Coworkers all developing scary blood pressure?

What could cause 3 healthy women, all under age 50, who work together 40 hrs per week and get along, to almost simultaneously have rapid, dramatic surges in blood pressure? Could glue from the new office carpet be getting to us? A hypertension poltergeist? We work in an academic setting. Stress? Bad luck?

In the past three months, myself and 2 Co workers have all developed scary high blood pressure. I had preeclampsia with my baby in June, and my b.p. has stayed scary high. 160/100, without medication. I am in my early 30s... Eat right, exercise...Very strange.

My coworker, Y, was taken to the ER for headaches and extremely high b.p. They did a cat scan, and thought she was having a stroke. She is in her early 40s and hits the gym every day.
And now today, another colleague, C, was rushed to the ER for freakishly high b.p. She
is a competitive bicyclist. Very fit.

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart
Consult your Occupational Health/Hygiene representative.
Get the air tested / HVAC system appraised / Check for mould/mildew/spores, and have any EMR possibilities checked out.
(The usual suspect - Formaldehyde poisoning would lower BP, as would #2 - Legionnaires)

a reply to: CovertAgenda Thank you! I will. I will also ask the others in the office to get their blood pressure checked. There are 4 more women besides the afflicted 3.

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart
Feel free to PM me if I can assist further. I will just need a bit more info on your workplace, hence keeping it to a PM.

Personally? I think it's a sign of hereditary health stuff, aging-related health declines & office worker denial. I eat "right", lift weights, and don't have the stress of an office job. My BP is still higher than yours, and I gave up on meds, they just don't work on me. I also have an extra kid & 8 years of parenting stress on you, too, so there's that to factor in.

You're a new parent, you're going to be more stressed out than you realize. It has a much bigger impact on your BP than you think, too. As for your co-workers, who the hell knows what's going on after they clock out. Could be monumental stress in their own families, for whatever reasons. I'm not being dismissive of you, but I smell mountains of first-timer new mommy stress in your case. BTDT.

Oh yeah, I also want to quickly point out that even in you think you're eating healthy, you're probably not doing too good unless you eat 100% from scratch & never buy something pre-packaged or made in an establishment. You have no idea how much salt you can wolf in a day just from a handful of easy-fix foods/snacks until you start checking labels before you open it. That means looking at the actual serving sizes, too. If you're eating something that has a serving size several times smaller than what you consider a snacking amount, and you're not doing the math to track salt intake, you can be seriously sabotaging yourself with daily frapps, deli/drive-thru sandwiches, pre-packaged snacks, condiments, etc if you partake.

So, throwing hidden salt out there to consider also.

real salt is not the problem...its the processed white garbage that passes for salt. Real salt contains all kinds of trace minerals and elements which are necessary for the bodies many processes.

I add pink himalayan salt to almost everything i eat and it hasnt budged my BP even a point the wrong direction. On the other hand SUGAR is the devil. And notice how just recently some reports came out about how the sugar industry was working to undermine research into the deleterious effects of sugar, fat and salt back in the 50s and 60s and what ended up happening is the main researchers being paid by the sugar lobby decided that fat and salt were more dangerous than sugar.....consequently sugar got a free pass for the next 40 YEARS!!!!!


www.npr.org...

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

Fairly certain the posts about diet are not focused on the problem you've noticed, which is a sudden increase in blood pressure in multiple individuals.

It could be coincidental - it could be environmental - even something that was in the environment and isn't anymore which was previously causing a downward influence in BP.

I remember reading about how nitroglycerin workers used to have much lower than average rates of heart attacks (maybe strokes too), but upon retirement, their rates would go up well beyond the average, no longer having the artery dilating effect. I say used to because this was discovered and better controls exist now to minimize exposure.

Just a thought. Not that you work with Nitro, but as an example of how environment can have an effect.

Another thought - sometimes people are less likely to hydrate enough after summer. You don't feel as thirsty because it's not hot. The air is more dry, resulting in more evaporation. Plus, people often drink more caffeine as daylight is reduced. I mention these things because dehydration and caffeine can cause increased blood pressure.

Water ? Are you drinking the water there....or it could be an issue with the air. You said you just got carpets out in ? What else has changed and is new in your work place ? ....and did your problems go away after you were home for the weekend and away from that environment ....

a reply to: Nyiah Heredity, yes, maybe. New mommy stress? This isn't my first baby, and he's actually my easiest baby. I feel much more relaxed than with previous babies. And my older offspring don't stress me out. I think genes are more to blame, if there isn't an environmental factor.

a reply to: Nyiah I eat organic, cook from scratch. I garden, and get meat from a local csa. Typical millennial foodie. I draw the line at taking photos of my food, though.

I'll watch the salt... But I don't even like salty stuff too much.

a reply to: Meldionne1 they have a water cooler there, and I drink tons of it. New carpet, and last May the maintenance crew used this awful metal paint on the doors. Stank so bad. I was pregnant and furious, and insisted on working in another Part of the building for three days or so.

also, my blood pressure stays high when I'm away from work.

a reply to: dogstar23 you got it. It is the sudden, massive blood pressure spike in 3 people that I think is curious. And the other Co workers haven't tested their b.p. recently, so who knows if it's even more widespread.

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart

Maybe it's slime in the water cooler? Especially the nozzle.

STM

a reply to: seentoomuch hahaha! Sick.
That is why I won't use those ridiculous Keurig coffee makers. That water is so nasty

a reply to: Look2theSacredHeart
Without any further info from you, Im only speculating here given the new details re the door and the water fountain (tainted?), but Im starting to be concerned about lead exposure (for your self/child/babies sake)... from door/paint etc. The other thing is vehicle pollution getting into the buildings HVAC.
Get a blood workup with a toxin screen ASAP. (focus on lead / heavy metals, and VOC's. URGENTLY.
As someone above said, this is an acute occurrence rather than a long term chronic exposure due to the onset of symptoms you describe.
Although other poster's are well meaning in giving you diet etc advice, they are ignorant of the acute vs chronic implications of their diagnoses.
Has this been raised with management, and or the building owners/operators?
Do you operate under any health and safety laws? (or equivalent)

I note you mention all of you work together, general age related, get along well (friends, good co-workers I.E), is it possible that it is psychosomatic? As in one or 2 note the same health related problems and all of the rest start to share the same problems aggravating a non-health issue further (Hypochondriacs, Psychosomatic) , similar to a shared hallucination.

It is a very common occurrence when people work closely together.

On another point; Get a full blood screen and heavy metal blood work up between 3 or the people at your work to note of any abnormalities.

It is very prudent to have the testing done as without it no conclusions can be drawn, and any of the prior suggestions in this thread could potentially trigger more fears and mental health problems that could potentially manifest into symptoms if it is Psychosomatic.

All the best.

a reply to: CovertAgenda Thank you so much. I'm getting a blood draw on the 18th. Baby was screened when he was born. prematurity, long story... They tested everything. He is fine. I will, in fact, PM you when I have a day off. It sounds like you're in a fascinating line of work.

a reply to: MuonToGluon Interesting! I don't think C and Y know about each other's incidents, though. If it is psychosomatic, I would bet it is because they are both very empathetic.