High Blood Pressure After Pacermaker Surgery

Hello all, my mom had a pacemaker put in a week ago and she started having high blood pressure before the surgery which she takes lisinopril (10mg) for.  When she was first diagnosted with HBP, she ended up in the emergency room, as she felt like she was going to faint.  Much to our surprise, the ER did nothing to treat and basically told us they don't "chase" HBP. She has now seen two different cardiogists, which ended up in her taking the lisinopril and recently adding amlodipine yesterday (5mg). Her surgery for the pacemaker went well last week and recovery is going well, other than she caught bug in the hospital and her GP put her on steroids to decrease swelling in her lungs. However, last night her BP sky rocketed to over 195.  She is having nausea, back pain (which she thinks is kidney pain), facial redness and weakness.  She took two extra doses of lisinopril last night in an attempt to get it down. We can't seem to get clarity on what she should be doing and she is worried that her blood pressure is at stroke level. Luckily after consulting urgent care last night, this morning her blood pressure was back down in the 140's. This is very concerning to me! She has been trying to work with her GP and cardiologist, but neither seem to be super overly concerned about her HBP. She has made another appt. with another cardiologist to get a third opinion.  It's incredibly frustrating and my impression was a pacemaker was supposed to help regulate her heart and make BP better.  Has anyone been through this??  Any advice on what we should do???  I really don't want my mom to have a stroke, because no one is paying attention to this issue. 

2 Comments

Ask the doctor your questions

by Gotrhythm - 2019-03-07 17:35:18

The pacemaker does not control blood pressure.

Sometimes people see a change in bp after getting a pacemaker, but the change is not directly caused by the pacemaker. In many cases, there's no change at all.

It sounds to me like it's time to make a list of the questions you have about blood pressure, risk of stroke etc., and sit down with the cardiologist ask them, and write down the answers.

 Ask if he's concerned and if so, why. If not, why not. Ask what the treatment goals are. 

Not sure but...

by BHVietak - 2019-03-08 02:02:22

I wanted to throw this out there since I also have kidney problems.  Has she been voiding normally?

If not, she needs to go to the ER and she needs to tell them she thinks she is having kidney pain.  Her symptoms sound strikingly like mine when I had a horrible kidney infection which required hospitalization a few years ago.  I forget exactly what my BP was but it was off the charts and my pulse was through the roof.

I wanted to throw that out there since oftentimes we move a lot less (including to the toilet) when recovering from things and her surgery was only a week ago.

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I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for pacemakers. I've had mine for 35+ years. I was fainting all of the time and had flat-lined also. I feel very blessed to live in this time of technology.