Blood pressure

I posted yesterday about my HR being changed on my 90 day review from 60 to 70.  I had already been having what I thought was the most common form of syncope, though I hadn’t yet fainted I feel like I’m going too when I get up from my recliner just about every time and it seemed more prevelent after the change in HR.  Everything else has seemed to be better with the change to 70....I’’ve had more energy and my legs felt less fatigued.

I had a good afternoon, even played 5 holes of golf.  Came home and legs felt good.  Starting watching tv sitting in recliner, got up a couple times and felt like I was going to faint.  Had a warm rush to my head and pounding heart.  I had taken my BP at 8 and it was 133 over 78 with hr of 79.  After having the episodes upon standing I decided to take my BP standing...when I stood I immediately felt faint..I didn’t get the BP cup tight enough so had to retighten it on my arm...that took a 15 or 20 seconds allowing me to calm a little bit. Even with that my reading was 128 over 88 with a HR of 125.  It might have been 150 if I had not fumbled with the cuff.  I read that all the symptoms I had was from the BP plummeting instead of spiking.  Then again I guess it did have to plummet to get back to a normal range.  I really don’t know what all that means but it will be Monday Morning before I can relay that to my Cardiologist.  

Any thoughts?...Thanks.

2 Comments

Glad you are seeing your doctor on Monday

by Gemita - 2020-08-22 05:10:52

In the meantime, get up from sitting or lying really slowly from now on to try to prevent fainting and taking sips of water before you rise might help as well.  

You could ask your doctors whether you might be getting orthostatic hypotension on standing or whether you are experiencing a new arrhythmia, both of which could cause faintness. I would also want to know, particularly if these symptoms are new following your heart rate increase, whether your new, higher heart rate setting, or any other changed settings could be the cause ?  I attach a link on Orthostatic hypotension in case this is of interest:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/orthostatic-hypotension/symptoms-causes/syc-20352548

If you are really worried and feel unstable over the weekend, please consider going to A&E for some checks.

Unfortunately to get an accurate blood pressure reading and pulse you need to try to steady yourself before you attempt to take any readings.  Difficult I know when you are feeling faint.  Have the blood pressure cuff placed in readiness first, in a good arm position and then try standing and if you get symptoms, hold yourself steady, or get someone to support you for a few seconds before pushing the monitor button.  Also try feeling your pulse manually on standing or periodically at any other time.  I usually feel my neck pulse during periods of instability.  Assess how your pulse feels ?  Does it feel steady and regular with no skips or pausing or does it feel fast, regular or fast irregular, or does it feel slow regular, or slow irregular?  You will soon get to know what is normal for you.  When you are feeling well, try to feel your pulse and then feel your pulse when you are feeling faint to feel the difference in speed and regularity.  

Alternatively, if you have a Kardia Mobile home monitor, you could try taking an ECG recording when you are getting your symptoms to see if you can capture any irregularities of rhythm and/or make a note of the date and time you experience your symptoms to take with you on Monday.  Your cardiologist may be able to interrogate your pacemaker to correlate your symptoms with an event like an arrhythmia.  The more evidence you can take, the more it will help to identify the problem quickly.  I expect they will want to monitor you with a 24 hour blood pressure and/or event monitor to confirm what is going on.

Good luck and please let us know how everything goes

Blood pressure

by Radioman#1a - 2020-08-22 12:33:06

I appreciate your input...thanks for taking the time!

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