Low blood pressure questions

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a vasovagal reflex/syncope, basically what that means is that when I come in certain situations that my brain registers as ,stressful" (even though I may be entirely calm), my blood pressure drops fast, like few seconds fast and as a result I can even faint, since the brain doesn’t receive enough blood and so on… (although I fainted only twice in 2 years). These situations can be anything from seeing blood or even just listening about it all the way to just sitting and not doing anything or walking in the city.

There is no way to get rid of vasovagal reflex, the only thing you can do is simply not get into situations that trigger it, but there are some situations that you can’t escape, like a class/workplace, so my question is what are some good techniques to raise low blood pressure fast in case my pressure goes down?

If I can, I leave the room, go outside for some air, to walk a little,etc and after 10-30 minutes I feel normal again. If I can’t go outside, I wave my legs, hands,etc to get my heart running faster, but that isn’t really raising the pressure, its just keeping it from falling even lower… I heard that the best thing to do would be to try to tense up the leg muscles, so I am going to try that, any other ideas? I am only looking for things to do when that happens, not how to prevent it from happening.

Also another thing, this whole vasovagal attack thing started when I gave blood 2 years ago, right on the day I donated blood, I fainted, few days later we had some lesson where the professor talked about some blood related things and I fainted again. After that I kept having these vasovagal attacks almost every day or week, but I started going outside when I got them, I started waving my hands and legs,etc. and so for 2 years I managed to not faint once, even though I still had the attacks every now and then, so since this was probably started by the lack of blood that I donated, what is the best way to ,retrieve" that blood?

I should mention that when they tested me prior to taking my blood, they said that my blood is ok and that I can give blood, so I don’t think that I have any ,quality" problems, but maybe I have some ,quantity" problems.

2

Your blood long ago was restored by your bone marrow. Your blood should be fine, and not the root of your symptoms.

Isometric physical counter-pressure maneuvers are recommended for the prodrome, when you feel it coming on. They help some people, but not all. Feel free to google that to find out how those work. You’re on the right track with leg tensing, but you can do other maneuvers too.

Otherwise, most therapies are directed for prevention, but since you say you’re not looking for that, I won’t list them.

I assume you’ve had tilt table testing, etc?

3

If you feel changes that signal an episode is starting you can lay down and elevate your legs. A bit awkward to do in some circumstances, but better than passing out.

4

Medical advice is best suited to IMHO.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

5

Twice now my blood pressure has dropped while having bowel movements to the point paramedics had to be called. I appeared unconscious but I could still hear but not respond. I seldom ever sweat but when this happens sweat pours out of me.

6

Before I had a baby, my blood pressure was chronically low-- different from your problem, but bear with me. When I was pregnant, it was elevated from my normal, but my doctor was not concerned, because it wasn’t above whatever is considered alarming (albeit, it got REALLY high when I was in labor). After the baby, my blood pressure has been several points both systolic and diastolic above what it used to be, so that it is still a little low, but I am no longer considered to have “low blood pressure.” I don’t get head rushes when I stand too quickly, and I don’t get dizzy and confused if I get even slightly dehydrated. I don’t have to sit for a good 15 minutes after giving blood, and drink a full 24 ounces of liquid.

My doctor thinks it’s because I’m about 15lbs heavier than before I was pregnant.

So, are you underweight? If you are actually medically underweight, you should address that with your doctor. Maybe you need a supplement or medication to keep on some extra weight, and it will keep whatever your “bottom out” is from being so low-- if your blood pressure now suddenly drops to, say 70/40, and you pass out, maybe gaining a little bit of weight will keep it to 80/50, and you will get dizzy, but not actually lose consciousness.

FWIW, I think it is possible to “correct” this to the point that you don’t pass out, because I have a friend who used to pass out a lot as a child, up until about age 14, and then it happened less and less, and now he gets dizzy under stress, but hasn’t passed out for years.

Other than that, all I can offer is stay hydrated. Carry water to make sure that being dehydrated is not exacerbating the problem.

7

I also suffer from VVS. Welcome to the club! I’ve had it since I was 12 years old and have tried a variety of ways to keep it from happening. I sometimes get nauseous, and I sometimes faint, and sometimes both things happen, which scares the crap out of anybody that happens to be standing nearby.

When I faint I am only ‘out’ for about 10-15 seconds before opening my eyes, but I am pale as a sheet, and to a stranger it appears you just had a heart attack.

I am sometimes able to avoid fainting by getting up, going into the bathroom and splashing cold water on my face, but that doesn’t always work so I immediately get down on the ground just in case. If someone sees you who cares. You can explain it to them after the episode has passed.

I’ve heard that taking salt tablets before an episode will raise your blood pressure, but you usually don’t have time to do that.

The best thing you can do is avoid situations that trigger an episode, or just get up and walk outside until the feeling passes (that sometimes works for me). If you can find a place to sit down put your head between your legs and take deep breaths.

There is no cure for VVS so you have to get better at avoiding it and especially avoiding fainting since you could seriously hurt yourself when you fall. I have the scares on my face to prove it.

8

Over most of a lifetime of occasional near-syncope due to orthostatic hypotension (blood pressure drops if I stand up quickly,) I’ve come up with a battery of ways to fight it off. Here are some:

When BP drops, your biggest problem is not enough blood to the brain. You can fend it off by bending over (to tie your shoes or something) far enough to bring the brain down to the same level as your heart. If you do pass out in that position, you won’t have as far to fall.

At any moment, you have a lot of blood hanging around in slack-walled veins. You can force some of that back to the heart. When you tense your muscles, such as those big ones on your thighs, it squeezes the veins.

Much of the venous blood is in the veins of the digestive stuff. You can compress the gut by simply taking a deep breath, to push down on the gut. For more of that, pull in hard with the abdominal muscles.

By now, you know the feelings that signal an oncoming event. A funny feeling in some parts of your head, and your vision gets grainy and the peripheral vision starts to go away, and you know it’s time to look at the floor.

If it gets really bad, drop to your hands and knees. Like I said, it’s safer to fall down if you don’t have far to go. When you feel like you might pass out, don’t close your eyes; vision is your best gauge of your state of being.

There’s no sense in worrying about being embarrassed when you’re feeling syncope coming on. If you pretend everything’s okay, you’ll fall down anyway. Regaining consciousness should be your first priority.

9

Orthostatic hypotension! That’s what my doctor called it when I got really dizzy when I stood up quickly. It actually could trigger a migraine. My normal blood pressure at the time was 90/50. It climbed slowly when I was pregnant to a whopping 130/70, which my doctor said was no worry, because the bottom number is the more important one in assessing overall health (also, I never had any of the symptoms of preeclampsia, something for which HBP of pregnancy is the #1 red flag). During labor it hit 195/100, but it went down on its own after some kind of position change, and manipulation. Then it stayed around 160/80. The morning after the delivery it was 140/70. (And hell yeah I remember all those numbers.)

Now it’s around 110/65, and I don’t get orthostatic hypotension anymore.

10

Good advice AskNott.

If you are having episodes weekly that’s more of a problem than I have. You might want to talk to your doctor about it and see if he/she has any other suggestions.

My mother had VVS, as did my grandfather, so it seems to run in my family, although my brother doesn’t have it. Again, the best thing to do is to avoid situations that you KNOW will lead to an episode, whether it’s a gory movie or some other shocking event that you can anticipate.

If you are driving it’s CRITICAL that you pull over if you feel there’s a chance of losing consciousness, even just for a few seconds.

The nice thing is that you always get a warning, even though that doesn’t mean you are going to faint. If you start to get that feeling take action immediately. Don’t wait and see if it passes.

As you get older you will get better at dealing with it. Don’t let it get you down.

11

My husband has chronically low BP, and is also on kidney dialysis, which further aggravates the problem. He was put on a low dose of MIDODRINE HCL(it’s action is to raise BP) The few points that his BP has been raised have been enough to improve his quality of life. Perhaps you can discuss this with your physician.

We know that hypertension gets all the press, but having BP too low is no bed of roses.
I hope your situation improves.

12

The nursing lab staff at my doctor’s office regularly use me to test out their newbie nurses’ responses to weird and unexpected situations, because I run in the 70-80 over 50 range unless I’m stressed as hell, and even then the bottom number only rises to about 70something.

I do have syncope (my doctor said he’d be more worried if I didn’t) but mine mainly hits when I’m physically overactive, or when I’m asleep.

Tricks when I’ve been overactive. Meditation/breathing exercises, clenching large muscle groups in sequence, getting my head lower down in relation to the rest of my body, having my arms and legs elevated over my head.

Tricks when I’m asleep and it wakes me up with massive horrible nausea. DON’T FREAKING GET OUT OF THE BED. It’s been really hard to learn to do that, because I’m groggy and it feels like I’m going to throw up, and so the urge (REALLY STRONG URGE) is to go to the bathroom. Nope. Just stay flat, do breathing exercises, and slap my husband awake in case I fail my will save and get up anyway.

What’s really sad is that I can’t safely drink alcohol less than 5 hours or so before bed, or it will trigger the syncope, and that sucks so much. Social drinking now means early afternoon, or I have to commit to staying awake until seriously late hours to be safe. Sucks.