Quit drinking and smoking cold turkey 9 days ago and my BP is about 140s over 80s (was observed to be even higher about 72 hours in).

For reference, I’ve always had a low sodium, plant-based diet and never really had elevated blood pressure before I quit.

Just curious if this will ever go down on its own, my plan is to wait a couple weeks and see, but curious.

UPDATE: yes, well aware of stopping abruptly. I was more like a 2-5 beer/day person and had frequently stopped for a day or two without issue so wasn’t terribly worried, but I did check BP to be sure nothing wrong undetected was going on.

I didn’t have any symptoms outside of elevated BP and after checking frequently the last couple days I’m about mid 120s to 130 over 70s consistently.

So, in my own personal experience (and we are all different) it does seem that quitting both abruptly caused a temporary elevation in BP for several days.

I have been hydrating regularly (2 liters minimum of water daily, plus I eat a lot of plants with high water content anyway), yoga, cardio, Peleton. Sleeping better.

I will continue to monitor and contact my Dr if needed. I believe my annual checkup is soon anyway.

Thanks for all the responses.

  • @CountVonEnglish
    25•5 months ago

    First off, good job on quitting! Keep up the good work.

    Alcohol withdrawal can apparently cause high blood pressure. Withdrawal typically peaks in the first 1-3 days, which would match up with your observation that your BP was even higher at the 72-hour mark: Alcohol withdrawl timeline

    In the most severe cases, alcohol withdrawal should be supervised by a medical professional because it’s actually possible to die from it. If you’d gone through full-blown worst-case alcohol withdrawal, you’d probably know it (and high BP would probably not be your most pressing concern). Maybe it’s possible to get a milder case of alcohol withdrawal from a lesser level of alcohol use? That’s pure speculation on my part, I can’t find any source one way or the other as most are devoted to withdrawal from heavy alcohol abuse. If I were in your shoes I’d monitor my BP for the next couple weeks and talk to a doctor if BP measurements aren’t trending downward over that time.