High bp

I had a pacemaker implanted 5 days ago and dr took me off bp meds my bp is running around 165/111 and I'm very irritable Is this normal?


4 Comments

High Blood Pressure

by Gemita - 2023-04-26 06:54:56

Tim, with a “constant” blood pressure of 165/111, I might get irritable too. No it is not normal.  What monitor are you using to monitor your blood pressure?   Could you kindly tell us why your doctor took you off blood pressure medication?  

I would let your doctor know as soon as possible what your blood pressure reading is at present.  Since you have a blood pressure monitor, your doctor may ask you to take several readings, three times a day, for say a week, to get a better indication of what your average blood pressure is.  Blood pressure, like heart rate, can fluctuate throughout the day depending on our activities, on any health conditions we may have, stress levels, medication and so on.

You should be aware that a pacemaker cannot prevent your blood pressure from increasing or falling.  The pacemaker however can prevent a fall in heart rate below the lower set limit, but it cannot control an increase in our heart rate from say, an arrhythmia which might require medication or other treatments. It sounds as though you need to have a meaningful conversation with your doctors to understand why you have a pacemaker and what it can and cannot do for you? 

Please stay safe.

Return to Prescriber / De-presciber

by Penguin - 2023-04-26 07:24:00

Hi, 

I'm cautious and therefore I would flag this up to the doctor who de-prescribed your BP meds. This doctor should be able to explain why this may be happening or organise monitoring if there is any cause for concern. 

Some of the effects of surgery on BP are listed in the link below. 

The only one I can comment on is the re-bound effect e.g. stopping some BP meds can cause a re-bound effect with BP returning to it's previous problematic levels and sometimes worsening temporarily. As I understand it, it is usually short term, but please check.

How any high BP or BP instability interacts with your post-operative status and heart conditions I don't know.  I'm surprised that they didn't stabilise you post operatively before sending you home or has this come on since?

https://www.healthline.com/health/what-causes-high-blood-pressure-after-surgery

I hope this helps a little. 

call them

by Tracey_E - 2023-04-26 09:10:30

Wondering why they took you off them? If you're staying that high, sounds like you need to go back on them. 

BP meds

by AgentX86 - 2023-04-26 13:27:30

My only guess is to why they'd take you off BP meds is to see where your BP goes without them. They may want to switch them (even to a beta blocker) or see if they're really needed.

With a systolic in the 160s, you shouldn't have any symptoms at all.  That's why BP is so dangerous.  It's often not discovered before permanent organ damage is done.

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