Can a sinus infection cause the blood pressure to rise?
Patient: I am an 18 year old male. I have a resting heart rate of around 45 beats per minute and am a long distance runner. I eat very healthy and am fit. I am 124 pounds and am 5 ft 8 inches tall. I have some kind of upper respiratory tract infection / sinus infection. My blood pressure was just measured at 130/90. I had a second reading taken just to be sure and they got the same result the second time. This number seems very alarming to me. Could my number be so elevated because of my infection or do I have a reason to be worried? Thanks for taking the time to help me. Doctor: Hello and Welcome to ‘Ask A Doctor’ service.  I have reviewed your query and here is my advice.  I would explain that this elevation in blood pressure values could be related to inflammation or the infection. Isolated values of high blood pressure do not always indicate arterial hypertension. For this reason, I would recommend you to closely monitor your blood pressure values frequently during the day for a week and refer those values to your doctor. In the meantime, it is necessary to treat the upper respiratory tract infection (antibiotics may be needed).   Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Iliri