# Why does blood pressure go up during a panic attack

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-blood-pressure-go-up-during-a-panic-attack/712857>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 16, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-blood-pressure-go-up-during-a-panic-attack/712857 "2015-02-16T21:18:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-blood-pressure-go-up-during-a-panic-attack/712857/1 "2015-02-16T21:18:16Z")

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I occasionally have panic attacks, and my blood pressure goes up by about 50 points when I am having an anxiety attack. I’m curious as to how this works.

Why does this happen exactly? I believe there are [5](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenergic_receptor) adrenergic receptors that catecholamines act on. What catecholamines (I’m assuming it would be either adrenaline or noradrenaline) and what receptor causes the BP spike?

I once tried beta blockers for panic disorder. They helped a bit with physical symptoms of anxiety like cold feet and physically feeling anxious, and they would stop my heart rate from going up during a panic attack (my pulse would spike by 50-60 points as well as my BP) but my blood pressure still went up.

Is the alpha-1 receptor the one that causes a blood pressure spike? If so, is it adrenaline, noradrenaline or something else that causes the increase?

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-blood-pressure-go-up-during-a-panic-attack/712857/3 "2015-02-17T21:44:06Z")

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( **dontpanic64** )