Blood Pressure Tanked

I'll try to make this short but I'm kind of windy! I was struck with the flu Tuesday afternoon and came home from work obviously. Spent 2 days sitting in the bathroom (or real close) until I felt as dehydrated as I've ever felt. I tried to sip liquids but obviously couldn't keep up. Tuesday night, Wed & Thurs I didn't take any meds (I'm on blood pressure, cholestrol & thyroid stuff) because I was sure they wouldn't stay down. By Thursday afternoon I knew I was going to live & was feeling much better but didn't want to rock the boat. Friday morning I decided I could go to work so took my carvedilol & diovan. Within 45 minutes I was so dizzy & as close to passing out as I've ever been. I couldn't sit in my chair. My employees were afraid I was having a heart attack! They helped me lay on the floor & my head was spinning out of control - freakiest feeling I've ever had! My husband, who was just leaving work cuz he came down with the flu came & got me & we came home & propped each other up. I took my BP when I got home & it was 70/44. I took it several more times during the day & the readings were 87/51, 108/64 & 74/56. Today the readings have been 111/63, 112/71 & 110/68. The cardio doc cut my carvedilol in half (to 12.5 mg twice daily) on Jan. 7th due to my low BP. I haven't taken the BP drugs since yesterday because that episode was so scary. I can only assume that my dehydrated state contributed to the incident. As I've said so many times, I'm still so new to all this that it never ocurred to me to check my BP during the flu period. I'm not planning to take them again until I talk to the doctor on Monday because it appears to me the current readings are in a good range. I'll continue to monitor the BP thru the weekend. Just when I think I'm getting a handle on all this stuff, something new comes along! Thanks for listening (or reading I guess!)

1 Comments

Meds

by ElectricFrank - 2009-01-25 12:01:45

I'm not sure what you can do about your meds if you have the stomach flu and can't keep them down. As far as stopping them it is just a matter of using some common sense.
Stopping the cholestrol med can't hurt, and unless your BP goes really high there is no reason not to stop it as long as you keep track of it. The thyroid is the only one that could be a problem.
The dizzyness was likely dehydration. The fluid in the inner ear thickens and messes up your balance. That one gets me if I don't drink plenty of water.
From your description it doesn't sound like your pacer was involved in the whole thing.

best wishes,

frank

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