HopeSprings Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Just wondering for those with low BP, do you feel noticeably worse when your blood pressure is low? My worst symptom is dizziness/brain fog/drunk feelings, but I can't correlate it to low blood pressure. My blood pressure ranges anywhere from 80/40 to 109/76 (highest reading out of 25). There are times I am so spacey and dizzy and think it HAS to be my blood pressure, then I'll check and it's my high normal. I just don't get... is the dizziness in POTS supposed to be due to low BP? And if BP isn't the thing causing the symptoms, then what would be the point of taking medication or doing things (salt/water)that raise it? I may be horribly misinformed. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzysillyak Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 I haven't found a correlation here either. I think it has more to do with the lack of blood / oxygen in our brains rather than our bp. I used to be foggy ALL the time but changing my diet to control my blood glucose and eliminate my candida has helped that. Now if I'm feeling foggy it's either that I need to eat a real meal, I've eaten too much sugar or I've been upright for too long. Salt doesn't help me with my OI either but from what I've seen, it keeps my BP from going too low ... If you haven't you may want to get a GTT (glucose tolerance test) with insulin. The one stick method is useless ... And you may want to be tested for food intolerances, candida and nutritional deficiencies. Or you could always play with your diet too ... I just seem to understand medical conditions better if I've been tested ... tc ... Dizzy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunntrio Posted February 3, 2011 Report Share Posted February 3, 2011 Just wondering for those with low BP, do you feel noticeably worse when your blood pressure is low? My worst symptom is dizziness/brain fog/drunk feelings, but I can't correlate it to low blood pressure. My blood pressure ranges anywhere from 80/40 to 109/76 (highest reading out of 25). There are times I am so spacey and dizzy and think it HAS to be my blood pressure, then I'll check and it's my high normal. I just don't get... is the dizziness in POTS supposed to be due to low BP? And if BP isn't the thing causing the symptoms, then what would be the point of taking medication or doing things (salt/water)that raise it? I may be horribly misinformed. Thanks.I have a lot of the same symptoms, what I call brain fog (I know I have posted to you about this before) and my blood pressure also runs very low. My resting blood pressure runs around 93/63 and at times I have wondered the same thing. However, I have alway had very low blood pressure and have only been sick with POTS for about 4 years. I have never really tracked my blood pressure in relation to my symptoms except every time I try a beta blocker. The last time I tried a beta blocker I felt like I could not stay conscious even lying down. I was feeling like death. I checked my blood pressure and it was 80/40. I have always felt that my symptoms have mostly come from my brain not getting enough blood. I am not sure if this is solely from low blood pressure it seems at least for me there must be an additional contributing mechanism. I had a total blood volumn test done at Vandy and it came back normal. They told me because of that Florinef would not really help me. I have tried the salt /water thing and it does nothing to help. Unfortunately I have only been able to rule out what is not causing my symptoms and not what is causing them? I think I would give up everything except my family to get the answer to that question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkweavers Posted February 3, 2011 Report Share Posted February 3, 2011 You are correct, Dizzysillyak. The dizziness is due to not enought blood being pumped up to the brain. But I guess I wonder then why everyone doesn't have dizziness as their symptom? My daughter's main symptom is also dizziness and for her, it got so bad for 3 years that she was unable to sit up, stand, or walk unassisted. Thankfully, she appears to be growing out of it and vestibular therapy helped her so much. She used to rate her dizziness while upright around a 9 or 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Now she says when she sits in one place for awhile, the dizziness goes away completely.The salt and the water you are suppossed to consume every day is to help with blood volume. Maybe you would be even dizzier if you didn't have adequate amounts of both? I know my daughter would feel worse if she hadn't kept up with liquids for that day.I think dizziness is one of the most frustrating and hard-to-handle symptoms of autonomic disorders. Maybe I'm wrong but my daughter had headaches with her POTS and it was easier to find a medication that decreased the headaches than it was to find a med for decreased dizziness. We tried quite a few.I wish I had a med that worked with us but I do know that therapy and exercise along with rest, drinking lots of fluids, and salt seemed to help.God bless,Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songcanary Posted February 3, 2011 Report Share Posted February 3, 2011 I have been wanting to ask the same question. My resting BP is 90/60. When I feel my worst it could be up or down, there is no set pattern. From what I have read, it seems to be a blood volume issue. I did not have the traditional blood volume test because I am allergic to iodine. But the salt and fluid loading works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopeSprings Posted February 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2011 Nunntrio- I had the blood volume test done too and it came back normal. Looking back at medical records I also have always had low blood pressure -- long before having POTS. At the same time, it can't be "normal" to have BP in the 80's or 90's, can it? So maybe there is a relationship --just not sure what it is. The Florinef/Salt/Water recommendation seems to be the first line of treatment recommended by Doctors. They seem to be STUCK on this even when (like in our case) it doesn't really seem to apply. I just keep reading about salt, water, florinef, (ad nauseum)and think why even bother. I think we need blood to move UP (our brains) not out (expanding every blood vessel). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunntrio Posted February 3, 2011 Report Share Posted February 3, 2011 Nunntrio- I had the blood volume test done too and it came back normal. Looking back at medical records I also have always had low blood pressure -- long before having POTS. At the same time, it can't be "normal" to have BP in the 80's or 90's, can it? So maybe there is a relationship --just not sure what it is. The Florinef/Salt/Water recommendation seems to be the first line of treatment recommended by Doctors. They seem to be STUCK on this even when (like in our case) it doesn't really seem to apply. I just keep reading about salt, water, florinef, (ad nauseum)and think why even bother. I think we need blood to move UP (our brains) not out (expanding every blood vessel).I believe the 90's is the very bottom end of normal for blood pressure but like you I can not help but think that it must be a least a contributing factor. It seems to me that blood pressure in the 80's is definitely to low but that is nothing more then my speculation. I agree that Dr.'s are stuck on the blood volumn expanding agents (salt,florinef) the next thing they go to is beta blockers. While beta blockers do lower heart rate they also lower blood pressure which does not work for people like us. Have you ever tried Midrodine or possible Midrodine in combonation with a beta blocker? That was the combination Vandy tried on me. Unfortunately I am siverely sensitive to all med.'s and could not tolerate this combo. but it maybe worth trying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopeSprings Posted February 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 I tried Midodrine once and felt dizzier with a fast heart rate. I am guilty of --if a medication causes any problems-- I immediately dump it. I am so sensitive (it seems to everything)and so scared of making things worse. What happened when you took it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwise Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 I am taking a combination of Midodrine 5mg 3xday & Mestinon 60mg 3xday. The only symptoms I experience with the Midodrine is the goose bumps & itchy head (parathesia). I can live with them cause it really got me back on my feet. Darn FDA-they better not take it off the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogini Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 Usually, but not always, I find that either my heart is beating to fast or my BP is too low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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