Blood Pressure Issues - A Major Asthma Problem

Asthma is well-known as a major respiratory illness since that is its primary impact on your overall health and well-being. By causing inflammations that narrow your body's airways, asthma can make it extremely difficult to breathe and can lead to several very serious health complications including death. Beyond just your ability to breathe, however, asthma can have a wide range of symptoms that impact almost every aspect of your body's health. Because of that, it's important to know just what to expect from asthma and learn all of the different issues it may trigger within your body. One of the bigger problems it can trigger is changes within your blood pressure.

Blood pressure isn't something that most people think of when they hear the word 'asthma', but it is a major factor. Low blood pressure is one of the main signs that a serious asthma attack is occurring, and could be a life-threatening issue. This happens when your body is receiving levels of oxygen so low that the heart simply can't pump at its best. Its beats will be weaker and it will be unable to deliver the blood to all areas of the body. Obviously this is an extreme situation, but it is certainly one that you need to be aware of.

High blood pressure can occur due to asthma as well, normally when asthma attacks and breathing issues aren't quite as severe. During periods when you are having trouble breathing due to asthma, your lungs won't be pulling in as much air which means that the blood passing through them won't become as oxygenated as it should. That means that the heart will start to pump faster to try and cycle more blood through the body in order to deliver the right levels of oxygen. This increased blood rate can end up raising blood pressure levels and causing other issues to occur.

Higher blood pressure as a result of asthma can occur even when a major asthma attack isn't taking place. Asthma normally causes slightly narrowed airways, and if there is simply not enough air entering the body then the heart may work harder to try to deliver it to your body parts. It's more common than you might suspect, and if you're coping with asthma you're probably already aware of the effects it can have on your heart rate and blood pressure. Managing your asthma is important for all aspects of your health, not just your breathing, so be sure that you understand exactly how to go about doing it.