Sudden drop in blood pressure

By TnVolunteer Sunday, November 25, 2007

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I have been living with sudden drops in my blood pressure that causes me to pass out, for the past two years. My blood pressure is normally high and I am on medication. I have falls too numerable to count. Doctors have run every known test and cannot find the cause. I have had heart catherization, table tilt test, 3 day EEG studies, holter monitor test, ecocardigram, MMR's, MRA's , doppler , you get the picture. The only thing that they found was a blockage in one of my carotid arteries. I had surgery last week to correct this, thinking that this would be the answer, but just this week I have the same problem. I have fainted and had three more bad falls since the surgery. Can anyone help me? I am Desprate.

Comments (15) | Add comment

Neese

1/ 6/08 5:58pm

Have you had your parathyroid checked? A tumour which may be very, very small and benign could cause extra Parathyroid hormone to be released which in turn affects calcium levels in your blood which affects your blood pressure.

Patriot

9/ 2/10 1:27pm

I go through the same thing and have neurological and diabetes, i also am trying to figure mine out. i find my blood sugar does drop but not dangerously low. how ever find a small orange juice or candy bar and rest does help. but this will not only bring blood sugar up but also elevate blood pressure and heart rate, so maybe the combination of the two or one on it's own. i have not yet seen a cardiologist yet. i have not actually past out but get very dizzy and feel like i am near fainting stage. but as you have seen there are many reasons for fainting and sudden changes in blood pressure, i would recommend if you have any warning sign at all and if possible try eating some candy or drinking some orange juice and see if it helps. and good luck to you

Anonymous

1/ 7/08 9:34pm

I have had similar problem. Since 2001 I have had a sudden drop in blood pressure. Although I don't pass out I have low pressure 60/40 for as much as 5 hours. I have to go to the hospital and get juiced up and at this point the just let me go after it passes.

Merlin Duke

6/ 2/08 10:54am

What acutally happens when there is a sudden drop in blood pressure? What are the symtoms? I take a blood pressure pill every day, should I take one when there is a drop?

bob

12/12/10 12:31am

No..taking more medication will cause your pressure to lower...go see your doctor..and insist on getting some clear answers

Anon

8/ 4/08 1:38pm

Hi,

Don't know if it's the same cause, but my mom had a similar situation. A doctor in the emergency room (after a fall) finally figured it out.

When you stand up, there is a tendency for blood pressure to drop. In healthy people their nerves send a signal to the brain to tighten the veins and keep the blood pressure stable. My mom had nerve damage to those nerves (probably from diabetes) so when she stood, her blood pressure would just drop and the body did not compensate. The doctor was easily able to diagnose this by taking both sitting and standing blood pressure, rather than sitting only as is usually done. There is no way to repair the nerve damage, but they taught her to take her standing and sitting blood pressure and gave her a pill to take if the difference was too great. She also typically has high blood pressure and is on medicine for that, which means everything is a balancing act. However it was so helpful for us to know exactly what was going on, and the self monitoring and pills do help. Anyway, long story short, have your doctor check the difference between sitting and standing blood pressure to rule out nerve damage.

Good luck!

Stacy

8/15/08 9:56am

I have recently had this same problem. I went through a lot of testing and the doctors were not sure what was going on. Then, they sent me to a cardiologist that was more familiar with these symptoms. In most people, when their blood pressure drops suddenly, a signal is sent to your brain to constrict your blood vessels and raise your heart beat. In my case, the nerve in my heart reads the signal wrong, and instead of speeding up my heart rate, it slows it down. The combination of a low blood pressure and a low heart rate do not allow blood to flow to your head, and that's when you pass out. He was able to diagnose me with the tilt table test. They use this test to try and make your blood pressure drop suddenly, if it does, they can see how your heart rate reacts to the sudden drop of blood pressure and make the diagnosis. My cardiologist put me on a beta blocker for one year. The beta blocker keeps the signal from reaching your heart, so you don't have a sudden decrease in heart rate when your blood pressure drops. He said that during the one year on the beta blockers, the heart has a chance to "re-wire" itself and that studies have shown a very high success rate with this treatment.

Debbie

8/19/08 6:06pm

Thank you for your reply; however, I "have been there, done that", and that is not my problem. October will make 3 years of having these passsing out and falling episodes, and still no answers from my cardiologist, neurologist, and endocrinologist.

Elaine

9/ 3/09 9:01am

Anaphylaxis (Anaphylactic Shock)--severe allergic reaction--can have the exact same symptoms. Have you been tested for allergies? If you overlay dates of your episodes with the daily pollen count for your area and dates of exposure of other items you are allergic to, you may find the key to your problem. By working with an Allergist, you could become symptom free. My daughter had a similar problem with ragweed.

charla1111

1/27/10 9:03pm

I have been being medicasted for about 15 yrs now with high blood pressure. The other night I was at dinner and I kept starting to pass out. i hadnt stood up suddenly or anything - I had been sitting at the same table for about 40 minutes. Each time I would lay down on the booth and wait a few minutes and then try again. I finally became pretty motionless (still conscious) and they called for an ambulence. when they got there my bp was 44/23! I really thought I was going to die. Later at the hospital, they ran a bunch of tests but came up with no reason for the episode. Now i am so afraid it'll happen again. what should i do?

charla1111

1/27/10 9:05pm

I have been being medicated for about 15 yrs now with high blood pressure. The other night I was at dinner and I kept starting to pass out. i hadnt stood up suddenly or anything - I had been sitting at the same table for about 40 minutes. Each time I would lay down on the booth and wait a few minutes and then try again. I finally became pretty motionless (still conscious) and they called for an ambulence. when they got there my bp was 44/23! I really thought I was going to die. Later at the hospital, they ran a bunch of tests but came up with no reason for the episode. Now i am so afraid it'll happen again. what should i do?

BP Concerns too

4/12/10 6:18pm

Did you by any chance have alcohol at dinner? It has happened to me a few times now, that when I sometimes have acohol it will drop my blood pressure bad, just like your did. My Dr said that my blood is basically doing the same thing that the drug anibuse would do. It just happened to me again this last Sat. night.

Anonymous

4/22/10 11:11am

I, also, take a low dose 25mg for high blood pressure. However, on numerous occasions I have been very close to passing out. It doesn't occur upon standing. It happens at various times, such as drying my hair, standing and reading the newspaper, etc. I will feel fine and all of a sudden I have to rush to sit down or lie down before passing out. I mentioned it to my Dr. and he didn't seem very concerned. All of you having the same problem, I know it is a very

frustrating occurence. Thanks for all the comments, at least, I know I am not alone!

ray rodgers

7/12/10 3:09pm

I have a similar problem. Mine however occurs on a regular basis; for awhile it was every month and now comes after 7 weeks. I normally have about 6 or 7 episodes in 24 hours and have never fainted, but some are strong enough to make me sit down. These have been going on for years, with doctors unable to solve the issue. I take no drugs, am a moderate drinker, non smoker, 65 years old. Any similar experiences would be appreaciated.....

Mrs Mara moorcroft

2/ 9/11 3:20am

I feel not so alone now after reading a lot of the views.

I have bouts of low blood pressure, and to the point of passing out to which is very alarming to my 15 year old daughter that has witnessed this. on many occasions have had an ambulance called and been taken to hospital. I feel trapped in my own home as don't feel like going out in case of this happening, having two dogs and relying on friends and family wen going out with them. Also all this has changed at home, been told by my g.p not to turn oven on, not to go in the bath, and so on and so on, just in case this happens when i am on my own.

I have a neurologist app today and hope to get some answers. I am on blood pressure pills to make it higher, but these bouts are still happening.

Please feel free to contact me as would like to hear from you as have lots of other symptoms , too many to list.

Sudden drop in blood pressure

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