What Does This Mean ?

[miranda]

I was reading online about orthostatic hypotention.

I think It said (it was very complicated reading) , if when your blood pressure drops it is important to know if your heart rate increases. If it does , this indicates hypovolemia.

Does any one know if this is true ?

[sugartwin]

Not necessarily. In my own case for instance, my blood pressure would fall, my heart rate would increase, but my blood volume is normal. I tend to think that hypovolemia in such cases must be pretty common though, because when my doctor (who is one of the 'big names') found my blood volume was normal, she didn't know what to do with me anymore.

[Lenna]

sugartwin,

how did your doctor test for hypovolemia? No one has ever given my son any tests to determine whether he has it or not, although they say that he does have it.

[sugartwin]

Lenna,

My doctor ordered a hemodynamics test, injecting me with a radioactive marker that binds itself to red blood cells. Then I would change positions (from lying to sitting) and they would 'watch' what the marker did...where it went, how quickly, whether it 'pooled', as well as how many red cells there are overall, and their size. The results take a couple weeks to come back.

[Poohbear]

I was reading online about orthostatic hypotention.

I think It said (it was very complicated reading) , if when your blood pressure drops it is important to know if your heart rate increases. If it does , this indicates hypovolemia.

Does any one know if this is true ?

There might be some truth in the above statement for some patients but it's not the only thing that will cause blood pressure drop/increase in heart rate. There are lots of conditions and disorders that could cause changes in heart rate and blood pressure. Also, hypovolemia can be a transient, temporary problem sometimes.

[flop]

For some people with orthostatic hypotension the cause of their symptoms is hypovolaemia (low blood volume). This is especially common in older people who may be on diuretic medications (tablets to get rid of fluid like Lasix / Frusemide), or people who don't drink enough fluids or have the wrong balance of alcohol & caffeine to water. If hypovolaemia is the cause of low BP on standing then correcting the fluid balance with water, salt (and maybe fludrocortisone) will get rid of the symptoms.

However most people on this board have one or other form of autonomic dysfunction (dysautonomia) which usually means that there is something more complex going on with our ANS, and that simple dehydration isn't the cause of our problems.

Flop

[vemee]

The past few months I have had really bad othostatic hypotension when I first get up. This has not been much of a problem for me in the past. I would have ncs and blackouts from standing too long but would not have near syncope with just standing from sitting; at least it didn't happen that much.