Question:
<< My blood pressure has been going *down* since I started Vioxx {?} but I’ve had a lot of other changes in conditions & meds.>> It’s my guess that the lower blood pressure wouldn’t be due to Vioxx. Vioxx is actually known to increase blood pressure. Maybe one of your other medications though… Sandra
Response:
Hi Elizabeth, I have the unfortunate problem (?) of getting stressed by doctors so when I go in, my b.p. goes up to normal (100/60). I have only had it low on one occasion and they didn’t make any comment (90/50). My mom had abyssmally low b.p. and they thought she was dying too – it turned out she had extremely low thyroid hormone. I hope very much that you do not have cancer in your lungs. I will keep you in my thoughts. Just for future reference. If you type in all caps due to vision impairment you may want to put that at the end or beginning of each post (or in a signature file) so that people don’t get bothered by it thinking you are yelling. It certainly doesn’t bother me but some people might not understand. Take care and welcome to the group, KCat – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -On Fri, 12 May 2000 09:09:25 -0700 (PDT), ANGILG…@webtv.net wrote: >HI I CARRY LOW BLOOD PRESSURE. I GET REALLY LIIGHT HEAD AND >DIIZZY. MY BLOOD PRESSURE GOT DOWN TO 80 OVER 40 THEY THOUGHT >THEY WERE GOIING TO HAVE TO PUT ME IIN THE HOSPTAL. BECAUSE >IT WAS TO LOW AND I COULD HAVE DIE THAT DAY
Response:
On Fri, 12 May 2000 03:30:01 GMT, "Nancy F" <nfarr…@gte.net> wrote: >Related question – Today I started feeling faint a minute or so after >standing up, not immediately. Is this the hypostatic effect? It seemed to be >worse when I was reaching above my head.
yup. the theory (or perhaps they know it as a reality) is that the muscles in our legs can not help the valves in the leg veins push blood back up to our hearts rapidly enough. If you raise your arms your telling you heart and the like to work even harder. I am told that many women have this form of hypotension but that it isn’t a concern to long term health. That’s fine but how about when I pass out and whack my head on something and end up in a hospital. This happened to an elderly gentleman at our church – it was terrifying to watch him hit the concrete and he bled profusely. Scared everyone. It was a bad day for me that same day – I passed out in Ron’s arms (I had sat on the ground because I was feeling dizzy and made the mistake of standing straight up). My b.p. really goes down when I’m exposed to perfumes and the lovely ladies in my church pour it on. My daughter did for a while too. I read that Neurontin can cause fainting but it can also cause high b.p. ?? This is definitely low b.p. fainting spells. Yesterday was a better day. i drank what seemed like a gallon of Gatorade ™. BTW, supposedly exercise (careful exercise of course) can improve the leg muscles and therefore improve orthostatic hypotension. We’ll see. And yes, to Barbara, my heart rate goes up with low b.p. That’s pretty common. the heart "reacts" to try to move blood more rapidly because of some internal sensor that says "I’m gonna faint because I’m not getting enough blood up here!" I also have had problems in the shower and most days I have to keep the temp down a bit (which I hate because I love hot showers). Last time this happened (passing out in the shower) I crawled, soaking wet, out of the shower stall and laid on the cold tile floor until my head cleared and I could sit up. humiliating. well, my online time is up for this a.m. (trying to ration myself). Thanks for everyone’s responses. Kcat
Response:
BTW, both Neurontin and Trazadone are CNS depressants. I had a friend who was on Trazadone and he fainted while driving and went into the median, luckily didn’t hurt anyone or himself but a police officer thought he had been drinking so he cuffed him and made him take a breath test, he of course passed it cause it wasn’t alcohol at all that impaired his driving but in fact the trazadone, he went to court and the judge took one look at it and threw it out!! He now is very careful about taking that and driving at the same time…
Response:
Related question – Today I started feeling faint a minute or so after standing up, not immediately. Is this the hypostatic effect? It seemed to be worse when I was reaching above my head. My blood pressure has been going *down* since I started Vioxx {?} but I’ve had a lot of other changes in conditions & meds. — Nancy F. nfarr…@gte.net Cats, Chorus, Computers & Care So. Cal. Zone 9 "KC" <kcdoc…@ghg.net> wrote in message
news:jc1mhsskhqc8davgle5os7efvo4m9i0pjg@4ax.com… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Well, folks, I’m doing some experiments. Since my docs refuse to > recognize that I have a problem I am now going to monitor my b.p. for > a couple of days to look for patterns. Obviously there is orthostatic > hypotension at work but I start out with an already quite low b.p. so > this makes it worse. I am wondering if my thyroid is starting to have > problems though I have no excess of TSH all the pertinent thyroid test > have not been done in a while. > Just an FYI as to the first few results. > Reclined (not lying flat) 103/65 pulse:71 > Immediately upon standing after this. 63/42 pulse 72 (yes, that > looks like an error with the machine but based on the following – I > don’t think so. > Several seconds after standing (not having moved at all) 95/61 pulse > 80 > Squatting (I waited a few minutes before trying this) 108/70 pulse: > 73 > Immediately upon standing: could not read my diastolic pressure at > all though it was getting a pulse > several seconds (30-60) after standing and the "rush" calming down: > 89/57! (which isn’t that far from 95/61) > I repeated the squatting/standing test again with almost exactly the > same results. Getting an error upon standing as the diastolic was > unreadable. My arm position was the same for all cases and I was not > moving or fainting in the process so I don’t think this is a > mechanical/positional error. I really think the diastolic is too low > to read when I first stand up. > Shouldn’t this raise some red flags to my doctors???? > Since I’m on the neurontin should do I really need to stay on the > Trazadone if this is the cause of all this? I’ve always had low b.p. > but this is absurd. > okay… that’s my vent for the day. > had a mild headache on one side but took one Excedrin – I can’t > remember – does caffeine raise b.p.? (I was assuming it did). It > certainly gave me the jitters. It may be the only reason I didn’t > pass out from the squatting test. uh… just realized hubby will be > upset with me for doing this without his supervision… oh well. :P > Also… a point that may give more info – it gets progressively worse > toward evening where though I have more energy overall, I have even > more fainting spells. > why why why???? > I said I was done… sorry. > KCat
Response:
HI I CARRY LOW BLOOD PRESSURE. I GET REALLY LIIGHT HEAD AND DIIZZY. MY BLOOD PRESSURE GOT DOWN TO 80 OVER 40 THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE GOIING TO HAVE TO PUT ME IIN THE HOSPTAL. BECAUSE IT WAS TO LOW AND I COULD HAVE DIE THAT DAY
Response:
That does really sound like orthostatic hypotension…especially with the fainting part added in. I believe the Trazadone can indeed lower blood pressure a little. It’s not specifically an anti-hypertensive, but it can have some slight anti-hypertensive effect which can be stronger if you’re already taking another anti-hypertensive, or more noticeable if your blood pressure already tends to be low or you’re already prone to orthostatic changes in BP. Here’s a link where you can get more information on Trazadone. http://www.mayohealth.org/usp/html/202573.htm BTW, both Neurontin and Trazadone are CNS depressants. Sandra
Response:
My experience with docs and bp was that they knew nothing about it and so wrote it off. There was one man at Beth Israel in Boston who was testing people with the problem in a special machine. He had a medicine which he gave me which worked very well. I’ll try to remember it. He never returned my or my rheumy’s phone calls when I was dx’ed for lupus. She wanted to discuss the medicine. I consider that malpractice. Its so wonderful to hear somebody else doing exactly the same blood pressure experiments I did! Except I never squatted. I got pretty much the same results on a good day, and like you, probably, on a bad day while standing or walking the bp just went down down down. Many days I could only move by crawling. And *still* the docs found nothing odd in this!!! I also got the error reading sometimes, but I thought it was because things were changing so fast. Another thing that happened to me was that it was worse in the shower. Very quickly I began to faint in the shower, so that I had to do it in lukewarm water :+P I also found eventually that I could judge how my bp was doing by checking my pulse rate. It inevitably went up as my bp went down. So when I was out and I noticed that my pulse was beginning to race, I now knew why. Good luck with your tests, and I hope that your doctors will listen to you. Warm hugs back, Barbara KC <kcdoc…@ghg.net> wrote in message
news:jc1mhsskhqc8davgle5os7efvo4m9i0pjg@4ax.com… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Well, folks, I’m doing some experiments. Since my docs refuse to > recognize that I have a problem I am now going to monitor my b.p. for > a couple of days to look for patterns. Obviously there is orthostatic > hypotension at work but I start out with an already quite low b.p. so > this makes it worse. I am wondering if my thyroid is starting to have > problems though I have no excess of TSH all the pertinent thyroid test > have not been done in a while. > Just an FYI as to the first few results. > Reclined (not lying flat) 103/65 pulse:71 > Immediately upon standing after this. 63/42 pulse 72 (yes, that > looks like an error with the machine but based on the following – I > don’t think so. > Several seconds after standing (not having moved at all) 95/61 pulse > 80 > Squatting (I waited a few minutes before trying this) 108/70 pulse: > 73 > Immediately upon standing: could not read my diastolic pressure at > all though it was getting a pulse > several seconds (30-60) after standing and the "rush" calming down: > 89/57! (which isn’t that far from 95/61) > I repeated the squatting/standing test again with almost exactly the > same results. Getting an error upon standing as the diastolic was > unreadable. My arm position was the same for all cases and I was not > moving or fainting in the process so I don’t think this is a > mechanical/positional error. I really think the diastolic is too low > to read when I first stand up. > Shouldn’t this raise some red flags to my doctors???? > Since I’m on the neurontin should do I really need to stay on the > Trazadone if this is the cause of all this? I’ve always had low b.p. > but this is absurd. > okay… that’s my vent for the day. > had a mild headache on one side but took one Excedrin – I can’t > remember – does caffeine raise b.p.? (I was assuming it did). It > certainly gave me the jitters. It may be the only reason I didn’t > pass out from the squatting test. uh… just realized hubby will be > upset with me for doing this without his supervision… oh well. :P > Also… a point that may give more info – it gets progressively worse > toward evening where though I have more energy overall, I have even > more fainting spells. > why why why???? > I said I was done… sorry. > KCat
Response:
Well, folks, I’m doing some experiments. Since my docs refuse to recognize that I have a problem I am now going to monitor my b.p. for a couple of days to look for patterns. Obviously there is orthostatic hypotension at work but I start out with an already quite low b.p. so this makes it worse. I am wondering if my thyroid is starting to have problems though I have no excess of TSH all the pertinent thyroid test have not been done in a while. Just an FYI as to the first few results. Reclined (not lying flat) 103/65 pulse:71 Immediately upon standing after this. 63/42 pulse 72 (yes, that looks like an error with the machine but based on the following – I don’t think so. Several seconds after standing (not having moved at all) 95/61 pulse 80 Squatting (I waited a few minutes before trying this) 108/70 pulse: 73 Immediately upon standing: could not read my diastolic pressure at all though it was getting a pulse several seconds (30-60) after standing and the "rush" calming down: 89/57! (which isn’t that far from 95/61) I repeated the squatting/standing test again with almost exactly the same results. Getting an error upon standing as the diastolic was unreadable. My arm position was the same for all cases and I was not moving or fainting in the process so I don’t think this is a mechanical/positional error. I really think the diastolic is too low to read when I first stand up. Shouldn’t this raise some red flags to my doctors???? Since I’m on the neurontin should do I really need to stay on the Trazadone if this is the cause of all this? I’ve always had low b.p. but this is absurd. okay… that’s my vent for the day. had a mild headache on one side but took one Excedrin – I can’t remember – does caffeine raise b.p.? (I was assuming it did). It certainly gave me the jitters. It may be the only reason I didn’t pass out from the squatting test. uh… just realized hubby will be upset with me for doing this without his supervision… oh well. :P Also… a point that may give more info – it gets progressively worse toward evening where though I have more energy overall, I have even more fainting spells. why why why???? I said I was done… sorry. KCat
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