Wufflebear Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 I have just started monitoring my bp...although I know I go tachy...I caught this one at 10 at last nightAfter 10 min rest........... bp 96/54 pulse 64 after 3 min standing........ bp 124/83 pulse 76 after 10 min standing... 2 errors & 113/77 pulse 80 After 12 min.................104/65 pulse 85. felt yucky....went to bed. My understanding is that normal is below 120/80 and that when you stand your upper reading should be the same or decrease slightly and your lower reading should increase slightly...I went over nomal and then it started to come down but my pulse kept heading upward..is that weird?? I did not pass out or anything but I felt yucky..Who knows.... Right ankle and arm hurt and had headache & nausea afterwards till about 11pm.I also got one right out of the shower when I felt bad of course... that was 120/80 w/ a pulse of 100. So I laid down for a few minutes and then got 107/66 w/ pulse of 70...whacky?? I felt yucky after that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Dame Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 Hi there, I'm no doctor, but your bp doesn't strike me as odd--although it all depends upon your baseline bp resting and standing. Honestly, I used to obsess over my bp and heartrate but it just made me an anxious person, knowing the exact rate of my heart made the tachy seem worse somehow. Now, I go by how I feel and only take my bp during a bad crash, or after faiting. I do want to point out that 85 bpm standing is well within the normal range, and the bp numbers you gave seem within the normal limits (not overtly hypo), but again it all depends on your baseline, so there may be something else causing you to feel so bad. But again, I'm not a doctor and I'd like to hear what others who have more medical experience think. Oh, also, persons bp changes constantly depending on what they're doing, thinking, etc. The simple act of talking can change your bp. Wish I had more advice, Lauren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Hi,Your vitals seem to be within the normal range. The problem is that you are feeling bad. It might be that your hormones are off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogini Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 You can check with your doctor about where your BP and HR should be, because it depends upon your age, height, weight, gender, etc. As a rule of thumb, I have heard that HRs of 60-100 and BPs of 90/60 to 120/80 are normal. BPs and HRs are constantly changing. I normal (non-POTS) people, the BP stays the same or goes slighly up when you stand up and the HR should go up 10-15 points. POTS is generally considered to mean an increase in HR of 30 points or more. So the numbers you posted actually seem pretty normal. However, on any given day you may or may not have POTS symptoms, so it is helpful to take your measurments from time to time to see if things change. However, Lauren is right that you have to be careful because it's easy to obsess, which just makes things worse.Another thing to keep in mind is that it is possible to have POTS symptoms when your HR and BP are "normal" -- this has happened to me many times. Have you had a tilt table test? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 In the uk they say that 90/60-140/90 is normal for bp, and pulse is anything from 50-120ish.You didn't strike a tachycardic response in these readings, although that isn't always necessary for a POTS diagnosis. I think I'm right in saying that a jump of 30 bpm or more on standing is another criterion.I agree with Lauren- I got very anxious when I first monitored my bp etc. You can make it worse with stress, believe it or not! I deliberately didn't bring any monitors away with me to university. It would just be a bad move, really.It is entirely possible, of course, that you are like me- my episodes can be transient that a regular monitor is too slow to pick up what is truly happening. I only sometimes catch the true picture of what my heart and blood pressure are doing on a bad day because normally the machine errors or the episode has passed by the time my pulse has become strong enough to give the machine a reading.Have you had a tilt test with a portapres monitor? That goes on the end of your finger and can read your bp between each pulse beat- so it can pick up the most transient irregularities. It was only when I had a portapres monitored tilt that I discovered my blood pressure goes systolic in the space of 9 or 10 seconds sometimes! Other times it's much longer, but if you imagine something so shortlived, and a cuff that takes at least 30 seconds, probably more like 90 seconds, to pick up a reading, then you can see that accuracy isn't always guaranteed!Don't rule out that this may be happening to you- it has to me. But at the same time, repeatedly standing up when already feeling icky will make you feel much worse!Just relax and have a cup of peppermint tea, do the cross word or something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wufflebear Posted January 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Thank you! I never have had a tilt table test or anything like that...I wish I could though. I have been kind of doc phobic since my last major doc round at 16-18 years old. 2 years ago they put me on a holter (sp?) monitor for a few days and caught a few bouts of tachycardia when I was feelig bad so they diagnosed it as "vagal syndrome w/ chronic hypotension"....I do notice that when I have taken my bp when I am really feeling bad (once with some tunnel vision) that it just errors out...so maybe it just isnt fast enough. who knows... I just get frustrated cause I want something to catch it once and for all, ya know? No more confused docs and negative tests... and miriads of Dx's. I put the darned monitor away so I would not obsess on it. You guys are all so nice.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Dame Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 It's interesting that they diagnosed you with chronic hypotension based solely on your holter monitor results, seeing as the holter monitor in no way measures blood pressure. Or am I misunderstanding you? I can understand being doc-phobic, but it sounds like you still don't have a real diagnosis yet. Perhaps you should start exploring again, the right doctor can make the process bearable. Cheers, Lauren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 I'm 25 this year and I got a diagnosis after 12 years. Only in October 2005 did they see exactly what happens to my blood pressure though. Be prepared for a long wait.The thing with conditions like ours is that the diagnosis doesn't really empower you. Western medicine makes people assume that if they have a name, they have an answer, and with POTS, that really doesn't happen often. I still don't know why I have POTS, or anything that can make it go away.I'm not really any better off than I was before I had my diagnosis. The key difference is that I can tell people that this is physical, and that the scans prove it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wufflebear Posted January 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 I think the chronic hypotension was based of my medical records...a series of hospitilizations and passing out etc since I was 6 years old. The holter monitor is what the doc said caught the tachicardia which he said explained my fainting and near fainting... Yea, I need to start exploring again but I really wish I could get a good doc nearby. This is a small town and the docs are not good, generally...I had to drive 150 miles just to get the cardiologist who diagnosed the vagal syndrome.... I just wish I had a name so that I could go to my employer when it is bad and maybe get some releif, ya know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 THere is ONE expert in the UK- I have to travel 150 miles to see him. I'm relatively near in Bristol...thank goodness I'm not coming down from Orkney or something! I know he has other patients come from the US and Europe though...You would be very lucky if you had someone locally- this condition is very unusual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddyLeesWife Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/496270?src=searchAmerican Heart Association Updates Recommendations for Blood Pressure Measurements Dec. 20, 2004 ? The American Heart Association has updated its 1993 recommendations for blood pressure measurements. The new guidelines that are published in the February issue of Hypertension emphasize out-of-office blood pressure readings, proper cuff size, and more."Since the last statement, there have been huge changes in the technology used to measure blood pressure and in our knowledge about the significance of different measurements," lead author Thomas G. Pickering, MD, DPhil, from Columbia University Medical Center in New York, NY, says in a news release. "We've found that blood pressure measurements taken by doctors in their offices may actually be unreliable in many patients. For that reason, there is wider acceptance of blood pressure readings taken by patients in their homes, and of 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring."This is one of the points in the Study Highlights:Orthostatic hypotension is defined by a decrease in systolic blood pressure of 20 mm Hg or more or diastolic blood pressure of 10 mm Hg or more after 3 minutes of quiet standing after being supine. Food ingestion, time of day, age, and hydration can impact this form of hypotension, as can a history of Parkinsonism, diabetes, or multiple myeloma. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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