Mental Health Bipolar I / Hypertension comorbidity

[crOOk]

Hey there! After having been pretty stably hypomanic for over a year, I eventually came down with my first full-blown mania last year at the tender age of 28/29 which lasted for more than 6 months. I had been using speed (2yrs), ssri's (2yrs), caffeine (>1g/d, 6 months) and Tramadol (7 months) prior to the final breakdown and getting my diagnosis. My blood pressure used to be around 125/75 2 years back. Now before the last three times it was taken it has apparently skyrocketed to fucking 165/95 at heart rates of <70 (pretty much fully rested and calm)!
I recently lost sight on my left eye for two days and got a diagnosis of retinopathy hypertension on my left eye while the right eye isn't doing so great either (stage II compared to III on the left).

I'm just wondering if anyone knows about the coincidence of hypertension and bipolar I, specifically if my manic state could have played a role in this process. I've been abusing drugs for 15 years and find it hard to imagine that this was solely caused by the drugs. I'm just curious and would really appreciate hearing about similar experiences or being pointed to a good scientific article.
All this comes as quite the shock since I'm only 29 years old. I'm trying to make sense of what has happened to my body in these past two years and how I could prevent further rapid progression of the hypertension... Or how much is simply due to the mental illness.
I have handled the bp diagnosis really well, am getting integrated therapy with home visits, 1-20 psychotherapy sessions per month, one of two psychiatrists available 24/7, out-patient drug therapy etc. Pretty fucking good treatment which makes me optimistic I can handle what is to come. I was pretty far gone during the mania, powerful long-lasting delusions, hallucinations, lost my ability to speak or write coherently, slept for 12h every 60-70h in the end. But now with the hypertension dg and the transient loss of sight I'm scared shitless. I'm kinda getting used to living and don't want to die of a fucking clot before my daughter is an adult with a stable life, so at least another 20 years.

Btw I'm on 100mg Quetiapine per day which is the current max I can take before akathisia kicks in. I really loved everything about both olanzapine and quetiapine since they absofuckinglutely gave me my life back. My HDL is only slightly lowered since I started on em, the blood pressure was this high before I got started on the neuroleptics though. Needless to say, I'm not abusing stimulants, ssri's or opiates anymore these days (except for a single incident). All I'm doing is pot. Started working out and doing cardio again, smoke a lot less, I'm trying...

 

[pofacedhoe]

have you had a diabetes test? are you fat? how much sugar do you consume (hidden sugar included)

just worth looking into cause that high blood pressure could be fucking up other organs like the kidneys

 

[crOOk]

Yeah I'm seeing a doctor about this on thursday. Not fat at all... Was underweight at the end of the mania, even the fat of my cheeks had entirely vanished with me weighing in a whopping 121lbs. I'm back at my feel good weight of 165 lbs now with relatively little fat after an anabolic episode of 4-5 months on neuroleptics. Weight seems relatively stable now. But yeah, kidneys will definitely have to be checked out. So far, blood and urine looked fine aside from the slightly lowered HDL. Will have to look into this with my doc.

 

[pofacedhoe]

you can be diabetic without being fat its just a risk factor.

how much sugar do you consume?

 

[crOOk]

I'm getting regular diabetes checkups. My blood sugar is fine. I consume tons of sugar. I'm not overweight though, in fact I look very healthy atm. What I have to do to lower my blood pressure is all very well known to me. Will have to lower my intake of animal products, stop smoking, avoid excessive stress... Already getting back on track with sports, even prior to the diagnosis. Also doing sauna session with ice cold showers and all that crap anyway. I was hoping someone had scientific information on or personal experiences with the relationship between mania and hypertension cause this extremely rapid developement is still a bit puzzling and scary to me. Either way I'll have to have a look at my kidneys and other potential causes.

I had heard before that the low life expectancy of people with a bp1 dg is mostly due to cardiovascular factors and less so due to suicide. I sure the fuck didn't expect THIS though. :/

 

[paranoid android]

I don't know if anyone knows the real reason behind why people with bipolar have a lower life expectancy then people who do not have it. But i do know that people with untreated bipolar disorder have a lower life expectancy then people with bipolar that is being treated. I know from personal experience that mania causes atleast mild hypertension in me as well and i don't normally have hypertension. I think it could be due to the stress that manic episodes put's on your body but i am not sure. No sleep, severe irritability, the stress of being manic and other factors no doubt add to it.

 

[crOOk]

Had a bp measured every 15min for a day and it turns out my blood pressure is as low as you'd expect a 17year old's bp to be. Must just be the eyes then... I guess 70h coding sessions just aren't the healthiest form of work, not many studies done on such practice either. :D
Anyway, huge relief and enough for a wake-up call. Definitely avoiding stimulants now, if the manic episode hasn't taught me so already (would still use em occasionally, never really been craving any stimulant at all).

Thanks for the input paranoid android, that's kinda how I explained it as well!