Coincidence? Wearing mask brings on Afib & high blood pressure?

If this is true, then why are my RBC and HCT blood test results high when wearing a mask as compared to not wearing a mask? Does a regular mask stop a virus? Can the virus enter the body through our eyes?

Rather than looking at articles... Let's look at meta analysis of studies
www. ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC8072811/

I've had the same thing happen with my blood pressure which is normally 117/69. and varies very little. I take my blood pressure twice a day every single day (morning on rising and at night before retiring) so I'm quite familiar with it. I do this because I had an ablation procedure 12 years ago and want to make sure AFIB never comes back. So far it has not. Last time at the doctor's office (urgent care for sour throat because my personal doctor had resigned) I waited 2 hours in a mask before being seen. My BP was 148/88 with a puls of 78.. So far no AFIB. Sore throat could not be explained but went away after 10 days. Since then, I limit my mask wearing to 10-15 minutes. Long enough to quickly get in and out of the grocery story., I order anything else I need on line. I also NEVER wear a mask twice. I buy KN95 masks and once I wear one I wash it by hand before wearing again.

Wearing these masks for too long in my opinion is extremely unhealthy and dangerous for many people YET some of our so called experts insists everyone, even vaccinated people, wear these masks, going on TWO YEARS NOW. I'm fed up. These masks raise my BP, trigger my asthma etc.

I think you are right on, Yorlik. Today I went to my PC and waited almost 2 hours in the waiting room with a mask on before I was taken back to the exam room. I have CKD, COPD, Thyroid Disease, High Blood Pressure. When the nurse took my blood pressure and (I AM STILL IN MY MASK) IT SAID 189/96. i WAITED ANOTHER 30 MINUTES AFTER THE NURSE LEFT FOR THE DOCTOR TO SEE ME. Now he wants to add another BP med for me to take. I told him I keep an eye on my BP at home and this morning it was 133/73. I am 81 years old, and that is a great BP for someone my age with my health issues. Visit ended and I had to wait for a Senior bus, so I went outside, mind you in 16 degree weather, just to prove a point. It normally takes a good hour for the Senior Bus to come back to pick me up. After 30 minutes out in the fresh air without a mask on, I came back into the clinic and asked the nurse to take my BP. No argument, no question why, she just did it. It was 140/70. So I then told her that wearing a mask for any length of time, when a person has 'health issues, DOES affect your BP. She got my doc, he took it again, mind you I now have had the mask on again for about 20 minutes. My BP was up again to 168/84. He had me take the mask off, waited 20 minutes then took my BP again, back down to 141/73. JUST IN 20 MINUTES WITHOUT HAVING THE MASK ON. Needless to say my doc cancelled my new BP med order and told me to make sure I did not leave a mask on longer then 20 minutes, anywhere I went.

@suzanne2
Why do you have to stay home for months when the CDC lowered the quarantine time to
5 days.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation-quarantine-guidance.html
Jake

@jakedduck1 Don't know how that post popped up! That was from last May! I quit teaching this Fall! I am officially retired to a rocking chair with my knitting, books and diamond painting! It came down to retire or let the stress continue to get to me to the point that my Mayo gastroenterologist had to put me back on budesonide and it was not working! I quit and I have eliminated my stress, it wasn't the children...the administration, and the meds are working and my stomach is happy. I also had COVID in November, 5 days after quitting!

I find your comment quite interesting. I had an ablation procedure 9 years ago for my Afib and have not had any problems since until last week. I have stayed at home during Covid and exercised by walking the neighborhood (without a mask). I've been ordering my food in and not going to restaurants or anywhere else. Last week I needed some things from Sam's and since it had been more than a year since I had been in the store, I decided I needed to go myself. I wore a brand new KN95 mask and was in the store for a good 45 minutes. When I got home, I did not feel well. I took my blood pressure, and it was 141/85 with a heart rate of 120 so I knew I was in Afib. I propped myself up in bed and took 2 regular strength aspirin. The Afib lasted for about three hours. That's the only time I have worn a mask as I have not been anywhere. Therefore, based on your comment, I think it is quite possible that the mask may have caused your Afib. I made an appointment with my cardiologist for January 6th, and I will ask him about that then. Thanks for posting. I hope it was the mask because I don't want to go through Afib again.

Yes, a mask poses no risk of hypoxemia in healthy people. However, if you are already dealing with hypoxemia associated with pulmonary function deficits that plays a role in driving up your blood pressure? Masking causes some cardiopulmonary stress, which may be trivial for healthy people, but not for everyone. Masking increases air resistance, which requires greater respiratory effort and increases the dead space and a corresponding amount of air that is rebreathed by 50 to over 100%. The gas molecules in the dead zone can easily go through the pores of a mask, but there is only a limited exchange of air via passive diffusion in what might be a split second between the end of one exhalation and beginning of the next inhalation.

I can't tolerate wearing a mask unless I get supplemental oxygen, which is provided by my primary doctor. But no one else is willing to make that accommodation. After accommodation is refused, I am told that I am trespassing and must leave the facility immediately. Insurance won't cover oxygen because I do not meet their criteria and I couldn't afford to buy or rent oxygen concentrators. I have not been able to get IVIG infusion recommended by a CLL speciaist since the mask requirements were imposed.

However, I could not be turned away from an emergency department nor forced to mask up without oxygen in that setting. I had to repeatedly tell hospital employees that a mask rule does not trump the imperative to not harm the patients, and masking without oxgyen is harmful to me The diagnoses abdominal cellulitis and strep A was detected with a rapid strep test. Blood pressure was high enough to be concerning but not emergent, eg 192 / 84, However, the doctor order tropinin, NT PROBNP, venous blood gasses and an ECG. Venous blood oxygen saturation was 54%, with normal range of 94 to 100%. First abnormal ECG of my lifetime, interpreted as showing an incomplete right bundle branch block,

When I put on a mask, I begin to experience a headache and nausea within minutes.
The longer I wear the mask, the worse those symptoms get and longer it takes for those symptoms to resolve. These are familar symptoms of high blood pressure.

In October 2020 I used a pulse oximeter and automated blood pressure cuff to monitor changes in pulse, oxygen saturation and blood pressure at home to evaluate the effect of masking on those parameters. My oxygen saturation range dropped a couple points and didn't come back up. Meanwhile there was a sustained increase of 10 to 15 points in the pulse rate and within 15 minutes I see a rise in pulse pressure from 50 to 100 (difference between systolic and diastolic pressures). I experienced a worsening headache and nausea within minutes of masking. It took several hours for the headache and nausea to resolve. My blood pressure dropped very slowly after taking off the mask It was not back into the normal range until the next day.

I have monitored pulse and oxygen saturation at home since 2018, Readings at rest and while walking typically ran 98 to 100% prior to getting covid 19 symptoms in March 2020. Oxygen saturation dropped to 90 to 92% during the illness, and stayed below 95% for several months. For the past year my O2 sat readings are usually no higher than 97% and no lower than 94%.

I went to have my teeth cleaned and had to wear a mask, they took my bp and it was 146/103 (after wearing the mask for about 35 min), then it was 156/99, after that 161/107 and the last one they took was 162/104. Now at home I took my bp and it was 134/87, is that a Coincident???