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February 10, 2012

Patient Discussions: Low Blood Pressure - Causes

Question:What caused your blood pressure to be abnormally low?

Comment from: 65-74 Female (Patient) Published: September 10

I typically have high blood pressure which has at times gone up to 218. I take Hyzaar 100/25 daily to maintain my pressure at around 130/90. The first time I went for surgery my blood pressure hit the floor, I never was told how low it went but low enough to stop the surgery and I had to have a cauterization before they would consider surgery. This has happened several times and once the surgical nurse caught it before I went into surgery and they gave me an IV which brought it back up and I was able to continue on and have the surgery. So, now when I go for surgery and must fast from midnight I cannot take the Hyzaar, for that day only I take Cozaar which is the same except for the diuretic and I notate on my history that I should have an IV started prior to anesthesia. Since I have bladder cancer I have had multiple surgeries and this has helped surgical delays.

Related Reading: high blood pressure | bladder cancer

Comment from: judyr, 45-54 Male (Caregiver) Published: September 10

My husband is 53 years old, and an insulin dependent diabetic since 1994. He is a landscaper, weighing about 155 lbs and is 5'7 or 8 so is very active from sun up to sun down. His blood pressure was normally like 100/70. About a year ago the doctor put him on lisinopril for his kidneys. (this is a blood pressure medication), I take it to lower mine. Now he is coming home very, very tired (which has to do with the heat in Arizona, and how hard he works), but also complains of headaches. Definitely stays hydrated. Does not drink alcohol or smoke. He took his blood pressure today and it was 90/61. Is this too low, should we be concerned. The doctor never says anything when asked if this is OK. All he says is I wish all my patients had this good of blood pressure.

Related Reading: insulin | lisinopril

Published: July 22

I am a 60-year-old insulin-dependent diabetic. Eight years ago my doctor decided to put me on some medication for my kidneys. The medication was normally prescribed for patients with high blood pressure. All the tests I've had show normal kidney function. My blood pressure was always normal. One month after starting the new medication, my blood pressure went down. It put me in the emergency room, and the medication was stopped. Ever since then, I cannot keep my blood pressure in a normal range.

Published: July 22

I am severely hypothyroid, and low blood pressure is part of that. I was on Synthroid for years, and still had low blood pressure and had other symptoms of hypothyroidism. I started taking Amour Thyroid, which has T3 and T4, both of which are to be found in your thyroid gland. (Synthroid only has T4; many people must have both to function, while others get along just on the T4.) This helped a great deal and actually increased my blood pressure to a more normal range, giving me more energy.

Related Reading: low blood pressure | hypothyroidism

Published: June 30

My blood pressure can be very low on hot days, like 81 over 56. My heart rate is still high (92), I don't understand it, but I make sure I'm hydrated.

Published: June 24

I am a 53-year old man that's in pretty good shape. I work out at the gym 3-times a week, 20-minutes on the bicycle and 30 on weights. Prior to my working out, I was very stressed at work and faced a 90-minute commute to work in rush hour traffic both ways. My doctor recorded 3 BP readings of 150+ over 90+ and put me on Diovan. I am now averaging around 100/65 and feel a little tired most of the time and I get dizzy when I stand up too fast. Yesterday it was 96 over 58. I've noticed since being on the Diovan that it's hard to get a good steady urine stream going. It starts and stops. I just had a physical and the ole prostrate turned out fine. I wonder if the Diovan is causing the starting and stopping?

Published: June 20

I'm 13, and my doctor told me I have low blood pressure. I went to the doctor because every time I stood up from sitting down, I would get dizzy, I passed out once. My doctor said that it might be because of low blood pressure, I believe so too. But what makes the low blood pressure situation bad is that I was recently diagnosed with OSD (Osgood-Schlatter Disease). It isn't permanent; it'll go away when I'm 17 or so. It's basically a bone in both of my knees that wants to pull off every time I run, it is very painful, and when the pain does come after a long day, my feet ache too. So it's probably going to be even harder to lose this low blood pressure without being able to do any activity. But the most crazy thing is the reason that I got low blood pressure. I think it was because of stress from school. I went to a catholic school, and the school was so bad, and so loud I got stressed, VERY stressed, each day I would pray that I would never have to go there again, I was stressed mentally and physically. I believe that is why I got low blood pressure. Through all that I managed to keep an 80% average on every report card from grade 7 to 8.

Related Reading: Osgood-Schlatter Disease | stress


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Low Blood Pressure

Pancreatitis facts*

*Pancreatitis facts Medically Edited by: Charles P. Davis, MD, PhD

  • Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas, the organ that secretes digestive enzymes into the gastrointestinal tract; it also synthesizes and secretes insulin and glucagon.
  • Pancreatitis may be caused by gallstones (by blocking the pancreatic duct outlet), chronic alcohol use, trauma, medications, infections, tumors, and genetic abnormalities.
  • Acute pancreatitis with upper abdominal pain that is often severe and constant over several days, and may be accompanied by fever, nausea, vomiting, tachycardia, and abdominal swelling; severe cases can develop dehydration, low blood pressure, shock, organ failure, and death.
  • Acute pancreatitis is diagnosed preliminarily by the patient's history, physical exam and the levels of amylase and lipase in the blood (elevated in pancreatitis patients); other t...

Read the Pancreatitis article »




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