Birth Control and Blood Pressure

If you are regularly taking birth  control, you might be at a higher  risk for getting hypertension in  the future. Birth control is a  highly effective and popular  medication for women, but it has  side effects that can be  troublesome. One of those side  effects is increased blood  pressure.

Most birth control pills are a  form of estrogen and  progesterone. Both of these are  hormones and are necessary for  the contraceptive part to work.  However, adding these extra  hormones into your body on a  regular basis does pose some risk.

Progesterone has been shown to  affect an individual's blood  pressure. Essentially, the  hormone has a direct effect on  the small blood vessels in the  body, causing your blood pressure  to increase over time. For some,  the increase is slight to  moderate. For other individuals,  the increase can become  potentially serious. This causes  the person to discontinue birth  control pills for another form of  contraception that is safer for  them.

When should you be concerned  about birth control raising your  blood pressure? Each year, your  blood pressure should be  monitored by the gynecologist  administering the birth control  pills. If they see a steady and  alarming increase in your blood  pressure, you can discuss other  alternatives at that time.  However, some women are more  likely to experience the increase  in blood pressure if they have  some of the following factors:

"  Personal history of high  blood pressure in pregnancy "    Personal history of heart  problems " " Personal history of blood  vessel problems "    Family history (especially  females in family) of high blood  pressure

 You don't necessarily need to  stop taking birth control pills  because you are worried that your  blood pressure will rise. Allow  your doctor to monitor you very  carefully and let him or her make  recommendations on the state of  your health based on those  readings.