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.
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:
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.