Low BP tips, flares, & shortness of breath...

[bookworm818]

Hi all! 

Three things...

1. What are everybody's tips and tricks for low blood pressure?

2. What causes flares for you? I feel like once a flare hits I just have to manage symptoms and ride it out.

3. For those of you that have shortness of breath, what does it feel like, and what helps (if anything)? Mine feels like I can get it a enough air, but it is not satisfying. Idk how else to describe it. 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[Pistol]

Hello @bookworm818 - here is what I can share: 

- I have both low and high BP and use IV fluids for both. For me personally when I run low BP longer than just for a day or so I decrease my meds, that helps. Otherwise what helps generally is increasing salt and fluid intake, getting up slowly from sitting positions, exercises that strengthen your leg muscles ( i.e. standing at and holding onto a counter and switching from standing on tiptoes to heels, or bending at the knees like a Plie in Ballet or lying on your back with a ball between your ankles and raising your straight legs ). Compression hose is ESSENTIAL for low BP. 

- Anything out of the ordinary for you can theoretically cause a flare. For me it is overdoing things physically or mentally, illness, allergies, weather changes or changes in barometric pressure, being in stores or crowds, eating too much or not enough ... the list goes on and on.

- I get shortness of breath that feels exactly like you describe: I cannot breathe in deep enough. I was told that this shortness of breath comes from circulation changes in the chest, possibly in your case the low BP? Before my docs figured out that it was a symptom of POTS  - in my case - they did xrays and labs and CTs and so on - but all came back normal ( as things usually do with POTS ). My autonomic specialist was the one that explained to me that it sometimes happens when the blood vessels around the heart and lungs constrict in response to low BP. 

[Karen Elaine]

Hi @bookworm818 

1. My low BP improved once I upped my salt intake. I didn't have hypotension though, it was just all over the place, always dropping and spiking. I drink powerade zero and other electrolyte drinks all day, and that seems to help things stay more stable.

2. Same as what @Pistol said above... Just about anything outside of a perfectly calm day can trigger a flare for me😂 My biggest triggers are any kind of stimulus (crowds, movies or loud music, sugar,...), or pushing myself too much. 

3. My shortness of breath feels the same-- just can't get a deep, satisfying breath. Most of the time it happens when I'm standing up, talking, or have been sitting up for a while. For me, just laying down usually gives relief, and if I don't do that, I'll typically go into presyncope. Sometimes though, it's caused by my meds, in which case I just have to wait it out and not panic.