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Bp Vs Heart Rate-What Does It Mean?


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I have been having a bad week, full of bad symptoms, so I apologize in advance for the multiple different threads I'm going to start....

I normally have low blood pressure. Typically around 90/60 or a little above that. (strangely, depending on my stress level I think, while I'm usually fine at that, sometimes I experience postural hypotension). Times I was hospitalized for seizures and when I've been shaky, I noticed that my blood pressure was "high" (ie, for me). So this week, I've been taking it during my spells and have noticed that during shaking spells, my blood pressure increases to "high" but my heartrate does NOT increase. (and this is surprising for me to notice because when I'm shaking so bad, I was assuming my heartbeat was also increased. There are spells that occur after tachycardia, but these tremors and ballistic-like shaking have been kinda spontaneous)

So, for example, two nights ago, watching tv and a spell came on, starting with being cold then ballistic shaking (poked my eye with a toothbrush because my arms were flying jerkily; note to self-don't try to brush teeth during these bouts!). My blood pressure was 121/82 with a heartrate of 72. Today, after working in the yard doing heavy work, my bp was 114/74 with a heartrate of 75 (and that may have been elevated because today was a bad day, too). One time during a shaking spell (not ballistic, "just" all-over body shaking), I did some arm pumps to get my heartrate going because that usually helps me then calm down, my blood pressure was then 115/82 with heartrate of 69.

As a sidenote, I exercise a lot (more in the two years before Nov, when I started having problems after exercising, but I still do) and am in excellent shape, so I guess it's not unusual that my heartrate doesn't increase that much with effort, right?

Anyway, I do NOT understand the relationship between bp and hr, but here's my theory that I'm proposing, and asking for feedback: during a VULNERABLE TIME (ie, not always; the condition has to be right, whether I'm experiencing a lot of stress, or it's right before my period like now, maybe) something happens that stimulates a release of adrenaline and my bp reacts but my heartrate DOESN'T, so wouldn't that be bad? And in what way? I'm trying to picture it. That time I went to the ER (Oct/Nov when it was bad) and the nurse scolded me for hyperventilating when I wasn't. If my blood vessels were constricted to push blood through my body but my heart wasn't pumping any faster....wouldn't that make me lightheaded (and therefore dizzy)? And the shakes....either in response to that, or overreaction to the adrenaline?

I. Don't. Know. And I wanna cry. Sorry. My dh is out of town and I'm so tired of being afraid. I THINK I know now that I'm not going to die in the middle of the night, but it's just so dang scary after a day like I had today.

ANY thoughts are appreciated. I even got in to see my neuro today during the shaking because I wanted answers! and he simply prescribed another anti-anxiety pill :angry: . He was evasive about what was going on, and told me to call him next week with how I'm doing :blink:

Thank you!!!!!

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I think that BP is easiest to understand using garden hose analogies. When your BP is higher, either there is more water/blood going through your hose/arteries (blood volume expansion) or the diameter of the hose is narrowed (constricted blood vessels.) When your BP is lower, there is less water/blood (hypovolemia) going through the hose, or the diameter is larger (vasodilation.) If your HR is normal, but your BP is elevated, I'm guessing that you are constricting due to all those chemicals we have swamping our system, like epinephrine and norepinephrine. Those same chemicals can cause shaking/tremors, dilated pupils, anxiety, and bunches of other not-so-fun responses. For whatever reason, you probably have enough blood moving through, so your HR is normal, but the POTS is causing a catecholamine discharge. Low blood sugar, cold, exercise, excitement, etc. can cause all these through similar systems.

I have a nasty tremor without my beta blocker. My BP is usually 100/70 but it has gotten very high both with tachy and brady. I don't know if I helped, but I certainly understand. :(

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If it makes you feel any better I have the same type vitals with my episodes and sometimes a scary sensation that my heart is beating too slow in response to everything else going on. I checked my pulse twice when I had that sensation and it was 79-80.

The anti-anxiety med might help? I was wishing I had something to take because I just wanted to pull my hair out.

I was just waiting for something to happen.

Is there anyone you can call when you have these episodes so you're not alone?

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Firewatcher, thank you for the description. I'm going to print it out and ponder on it. I love the visualization cuz that's how my brain works (when it works lol). I want to understand it so that I can continue putting pieces together!

Lieze, it does :) Isn't that weird? I didn't use the short-term anti-anxiety because I had calmed down by the time I got home. I have a teenager at home, but I did talk to a neighbor/friend in case we needed her to come over. She's a good enough friend that I could ask her to sleep over. If I had still been shaking last night, I would have. Thanks for asking. It's just when I'm borderline that it's a hard call because I can never predict how my nights will go.

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