The massive swings in the value of bitcoin over the past few years has been pretty amazing. Take what happened to Norwegian Kristoffer Koch.

In 2009, he was writing a college thesis on encryption and spent about $27 to buy 5,000 bitcoins. But according to Marketwatch.com, in 2013 he discovered they were worth about $886,000.

Later that same year, bitcoin's value crashed to a low of $50. By December 2017, it hit $19,498. A couple of months later, it was down to $9,030.

That must be pretty hard on investors' blood pressure.

Fluctuations do take their toll, according to a new study. Researchers recently found that if your high blood pressure fluctuates between doctor visits like the value of a bitcoin, you and your cardiovascular system are in big trouble.

The cause of those fluctuations might be related to the antihypertensive meds you are taking.

Alpha blockers and alpha-2 agonists are associated with an increased risk of variations in HBP readings, say the researchers, and those variations correspond to an increased risk of mortality.

The researchers concluded: "Blood pressure medications that produce more consistent blood pressure [show] better mortality outcome ... Those medications include ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers and thiazide diuretics."

If you have high blood pressure, ask your doctor about doing a multi-day monitoring test to determine how variable your readings are.

If they are not steady, talk about finding a treatment that will maintain even control of your blood pressure. It could save your life.