.
Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is another condition associated with high blood pressure that can lead to seizures.
PRES isn’t very well understood. It typically involves sudden uncontrolled high blood pressure. Health experts believe that PRES may result when the brain’s normal system for controlling blood flow doesn’t work properly when blood pressure gets too high.
The blood vessels in your brain may not properly respond to a blood pressure increase. This can disrupt the blood-brain barrier, allowing fluid from the bloodstream to leak into brain tissue.
Blood pressure doesn’t need to be extremely high for this to happen. It may occur when the blood vessels in the brain fail to properly regulate blood flow or the blood-brain barrier becomes damaged.
Certain medical conditions can increase your risk of PRES or hypertensive encephalopathy, which can lead to seizures. If you have epilepsy, ask your doctor about factors in your health that might increase the risk of seizures linked to hypertension or blood pressure increases.
If you have chronic hypertension, following your doctor’s instructions on controlling your blood pressure may help prevent hypertensive encephalopathy. Your doctor may prescribe blood pressure medication or suggest lifestyle changes such as lowering salt intake or limiting how much alcohol you drink.
Following these directions can help lower your risk of hypertension-related seizures.
Kidney disease can increase the risk of seizures from hypertensive encephalopathy or PRES.
Many kidney diseases interfere with the system of hormones and chemicals that adjust the fluid balance and blood pressure in your body. Your kidneys regulate your blood pressure through this system, releasing chemical signals that expand or constrict your blood vessels and determine how much salt and water the body retains.
When your kidneys don’t work properly, your body may have a harder time regulating blood pressure, which can affect the brain as well as the rest of the body.
If you’re pregnant and have preeclampsia, you may be at an increased risk of seizures and conditions such as hypertensive encephalopathy or PRES.
Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication that involves high blood pressure and may include signs of organ problems, such as protein in the urine. It can lead to serious pregnancy complications. It typically causes protein in the urine and may cause swelling of the arms and legs.
Preeclampsia happens when the placenta doesn’t anchor properly to the uterus during the first trimester, making it harder for the developing baby to get the necessary blood, oxygen, and nutrients.
Preeclampsia can progress into eclampsia, a more severe form of the condition. Eclampsia is preeclampsia with seizures. Both preeclampsia and eclampsia affect how your blood vessels work in response to blood pressure changes, which can allow fluid to leak inside the brain and cause seizures.
If you have severe hypertension, whether you’re aware of it or not, it can increase your risk of having seizures caused by PRES or hypertensive encephalopathy.
You don’t need to have any history of hypertension to experience seizures from either condition. Managing your blood pressure and staying on track with treatment can reduce your risk of these complications.
Hypertensive encephalopathy is a medical emergency and can be life-threatening if you don’t get the care you need quickly.
Call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room immediately if you notice the following signs and symptoms of hypertensive encephalopathy, which can include:
Aside from seizures, PRES can cause sudden confusion, drowsiness, visual disturbances, and headaches. PRES can also lead to life-threatening complications, so it’s important to get immediate medical care.
If you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension or are at high risk of developing the condition, monitoring your blood pressure and keeping in touch with your doctor are important. Following your doctor’s instructions for managing your blood pressure can help lower your risk of dangerous complications, including PRES, hypertensive encephalopathy, and hypertension-related seizures.
On MyEpilepsyTeam, people share their experiences with epilepsy, get advice, and find support from others who understand.
Have you or a loved one had seizures related to a blood pressure spike? Let others know in the comments below.
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