SpinnyC Posted April 30, 2013 Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 I've been wondering about this for a while and I'm hoping someone might have an explanation. I get both low and high bp. There are times when standing I have fainted or will be close to fainting and it's clear my BP is low. But there are other times where I feel very unsteady and get the pre-syncope warnings but my BP is high.Does anyone know why you would feel faint but have a perfectly fine- actually high BP?Maybe it's just that I feel so unsteady/dizzy and it feels so similar to when I've actually fainted that my mind has linked the two sensations- because either way it means I need to sit down. Anyone else experience this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Racer Posted April 30, 2013 Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 I've been wondering about this for a while and I'm hoping someone might have an explanation. I get both low and high bp. There are times when standing I have fainted or will be close to fainting and it's clear my BP is low. But there are other times where I feel very unsteady and get the pre-syncope warnings but my BP is high.Does anyone know why you would feel faint but have a perfectly fine- actually high BP?Do you always read your bp at the same spot? It is my understanding that it is possible for a person to get drastically different reading at different areas of the legs and arms. Is it possible that a person can have blood pooling in the legs and arms, show a normal bp on the arms/legs, yet have a low blood volume reaching the brain? Or maybe your problem was never from the low bp, but instead pots?Regardless, the criteria for pots is the hr increase without the bp drop, so I imagine most with pots experience this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpinnyC Posted April 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 Interesting Racer- I know I get blood pooling in both arms and legs. I always take my bp in the same spot, but never thought that although the reading in my arm is high I may still not be getting enough blood to the brain.I do have Pots. I usually have an increase in bp when standing. Sometimes my bp starts out very low so the increase still isn't enough to keep me upright. Other times I have a normal bp at rest, and the increase when I'm doing an activity is enough to put me into hypertension territory.I can feel pre-syncope symptoms under both those circumstances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramakentesh Posted April 30, 2013 Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 Because overall blood pressure doesnt tell you much about stroke volume and cerebral blood flow. In pots there can be normotensive or hypertensive syncope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpinnyC Posted April 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 Thanks Ramakentesh. Good to know this. I was in a clinical setting and when I said I was having pre-syncope I got a funny look and was told that it couldn't be from bp because it wasn't low. I felt like saying- well I know what I feel, despite what the cuff says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corina Posted April 30, 2013 Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 I have a friend who faints due to high bp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdlady Posted April 30, 2013 Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 SpinnyC,I seem to have pre-syncope at times even though my BP is normal. At one of my doc visits, I told the nurse to take standing vitals. I was feeling a bit lightheaded and I told her that, but when it came back as 130/80, she actually took it again because she didn't believe it.Now there are times my BP does go a bit too low and I'll have pre-syncope. When I'm feeling my worst, honestly my BP is totally normal like 115/65 or something. There's def more to it than blood pressure and heart rate numbers. That's what makes this so hard to deal with and treat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lfreem02 Posted April 30, 2013 Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 The type of Dysautonomia that I have causes my heart rate and blood pressure to rise. I have never seen my blood pressure drop when I have had lightheaded and pre-syncope symptoms. Doctors were treating me for orthostatic hypotension, which was making my symptoms worse. Now that my hypertension is being treated with a beta blocker, I am doing much better with any type of exertion, which included getting out of bed, and walking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joann Posted April 30, 2013 Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 I too struggle with the high blood pressure surges. I have been classified as having some type of POTS or orthostatic intolerance by a tilt table test, but really feel my bp issues are more of a problem than the heart rate. When my surges come, I don't really get light headed, but I do get some odd feelings in my head it is not dizziness, nor headache, but it definitely lets me know I need to stop standing. When my symptoms are at my worse I always have high bp, but there are times when I have normal bp and I have terrible symptoms. So I guess, what I am saying that I think we all can have a variety of symptoms regardless of high or low or normal bp. I have often told people if I just had high blood pressure and didn't feel like I was dying I would be totally fine with it. It is the symptoms that come with the bp changes that are so debilitating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tachyfor50years Posted April 30, 2013 Report Share Posted April 30, 2013 SpinnyC,Here are some links, you may find an answer to your question:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2140993/Why-poor-blood-flow-giving-funny-turns.html?ito=feeds-newsxmlhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1860656/http://jap.physiology.org/content/85/3/1113.full.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpinnyC Posted May 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Thanks everyone! Good to know that many of you experience similar symptoms despite a high bp reading.Tachyfor50years, those links were helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramakentesh Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 In most pots patients peripheral (arm) measurements of blood pressure nay not tell you that blood is polling in the stomach, legs or pelvis it that vasoconstriction in these regions is blunted, or that stroke volume us reduced, or that cerebral blood flow is reducing despite normal overall blood pressure or that cerebral auto regulation is locked to Bp fluctuations, etc. in my case I have mild orthostatic hypertension but medications that increase blood pressure make me feel better and nornalise my standing np. Others need yo suppress sympathetic drive to feel better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramakentesh Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Sorry for typos - on phone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramakentesh Posted May 3, 2013 Report Share Posted May 3, 2013 Its interesting - people with strong dynamic cerebral auto regulation can deal with profound reductions in orthostatic blood pressure whereas people with poor auto regulation can experience symptoms from even tiny reductions or so it seems. some with essential hypertension faint when Bp is normalized as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpinnyC Posted May 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2013 Thanks Ramakentesh, lots to think about. I've often wondered why meds that increase my bp make me feel better too, even though my bp raises on standing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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