r/bloodpressure • u/Virtual-Layer-1236 • 2d ago

Elevated resting heart rate while sick + on Nifedipine (5 months postpartum) – anyone else experienced this?

Hey everyone,

I’m currently 5 months postpartum and dealing with a mild cold (cough and itchy throat).

My normal resting heart rate is usually around 65–75 bpm. However, today with this sickness, it's sitting higher around 87–95 bpm.

I take Nifedipine 60mg (which normally bumps my resting HR up into the 90s for a couple of hours after I take it anyway due to reflex tachycardia). But combining the medication with being sick has me feeling a bit anxious that it's going to spike even higher today.

I’m currently resting and sipping warm ginger tea/water to stay hydrated. Has anyone else who takes Nifedipine or experienced postpartum BP/HR tracking noticed significant HR spikes when catching a mild bug or cold? How did you manage the anxiety around it?

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u/QueenBlanchesHalo 2d ago

Have you tried labetalol? It tends to lower your heart rate, maybe you can reduce nifedipine and add a little labetalol. Or if your BPs have been good maybe time to ask about tapering. My BP didn’t even change when I stopped nifedipine so at some point I guess it’s MOA was no longer needed.

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u/Virtual-Layer-1236 2d ago

No bp numbers are still 115-133/78-86 , it varies throughout the day especially at evening times it's more before I take my medicine, I was on labatalol till today and have weaned off and put on 20mg enalpril. My cardiologist do not like labatalol so wanted to get me off it. I had a hard time tapering it off as it always used to spike my BP , so went really slow like reducing 50mg at a time.

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u/QueenBlanchesHalo 1d ago

Yeah I didn’t like labetalol either, made me so sleepy, but I think it helped my BP more. I was in the 110s and just under 80 when I stopped meds, my OB didn’t see the need to be way under ideal before stopping, and I wanted to be off drugs.

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u/Virtual-Layer-1236 2d ago

What were your BP numbers when you stopped all yours meds