About High Blood pressure

[sparkle73]

I have a question, I also have high blood pressure and taking all this extra salt for this condition I'm concerned about the salt over load and the spike in my blood pressure, any suggestions... I was taken off my pills for blood pressure by my doctor after the test was positive for pots.. 

[DizzyGirls]

Some high blood pressure is sensitive to salt intake and some is not.  So, eating a lot of salt wouldn't affect that particular type.  Hope yours isn't affected!

[yogini]

I would look into whether you have hyperandrenergic POTS. You can do some searches you will find that there are special treatments for this.  You should check with your doctors some doctors say to avoid salt with high BP, others say to take it anyway.

Which medicine were you taking for high BP?  Beta blockers reduce BP and HR, so I think that would be a good medicine to ask about if you have both of those symptoms

[haugr]

It's a tricky balance.  Too much sodium will cause your blood pressure to rise.

[vepa]

Have you shared these concerns with your doctor? I would keep track of your blood pressure and if the salt is making it even higher, then you should talk to your doctor about it. 

I was told that the increased salt intake was meant to increase my blood pressure since it's very low. I'm curious as to why you've been told to increase your salt with high blood pressure. 

[yogini]

Low blood volume actually has high blood pressure as a symptom.  That is just one example of where a doctor might tell someone to increase their salt even though they have high BP.  It is really individual though so you need to confirm with your doctor.

[ramakentesh]

In some studies hyperadrenergic presentations and low flow states correlated with the lowest blood volume - meaning that in most cases low blood volume is a feature of more hyperadrenergic presentations. In my case Florinef lowered my standing BP and HR.

One thing to remember in POTS specifically is that 'blood pressure' measurements only measure arterial pressure. Usually when arterial pressure is elevated, so is elastic recoil in veins. True hypertension is associated with hyperdynamic circulations, increased cerebral blood perfusion, increased cardiac output and stroke volume, increased overall blood volume and kidney vasoconstriction. Most of the damage done by chronic hypertension is caused by it being continually increased - even lying down.

In POTS there is mostly reduced venous return, reduced stroke volume and abnormally/impaired cerebral blood flow and autoregulation - and the arterial pressure goes down when patients lie down. In other words there are none of the actual main risk factors of essential hypertension. Some may even have an arterial sympathetic overshoot to compensate for impaired cardiac refill and stroke volume.

Im not suggesting that walking around all day with arterial pressures of 170/100 is a healthy thing or not something to be concerned about, but arterial pressures in POTS themselves may not be showing people a true picture of the underlying hemodynamics.